E-COACHING FOR FITNESS describes the increasing use of technological devices to enhance and improve physical fitness. Some devices are more main stream than others, but they all provide users with a coach that motivates them to perform and excel. Most e-coaching systems are designed to collect user data that can be analyzed to determine if performance is improving and to recommend alternate strategies to improve performance depending on user goals. Middle and high school physical education teachers are taking advantage of these technologies to monitor students in an effort to determine if their students are performing at their potential. 

One significant and well known contribution to e-coaching is the heart rate monitor that provides users with information related to their maximum heart rate. Users wear a transmitter, or chest strap, around their lower chest and can pre-program the receiver, normally in the form of a wrist watch, with high and low target heart rates. As users perform a physical fitness activity, the receiver will sound a beep or other audible alarm indicating the user is either working below or above pre-established goals. 

Figure 1 demonstrates another lesser known form of e-coaching. The personal training partner, found in some health clubs, provides guidance on proper form and speed.

Motivation is a key component to continued performance improvement. In the absence of a live coach, e-coaching technology can also provide users with motivation to continue with an activity long after they wish they had stopped. 

Figures 2 and 3 depict treadmill display modules that provide feedback to the user and visual stimulation to encourage them to continue. The screens provide a formative evaluation of the exercise as it is being performed and can serve as a replacement for face-to-face coaching. 

Fitness technology provides summative data on cumulative activities to demonstrate an increase or decrease in performance. Individual fitness profiles can be developed so users can customize their fitness activities to meet their personal goals.

Physical Education teachers are integrating the use of heart rate monitors in their classes not only to ensure their students are performing consistently with national fitness standards, but to also provide them feedback on how their physical condition is improving and to group them with students who have similar fitness capabilities.

When it comes to fitness and having a coach, many people think that a live person should field that role. More and more, we see technological approaches to coaching and motivating individuals to live healthier lives or perform better at a sports activity. E-coaching allows users to tailor and customize personal programs without relying on human intervention for immediate feedback.

Debbie Lindquist ，Graduate Student ，San Diego State University
Lindquist, D. (2005). E-coaching for fitness. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology.