Voted IHRSA Associate Member of the Year 2018, Myzone is the brainchild of Antipodean entrepreneur Dave Wright, who set out to find a way of making everyone feel good about exercise

yzone is all about rewarding those people who bust a gut in the gym, but then feel depressed that they’re not as fit, strong or powerful as other people,” says Myzone creator Dave Wright. “By devising a way to reward effort, we’ve levelled the playing field, so everyone has an equal opportunity to show how hard they are trying.”

Myzone’s heart rate module is accurate to EKG 99.4 per cent and lets users know – in real-time, how long they spend in each heart rate zone while they're exercising. This effort is then translated into Myzone Effort Points (MEPs), so they can compete against other people or, more importantly, themselves.

In classes, users can see their effort level displayed on live screens, which give real-time feedback and motivation.

After classes, users receive a summary of their workout, including MEPs earned and calories burned. The club also has visibility of the data, so they can form a deeper relationship with their members’ fitness journey. This is key for retention, which Myzone has been proven to improve by 24 per cent. As well as being a great member engagement tool, it also offers secondary spend potential through premium programmes and even the sale of belts – more than a million have been sold to date.

Rewarding the journey
The inspiration for Myzone came from showing millions of people around the gym floor who would frequently be intimidated by the space. “Often they would say they’d like to go away, lose weight, get fit and then come back to join,” says Wright. “To the 85 per cent of the population who don’t use gyms they can be intimidating and competitive environments. There's nothing to reward people for the process of getting fit, but lots to make them feel inadequate during the process.”

Determined to find a way of using technology to mobilise deconditioned people, Wright connected with experts to create a new style of accurate tracker. Although in competition with large retailers selling activity trackers with big marketing budgets behind them, Myzone’s key to success is that it has been designed by an operator for operators with a powerful purpose.

Currently used by more than 6,000 facilities, in 64 countries, Myzone is ISO 27001 compliant, as a stamp of its commitment to data privacy and understanding of the social and business importance of this.

It has continued to evolve, offering new features, including Challenges, Zone Match, MZ-Fitness Test, In-house Timers, a club-branded Myzone app, e-commerce and also marketing support.

The product road map for 2018 was launched at IHRSA, in the form of Myzone 3.0. This comprises some very exciting innovations, including a 3D scanner, which can be used with an iPad and camera to create a 3D avatar of a person, calculating the circumference of their limbs and showing them realistically what they look like.

Also the MZ-20 scales are about to be launched, which show weight, muscle mass, body fat and hydration levels. “At £49, these can be used at home or in clubs, so people can see how their bodies are changing,” says Wright.

Strength to strength
Myzone is going from strength to strength, being used by boutique clubs, independents and bootcamps. Other clients include the public sector and trusts, universities and private sector operators, hospitals, the military, professional sports teams, obesity clinics and even focus groups at a live presidential debate during the Donald Trump/Hilary Clinton campaign.

Wright says he had a stand out moment that epitomises why he wanted to create Myzone and why he's proud of what the team has achieved.

“My wife and I went into our local primary school during health schools week and organised a Myzone activity called Zone Match for the kids to play,” he says. “A few weeks later I saw one of the mums and asked her how her daughter got on at sports day. “She hated it – she came last in everything,” was the reply, “but she hasn’t stopped talking about the Myzone day – she told us that it’s the only time in her life that she’s ever done exercise and not felt sad afterwards.”

“That's why I wanted to do it,” says Wright. “Those feelings of inadequacy echo into adulthood, and as an operator myself, I strongly believe that the industry is mainly famous for making fit people fitter, but Myzone means that absolutely anyone can feel good about exercise, whether it’s before, during or after the event, as long as they put the effort in.”