Endomondo Review

"Endomondo is a sports community based on free real-time GPS tracking of running, cycling, etc. Bring your mobile on the track and get a complete training log!"

After sending the Blackberry into the abyss of obsolete electronics, I have updated to the luxury of a droid smartphone. I now have GPS capabilities to conveniently track my workouts. Logging training sessions was never prioritized, I could not be bothered. The droid gives me the added flexibility to use my phone as a fitness tool.  

Now time to choose an app that would get the job done. Reading multiple reviews came down to Strava and Endomondo? I did not want to turn this into a chore having to compare, contrast between two apps as I wanted to get started immediately. I decided to install Endomondo, primarily because Strava appeared much too focused on logging cycling and running activities from the phone app. Endomondo clearly allowed the user to log workouts with specificity. You begin to build numbers by a given activity and this level of detail can help you negotiate your fitness goals.

Over the last several months I have been tracking the majority of my workouts and active pursuits with Endomondo. You can also track all workouts manually by activity on the website. Just enter a new workout and you logged another workout in less than half minute.

Email updates: Monthly notifications show how kick arse or generally lethargic you became :-)

Total Training Overview: Summary of all your workouts combined with filters to toggle the view.

Monthly graph showing steady ramp in mileage over 3.5 month period January through April.

As the weather began to break with the arrival of spring I was able to get outside more and the mileage progressively goes up. This is an important view because too much mileage too soon, to fast can lead to fatigue and injury. Its also a good plan to negotiate mileage in upcoming months and set some proper attainable goals.  For example, in May I want to duplicate my efforts in April as I prepare for the Haglöfs Åre Extreme Challenge in Sweden.

Specific Sport Analysis: As a Spin Instructor I have fairly regular indoor cycling patterns. 

After about 6 weeks of Spinning regularly I started to experience random weakness and fatigue.  I checked my workouts and realized my weekly calorie burn spinning alone is pretty high. I either eat an apple before and protein bar afterwards to help counter the fatigue.  If its a double session, typically rowing into spin or spinning into TRX, I make sure to do both.

Calendar view: Easily navigate your monthly workouts and view a summary of that activity.

GPS Graph: Review your elevation profile and speed, review lap times over distance traveled.

In summary, Endomondo has been an excellent application for logging my workouts easily without too much extra effort.  I might eventually go Premium but that will only happen if I decide to upgrade and get a Bluetooth heart rate monitor compatible with the droid phone. This will give me the data I need to track my intensity levels and heart rate zones.

One last thing to note, the app will even report how many burgers you have burned!  Makes it almost feel good to go back to Five Guys wolf down a double all the way.

Work hard, train hard, play harder!
Mark