iFitness from Medical Productions Inc calls itself the “solution for expensive personal trainers at your local gym” all for a one time cost of $1.99. While we may not totally agree totally with their claim, it does offer an inexpensive way to learn exercises, log and track your results that comes with 9 predefined cardio activities, 29 stretches and 100 exercises.

Overall iFitness does a very nice job in how it organizes, presents and explains exercises and stretches, in a visually appealing and easy to use display, and offers the ability to expand beyond the preset data.

While presented as an exercise program it’s nice to see that iFitness does offer cardio activities, even if in a limited way. If you are looking for either running, walking or hiking, you have to use the generic jogging activity.

More importantly is the fact that iFitness does address the often overlooked area of doing proper stretches for people to maintain their flexibility. Although a gentle reminder from the program to not forget to do them would be a nice feature. (iFitness also offers the ability to track you weight and a BMI calculator/tracker ability)

The main focus of iFitness is on exercises which can be accessed either from a list of preset body areas or by the ‘exercise by muscle’ option. The later brings up an interactive graphic of the human body muscular system from which you can tap the body area you would like to exercise to display a list of the Primary Target Exercises plus Secondary Exercises for that specific muscle.

Calling up any of the stretches or exercises brings up a realistic photo image of a person performing the exercise, and you can access a brief written explanation on how to perform it by tapping the double quotes icon. While a written explanation is a great feature it does not take the place of a personal trainer who can observe and adjust/correct your form or weight being used to ensure you are exercising in a safe and productive way.

A nice feature of iFitness is that it does not limit you just its predefined exercises, by allowing you the option to Add/Edit Custom Exercises. You can add as much information as you want, Exercise Name, Description, Image, Difficulty, but it will also integrate the Target Region and Target Muscles information you provide not only into the list of exercises by body area but also the interactive ‘exercise by muscle’. (It would be nice to see this ability expanded upon so you can add additional stretches and cardio activities.)

If you want to be able to track your progress and build a custom exercise routine you can take advantage of the ‘My Workout’ which allows you to select and organize your exercises, stretches and cardio activities into the routine you perform them in. iFitness does not limit you to just one ‘My Workout’ but allows you to create several if you would like to build your routines by day, body area or whatever criteria you want to define.

With a ‘My Workout’ created you can then enter your information for each exercise by entering the weight used (lbs or kg), the number of reps, a note if required and each entry of one exercise is treated as a set. (For cardio actives you can enter Duration, Calories, Speed, Average Heart Rate). If you would like do an exercise by time (preset to 60 or 180 seconds) you can utilize the stop watch function on the screen.

You can also visually track your progress using the Graph icon from 7, 14, 28 or 56 days and selecting any one of the parameters you entered. Even if you do not create a custom workout, you can simply select an exercise from the main list and still log the information and view a graph as well.

The one minor irritant about the graph function is that while the program runs in portrait mode, graph mode requires you to turn your device sideways, and the first time I used it I expected to see a done button or back arrow to return to the main program, which is actually done simply by tapping the graph.

If you need a preset workout, iFitness comes with a dozen routines covering everything from beginner, to body specific, and even a golf program (I won’t make any comments about a program created by medical professionals reinforcing any stereotypes some may have)

While the creators claim iFitness is the “solution for expensive personal trainers at your local gym” it does allow those who do use a personal trainer to be able to email your results either as a .csv file or a .pdf file. However while Excel imports the .csv file with no issues, the .pdf file creates an ‘unable to display’ message when I’ve tried to open the file iFitness created in either Abode Standard or Reader.

Bottom line is that for the meagre investment of $1.99 (motivation not included) iFitness is the most inexpensive way to learn, track and work towards a healthier lifestyle.

Stone Bell’, in as many years, and shows why his music is a must have in anyone’s collection.

Similar to last year’s release, ‘Asian Variation‘, ‘Stone Bell‘ picks up where it left off, and continues Moshang’s musical time warp of sounds, instruments and vibe as he blends traditional Asians instruments and sounds with today’s electronic energy, and Latin and jazz influences in just the right amounts to serve up an aural gem.

Starting off with ‘When You Come’, a chillicious blend of Asian beats flavoured with Latin tinged guitar and topped of with the beautiful vocal work of Portugals Nego Elias, the pace shifts in ‘Casting Off’, as frantic electronic pulses are layered on top of each other driven by a throbbing bass.

‘Faraway Places’, offers up a short but heavy dose of Japanese shamisen that infuses the aural senses with traditional sounds and the energy of today’s music, that makes you wish it would last a little longer.

‘Undecided’, marks a decided downward shift in gears and a wonderful mix of rhythms that send there vibe through the body making it impossible to not move to the groove laid down

‘Invocation’ a multicultural smorgasbord mixing jazzy/Latin guitar chords with electronic chill, before closing out with ‘Waterless Well’ closes the EP out with jazz influenced horns lazily weaving around an easy does it rhythm and an excellent use of Buddhist chants that all come together to create an audio meditation that will leave you feeling relaxed and mellow.

While each track stands alone together they form an audio gem that is well worth buying, and makes MoShang an artist to keep an ear out for.

Available at iTunes: $5.94

Track List
1 When You Come
2 Casting Off
3 Faraway Places
4 Undecided
5 Invocation
6 Waterless Well

Former ®Spinning Master Instructor, avid outdoor cyclist and founder of the Indoor Cycling Association  Jennifer Sage combines her years of knowledge and love of cycling into a simple and easy to read book for Indoor Cycling Instructors on how to not only bring the road experience inside, but to help expose those who have never ridden outside to what if feels like to ride on the road.

Jennifer brings an expansive knowledge base from her years of running Viva Travels offering outdoor cycling tours in Europe that recreate many of cycling’s famed pro tour stages, combined with a strong bases of the needs and benefits of riding indoors as one of the Spinning programs most knowledgeable Master Instructors.

Combining the needs and training required for outdoor riders, she translates them into the guidelines of an Indoor Cycling class that is easy enough for the novice instructor to understand and in depth enough for advanced instructors looking to help meet the needs of the outdoor riding clients.

While written to help transition the outdoor cyclists training inside during the off season, it provides enough information on the needs and dynamics of riding outside that it can prove to be the helpful push to get those who have never ridden outside to move their training and fitness routine outdoors.

This ebook is a must have resource for all Indoor Cycling Instructors

Blending elements of chill, house, a touch of swing for an up-tempo beat, thru the use of layered keyboards, jazzed guitars, sighing horns and ethereal vocals Tokyo 507 offer up nine tracks of music that can chill you or lift you up with their hypnotic groove, and is a good effort worth picking up.

Technically Tokyo 507′s second self titled release is actually their first full length CD, after last years five track EP, that show case the long distance collaborative efforts of members; Australian Mark Southern (producer/songwriter/musician) and ex-Aussie, and now London based, Hayden Turner (songwriter/singer).

The elements of chill are best heard in the chilled out opening track ‘Share Some Love’ where the plaintive moan of the harmonica echoes the emotion of Turners aching vocals and Southern’s masterful use of the guitar in the closing track ‘Free’, that will remind you of U2′s The Edge’s guitar work from MLK off of the Unforgettable Fire CD.

The duo pick things up in ‘Body Electric’ with jazzy guitar riffs, while elements of dance drive the beat of ‘Bamboo Baby’, and jazz and touches of swing create the moving vibe of ‘Curious Groove’.

The vocal work of Hayden Turner is never allowed to over power the music, and instead one can feel the effort of restraint reflecting and mirroring pent up emotions and energy that want to break loose, and one wonders what would happened if they were allowed to break free.

While Mark Southern weaves a tapestry of sound with electric jazz and the crisp staccato of flamenco guitar riffs, sometimes alone or together in organic rhythms around simple horn sequences.

Together the music they create is worth giving a listen to and makes their next release something to keep and ear out for.

Available at iTunes: $8.91

Track List
1 Share Some Love
2 Body Electric
3 Eden
4 Li Adoro
5 Bamboo Baby
6 Tapestry of Love
7 Zanzibar
8 Curious Groove
9 Free

These days when bands that are labeled under the ‘pop/rock’ tag seem to be able to only put out one or two decent tracks before they throw in the towel and serve up mediocre material just to fill a CD up, ‘Bringing Down Goliath’ is an 11 track wonder that takes you on a nonstop musical journey filled with energy, and drive from the thoughtful lyrics to the blood pumping music.

Second Dan is fronted by vocalist and ex-Australian Dan Rosen, who traveled to New York’s famed East Village, after receiving critical success for his debut EP in his homeland, where he gathered the nucleus that would become the engine for Second Dan.

The band is rounded out by bassist Daniel Reisbick who lays on a bassline so thick it sticks to your ear canals which maniacal drummer Sonny Ratcliff thumps and thrashes around, as guitarists Adam Wolfe Lerner and Rosen weave the wizardry of Pete Townsend and The Edge for guitar riffs that can drift and swirl or have the force of a sonic tsunami.

The band is rounded out by bassist Daniel Reisbick who lays on a bassline so thick it sticks to your ear canals which maniacal drummer Sonny Ratcliff thumps and thrashes around, as guitarist Adam Wolfe Lerner weaves the wizardry of Pete Townsend meets The Edge for guitar riffs that drift or have the force of a sonic tsunami.

Together this foursome have taken elements that will remind you at times of the bare bones early days of U2 meeting the guitar wall of sound of Oasis with touches of Elvis Costello and The Attractions along with a nod to The Replacements and channelling them into their debut album ‘Bringing Down Goliath’.

Trying to pick out one or two favorite tracks on this release is next to impossible. Before you know it you will simply say to heck with it and hit repeat all.

From the swelling of the opening chords of ‘Color My World’, to the finger popping ‘I Met A Girl’, the bluesy feeling and whimsical ‘The Elephant Fell To Earth’, the dreamy acoustic based ‘Everything is Good’ allows you to catch your breath before the Oasis sonic tour de force that is ‘Make Me Want To’ slams into you and closing with the Smashing Pumpkin feeling ‘How You Getting On?’ makes you wish ‘Bringing Down Goliath’, would keep going on and on.

Available at iTunes: $9.99

Track List

1 Color of My World
2 Forget To Remember
3 I Met a Girl
4 The Elephant Fell to Earth
5 Running Out of Feelings
6 Everything is Good
7 Make Me Want To
8 Love and Innocence
9 Run v Hide
10 Duwachuwant
11 How You Getting On?