Judy Dixon
Accessible fitness programs can be very hard to find. Traditional books, videos, and apps that have not been specifically created for blind users generally rely on the demonstration approach. This is when the instructor performs the exercises and you, the student, are expected to duplicate the moves by watching the instructor.
When participating in local classes, a blind student can ask for help, even though we know this can often slow down what is supposed to be a fast-paced experience. But what can we do when watching a video or using an app? There is no one to ask. Watching a video with a sighted friend can help a bit but exercise routines can be difficult to remember. Now, we have a really great solution to the problem with the ReVision Fitness program, and it is available on several platforms. The website is at www.revisionfitnessprogram.com and there is an app for iOS and Android.
The ReVision Fitness app is an audio-based fitness program designed to be accessible for both blind and sighted users. The program is designed to be used by persons of all fitness levels from beginner to expert. It includes activities for people with no equipment to those with access to a full training facility.
The app is very comprehensive, and certainly has something in it for everyone.
A unique feature of the program is that it separates learning how to do the exercises from the workouts that actually use them. It includes detailed instruction for all the fitness activities. In this way, once you know how to perform each exercise, you can do the workouts at a higher level and don't have to wait for descriptions.
All the exercise lessons in the classroom, and the workouts in the fitness studio have been designed by blind personal trainer and 4 time Paralympic athlete Tyler Merren. All the lessons are described using clock face directions, reference points, and step-by-step instructions to teach proper mechanics for all of the exercises. All special terms are clearly defined in plain English.
iOS
Let's have a look at the iOS app. When you first launch the app, you are prompted to create an account to start your 14-day free trial. At the end of the trial, you can choose between a monthly subscription for $5.99, or an annual subscription of $59.99.
When first launched, the app opens with an audio welcome message from Tyler Merren, the app's creator. Tyler's welcome message briefly describes the app and encourages everyone to challenge themselves, and assures them that even more material will be coming soon. At the bottom of the welcome screen is a Let's Get Started button.
Once in the app, there are five tabs across the bottom of the screen: Dashboard, Classroom, Fitness Studio, Fitness Plan, and More. After pressing the Let's Get Started button, the app opens in the Dashboard tab. At the top of this screen is a Favorites button which is a great place to keep your favorite classroom instructions and workouts so you can access them quickly. The Favorites button is at the top of every tab so it is always handy.
Next, on the Dashboard tab, is a timeline of news and motivational tips. The timeline is updated every few days. Currently, the timeline tells about new yoga balance workouts that have been added for beginning and advanced levels, as well as upcoming cardio kickboxing and resistance band strength training.
The Classroom tab contains more than one hundred exercise instructions. The default is to show all classes but there is a drop-down that lets you filter the exercises by category. The categories include foundational positions and movements, action groups, warm up, cool down, standard body weight exercises, advanced body weight exercises, plyometrics, and yoga. Foundational positions and movements has 20 lessons that go through the entire body and describe flexion, extension, abduction, and so forth. The Action Group section has items such as Setting Your Goals, Why is it So Important to Plan, and Nutrition. The Warm-up section has items on the Importance of Warming Up, Stretching, Full Body Warm-up and much more. The Cool Down section has many types of static stretches. Standard body weight exercises has more than 20 familiar exercises such as various crunches, planks, push-ups, etc. Along with the description, each listing also includes common mistakes that people make doing the exercise and tips for avoiding them.
Let's have a look at how he tells us to do a push-up. The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen chest, triceps, shoulders, and core. There is a button to hear a human describing the exercise. Keep your whole body straight from your neck to your toes. Bend your elbows until your body is just a few inches from the floor and then straighten them again. He stresses the importance of having your shoulders and hips move together. If you really like doing push-ups you can tap the button at the bottom of the screen to make it a favorite.
The Fitness Studio is where you can do all of these exercises. Each workout includes a pre-workout informational session that gives you the general overview, purpose, a review of the exercises and how to do them. Each one includes a beginner and advanced level and options for working out with music and without. The routine plays with music but there is a button on the screen Play without Music. If you select this button, the workout starts over and the button changes to Play with Music.
The Fitness Plan section includes an introduction called "How Do I Use the Fitness Plan Section." The fitness plans include Learning the Foundational Positions and Movements (7 days), Lose Weight (9 weeks), and Tone Up (9 weeks).
Each plan includes general guides and schedules for various fitness goals such as losing weight and toning up, and provides useful action steps to help you get fit.
Let's look at the Lose Weight Fitness Plan. This 9-week plan is meant to reduce body fat percentage, reduce BMI, and drop weight. Each week is summarized and activities are listed for each day. Week 1 is a preparation week with general tips on restructuring your nutrition, how to set up your environment so that your space is conducive to your workouts, and begin learning the exercise movements. Weeks 2-4 are training weeks with varying sets of exercises each day. Week 5 is a recovery week to allow your body to rebuild and repair. Each day has warm-up and cool-down exercises. Weeks 6-8 are training weeks which are similar to weeks 2-4. Week 9 is Recover and Assess. This is when you recover from your training and assess your progress. Each day has warm-up and cool-down exercises.
The More tab has account information, contact information, terms and policy links, and a liability waiver.
The Bottom Line
The ReVision Fitness website (www.revisionfitnessprogram.com) offers much the same things. Major links on the site are the same as tabs in the mobile phone app. There are a few additional links, Message Board, profile, and Contact Us.
ReVision Fitness promises to become better and better and is very likely the app we have all been looking for. With its clear instructions and wide variety of exercises, it's time to get off the couch and get moving because we don't have any excuses anymore.
