A lot of the sports tracking apps found in BlackBerry World are for those distance type sports, like running, cycling but not everyone does those types of activities. If you prefer push ups, sit ups, etc, then you'll want to check out Sportrate Workout. Sportrate already has a fitness tracking app, one very popular with BlackBerry 10 users, so it's nice to see them bring out another app catering to other types of workouts. We did write about the app when it first came out but we thought we'd take a closer look at the app and see if it's worth it.

When you first open the app, you're prompted to enter a few details about yourself, such as age, weight and height. This helps to calculate calories burned during your workout. Then instructions are given on how to use the app, which is always helpful.

Sportrate Workout Settings  Sportrate Workout Activities

Sportrate Workout helps you count reps for four types of workouts - push ups, squats, sit ups and planks. It does this by making use of the sensors found on BlackBerry 10 devices. Before you start make sure you choose the type of exercise you're going to do. Depending on the type of exercise you're doing, the phone needs to be placed in a particular place in order for the app to count your reps. You'll know which exercise you're doing by the icon in the top right corner. As well as the exercise type, there is a mode type to choose from. By default this is set to Sportrate Progress Mode where Sportrate slowly increases your workout efficiency. The other options is Free Workout where you select your own workout intensity.

Sportrate Workout Modes  Sportrate Workout Start

Once everything is set, you're ready to begin. Just tap the big Start icon and start your reps. You'll get some audio feedback for each rep, which is helpful. Once you're done with your reps hit stop and the workout is saved automatically. You can see how many calories have been burned. You can see all your workouts in the Summary tab found in the bottom action bar. You can also see your progress in the form of charts using the Charts tab. After the first time you carry out each workout, the next time around it will set up rep counts for you with rest intervals. The rest interval time is up to you, you just hit start again to continue with the next set. I do like this feature.

Sportrate Workout Interval  Sportrate Workout Plank Count

Sportrate Workout also lets you set calendar reminders, though it's not something you can 'manually' set. What I mean by this is that when you hit Remind me about workout in the app settings, it sets a reminder in your calendar for that time in the day you press it. And it just sets it for every day with no end. It's not a totally bad thing and you do have the option to cancel reminder and it will remove all entries but I just wish there was options for the calendar reminder. It's not that big of a deal as you can edit the whole series via the calendar anyway but it would be more convenient if you could do it through the app.

Sportrate Workout Progress Charts  Sportrate Workout Summary

The app has good intentions but it doesn't always work as it should. If you're doing push ups or sit ups, everything is fine and the reps are counted but when it comes to squats, it doesn't seem to recognise my squats, though I do find the calories burnt number increase. When it comes to planks, it's hit and miss for me, mainly due to the fact that it's quite sensitive. The slightest movement affects the timer. That can be a good thing making you do your planks better but sometimes it stops a 0 seconds just because your hand moves over the sensor when you hit start. So you have to make sure you hit 'Start' then try to keep very still as to not disturb the sensor. Neat idea though.

Sportrate Workout is available for all BlackBerry 10 smartphones though I did have trouble using it on my BlackBerry Q10. However, my Q10 does have problems with the proximity sensor so that could be why the app just crashes on my when I start a workout. It works fine on my other devices but like I said when it comes to squats I found it hardly counted reps at all.

The Good

  • Automatically counts your reps (push ups and sit ups)
  • See progress through charts

The Bad

  • Squat count doesn't seem to work
  • Sensor for planks is very sensitive
The bottomline

The idea of Sportrate Workout is great. The reminder is a nice touch. It's also nice that you can see your progress through the charts. It just needs a little refinement and perhaps could have more exercises added. If you don't mind your squats not being counted, it's not a bad app to pick up. I do like that it does rep sets, a very sweet feature for me. Sportrate have their Fitness Tracker app which is popular with BlackBerry 10 users and has seen some updates so I'm hopeful that their Workout app will see some regular update love too.

Sportrate Workout is available for all BlackBerry 10 devices and costs $1.99

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