How to Self-Shoot For Better Results

With the popularity of online fitness programs and home gyms on the rise, there is an increased need to analyze and monitor exercise techniques, body position, tempo, and movement patterns. Quality movement delivers quality results while eliminating nagging exercise-related tweaks and strains. Training alone makes self-recording exercise difficult despite incredible improvements in cell phone picture and video quality. It’s one thing if you’re performing stationary movements in the same spot, but a whole other situation if a workout includes activities like sprinting or dynamic exercises like crawling or lunging.  The solution? Learning how to harness the power of digital, and find out how you can self-shoot your own fitness journey!

Introducing: self-shooting

Exercise technique coaching is a significant contribution that a personal trainer delivers during a workout session.  The value of progressively improving exercise technique cannot be understated. Learning to move correctly using the right muscles will produce better results while maintaining safety and boosting performance.  

Self-shooting exercise for later playback is a powerful way to improve movement quality and get the most out of training.  Whether you’ve been training for decades or are new to fitness, anyone can benefit from enhancing technique.  It’s easy (and expected) to think your body is doing one thing while actually doing something else altogether. 

One of the biggest frustrations with self-shooting anything, much less physical activity, is keeping things in the frame. Even an experienced self-shooter is going to have bad days.  

Anyone who’s attempted self-shooting is undoubtedly familiar with the frustration of getting the setup just right.  Feeling great about on-screen performance only to find out your head clipped from the shot is defeating.  Shooting a mid-to-long form video and realizing afterward that you weren’t in the frame 50% of the time (or more!) is soul-crushing.

Many of us have felt this pain, and unless you’re using the exact same environment, distance and format, self-shooters are frequently forced to delete a lot of poorly shot content.

Free cellphone mounts exist in the form of shoes, coffee cups, chair backs, window sills, and other ordinary household items. The appeal of a free setup is generally met with the tedious task of making endless adjustments to the camera. A tweak here and there eats up valuable time and decreases productivity. Hodge-podging a camera setup may work for a bit, but those who self-shoot regularly know it’s problematic.  

Fitness enthusiasts and athletes can do better. 

The solution to these issues? Pivo Pod Active.

What is Pivo Pod Active?

Pivo Pod Active is a hands-free, AI-powered tripod mount that detects movement during physical activities.  This smart tripod mount is equipped with 4 different tracking speeds, Auto Zoom, and 360° Auto Tracking. Pivo Pod Active keeps your body in the frame to capture essential details of an exercise or entire workout.  

In addition to body and face tracking that’ll keep you centered in the frame, Pivo Pod Active comes equipped with a super smooth auto-zoom technology that reacts to distance. Here are a few ways Pivo Pod Active can add value to training.    

Improving running mechanics 

Sprint training is a highly beneficial activity and the perfect way to highlight the benefits of Pivo Pod Active’s ability to maintain body tracking and auto-zoom technology. The further you are from the device, the closer the zoom. Pivo Pod Active can zoom out halfway through the sprint to keep you in the frame (while rotating to track your movement). Moving beyond the middle of the sprint, Pivo Pod Active will sense the need to re-engage the zoom the further you move away from the unit.  

The transition is smooth and seamless!

For people looking to improve running or sprint performance, honing in on mechanics, foot strike, stride rate, and arm swing will make a huge difference. The best way to improve is to self-shoot and analyze your current movement pattern flaws and improve on them with practice.

Pivo Pod Active simulates having a training partner with you to capture every move, all hands-free.

Pivo in the gym

The fitness applications of Pivo Pod Active extend beyond fast-moving, distance covering activities like running and sprinting.

Applications to leverage Pivo features in the gym setting are only limited by your creativity and imagination.  Resistance training is critical to building lean muscle, improving strength, power, and overall athleticism. The problem is, resistance training can be intimidating and foreign for many, especially regarding technique execution.  Many people know which exercises to do, but they lack the training experience and feedback to do them correctly. The value of self-recording activity for future playback is an underrated method for improving technique, movement quality and results. 

The solution? Self-shoot your exercise!  

“Wait, can’t I just use a mirror?”  

Traditional mirrors do provide feedback on body position during exercise. Still, few people have access to body-sized mirrors in a home gym space (and definitely not outside). Mirrors also don’t allow for playback to review.  In addition, many exercises don’t benefit from having mirrors around, especially if you’re not training in an upright kneeling, sitting or standing position.

Bench press, push-ups, kettlebell swings, and Turkish Get-Ups are great examples of movements that require a head position not conducive to staring into a mirror, and this is where a quality tripod mount delivers value. Plus, movement is a 3-dimensional experience, which only a camera is capable of capturing.  

More specifically, if you have interest in kettlebell training, Turkish Get Ups are a great exercise to learn and build. Turkish Get Ups require a fixed gaze on the kettlebell overhead, making it impossible to watch yourself while shooting. Turkish Get Ups are also a level-changing exercise (moving from a lying position to a standing position) where Pivo’s Auto Zoom technology is sure to keep you in the frame. 

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Workouts should be time efficient for long-term adherence. The goal should be to get in, perform quality work in a timely manner, and move on with life. Hands-free recording a 4-5 exercise circuit using various movements and equipment in different locations is game-changing. Pivo’s AI technology follows along as you transition from chin-ups on the squat rack, walking lunges, and push-ups, finishing with a heart-pumping 250m row.  

Pivo Pod Active is ideal for fitness enthusiasts and athletes who want to capture critical aspects of their training to improve results while focusing on what matters most: the movement.