Workout using voice commands!
Introduction
One of the major features that differentiate the Handstand Quest app from most fitness apps in the market is the capability to direct the app to do things for you through your voice.
What makes this functionality even more special is the fact that you do not have to say “Hey Siri” before every voice command you need to make!
Here are some of the things you can do:
Time your exercises with precision. For example, you could say “select handstand” to select the Handstand exercise. Then once you go into the handstand, you could say “start” and the app will start tracking your exercise. When you get out of your handstand, all you have to say is “stop” and the tracking will end for your exercise. This can help you make so many repetitions of handstands while getting them measured with almost no effort. You could also, say “count to 30” to get yourself to do an exercise for 30 seconds or 30 reps!
Freestyle Fitness. This is basically the idea of doing whatever exercises you want without following a structured workout. Best of all, the app will measure everything that you’re doing based on your voice signals, so when you’re done with your freestyle workout, you could actually see the level of effort you actually put in. Here is how you would do this: (1) “select plank” to select a plank, “start” to start tracking then “stop” to be done. (2) You can select another exercise from 100’s of available exercises in the app, or you can create your very own custom exercises that you can select with your specified voice command. (3) You could say “next”, “previous” to navigate exercises within the same category.
Workout Efficiency. Even if you’re following a structured workout, you could efficiently customize it based on your current energy. For example, let’s say you’re resting before the next exercise and there are 3 seconds remaining. You need another 20 seconds because you’re tired and you want to do the next exercise with good form, then you could say “Extend” the rest time will get extended! When you have extra energy, you say “skip” to skip the resting and jump right into the next exercise in the workout. Finally, if there is an exercise you do not like doing, you simply say “next” to jump to the next exercise.
Video Recording. While working out, if you say “camera”, the app will open the camera. Now, when you track your exercise, the app will also record a video of you with a timer overlay on top of the video showing the time spent.
Below are a few screenshots to guide you to using some of the features in the app.
In case you are interested, below is the full voice command guide, which is also available within the app. If you got the gist of this feature, you may jump to the conclusion of this article and check out the guide anytime later.
Voice Command Guide
A key focus area in this app is to enable you to do “almost” everything hands-free, so you can focus on improving your handstands.
Before the app can respond to your voice commands, you need to turn on the mic:
Tap the mic in the top right navigation, and it will indicate once it is enabled.
Speech Recognition Troubleshooting
On certain devices, you might have issues turning on speech recognition. If you've given the app all the permissions, and it is still complaining with error message "Speech recognizer is not available.", then you might want to try **one** of the following:
- Go to General / Settings / Keyboard, and
Enable Dictation Make sure
Siri is enabledon your phone.Close the app and then reopen it.
Tracking Exercises
Let's start with the basics.
start<or data-preserve-html-node="true" any other keyword you've configured in settings>stop<or data-preserve-html-node="true" any other keyword you've configured in settings>count to 10countdown 10
Start
Starts tracking the selected exercise. Similar to play exercise button.
This command can be customized in the settings. You can change it to whatever you want. For example, "go" instead of "start”.
Stop
Stops tracking current exercise. Similar to pause exercise button.
This command can be customized in the settings. You can change it to whatever you want. For example, "pause" instead of "stop".
Count To
Starts tracking the selected exercise for a number of seconds or reps. Saying count to 20 or count 20 will count up to 20 reps for rep-based exercises, and up to 20 seconds for time-based exercises.
This command won’t work if an exercise tracking has already started.
Countdown
Waits for specified seconds before starting tracking. For example, saying countdown 5, will count down from 5 to 1 before starting exercise tracking.
This command won’t work if an exercise tracking has already started.
Selecting Exercises
There are several ways to select an exercise to track, to make it easier for you.
- By Name: click on “View Details” in the Exercise list to view exercise details and the specific voice commands to use to select that exercise.
- By Number: This is a number from 0 (for handstand) to the total number of the exercises.
- By Category: This can be “favorites”, "warm ups", "progression", "inversion", "strength" and "meditation".
You can also pick exercises by saying next, previous, random, etc...
Note that, for convenience, the app automatically starts tracking an exercise when selected. If you have a countdown interval (3 by default), the app will count down for 3 seconds before starting tracking.
pick handstandpick 55pick warmupselect alternating<same data-preserve-html-node="true" as "pick", but does not auto-start>nextpreviousrandom
Pick
Picks an exercise to track. To pick an exercise by name, say “pick handstand”. To pick an exercise by number, say “pick 5” and that will pick exercise number 5. To pick by category, say “pick warmups” or “pick favorites”.
Go to exercise details from the Exercise list to view specific commands to pick an exercise. It automatically starts tracking so you don't have to say start to start tracking after a new exercise is selected.
Select
Selects and exercise (same as pick) but does not automatically starts tracking.
Next
Navigate to the next exercise in the current category. It automatically starts tracking so you don't have to say start to start tracking after a new exercise is selected.
You can also say “Go next” or “jump next”
After
Similar to next, but it does not auto-start exercise
You can also say “Go after” or “jump after”
Previous
Navigate to the previous exercise in the current category. It automatically starts tracking so you don't have to say start to start tracking after a new exercise is selected.
You can also say “go previous” or “jump previous”
Before
Similar to previous, but it does not auto-start exercise
You can also say “Go before” or “jump before”
category after
Navigates to the current exercise in the next category. It does not auto-start tracking.
category before
Navigates to the current exercise in the next category. It does not auto-start tracking.
Random
Select a random workout. It does not auto-start tracking.
Workout Player
While playing a workout, there are some voice commands you can use to make it really easy to navigate through the workout without using your hands.
skipextendstartandstopnextand 'previous'
skip
Say skip or start on the Rest screens, to skip the rest and jump right into donig an exercise.
extend
Extend the rest time. For example, if you're on the rest screen and you need a bit more time to rest before jumping on to do the next exercise, you can say extend and that will extend the rest time by 20 seconds.
start
If not already started, this would started tracking the current exercise in the workout player.
stop
If not already stopped, this would stop tracking the current exercise in the workout player.
next
Say next or after to jump to the next exercise in the workout.
next
Say previous or before to jump to the next exercise in the workout.
Other
Beyond tracking and selecting exercises, there a few other things that can be done to let you effectively interact with the app, while you’re busy working out.
go backcameraflipfinishwhat time
Go back
Navigates to the current exercise in the next category.
If there is a back button in your navigation, saying “go back” would let you back to the previous screen. | If there is no back button, this command won’t do anything.
Camera
Opens up the camera to enable you to record a video per exercise you track. Once the camera opens, you can say “start” and “stop” as usual. When you stop tracking, a video with timer overlay will get recorded.
The longer the video, the longer it takes to record it. Reason it will take some time is because every frame in the video is modified by adding an overlay (ex: timer value or rep count).
Flip
Flips the camera.
Need to have the Camera view open for this to work.
End
Turns off the mic.
Clearly, after the mic is turned off, you cannot use voice commands.
Variations: finish.
What Time
Tells the user what the current time is.
Conclusion
I hope you will benefit from the above features. Honestly, all of this does not mean much to me if there aren’t people making good use of it, so please don’t hesitate to send some feedback my way (or email info@humanquest.net directly), it’ll make a lot of difference, and I will take action based on your input.
If you have suggestions for new features, please add them on the public roadmap.
Most of all, enjoy your practice and keep improving that balance, in your handstands and in your life!