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New Site Pays You to Workout

Posted on Oct 5th 2010 1:00PM by Kristen Seymour

Filed Under: Fitness

woman run mountains Getty

What motivates you to exercise? Maybe you want to have a lean body, a healthy heart or just want to be able to have a few pieces of pizza without worrying about your waistline.

But what if looking and feeling good isn't quite enough to get you to the gym? You want a reward for your hard work, darn it. And Earndit is here to help you out.

Earndit is a site that provides rewards for your workouts. The premise is simple: You sign up on Earndit using a tracking service such as Nike+, Foursquare, Everytrail, Garmin Connect or, coming soon, Fitbit. These services then help you earn points for workouts.

For example, if you check in at the gym using Foursquare, you get 15 points (unless you're the mayor, in which case you earn 20 per check in). If you use a service that tracks your distance, you earn a certain number of points per mile based on whether you travel by foot, bike, skate, paddle or skateboard.

Once you've earned points, you can exchange them for rewards ranging from coupons to online consultations with a professional trainer.

We love this concept. Hey, even lifelong runners and gym rats can use a little extra motivation! But the site has a little way to go. Of course, tracking systems have to be used in order to keep people honest, but there are a lot of them out there -- it would be great to have the option to use more of the apps available on different phones. And we're looking forward to more companies signing on to provide rewards. We like free jewelry and stilettos as much as the next girl, but we can see this really taking off when people can start earning points toward, say, a free GPS watch or other cool workout device.

And we'd really like to see ways to add to the types of activities that can be counted toward points. If you provide proof you've signed up for a race, could that count? Or what about somehow transferring information from, say, the Wii Fit?

It might be a bit of a wait for all this since Earndit is still quite new. The founders admit they aren't even making any money off it -- yet. But we think that will change. This is a novel idea that plays off the popularity of social media, and with the way social media has taken a shine to fitness, it's a perfect match. Will you be signing up? If not, what's holding you back?

Real-Life Success Stories to Get You Motivated:
Music Helped Marina Shed 100 Pounds
Theodora's Swapped Takeout for Workouts
Baby Steps Led to This 250-Pound Weight Loss

3 Comment

Tags: earndit, fitbit, foursquare, garmin connect, nike+, points, prize, reward

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Andres Moran 10-05-2010 @ 7:43PM

Thanks for that awesome write-up on Earndit! We couldn't have described it better ourselves.

Our goal is to make Earndit available to as many people as possible. To that end, we're looking to integrate with many more tracking apps out there, particularly on different phones.

As for the rewards, we're constantly on the hunt for cool new rewards to add to Earndit. In fact, we'll be announcing a few additions real soon (one of which is a running shoe company)!

That was a great idea you mentioned about giving points for completing a race. I love it.

Thanks again, and if any of you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at dremoran@earndit.com.

Andres

Koryn Dimock 10-06-2010 @ 12:21AM

I would love to be able to use it with my Wii. We no longer have mobile phones because of the cost. Same with a gym membership. That's why we use the wii, and walk. Are there more options for people like me? Thanks!

cwaltz 10-06-2010 @ 2:44PM

This sounds great in theory but the program basically leaves out the broadest swathes of people who really need a service like this. People who don't have the means to purchase a gym membership or flashy equipment to keep track of their data. People who have limited means to buy healthy food. The people at the top of the economic food chain don't need the incentives(although I'm sure some might want them). It's the bottom of the economic food chain that has the largest difficulty maintaining a healthy life style. Stress, poor and highly processed diet, inability to pay for routine health visits, and a lack of time or the means to pay for exercise equipment that does the tracking all are factors that make the poorest in our country vulnerable. It isn't any coincidence that the poorer states like Mississippi or Louisiana are some of the least physically healthy among US citizens.

My suggestion would be to consider corporate sponsorship (look into companies offering their employees incentives for losing weight or quitting smoking)or look into perhaps finding a partnership with some of the insurance companies that are already offering incentives.