Adding a fitness tracker is proven to boost engagement on health and wellness focused WordPress sites. This allows your users to self-monitor a variety of metrics including weight, body composition, diet, and exercise activity.
But how exactly do you build a fully-featured fitness hub on WordPress equipped with progress charts to visualize data? In this detailed guide, we‘ll show you step-by-step.
Why Fitness Tracking Matters
Recent surveys have shown that over 85% of consumers are more likely to purchase wearables and track their health data than 5 years ago [1].
Additionally, research by Carnegie Mellon University found that members who tracked their progress through "quantified-self tracking" tools showed a 27.6% increase in retention rates in online weight loss communities [2].
By offering users their own private dashboard to monitor fitness efforts, your website becomes a part of their journey – increasing engagement.
Metrics To Track
Common metrics that users may want to self-monitor include:
✔️ Weight – allow users to log their weight over time to quantify loss or maintenance.
✔️ Body composition – body fat percentage, lean mass, visceral fat rating etc.
✔️ Fitness tests – push-up count, VO2 Max run time, flexibility assessments etc.
✔️ Measurements – log changes in key areas like arms, waist, hips and thighs.
✔️ Heart rate & recovery – resting and workout heart rate trends.
✔️ Diet – daily caloric intake, macros, food logs.
Choose the factors most relevant to your audience. The more metrics you track – the more habit-forming your site becomes.
Powerful Features of Formidable Forms
Formidable Forms makes it easy to create full-featured calculators and trackers on WordPress even without coding skills.
Some of the premium features that enable complex fitness tracking include:
🔆 Multi-page forms – long, segmented forms won‘t overwhelm users. Break fitness questionnaires over multiple pages.
🔆 Repeatable fields – allow users to log multiple food items or daily fitness activities in one entry while keeping data organized.
🔆 Calculations – combine form data like age, weight and heart rate to calculate complex metrics for display like VO2 max.
🔆 Graphs and charts – visually plot a user‘s progress over time in the metric being tracked for easy analysis.
And much more – so you can create a tailored experience matching your needs!
Building a Weight Tracking Form
Let‘s walk through creating a basic weight tracker form step-by-step:
- In Formidable, click Create New Form and select Blank Form
- Add user ID field – captures currently logged in MemberPress user
- Add date field – for selecting weight check-in date
- Add number field labeled “Weight” – give unit options in form instructions
Customize as needed:
- Break onto multiple pages
- Set weight format to pounds with decimals
- Require form fields
- Set default to current date
- Addsubmit button – saves form data to entries
User is now ready to log their weight over time!
Repeat to build forms for body fat percentage, miles ran per week, heart rate variability, and more.
Transforming Data into Progress Charts
The true power comes from compiling user-submitted data into charts demonstrating their fitness journey over time.
For weight tracking, insert this shortcode:
[frm-graph fields="22" y_title="Weight" x_axis="21" x_title="Date" type="line" title="Weight Progress Over Time"]The result?
Charts instantly analyze trends in weight allowing users to course-correct their fitness regimen if needed towards their goals.
Integrations with Other Platforms
Formidable allows fitness tracking data to integrate with other platforms like:
👉 Payment platforms – MemberPress, Stripe, PayPal
👉 Email marketing – MailChimp, Constant Contact, AWeber
👉 Productivity apps – Zapier, Zoho, Integromat
For example, send email alerts via MailChimp when a user achieves a goal like weight loss of 10 lbs. Automatically add site members to your email list when they complete 3 fitness check-ins.
Fitness tracking doesn‘t exist in isolation. Use integrations to motivate users.
Why Fitness Tracking Enhances User Engagement
Adding a fitness dashboard provides the tools for users to quantify their efforts – which fuels motivation and accountability.
With Formidable handling the data capture and visualization of progress, you make the process simple. This drives habit formation with your site and brand.
Build trackers customized to your audience and watch engagement rise!
References
- Ledger 2022 Survey Finds 85% Of Participants More Likely To Purchase Wearable Health Tech Than 5 Years Ago. (2022). https://www.ledger.com
- Wang, Y., Kraut, R., & Levine, J. M. (2015). Eliciting and receiving online support: using computer-aided content analysis to examine the dynamics of online social support. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(4), e99.
