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Title:

Nerds on the Run: Tech and Casual Fitness

Your vote:
Yes No
Organizer:
Josh Clark, Global Moxie
Description:
Creator of the überpopular "Couch to 5K" (C25K) running program, Clark has helped millions of skeptical would-be exercisers start jogging by making fitness more game-like. This talk reviews gadgets and services that transform fitness chores into tech-enabled play as video games or dazzling cascades of personal stats.
Questions
Answered:
  1. Why does exercise suck for so many people?
  2. How has the Couch to 5K program persuaded so many people who *loathe* exercise to start running and actually like it?
  3. How can you transform chore-like work into play-time effort?
  4. How can you get serious about fitness (or any kind of work) by taking it less seriously?
  5. What game-like elements can be applied to personal fitness?
  6. What mobile apps, websites, and gadgets can improve your attitude about personal fitness routines?
  7. How does instrumenting your workouts with a new generation of fitness gadgets and online services create tech-enabled play?
  8. How can you find new motivation by creating a delicous statistical mosaic of your personal fitness progress?
  9. How can social networking and online sharing sharpen your physical workouts?
  10. How do new technologies build upon old-school motivational methods like written exercise journals or running clubs?
Level:
Beginner
Category:
ARGs, Mobile Applications, Self-Help / Self-Improvement, Social Networking, Sports 2.0
Type:
Solo
Event:
Interactive 2010
Josh Clark
on 19/8/09
Hope you'll join me for a fun romp through the world of tech-enabled play in personal fitness. The Couch to 5K running program has been a huge hit because it introduced fun and usability to personal exercise, with a vast and supportive community. I'll riff on that philosophy to explore how a new generation of gadgets and services are making fitness accessible to more people simply by making it more fun and game-like. Discover how emerging mobile technologies are turning low-tech fitness chores into high-tech revelry.

A bit about me: I'm the author of the "Couch to 5K" (C25K) plan, perhaps the world's most popular program for helping new runners ease into jogging and create a new relationship with personal fitness. As a programmer and designer with a passion for usability, I'm fascinated with bringing a similar spirit of usability and delight to personal fitness. I'm also a chronic junkie for fitness gadgets and related services; as author of the best "Best iPhone Apps" book from O'Reilly Media, I'm dangerously familiar with all the latest fitness-related mobile apps.

You can find my bio at the O'Reilly site:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/3636

...and you can find my original C25K running plan from 1996 at the coolrunning.com site:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
Josh Clark
on 19/8/09
If you like this talk, please have a peek at my other panel proposal, "Best iPhone Apps: Ingredients for Apps that Delight":
http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/4964

Thanks for voting!
Josh
Erica Mauter
on 20/8/09
I'm totally one of those people that loathed exercise and learned to love running because of C25K. So excited for this panel!
MARY JOHNSON
on 21/8/09
What a fantastic idea!
a serafin
on 21/8/09
really great stuff!
Nancy Griffin
on 21/8/09
C25K really works and it sounds like this panel will help make getting fit even more fun!
Ken Dyar
on 21/8/09
I couldn't live (well life as I know it) without C25K & and Mr. Clark makes it so much fun!
james parrack
on 22/8/09
no more the loneliness of the long distance runner...
Ellen Livingood
on 23/8/09
The perfect combination of tech and training!
Kevin Molloy
on 23/8/09
I've seen how Josh's original C25K program attracted 10,000+ new runners every month going back 10 years and this is just a smart and logical extension of that basic program.
Jennifer Ball
on 24/8/09
Based on a fantastic article that I've sent to many friends who've gotten off the couch, and soon to be a book - this is an amazing plan. I've run with the man himself - he took me further than I ever thought I'd go.

Brad Randlett
on 24/8/09
Will attend as long as no actual exercise is required.
Charlotte Griffin
on 26/8/09
Sounds like its worth the effort; off the couch! I can't wait to hear how it goes!
Sandra Ball
on 28/8/09
Any creative way to get folks running is a formula for success. I'm having fun making patterns of my workouts using Run Keeper, an iPhone app Josh recommended in his Best iPhone Apps book.
katie hornstein
on 30/8/09
josh clark has inspired me to get off the couch!
Kristen Laakso
on 2/9/09
This program is super popular with many of my friends. I'd be very curious to hear what the speaker has to say about technology building on more traditional motivational techniques.
Susan Lawrence
on 2/9/09
Look around the office, guys. You know someone who can use this talk! It's relevant and timely, and no one can deliver it like Josh Clark. It will be a refreshing compliment to the typical sxsw fare.
lori cohen
on 2/9/09
Josh has provided inspiration for both my husband and daughter...2 thumbs up for this talk
free online games
on 24/10/09
Sounds like its worth the effort; off the couch! I can't wait to hear how it goes!
iphone ringtone maker
on 7/11/09
Love it! Look forward to seeing this in the mix of options when I arrive in Austin!
www nice
on 1/12/09
It would be nice to see the Midwest represented at SXSW Interactive
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