It’s time to upgrade your treadmill experience for the 21st century. iFit Coach lets you bypass the boring routines of fitness and this guide will help you understand why. Read on to learn about iFit Coach workout creation, stats tracking, and the iFit online community.
Note: iFit Coach is the latest version of iFit or iFit Live. If you purchased an old iFit treadmill before iFit Coach was released, your machine is already an iFit Coach treadmill! Older units might not support all iFit Coach features, but the update is worth it..
Table of Contents
Read the iFit guide straight through or skip around:
Part 1: iFit Coach Workout Programs and Challenges
- Google Maps workouts
- Video workouts
- Time and distance workouts
- Challenges
Part 2: Stats Tracking
- Your Fit Score
- Log workouts
- Log nutrition
- Log weight and sleep
Part 3: Building Community
- Add your biography
- Add other users to your iFit Coach account
Besides reading our iFit Coach guide, curious readers might want to try a 30-day free iFit membership. Even without access to an iFit-friendly fitness machine, you can use a trial membership to explore the app on your computer, mobile device, or television. You can create workouts, use message boards, and log health activity such as calories-consumed, distance walked, and bike rides taken.
Your free iFit Coach trial can be for standard or Premium membership. A standard membership includes unlimited Google Maps workouts, activity tracking, virtual coaching and more.
Introduction
iFit Coach is an all-in-one fitness app. Its vibrant Google Street View workouts stand out in treadmill ads, but the app also provides workout programs in traditional formats and is an easy-to-use health tracker. A true virtual coach, iFit Coach uses data about your sleep time, diet, and exercise to make fitness suggestions.
Key attributes of the iFit Coach app:
- The app syncs with iFit treadmills and other iFit cardio machines to log workout data automatically.
- iFit Coach logs fitness activity that takes place away from your cardio machine (at home, outdoors or with other gym equipment).
- You can access iFit coaching many ways. iFit Coach apps work with fitness machines, Bluetooth mobile devices, desktop computers, and TVs.
Which fitness machines work with iFit Coach? Four fitness equipment brands build iFit-friendly machines: ProForm, NordicTrack, FreeMotion, and Reebok (These brands share the same parent company: Icon Health and Fitness). iFit Coach works with many of their treadmills, elliptical trainers, and exercise bikes.
Part 1: iFit Workout Programs and Challenges
With iFit Coach there’s always a path less traveled. Whenever you train, you can choose from a near infinite variety of workouts. These include programs that you create yourself and programs posted by others (iFit staff and members).
The main categories of iFit Coach workouts are Google Maps workouts, video workouts, and time/distance workouts. User-designed workouts can also be turned into competitions or challenges.
Bonus: iFit Coach Plus is a premium service that helps save time. With iFit Coach Plus, the app automatically downloads a custom-tailored menu of top-notch workouts every day. These workouts use scenic HD video from Google Maps routes. They reflect your preferences for elevation change, distance, time and calorie burn.
Google Maps Workouts with Google Street View
Hike the Himalayas, run the Boston Marathon, or enjoy the Pacific coastline without leaving your treadmill with iFit Google Maps workouts. With an iFit incline treadmill, you can virtually experience the rise and fall of any mappable Google route. With any iFit treadmill, it’s easy to choose routes via Street View for a sense of escape.
Two basics of Google Maps workouts:
- Incline: iFit Coach treadmills with incline can automatically adjust to mimic topography. Entry-level treadmills tilt up to 10 percent. Top-of-the-line treadmills with iFit Coach have generous incline ranges of -6 to 20 percent.
- Video: Enjoy the view! As you walk or run, an interactive Google Street View will appear on your screen. Roads with Street View available are highlighted during iFit workout setup.
Some treadmills with iFit Coach, such as the Boston Marathon 3.0 Treadmill, have race routes preloaded into their consoles. On most iFit treadmills, you’ll download a program before workout time. (This is one way iFit Coach Plus saves time.) When downloading you can draw your own route or choose from premium content.
Draw a Google Maps Route
Train virtually with real-life views of scenic coastlines, busy cities, national parks and more! Choose “Create” and then “Map Based Workout” to get started…
Set up an interactive training route by using the “Search Location” box to zoom in on a region. Then click on map points. In the screenshot below, we’ve created a run through scenic Barcelona. We can choose “Close Loop” to let iFit finish drawing a route.
As you draw, helpful data is displayed such as the route’s total distance, elevation changes, and a calorie burn estimate . Note that your weight must be logged for the calorie function to work best.
Choose a Premium iFit Coach Workout
Setting up Google Map workouts is fun, but you can save time by choosing an iFit Premium workout. Access to these workouts costs a bit more per month than the usual iFit Coach membership. To find them, choose “Library” from the main menu. Some program titles are “Backpack Europe,” “Famous 5Ks” and “Calorie Burn 4 Week Training Program.”
Here’s a sample view of the ever-growing selection:
You can filter iFit Coach Premium workouts by difficulty levels 1 – 5.
iFit Video Workouts
iFit Coach members can use an ever-growing library of workout videos for training away from the treadmill. These HD videos feature celebrity personal trainers such as Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Jillian Michaels. Some examples of iFit video series are “Kickboxing” and “Fit Mommies.” Here are some program graphics:
Each iFit video series has many workouts to help make exercise a regular activity.
Customized Time and Distance Workouts
iFit Coach also lets you easily build workouts with specific speeds, inclines, and distances. iFit provides a template and then you move the speed and incline lines to change settings.
In the image below, the pink line shows speed being set for different segments of a workout. The default is one mph.
To adjust incline, click the square “Incline” button. A yellow line for incline will appear. You can overlap speed and incline settings to see a program’s overall demand:
In addition to pushing yourself, you can also challenge other iFit Coach members to beat your workout time. Read on for an overview of iFit challenges.
Challenges
Bring out your competitive side with iFit challenges! Challenges are workouts designed and shared by iFit Coach members to help push each other toward goals. Create your own competition or accept another’s challenge.
How to Create a Challenge
Creating a challenge is much like creating a personal workout based on a map, time or distance. You can post a previously created workout as a challenge or design something new. Either way, here are the steps.
Choose “Create” from your toolbar. Then select “Challenge”:
iFit Coach will prompt you to set up the activity. In this screenshot we’re choosing dates for the competition:
We draw a map-based challenge, and here is our finished route through a redwood forest:
Next, during setup iFit Coach asks for your invitation list. Then it shows a summary of the challenge. Your final step is launching the challenge by pressing the blue “Create” button.
How to Join a Challenge
You can join challenges that were posted by iFit staff or your friends and followers. Find challenges through the main menu “Challenge” button.
Check the tabs to see challenges categorized as Public, Created (by you) and Invited (by friends/followers). Accept a challenge and you can schedule it on your iFit workout calendar.
After a competition you can see your overall ranking on the “Completed” tab. You can click the badge icon to see your ranking based on age, gender, treadmill type and other data.
Part 2: Stats Tracking
Keeping track of treadmill exercise and other health activities is easier with an app like iFit Coach. The more you pay attention to your health stats, the more likely you are to make smart health decisions. iFit Coach can help track your calories, track your activity, chart your sleep and chart your weight. See how everything fits together!
To access the tracking section of iFit Coach, click “Stats”:
First you’ll see your Fit Score. This number is from 0 to 100. It reflects your fitness activity (exercise and nutrition) in relation to your goals over the past seven days. You’ll start at zero…
… and get motivated as your Fit Score climbs!
Track your stats by clicking “Log.” You can add information about workouts, weight, nutrition, and sleep:
Logging Workouts
The exercise logging features are easy to use. Simply fill in the blanks! iFit Coach will calculate the distance and elevation for your outdoor running or cycling routes (plus the app will automatically calculate your calorie burn). Your recently logged workouts are displayed beneath your Fit Score as follows:
You can repeat workouts on your history list anytime.
Logging Nutrition
The iFit Coach nutrition log can simplify calorie tracking with its database of thousands of foods and beverages. Easily find a nutritional description of your intake, then click to add the info to your log.
Here’s a search for an afternoon snack of almonds:
iFit Coach lets you review items before adding them to your journal. Here we have approved the almonds and a cup of raspberries:
Logging Weight & Sleep
Tracking your weight and sleep is easy with iFit Coach. By logging these items you’ll help build a helpful overview of your health. See how sleep, diet, and exercise work together as you pursue your fitness goals. You can see charts of your data by choosing “Menu” and then “Stats.”
Note: Logging your weight is especially important. Otherwise your iFit treadmill will estimate calorie burn data for its default of a 185-pound user.
Part 3: Building Community
Socializing within iFit Coach can help motivate your training. One benefit mentioned above is the option to experience challenges with friends and followers. You can follow posts from the whole iFit Coach community or just inner your circle. iFit members can follow one another just like members in other social media platforms.
This image was taken from a message board post. It suggests a training route, and viewers have the option to share the post or schedule the workout.
Set Up Your Profile
An iFit Coach profile includes room for a brief bio that all members can see. Attract like-minded community members by posting info about your fitness interests. You can control who views your content.
To set up your bio, choose “Profile” from the drop-down menu in the upper right corner of the iFit screen. Then choose “Edit.”
Members can click “Follow” to send a request:
Add Users to Your Membership
Share the wealth! With a premium iFit Coach membership you can add up to three users to your iFit account. Add friends and family to your fitness community and exchange workouts, challenges and motivational messages.
To add users, click on “Settings” or “Profile” beneath your username in the upper right corner. Then click “Secondary Users.” Enter email addresses or existing iFit Coach usernames.
More iFit Coach Info
This free iFit guide from TreadmillReviews.net covers workout setup, stats tracking, and a few other key features of iFit Coach. We only covered the basics. There’s so much more in iFit to explore, so for more detailed information visit iFit.com. With a free iFit Coach account, you can access the manufacturer’s online database with guides for iFit installation and answers for frequently asked questions.
Best for Home Use
Best for Serious Runners
Best for Walkers
Best for Seniors
65 Comments