The Outsiders Fitness Tracker

This is one of the most visually appealing fitness apps I’ve used! The interface is clean, modern, colorful, and does an excellent job presenting workout data. I also appreciate how much information is available—from training load and endurance fitness to heart rate zones and workout trends. My biggest criticism is that the app often assumes users already understand advanced exercise physiology. For example, labels like “Low Aerobic Shortage,” “High Aerobic,” and “Anaerobic” are presented without enough explanation of how the app defines those terms. During one of my indoor walking workouts, the app classified 67% of the session as anaerobic, which seemed surprising for a steady 50-minute walk. Whether the app is correct or not isn’t really the issue—the issue is that it never explains why it reached that conclusion. I would love to see each metric include a brief explanation answering three simple questions: • What does this metric measure? • Why did I receive this result? • What can I do to improve it? Even something as simple as a tappable “Learn More” button beneath each chart would dramatically improve the experience. The app already excels at collecting and displaying data; now it needs to excel at helping users understand what that data means. Overall, this is one of the most promising fitness apps I’ve tried. With clearer explanations and more educational context, I think it could become one of the best fitness platforms available.

I've used some other Apps -- often it seems like they add metrics just because they can be calculated. This is more curated. Using it I realized a mental mistake. I'm interested in VO2max as a measure of endurance. It takes time to go up so I'd track it with workouts. But this made it clear that I should really track my load a month before -- it's really my previous work that tracks with VO2max. The focus on training load and the ratio with which it's changing -- very helpful with dog walks. I track those differently (trying not tool rush my doggie too much.) still I can compare it to other types of workouts.

I like the app so far. It fits a niche I was contemplating getting a more expensive fitness tracker and additional subscription for. With this, I think I can stick with my Apple Watch and get 90% of the same benefits. One recommendation: report on periods of time in specific training zones. Perhaps integrate with the Gentler app for this. But if I want to target Zone 2 training, or work on VO2 max, it would be nice to have that data integrated to show the percentage of my training efforts that have been dedicated to those zones, and then additional recommendations to increase endurance, VO2, etc. Maybe have the ability to adjust or filter in settings so you can set your own targets if you don’t like the app’s pre-programmed recommendations?