The gym may never be as crowded as it is in the weeks after people across the nation make New Year's resolutions to reach their fitness goals. While the plethora of activity trackers might make it easier for athletes to head outdoors for exercise, in some colder areas that might not be an option. This year though, several new digital health startups have launched that aim to offer users an improved in-gym experience.
These startups use a variety of techniques to try to make going to the gym less of a chore. While some, like Gympact use incentives like cash to help users accomplish their goals, others, like exergame Blue Goji use games to excite users about their gym time. One company, Koko FitClub, is simply creating completely digital gyms with personalized workout plans and machines that have digitally driven workout plans to incentivize users to reach goals.
MobiHealthNews has rounded up seven gym-friendly companies that might help users ring in the new year and perhaps keep them coming back.
There's no honor system at GymPact, because users must check-in at the gym by using the phone's GPS, but GymPact also provides users with cash when make their promised quota of gym visits. The app asks users to give the company their credit card information and choose an amount of money that they’ll have to pay if they miss their workout goal for the week. GymPact is available on both Android and iOS platforms.
“There’s some things that went really well, some things we definitely had to tweak,” CEO and Co-Founder Yifan Zhang said in a 2012 interview. “We still have over 50 percent of the users who signed up January 12th [of 2011]. About 500 people having been with us for an entire year.”
Guitar Hero cofounders Charles and Kai Huang founded exergame Blue Goji, which came out out of stealth mode earlier this year and has officially launched for the public.
Blue Goji has three components. The app, available only on iOS devices, a set of wireless controllers that can be attached to any fitness machine, and an activity tracker to wear while exercising. On the app, users can play a variety of games, 12 total, designed for Goji Play. When users play the games, an activity tracker on the user sends data to the app.
“I think for us, one of the things we saw when we worked on Guitar Hero is really great games of course can be fun,” CEO Kai Huang told MobiHealthNews. “They can get people up or active — Guitar Hero got people out of their seats instead of sitting with a standard game controller. People had a lot of fun with that and people didn’t realize they were being more active.”
This company is similar to Blue Goji in that they also use mobile devices to entertain users during their treadmill workouts, but instead of games, it offers users 24 different virtual runs through various sceneries -- simulating an outdoor experience. While BitGym doesn’t connect to the exercise machine, it gauges the user’s speed with the mobile device’s front-facing camera, so it can be used on any workout machine. In January, BitGym plans to come out with an Android edition and add an internet-enabled social feature for users to talk while working out.
FitTrip, which raised almost five times its goal on its Kickstarter campaign, is a very similar offering to BitGym. The app provides users a series of virtual trips to keep them entertained while keeping track of their heart rate. To use the app, users must have a heart rate monitor, which is not included with the membership. The company expects to launch with a 1-month membership for $5.99 and 1-year membership for $59.99.
PUSH markets itself as the first fitness tracker to measure strength. The device launched on Indiegogo and raised almost double its goal. The black armband is worn on the user’s forearm and tracks repetitions and sets for weights, force, power, balance, velocity and tempo to offer athletes suggestions to optimize their strength.
The companion app allows users to share workout routines with friends and earn badges for completing goals. One use case that the company points out is enhancing the relationship between a trainer and athlete. Spreadsheets of data are available in a PUSH portal for trainers to look at.
Koko FitClub
Instead of creating a device to measure fitness levels, Koko FitClub created an entire gym. The machines at the gym measure lean muscle mass, body fat, strength levels and other biomarkers. Koko also designs a custom cardio and strength plan for every member. All workout data and analysis is reported online on the user's private account, which is accessible from any digital device.
Fitness equipment maker Precor may not offer a fully digital gym, but the company launched a new developer portal for its open API, allowing interested parties — including fitness clubs, mobile app developers, and payers — to freely access and use data from Preva, Precor’s cloud-based engagement platform. Workout data from Precor machines is the bulk of the Preva data, but it also includes lifetime metrics, goal types, goal progress, and rewards earned through Preva’s mobile app and website.
“It’s a way for us to hear back from the rest of the world around what they would like to do with those APIs,” Dave Flynt, Precor’s Director of User Experience told MobiHealthNews in a 2013 interview. “You build tech with an intent in mind, but you find that if you do your job well it supports other uses that become powerful as well. Really, the portal is a way for us to give that complete open access to anyone who asks for it and get feedback from that community.”
