Fithacker

I've started work on Fithacker and already have an MVP - fithacker.netlify.app.

It turns out the secret to building a product fast is to have built a very similar product already 😆

95% of Fithacker is a rework of Veghacker. In fact, Fithacker is much simpler. Instead of 52 varieties of vegetables, it just logs 6 types of exercise:

• 🚶 Moderate aerobic
• 🏃‍♀️ Cardio/HIIT
• 🤸‍♀️ Flexibility/Balance
• 💪 Arm strength
• 🌴 Core strength
• 🦵 Leg strength

Most of the time has been spent choosing the emoji for each one. Still not sure about core 🌴 but I guess it kinda works.

The tech stack is Vue 3 + Vite + Netlify + Supabase, which are all awesome. Even if I'm the only one who uses Fithacker, at least I'm enjoying building it and learning a lot as I go along.

I wanted to keep an exercise log.

I had found habit tracking apps were too generalised for the specific job of tracking exercise. I had tried fitness apps and found them too time-consuming and complicated for me.

I just wanted to track whether I had done any of the major types of exercise each day:

• Walking (or other moderate aerobic)
• Cardio/HIIT
• Flexibility/Balance
• Arm strength
• Core strength
• Leg strength

So I have started recording that in a Google Sheet.

I could have started building an app there and then. I had already made Veghacker which was a similar thing, but before I dived into the code, I wanted to test this approach to tracking my exercise and see if it motivated me to do more.

Lots of apps can be modelled by making a spreadsheet. Often an app is just a friendly user interface on top of some database tables. Strip away that interface and you can get a sense of whether you are capturing and displaying useful data. In some cases, a Google Sheet or an Airtable is a sellable product!

I don't think that's the case with Fithacker. If it works for me as a spreadsheet, I will make it into an app. That way I can create a much better user experience for myself and anyone else who might use it.