Grunt Fit: Free Personal Trainer in Pocket

There seem to be a billion "fitness apps" out there these days. Some track your workouts, your food, or both - but none of that tracking matters if you're not sure what to do in the first place! It would be nice to be given the plan - the meals, the workouts, and everything from the ground up. The problem is, most of us can't afford the trainers and coaches that have this information.Enter Grunt Fit - a new type of fitness app that will give you all the tools you need to achieve your fitness and health goals, from workouts to meals. And did we mention that it's free?American Grit sat down with Daniel Alarik, the current CEO of Grunt Style and Alpha Outpost and the mind behind Grunt Fit, to talk about this incredible development in the fitness tech space.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO CREATE GRUNT FIT?

I was a personal trainer for a number of years. I noticed something while I was a trainer; if you weren’t a health nut or gym rat, you didn’t really know what to do. Even if you went in there regularly. You’re still figuring things out or doing the same thing. And every time you come in you look the same; year, after year, after year. And you haven’t really developed much. When I trained a lot of these people, you could see and hear their frustration because their attitude was, “Just tell me what I need to do.”Then when I was a drill sergeant I realized --if you give me control and let me tell you to what to do, I can make you very very healthy. I can get you what you want, and that's anything from being a warrior to being in great shape. That's the whole idea of what Grunt Fit is--it's taking those lessons and saying, "Hey, listen, this is not for everybody, but if you just want to get in great shape, let me tell you what you need to do be successful."

SO IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE BEING ABLE TO TAKE CONTROL AND GET IN SHAPE THROUGH THE INSTRUCTION THAT THE APP CAN PROVIDE.

Exactly! It’s like hiring a coach for fitness and nutrition. We’re just going to tell you what you need to do to be successful. You have a busy life? Don’t worry about, let the app tell you what you have to do.

YOU’RE COMING INTO A TECH SPHERE, OUT OF THE RETAIL SPHERE -- WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO CREATE AN APP?

Well, our brand is heavily invested into fitness anyway. A lot of us come from the military - I come from the fitness industry as well - and I still enjoy fitness and nutrition. This is a free tool to help people become better. The reality is I think we’re going to be able to change a lot of lives a lot of people who just want to know what to do. There’s a lot of apps out there, there’s a dozen of apps out there that say tell me what you did and I'll tell you how you’re doing -- who cares. I don’t think you need an app to tell you did pretty horrible. People need something that will genuinely help them.

THE APP IS GOING TO BE 100% FREE?

Yep. Downloading the app and using the tools you see in there will be free.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GRUNT FIT AND EVERY OTHER APP OUT THERE?

The biggest difference is the story we take you through. It’s the same as hiring a free personal trainer. You tell us everything about yourself. You take a quick quiz--it's really easy--you tell us where you are, you tell us where you want to go, and then we’ll custom build or we’ll take a model and tell you what you need to eat and what you need to do to exercise to reach that goal. That's it.

YOU JUST FOLLOW THE PROGRAM, AND YOU’LL GET THE RESULTS?

You follow the program. And listen you’re not going to be perfect. We don’t expect you to be perfect, but what we want to do is put a path in front of you. Stay on the path. You’re going to wander off sometimes, get your butt back on the path, and you’re going to be much better today than you were yesterday.

BECAUSE OF THE ASSOCIATION WITH GRUNT STYLE, SOME PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE THE IMPRESSION THAT THIS IS AN APP SPECIFICALLY FOR VETERANS OR FOR MILITARY STYLE WORKOUTS. CAN YOU MAYBE DISPEL SOME OF THAT?

The only thing that's military about it is probably how we preach the exercise--where we just tell you what to do. We’ve done all the research, we’ve done all the work ahead of time, now all you have to do is do it. Let your mind relax and just follow the instructions. You’re going to be successful and you’re going to have a fun time doing it.

WHAT WILL BE THE USER’S EXPERIENCE BE LIKE ONCE THEY DOWNLOAD THE APP?

It’s fun--it's like having a little buddy in your pocket. We’re even thinking about designing a character to chat with you. Maybe that's further down the line but it's very intuitive. Everyone we have shown previews to said that it is very easy to follow, it's fun to touch and you almost know how to work everything right away.

WHEN WILL THIS APP BECOME AVAILABLE FOR PEOPLE?

We'll have a beta release the week of June 19th. July 4th is our official launch date. And it's free, so we’re celebrating on freedom day.

WHAT DOES FITNESS PERSONALLY MEAN TO YOU?

Fitness to me -- it's a great time. I get to enjoy doing something challenging. It is not easy and sometimes it's not fun while you’re doing it but looking back you’re glad you did. It's like going to basic training. Sometimes it's not so fun and it's always challenging but you look back on it and you're proud that you did it.

WAS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANTED TO SAY THAT I DIDN’T ASK YOU ABOUT?

This app is not for everyone. It's not meant to be. It's for the people who JUST want to know what to do to be successful. It's not for gym rats and it's not for health nuts, because they already know what to do. This helps discipline you with knowledge and a time cadence.To learn more about Grunt Fit and to receive updates, visit their website.