[HN Gopher] Show HN: Traindown - A language to help athletes exp...
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       Show HN: Traindown - A language to help athletes express their
       training
        
       Author : tylerscott
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2021-01-23 18:20 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (traindown.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (traindown.com)
        
       | roganartu wrote:
       | This looks really cool. I currently track my workouts with the
       | Strong ios app but I've been thinking lately about a few things
       | it lacks. One example is missed reps (which Traindown looks like
       | it supports!)
       | 
       | I'm a weightlifter that used to be a powerlifter and have also
       | done more bodybuilding-style programs previously too. One thing
       | common in weightlifting programs that I'm yet to find any tools
       | that support natively are complexes. These are typically notated
       | like "Exercise+Exercise" or "Exercise Exercise", with the set/rep
       | notation normally being "3x2+1".
       | 
       | For a concrete example, a program might have a complex like
       | "Snatch Deadlift + Hang Snatch + Snatch" for "3x2+1+1", which
       | translates to "perform 3 sets, where one set is 2x deadlifts, 1x
       | hang snatch, and 1x snatch". I suppose from a data perspective
       | it's like nesting sets within a set.
       | 
       | I looked through the guide and the spec, but couldn't figure out
       | how I would represent complexes in this notation. Any ideas?
        
         | tylerscott wrote:
         | Thanks for the kind words!
         | 
         | I also have a background in Olympic weightlifting and know
         | exactly how convoluted complexes can get.
         | 
         | Currently, I model those as either supersets (when it fits) or
         | I name the complex as the movement and then use the metadata to
         | get at a data shape that mostly fits.
         | 
         | Example of supersets would be something like
         | 
         | Clean: 150 2r 5s + Jerk: 150 5s
         | 
         | For a clean double, single jerk. The named complex just
         | captures the reps and weights per submovment in the metadata.
        
       | 1-more wrote:
       | I've never seen one of these that could handle accommodating
       | resistance (bands and chains) or partial range of motion. This
       | would I think have then be different movements, same as using
       | Strong on iOS.
        
       | joshuakelly wrote:
       | Woah, this is super cool!
       | 
       | I've maintained a training log in a spreadsheet for the last two
       | years that's become a horrible mess that never really quite
       | matches my mental model.
       | 
       | This strongly reminds me of another of my favorite text projects:
       | ledger. Similar to that project, I can imagine a bunch of
       | immediately useful processing commands on the data for things
       | like listing PRs, estimating current maximal effort performance,
       | or showing a quick progress report.
        
       | tylerscott wrote:
       | Hey folks! I would love to get some feedback on this project if
       | you have a spare moment.
       | 
       | The intent is to provide a common format for training data.
       | 
       | By training data, I mean data you'd commonly find in a workout
       | app. Think "Squats at 500 for 10 reps" sorta thing.
       | 
       | Anyhow, thanks for looking!
        
         | alicorn wrote:
         | Can you quickly explain how this meshes with existing data
         | formats such as gpx or fit? Will there be converters? Can
         | traindown express time series or is it more of a high level log
         | (I did x of y at parameters w and z) thing?
        
         | blensor wrote:
         | I am developing an open-source full-body VR fitness game [1]
         | It's mainly for body-weight exercises, but if it makes sense to
         | use Traindown for showing the results in a readable manner and
         | having it in an interchangeable format I would be interested to
         | add support for that.
         | 
         | Here is a video showing what I mean [2] and here is how the
         | data is currently presented [3]
         | 
         | [1] https://vrworkout.at
         | 
         | [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c-74EfrKAQ
         | 
         | [3]
         | https://portal.vrworkout.at/share/944835fbb97e451395ea3d2944...
        
           | aloisdg wrote:
           | I love the idea. Open to try it one day.
        
         | solumos wrote:
         | As a runner/triathlete, this is pretty useless to me. As
         | another commenter describes - we prefer real-time time series
         | data. TrainingPeaks captures everything I could think of.
         | 
         | Seems like it might be useful for lifting though. At the same
         | time, I don't know that the "common format" problem is really a
         | problem. When I've logged lifting workouts, I just used the app
         | for the program I was on (Starting Strength). Maybe more
         | serious lifters feel differently...
        
         | yunesj wrote:
         | One use case might be for the routines prescribed by physical
         | therapists.
         | 
         | IIRC, my PT from Kaiser Permanente gave me access to a workout
         | app, but none of the sets, reps, or durations matched with what
         | my PT wanted me to do. It would have been nice to take the
         | routine and import it into a better app.
         | 
         | It seems like it would be pretty hard to account for all the
         | small variations though!
        
         | mb7733 wrote:
         | As someone who used to log lifting in plain text files (copied
         | from a notebook) I think this is a really good idea.
         | 
         | To avoid all of the comments from people asking about GPS
         | tracking, I think you should make it clear that it's primarily
         | for strength training. The format is clearly oriented around
         | that.
         | 
         | An addition that could make it more useful for recording cardio
         | workouts like swimming/track/indoor cycling would be the
         | concept of rest intervals. For example, it's common to
         | prescribe a part of a swimming workout in a format like this:
         | 4 x 100 at 1:20
         | 
         | Meaning you have 1:20 to complete each 100m rep, where any
         | extra time is rest. You could also add extra fields for
         | recording the actual time taken to complete rach rep. E.g:
         | #Unit: m       #TimeFormat: M:S              4r 100 @1:20
         | 1:05, 1:07, 1:11, 1:06
        
       | TACIXAT wrote:
       | This is absolutely awesome. I've thought about recording sessions
       | in markdown before and this is way better since the data will be
       | readily parsable.
       | 
       | Some bodyweight examples would be cool (pullups with no weight).
       | Also meta variables for location / time of the workout, like what
       | Diarly (iOS) has.
       | 
       | Edit: I see the bw example in the FAQ now.
        
       | ivan_ah wrote:
       | Direct link to /guide/ page that contains samples:
       | https://traindown.com/guide/
       | 
       | seems pretty nice -- ez way to keep logs, reminds me of medical
       | shorthand
        
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