Part of growing older is having the chance to reflect and engage in self improvement. Recently I have been doing this with Kemme Fitness. I have been watching and listening to what others say about our program and why they do <as well as why they don’t> like the workouts or the website.
I decided to be brutally honest and this is my attempt to lay it all out for my readers. We’ll start with what is lacking here at Kemme Fitness. Then I’ll hit the pros and some of my solution ideas to the following cons.
CONS:
#1 – The biggest, by far, source of frustration I see lies with the lack of direction. The majority of people do not want to use part of their “exercise” time to figure out which workout to do. Each of the three workout pages (Beginner, At-Home, and At-The-Gym) have workouts listed in alphabetical order, but you have to click on each one to see what’s in there. It could take several minutes just to decide which workout to do that day.
#2 – The “beginner” workouts can still be too difficult for many, so those people are simply excluded from the program.
#3 – The learning curve for the shear amount of exercises (well over 350) is overwhelming.
#4 – The website is not very fancy and tends more towards functionality than asthetics. Seriously, there are no fun and flashy graphics.
#5 – Most of the videos are still links to other people performing the exercises and they can remove them off the internet at will. This has happened a few times already and I lose the exercise until I film one myself.
#6 – A related con is that some of the videos I link to kinda suck. They are either too long, the form is not 100% perfect (although not unsafe), or the video quality is poor. Only about 100 of the video demonstrations are ones I created. It just takes so much time to do my own and I do have a life 🙂
PROS:
#1 The opposite to the frustration of too many exercises is that we get variety. I have a hard time finding this amount of exercises and workouts posted anywhere else.
#2 The two focuses (at-home and at-the-gym). This allows me to share workouts for just about everybody.
#3 Having the tools that are needed. You don’t know the exercises? We have video links. You don’t have the equipment? We have links to buy them or directions to make them (see The Low Cost Gym for homemade equipment ideas).
#4 Cost. Everything at this point on Kemme Fitness is totally free.
#5 The posts. Because I work hard to keep my goal of posting either a workout or an informational post in less than two days, means that I have a whole bunch of informational posts archived on the website.
SOLUTIONS:
I’m not sure if I could have put some more PROS up there, but it felt like I was bragging. I have heard from many people that I have more resources available here than they could find anywhere else. Unlike some websites, you can personally email me or make comments I’ll respond to. If I don’t know an answer, I’ll steer you the right direction. This is just as much fun for me as anything, so I hope to continue to grow and add to the website.
#1 Ok solution #1 comes with K-Fit that I recently posted. This helps solve the problem of not knowing where to begin. We do have the Beginner workout page, but K-Fit picks out your workouts for 12 weeks.
#2 Although I don’t think that it takes too long to get over the learning curve, I am contemplating about adding a starter instructional booklet to help go over the more common beginner exercises.
#3 In addition to those above, I am almost finished with my 3rd draft version of my book. This will not be an ebook, but actually a real book that will act as a user guide. My goal will be to get this published and up on the shelves (not an easy task). I am in the final stages of editing though, so hopefully 2012 will be the year.
#4 There is a secret project on the technological side that may be of use to combat some of the user-friendly issues here. Sorry to keep this extremely vague, but 2012 may be a really exciting year for Kemme Fitness.
#5 In line with the 12 week program, K-Fit, I am planning on doing K-Challenge later this spring, which will be another 12 week program, but not for the faint of hearted (or weak of core). After that, I might do K-?? which will be for those of us with Slosh Tubes and Clubbells.
I have a challenge now for those of you that use the site. What kinds of things would you like to see to help you with the program?
I think you’re right about the #1 on the Cons, it is a lot to sift through to find the one you want. That said, lots of great information isn’t really a bad thing. As for the K-Stuff, I think it is awesome, and exactly what people need to begin.
You’re not starting in week one just so you know, even with the kind words. Our next workout will not be nice to you! 🙂