SuperBodies Review

There is no such thing as a perfect body, but the concept of a superbody begs to explore the symbiotic relationship between nature and nurture. SuperBodies appealed to me for myriad reasons, including the endorphin high I receive from an hour of kickboxing at the gym.

Developed by Peace Point Entertainment Group, SuperBodies earns high marks for the sheer volume of information it delivers. The developers did not dilute language specific to medical, health, wellness, and athletic experts. Hosted by Dr. Greg Wells, SuperBodies fluently explains plyometrics, kinesthesics, and the ability of super athletes, such as synchronized swimmers, to double their oxygen capacity while under water. While all of these facts are interesting, even as a person working in the health field, I found myself getting bored by technical terms, and the sheer output of information was too much to process at times.

The video of Olympic athletes competing in gymnastics, badminton, boxing, volleyball, and synchronized swimming, is clear and fun to watch as Dr. Wells explains the heart, lung, brain, reflex, and muscle functions of athletes competing in Olympic sports. Using visuals to augment the technical jargon was helpful and is a nice feature.

After explaining the basic science behind athletes with super bodies, the app gives stats and vital signs of the athletes and allows the user of the app to either rotate the screen with their choice of iOS device or drag his or her fingers across the screen to explore the heart, lungs, etc. The clear and concise video of Dr. Wells and the athletes‘ performances unfortunately segued into less sophisticated graphics of physical anatomy and stats. On my iPhone, these graphics appeared grainy and blurred.

Overall, SuperBodies is informative and at times perhaps overly technical with its terminology. Although learning new information about Olympic athletes and the way their super bodies function was enjoyable and even exciting, the app is repetitive, and the features that promise an inside look into the anatomies of super athletes were lackluster and appeared to need further developing.

Are super bodies born or made? Do years of rigorous training and a lifetime of devotion to a sport cause an otherwise average person to develop superior physical capabilities, or do genetics determine our destiny? SuperBodies leaves all of that and more hanging in the balance.