Electronic Personal Trainer

I work with a personal trainer from time to time who helps me change my workout routine and teaches me new exercises. Then I go off for a few weeks doing this routine. This works fairly well, but I need to carry around a log book to remind me of the exercises and track the repetitions and sets completed.

I find it inconvenient to keep up with the paper and pencil. Enter the Electronic Personal Trainer (EPT). The EPT would esentially be a purpose built MP3 player. It would strap to the outer, upper arm like many of the "sport" radios (and I assume MP3 players) on the market.

The names of exercises would be pre-recorded. On a computer, the exercises in the workout routine would be selected, sequenced and stored. This routine would then be downloaded to the EPT. Upon pressing the "Begin Routine" button, the name of the first exercise is played through the headphones. It plays repeatedly until the "Begin Exercise" button is pressed. I do the exercise while listening to pre-selected, pre-loaded music. When the exercise is finished, I press the "Exercise complete" button. The next exercise name is then played. This continues until all exercises are completed.

During timed elements of the routine, the EPT plays appropriate countdown messages.

If a piece of apparatus is currently unavailable, I press the "Skip" button and the item is placed at the end of the sequence and repeated later.

When I've either finished the routine, or it has finished me, I press the "End Routine" button. The EPT can then be synchronized with a computer system at home or in the gym. The completed or skipped state of each element is logged to permit long term tracking of one's routine.