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CLASS 8 UPDATE
The information can be captured directly
onto the app, which will then give feedback and
guidance to the driver on their risk factors and
what to do about them.
The app’s home screen has a series of buttons
for various aspects of the program. “The intention
is that each driver will use the buttons differently,
some more than others, to their specific needs,”
Kane said.
As an example, the nutrition button is one that
most everyone will use, but in different ways. If a
user is trying to lose weight, the app can set up a
diet plan based on their caloric and macro needs.
“We’ll put you on a very safe, 500-calorie deficitper-day
diet,” Kane said. “If it’s good food choices,
that’s enough to lose a pound a week.” Once you
calculate your caloric needs, you subtract 500 to
get your goal per day, he explained.
The user can type in the name of a food, scan
a barcode, or search by restaurant and the app
will give calorie counts and amount of fats, carbs
and proteins, sodium and sugars and keep track
of their intake throughout the day.
Another useful tool, Kane said, is the Predict
My Meal feature.
“If I’m a driver and I pull up and there’s three
fast food places and two sit-down restaurants, the
app can tell the best choices for their needs at
all of them before they go inside any of them,”
he said.
When drivers press the Fitness button, they
can find out what exercise options are available at
the next TA/Petro or if there are gyms nearby in
the Rolling Strong network. Or they can access a
video library of workouts for truckers suitable for
all fitness levels.
There are also buttons marked “Sleep” and
“Hydration,” two areas of wellness that are often
overlooked, especially hydration, Kane said.
“How hydrated we are affects how we think,
how alert we are, how we sleep, how we metabolize
food,” he said. It’s so easy to get in the habit of
drinking soda or energy drinks or coffee, which
can make your energy spike then crash, which is
dangerous behind the wheel.
With the sleep function, drivers can find nearby
rest areas and hotels with truck parking. Using a
wearable device, or entering manually, they can
log the amount of sleep they’re getting.
Drivers with sleep apnea will soon be able to
log the time they use C-pap devices.
Since the app’s introduction, Rolling Strong has
added a rewards system. Drivers can earn points
for getting a good night’s sleep, for hydrating,
getting exercise or hitting their dietary goals.
Those points can be traded in for merchandise.
The rewards system adds a game element
to the app. Along with the enhanced mapping,
one of the areas of improvement to the app is the
social interaction aspect.
Rolling Strong has a team of coaches available
to offer advice and encouragement. It can be
something as simple as having your coach help talk
you out of that giant slab of lasagna or getting indepth
advice about your diet and workout regimen,
Kane said. “The coaching network is there to provide
feedback to the drivers,” and the more the system is
improved, the more they can help.
There’s also a new social media page where
drivers can talk about their successes and
challenges, share recipes and workout tips, and
even engage in a little friendly competition.
“We really put our time and resources into
building a tool that is meant to help drivers
maintain their health on the road, and make it
fun,” Kane said.
When Kane was in high school, he said, he
was a wrestler. In college, he boxed. It wasn’t until
he became a truck driver that he started seeing
belly fat. That was when he decided that he would
dedicate himself not only to improving his own
health but that of his fellow truckers.
Developing this app and continuing to develop
this app, he said, is a genuine passion for him and
everyone else at Rolling Strong.
“It’s a big step and a big decision to want to be
healthier,” he said. “And there are a lot of suspect
remedies out there. This is something that was
built by people with firsthand familiarity with
trucking to make it all make sense to them.”
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