PJL Fitness: A Case Study in Human Action
TL;DR — For the health-conscious reader, a limited number of free accounts are available for the PJL Fitness Journal closed-beta using the beta-key: ‘healthy-medium’.
The PJL Fitness Journal is a browser-based application that empowers users to plan, track, and search workouts unlike any other fitness app available. Initially built as an individual project, the PJL Fitness Journal evolved in scope to become a platform capable of helping anyone get, and stay, healthy.
The PJL Fitness Journal
PJL Software recently launched a closed-beta for our latest product: the PJL Fitness Journal. The PJL Fitness Journal has been our biggest product to-date, and I wanted to take some time to reflect on the motivation behind the application and how we think the application can help others take action to improve their health.
The Decision to Act
Well known economist Ludwig von Mises defined three prerequisites in his book, Human Action*, that are necessary for humans to act:
- A dissatisfaction, or uneasiness, with current affairs
- A vision of a better state
- A belief that with purposeful behavior, we can reach that better state
When I first read this passage two-and-a-half years ago, it interested me enough to underline, but that was about it. It wasn’t until recently while reflecting on the launch of the PJL Fitness Journal, that I started to appreciate the truth behind those three prerequisites and the implications they could have.
*Henry Hazlitt described Human Action best when he said “The reader who aims at a thorough understanding [of economics], and feels prepared for it, should next read Human Action by Ludwig Von Mises.
Prerequisite One: Dissatisfaction
Whether it was organized sports, reps and sets at the gym, or a CrossFit WOD, I have been active my entire life. I have also had an affinity for data — particularly as it pertains to my health and fitness.
Before I had a smartphone, I would periodically use pen and paper to track my progress at the gym, and then copy those data over to Excel. When I got my first smartphone, I tried many different fitness apps to help keep track of workouts and the health metrics that interested me. Unfortunately, none of the methods stuck.
As important as the data were, the process of producing and consuming the data was too burdensome to maintain. Pen and paper was a flexible solution, but had inherent limitations with accessibility and searchability, and each app that I tried was either too limited or didn’t work as expected.
Although I stopped keeping track of my workouts, I did not stop working out, and thus my dissatisfaction was top of mind each time I missed an opportunity to record something from the gym in a structured and searchable way. This was so common that my dissatisfaction eventually crystalized into three main criticisms:
- Pen and paper was too cumbersome and low-tech to be worthwhile
- Smartphone apps were constraining both in terms of what types of activity they could capture and what devices they were available on.
- The app experience was complicated and clunky
Prerequisite Two: Vision of a Better State
Having tried so many methods to track my workouts and having clearly defined what about those methods left me dissatisfied, it was easy to form a vision of how an online fitness journal should work.
The ideal online fitness journal would have the following characteristics:
- Simplicity
- Support Across Fitness Domains
- Flexibility
- Support Across Devices
Simplicity. Any useful online fitness journal must be simple and straightforward to use. At an application-level, this means a clean and clear user interface and user experience. And at a fitness-level, this means users can add movements, metrics, and workouts effortlessly.
Support Across Fitness Domains. Very few people box themselves into one single workout style. Therefore, an online fitness journal should allow a powerlifter to track the occasional yoga session and a yogi to track the occasional lifting session.
Flexibility. An online fitness journal should take as little or as much detail as the user wants to provide. Additionally, the application should not dictate to users how to structure a workout, but instead accept the workout the user has chosen to do.
Support Across Devices. Few things are as frustrating from a technology standpoint as being forced to use only a smartphone or tablet. An online fitness journal should be accessible and editable from anywhere on any device.
Prerequisite Three: A Belief that with Purposeful Behavior, We Can Reach the Better State
Prerequisites one and two were easy to check off. Anyone who has used a piece of technology has doubtlessly experienced dissatisfaction with how the technology worked. And with dissatisfaction comes an expectation of how the technology should work. This is as far as many people get, however, and is as far as I got for about eight years.
It wasn’t until I started developing web applications at work a few years ago that I started to toy with the idea that I could simply build the application I had in mind. Soon this idea became a belief, and voilà! I opened up my computer and started coding.
The Fitness Journal for Me
Granted it took longer than planned, I eventually had a running fitness journal that I used to track my workouts the way I had always wanted. In addition to a sense of accomplishment, there were other positive side effects of using the application that I hadn’t expected.
One such side effect was that I was more motivated to work out than I had been before I started using the application. The extra motivation came from the gratification of putting a workout into the application and coming back to mark it as done; as well as being able to scroll through my workout history and see just how much I had already accomplished.
Another welcomed side effect was that I started getting more out of each workout. The ability to pull up previous workouts as a reference point gave me more confidence and increased my willingness to challenge myself during the workout at hand.
All of this compounded for what was the most significant side effect, which was that I was getting healthier. And I didn’t just feel healthier, I could see that I was healthier. I saw the workouts pile up, the weights increase, and health metrics improve. It was eye opening.
The Fitness Journal for Everyone
The positive effects the application had on me instilled the belief that the application could help others act to improve their health also. This belief morphed into action as I began turning my individual fitness journal into what is now the PJL Fitness Journal.
Although it once again took longer than I planned and is very much still under development, I’ve scaled out the original concept for a larger audience and formally launched the PJL Fitness Journal as a closed-beta. For the health-conscious reader looking for an edge in their ongoing battle with health and fitness, register for a free account using the beta-key: ‘healthy-medium’.
Looking back, I marvel at Von Mises’s ability to recognize and distill so precisely the prerequisites for human action and just how powerful meeting those prerequisites can be.
My hope for the PJL Fitness Journal is that it gives those who are dissatisfied with their health, and have a vision of a healthier self, the final element necessary to take action and make that vision a reality.
Some Helpful Links
YouTube application overview and walkthrough
