Gimme20: MySpace on a diet

Gimme20 is a new site that pulls fitness routines and tips together with social networking features. Profiles combined with geolocations help you find and connect with people to work out with. Ideally, these features could help you share tips on the best spots to run, hike, or find an open treadmill on a Monday night. Gimme20's usefulness is only limited by its currently small user community.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Like other social networking sites, the bread and butter of Gimme20 is to make interactions with other people as easy as possible. When a member posts a workout, others can comment on how to improve it or what worked the best for them. You can also recommend a workout by giving it a vote up; the most popular routines hit the front page, similar to news stories on Digg.com. The truly hardcore can access a mobile version of the site on their cell phones to submit workout results or create blog posts while still at the gym. Gimme20 also has a feature that lets you keep track of your weight, your waistline measurement, or how many bags of Skittles you've had on a daily basis.

One of the cooler features on the site is the ability to build your own custom workouts from suggested routines. To test this feature, we checked out a few of the top routines and "borrowed" the parts we wanted. It's got an add-to-a-workout button similar to an online shopping cart. You can then repost your new creation for others to see or print it to take to the gym. The printouts have pictures of each exercise, along with short, how-to descriptions in case you're trying out something new. We like the fact that even unregistered users can access all workouts and print them.

Gimme20 is a full-featured site, but limited by its small community of about 1,000 users. The statistical tracking and the workout building are easier to use than an Excel spreadsheet, and they can still be useful within the currently small number of active users.