Tone body and finances through app that pays you to workout

While your belly shrinks, your bank account could grow. A new app motivates people to exercise by paying them each time they work out and charging them for when they miss, according to an article by CBS.

GymPact, a free app, has the exercisers set goals on how many days they will exercise each week. They also select how much they are paid and how much they lose when they miss an exercise.

The minimum penalty is $5 but can be increased if the person wants more incentive. One man set a $100 penalty for himself.

On average, users earn 50 cents to $1 per day. The money comes from those who miss their goal. It’s enough to distribute among those who keep their goal.

"We've seen really good success so far," says Yifan Zhang, co-founder and CEO of GymPact, to CBS. "About 80 percent of the people who have signed up are hitting their goals."

Users link their credit card to it, so it is possible to go in the negative if workouts are continually missed. But if you are a consistent exerciser, it can slowly earn a little money.

Even though the app is free, it only counts at gyms, yoga studios, tennis courts or an area that can be verified as a workout location. Those who bike, walk the dog or jog outside can’t receive credit yet, although that’s expected to come.

"We're hearing that this is really important to our members, so we're working on it," said Zhang.

The minimum distance is at least half a mile, according to GymPact’s site. It also has to be at least 30 minutes of activity that exceeds two miles per hour. This is tracked by RunKeeper’s GPS.

The app has a four star rating. One of the most common complaints is not being rewarded more if the penalty is greater. Other complaints are that the workout is not being counted because of lots of bugs in the program. But the app is also fairly recent. It was only officially launched in January, which gives it time for bugs to be worked out.

EMAIL: alovell@deseretnews.com