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Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

hackerbody.com

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Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#2

Post by acconrad »

As a hacker who enjoy fitness and lifting weights, the message "'meat head' free" tainted my impression of this site, as if my way of working out was bad. I happen to be someone who doesn't want "muscles on muscles on muscles" but I am also someone who works at a desk 8 hours a day and wants to stay healthy, and trust me, even lifting heavy weights 3 times a week does not turn you into some freak of nature.

That said, I'm really not even sure what the value add is here for bodyweight videos: they've been done so many times over, and with the recent popularity of the 7 minute workout[1] I just don't see what you're trying to bring to the table that is specifically "for hackers" other than the marketing appeal.

My suggestion would be to offer something that appeals uniquely to your hacker audience that isn't found elsewhere. Off of the top of my head, hackers are "lazy" (in that we aim to optimize and remove redundancy) and are convinced by science, so if you can prove that your videos are shown to be efficient, effortless (meaning everything but the workout is taken care of for you), and that it delivers marketable results, then I think you might have something.

[1] http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-mi...

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#3

Post by jgrahamc »

acconrad wrote: post #2

As a hacker who enjoy fitness and lifting weights, the message "'meat head' free" tainted my impression of this site, as if my way of working out was bad. I happen to be someone who doesn't want "muscles on muscles on muscles" but I am also someone who works at a desk 8 hours a day and wants to stay healthy, and trust me, even lifting heavy weights 3 times a week does not turn you into some freak of nature. That said…

I had the same reaction. I'm not a "muscles on muscles" guy but three times a week I lift weights. The 'meat head' thing was judgmental and off-putting.

Perhaps more importantly, why do I have to create an account to view a work out video? That and the fact that I had to agree to a massive ToS which included things about billing and cancellation stopped me going further.

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#4

Post by g0atbutt »

acconrad wrote: post #2

As a hacker who enjoy fitness and lifting weights, the message "'meat head' free" tainted my impression of this site, as if my way of working out was bad. I happen to be someone who doesn't want "muscles on muscles on muscles" but I am also someone who works at a desk 8 hours a day and wants to stay healthy, and trust me, even lifting heavy weights 3 times a week does not turn you into some freak of nature. That said…

Acconrad, I appreciate your thoughts on the tagline, "meat head free". My goal was to appeal to people who aren't already doing something active. HackerBody isn't the end-all in being active but it's a great place for people to get started.

The videos are just the tip of the iceberg. I wanted to get this launched and get feedback before I push out new features.

Thanks for taking time to give me your feedback!

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#5

Post by mightybyte »

As a hacker who codes all day and likes to understand how things work, I don't find this particularly enticing. I'm not particularly interested in paying for something when I don't even know what I'm going to get, how it works, what it's track record is, etc. Furthermore, you're going to have a tough time competing with all the stuff I can get for free or the much more well known things that I can pay for.

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#6

Post by g0atbutt »

jgrahamc wrote: post #3
acconrad wrote: post #2

As a hacker who enjoy fitness and lifting weights, the message "'meat head' free" tainted my impression of this site, as if my way of working out was bad. I happen to be someone who doesn't want "muscles on muscles on muscles" but I am also someone who works at a desk 8 hours a day and wants to stay healthy, and trust me, even lifting heavy weights 3 times a week does not turn you into some freak of nature. That said…

I had the same reaction. I'm not a "muscles on muscles" guy but three times a week I lift weights. The 'meat head' thing was judgmental and off-putting. Perhaps more importantly, why do I have to create an account to view a work out video? That and the fact that I had to agree to a massive ToS which included things about billing and cancellation stopped me going further.

jgrahamc, thanks for that. I'll look at changing the tagline.

HackerBody videos are 100% free. The TOS have stuff regarding refunds incase I launch some premium features down the road. I could see how that would be confusing. I'll work on adjusting that.

I'm requiring people to create accounts for some additional features I'm rolling out. Great point on having a demo workout that doesn't require some to login. I'll make that happen.

Re: Show HN: HackerBody – A Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape

#8

Post by g0atbutt »

mightybyte wrote: post #5

As a hacker who codes all day and likes to understand how things work, I don't find this particularly enticing. I'm not particularly interested in paying for something when I don't even know what I'm going to get, how it works, what it's track record is, etc. Furthermore, you're going to have a tough time competing with all the stuff I can get for free or the much more well known things that I can pay for.

HackerBody workouts are 100% free. We require people to make an account because we're launching some really cool stuff soon that requires one.
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