The Official introPLAY Workout Competition

Every once in a while, we want to get everybody on introPLAY to join together in an introLEAGUE that we ‘officially’ sanction. The last time we did it was during the Olympics. Now, it is the end of the year, and with holidays approaching, we want people to end of the year, thinking of their workout goals and pushing through the end of ‘08!

So we have started The Official introPLAY Site Competition! The introLEAGUE is scheduled to start on December 1 and run for 30 days until December 30.

Joining the introLEAGUE is easy.

1. Register. Or if you are already a Player, log in.
2. Click on the following link:
   http://players.introplay.com/leagues/511/
3. Click “Join” and you’re done!

See you on the introLEAGUE Talk boards.

Spotlight on “Talk” Feature

One of the new features on introPLAY is the Talk feature. Talk lets you directly communicate with other users to provide (and receive!) motivation and advice. You can also banter with other Players (also called trash talking). Talk provides encouragement and support.

Best of all, you receive an email from introPLAY when you receive a new message, so you know when someone is reaching out to you on introPLAY–this is great to encourage another Player to stay motivated when you see him or her dropping off a bit, especially in an introLEAGUE.

There are three kinds of talk on introPLAY. Let’s look at each kind.

• 1-on-1 Talk. 1-on-1 Talk is found in the Locker Room. These are messages from one Player to another. 1-on-1 Talk is perfect to reach out to a teammate in an introLEAGUE who has not posted a workout recently. It is also great to provide private motivation to Players.The most recent messages from other Players will appear in your 1-on-1 Talk area. To see the entire conversation, just click “Reply” next to the message. You can type a message to respond or click “Close” to return to the main 1-on-1 Talk Screen.You can also send a 1-on-1 Talk message from another Player’s Player Card or from your Partners listing.
• Public Talk. Public Talk is found on your Player Card. These are messages from other Players that everyone can see when they visit your Player Card. Send some public support to your workout Partners. Or let others know what you are up to by posting a Public Talk message on your own Player Card.To add a Public Talk message to another Player, visit his or her Player Card and enter a message in the Public Talk area.
• League Talk. Each introLEAGUE has a League Talk. Motivate teammates, brag about moving up in the standings and talk trash to other Players using League Talk. Everyone in your introLEAGUE will be able to see your messages.

As you can see, no matter who you want to Talk to and how public you want to make your message, there is a way to Talk to them now using introPLAY’s new Talk feature. Enjoy!

An Olympic introLEAGUE

Source: Wikipedia

I am sure we are not alone when we say we are really inspired by the Summer Olympics every four years. The best athletes from all around the world together and competing in pure sport. Every time we sit and watch the Games, we want to get up and channel our own inner Olympic athlete to run faster, jump higher and be stronger.

To capture some of that inspiration and to celebrate the Olympic Games in Beijing, we here at introPLAY have started our own introLEAGUE workout competition to run at the same time as the Games. It is called “The *Official* introPLAY Olymics introLEAGUE”  and it is scheduled to run from the 9th to the 24th of August.

We hope that our introLEAGUE is a celebration of sport and camaraderie, much in the same way that the Games are. We want everyone to be competitive, but to have fun as well. Our goals and performances may be different than the Olympians, but by taking part in the Olympic introLEAGUE, we will all share in the spirit of the Olympics as the best athletes in the world motivate us in our own workouts. In many ways, that is what introPLAY is about!

If you would like to join, you must be a registered Player on introPLAY. Then head to the introLEAGUE home page and click “Join!” Sign ups end this Friday, the 8th, so hurry and sign up now.

(Check out the tour to learn more about introPLAY).

An All-New introPLAY

We are proud and very excited to announce the launch of the new introPLAY site. Here are just some of the new features you will enjoy:

• Faster and easier to navigate
• Talk features to send messages to other Players and in introLEAGUES
• Workout “Partners,” or introPLAY’s version of friends
• More stats, charts and analysis everywhere
• Alerts. Get important messages and notifications on introPLAY
• Easily track previous workouts from the workout entry screen
• Public Player Cards to increase your visibility

Current Players should take note of a couple of changes from the former site:

• Calisthenics and weight training have been combined into one activity called “Strength Training”
• Forums have been taken down for retooling and updating

Our “official” launch is going to be Monday but we wanted to try and roll the site out as smoothly as possible. Of course there are always obstacles: we have been bumping into issues with Internet Explorer. We recommend using the Firefox browser while we get all the issues sorted out with IE. We agree that this is far from ideal but we will have it resolved shortly. If you experience any other problems, please use the contact us form at the bottom of the site or email us.

Lastly, we want to thank all the Players who have participated in introPLAY from its early stages. We truly appreciate all your support. We are excited to get things rolling from here! The new introPLAY site is a major milestone as we strive to be the premiere Athletic Performance Network, providing the best community-based services to help you train and achieve your individual goals.

Welcome to the new introPLAY! Sign up today.

UPDATE (8/4): Check out the press release related to our launch.

Big Changes are Coming!

In a few short weeks we are going to be putting out a completely new version of introPLAY! We listened to all the great feedback from our Players and made a number of changes and additions to the site. Here are some things you can expect with our official launch:

• New look. Cleaner interface, easier to navigate.
• Faster!
• Easier to communicate with other Players
• More analysis
• More “friend” features

Thanks to all our current Players for your support, feedback and comments. We are really excited to bring you a better introPLAY!

One Million Minutes!

We are very excited to announce a major milestone since the launch of our pre-beta website. Players have logged 1,000,000 minutes of exercise on introPLAY! Just to put that number in perspective, one million minutes is the same as about 100 weeks of non-stop workouts 24 hours a day 7 days a week. That’s just under two years of constant physical activity!

We want to congratulate our Players for proving their commitment to athletics, fitness and health by tracking their workouts, starting introLEAGUES and being part of the introPLAY community. We want to thank you for working out with introPLAY and giving us valuable feedback. We love to hear how much you’re enjoying tracking your workouts and benefiting from using introPLAY. We are incorporating all your suggestions on improving your experience when we launch our full beta.

Thanks again and it’s great to see how we are improving our athletic performance and conditioning together. Let’s start the goal of reaching the next million minutes starting today!

New Activity and Hiking Intensities

We have made a few changes to the workout tracker that we wanted everybody to know about.

First, we added a new activity for Mixed Martial Arts. MMA competitors require a special brand of intensity and drive. We welcome all Players who take part in MMA to introPLAY.

Second, we have received a request from a number of hikers to add intensities to the hiking activity. Now you can split up your hikes into light, moderate and vigorous intensities. All hikes recorded before the change will be categorized as moderate. So if you did a recent hike and you want to be more specific about the intensity of the hike, now is your chance to do so. Just click on the appropriate date in the Workout Calendar on the left side, click on “Hiking” in the blue Workout Summary and then make your changes.

introPLAY Now on Facebook Platform

introPLAY has just launched the Workout Olympiad application on the Facebook platform. Now, you can keep track of your workouts and stay active and fit with friends right from your Facebook account!

With the Workout Olympiad, Facebook users can:

• Enter workouts in 90 different sports and activities
• View recent workouts of friends or all Facebook users
• See how you stack up against friends and other Facebook users in the rankings
• Check your performance stats
• Write a workout blog using the Notes feature
• Keep on top of injuries using the Injury Report

The Workout Olympiad can be used as a standalone application in Facebook, or you can link it to your introPLAY account! Linked accounts automatically sync which means that when you enter a workout in the Workout Olympiad on Facebook, it automatically contributes to your introPLAY website trophies, introLEAGUE standings and your overall stats!

We hope by integrating your workout habits into Facebook, exercise can become more social and fun, and part of your daily routine.

Join now!

Link to the Workout Olympiad

New Features in introPLAY

We would like to announce two new features on introPLAY–improved visibility settings and better automatic team selection in introLEAGUES.

Click here to see the profile visibility settings. If that does not work, click on “Profile” and then “Account Settings” from your introPLAY account. There are now three options for visibility.

• Low. Only friends and participants in your introLEAGUES can see your profile and your workouts will not show up in the Wokrout Ticker.
• Medium. Your profile will be viewable by all Players who are logged into introPLAY.
• High. Your profile will be viewable by anyone, even if they are not logged into introPLAY. They can view your profle at http://players.introplay.com/profile/[username]/

Our second new feature is better automatic team selection in introLEAGUES. Now, if you do not get around to choosing teams, we will automatically set up two teams as evenly as possible based on historic performance of all Players in the introLEAGUE. That will ensure more evenly balanced teams!

Start an introLEAGUE today to take advantage of the new automatic team creation feature!

Trophy Rooms Launch

We are proud to announce that we have launched the Trophy Room, the newest feature at introPLAY!

The Trophy Room is a collection of all the records, personal bests and milestones that you have accumulated on introPLAY. Now, each time you record a workout, you have a chance to earn a new trophy or improve upon a previously earned trophy. Collect trophies for working out more, achieving better performances or passing significant events during your introPLAY career.

Already, we have trophies for general hours of exercise, introPOINTS and running. We are constantly adding more categories and more trophies, so Players will have plenty of opportunities for new trophies. Let us know if you have any suggestions for new trophies or milestones.

You can find your Trophy Room by clicking on the “Profile” link at the top navigation bar and then clicking on “Trophy Room” in that section.

We hope you enjoy keeping track of your best performances using the Trophy Room at introPLAY!