Just in time for those new year resolutions, PushupFu is a new paid-for iPhone/iPod Touch application designed to get you fit, via press-ups. There are now a lot of fitness apps available for the iPhone. Current leader WeightBot lets you weigh yourself daily. Other like iPump let you email your progress to virtual Gym buddies. However, there are none I know of which have turned exercises into a Wii Fit-style game where you can pit yourself against others on the same service – exactly what PushupFu does. The app was conceived, designed and coded by UK-based geekpreneurs Jof Arnold and Benjie Gillam under a new boostrapped venture, FuApps, which will produce exercise apps and mini-games based on fitness.
Using PushupFu is pretty fun. Once the iphone or iPhone Touch is strapped to your arm, PushupFu uses the device’s accelerometer to count your pushups. It will even shout instructions like “Slower!” and bitch at you if you don’t get it right, just like a personal trainer. Once you’ve completed a set of pushups your progress is recorded for you to monitor. The difference is that you can actually uses these stats to challenge a friend to a pushup battle from within the application. With the iPhone acting as a third party verification that you did actually do the pressups, you effectively get an instant gaming network. You score points for doing pushups and more for winning battles. A bit like the “100 pushups” meme meeting the Wii Fit. That’s assuming they get enough people to fork out the £1.79 / $2.60 first.
Right now Uk iPhone owners have to browse to the app from the App Store > Categories > Health and Fitness > Release Date (tab at top) – PushupFu is currently the 3rd entry. US visitors can get it direct from this link to the App store.