Known by many and noted from the great Dr. Oz, motivation is the biggest hurdle people face when on their weight loss journey, so having an app that can help you put your money where your mouth is when you first want to start your workout plan while motivation is high is monumental! 

Released just this month, the new tool GymPact allows you to put a monetary value to the workouts you make or miss at your local gym.  Their very simple interface allows you to pick a value (you can pick from $5-$50) for your "pact" on your weekly "pact plan" (you can pick from 1-7 workouts a week).  Then you download their phone app so you can check in to your gym and track these workouts.  You'll lose your weekly pact if you don't make all your workouts or you can gain money from all those people that lost their pact if you make yours.  Pretty awesome right?!

So I actually signed up for GymPact this week.  You can only start your pacts on Mondays so mine hasn't started just yet, but I already have a great idea on how it actually works.

How it works...

• Super simple and intuitive interface. It's really easy to get set up, go on an indefinite break (essentially their way to cancel), or edit any of your settings.
• In order for a workout to count, you must be at a location for 30 min straight.  This functions through your check in via the mobile app.
• You can't cheat the system and make your couch "Gym Elena".  They authenticate each gym location you submit overnight to ensure it's really a gym or workout center.

Overall, I think this is AWESOME.  When I was a trainer, I would always try to implement the same concept with my clients by utilizing their spouse, roommate, coworker, whomever, to hold them accountable monetarily or with other rewards for making their workouts.  This option is just that, but an app won't cave under severe sweet talking and won't forget about the pact either.

The caveats...

• This doesn't work for running outdoors.  Major bummer for me considering at least 3 out 5 workouts a week for me are outdoors on the run.  Although on their forum they say they're working on a work around for this as speak, so hopefully a solution for this will come shortly.
• Authenticating the gym locations makes it so you can't cheat, but that means it won't work for any at home workouts.  I doubt there's any work around possible with this one, so sorry P90x users.

Overall takeaway...

If you have a gym, Pilates or yoga studio, etc. membership and want to work on staying consistent and increase your motivation to stick to your workout plan (who isn't?!) then sign up for this immediately!  You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.  If you do your workouts on your own and outside (like me) then you'll need to stick to the classic tactics of having a workout buddy, journaling, making milestones with rewards and taping your goals/vision to the frig.

Has anyone else signed up and used this service?  Even though I workout outside mostly, I'll continue and try it with a low pact plan to hold me accountable for my yoga studio workouts and will keep everyone updated on how it goes.