New fitness app sends "in your face" texts to get you moving

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Need a little nudge to get to the gym? At the recent DEMO conference for emerging technology in California, a startup company called Poosh unveiled its new free app designed to get you off the couch with what it's calling "in your face" motivational texts.

Reported in tech magazine PC World on September 16, Poosh uses SMS to send you push notifications and workout reminders from elite athletes, as well as tips on making smarter nutritional choices. You can choose between several categories geared for weight loss, general health, marathon training, and a category dubbed In Your Face. Think "Get off your lazy butt and do 5 pushups right now!!" according to the product's demo. Users can customize the content based on gender as well.

Jaime Komer, who won a silver medal for the USA Women's National Water Polo team at the Beijing Olympics, is in charge of the app content, which she hopes will motivate and empower Poosh users, according to the company website.

Poosh users can sign up to receive as many as three free messages per day, but they'll also get one health-targeted advertising message along with that.

Another option for fitness motivation is mobile fitness app FitFu, which hopes to get you out of your desk chair and on the ground doing crunches (unless your boss fires you first). The startup's $0.99 iPhone app sends periodic motivational messages letting you know when it's time for get moving, along with instructions for your mini-workout. The app also includes a Fu Time Diary so you can schedule your workouts in advance - that way you won't have to do pushups during your morning meeting.

http://www.poosh.com

Watch a demo of Poosh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYDvnoSSvnI