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Tech & Fitness: Two Ships Passing in the Night

I know it’s been a while since my last post (shame on me!). I went to SXSW a few weeks ago and my brain is still recovering from the tech-information overload. But now that the dust has settled, I’m able to share an interesting tech & health story from the conference.

On the third day of SXSW, I attended a panel entitled “Body Optimization: Why Stop at Health & Fitness?” The session was supposed to be about making the right health and fitness choices and creating effective lifestyle changes. It was moderated by former Chief Technologist of Technorati Tantek Celik, and the panelists included Noelle Murata, Kathryn Myronuk, and Sean Bonner.

I was thrilled when I saw that a health and fitness topic landed a session at a tech conference! I thought this would be right up my alley. When I arrived to the session, I set up my live blog on Tumblr so I could capture (what I hoped would be) an innovative discussion.

It ended up being an anecdotal session of how these once-unhealthy tech ‘geeks’ (and I mean that affectionately) finally changed their ways and adopted a healthier way of life. One lost 15-20 pounds by reducing his caloric intake and increasing his exercise (imagine that!). Another shared his transition into a vegan lifestyle. One lady pursued the art of yoga and became a certified instructor; the other, an advocate for supplementation (the last lady, I tuned out. She was a research economist speaking about a health-related topic I didn’t feel she had much authority on).

Where was the technology?! Did anyone use ExerciseFriends.com to find buddies to workout with? What about Podfitness to stay motivated? With a session next door about Second Life, didn’t anyone think to discuss the indoor spinning classes in the virtual world? How about an ‘amen’ for “I tracked my calories on MyPyramid.gov”? Nope. Nothing. No tech, no gadgets, no software. Not even an “I kept a weight-loss blog.”

Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing stories of people making lifestyle changes. (In fact, afterwards I congratulated them on their achievements). But these were uber-techno-nerds, man! I wanted to hear ways they used future bio-technology to reach their goals!

Then it suddenly occurred to me: if these techno guys are seeking out traditional ways of exercising, and fitness professionals are integrating more technology into their health-related efforts. Aren’t we just two ships passing in the night?

In light of all this, I decided (at the very least) to submit a panel proposal to SXSW for next year and show these tech guys how full of ‘code’ we fitness folks can be!

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