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Tech: Exercise monitoring
Frances Marcellin gathers insights into exercise monitoring to find out what’s trending in 2023
Exercise monitoring and tracking can help individuals to reach their goals, because it provides a way for them to measure progress and improvements over time. It also encourages people to stay accountable.
There are many benefits to having a leaderboard connecting members inside and outside the gym, including increased engagement, a sense of competition and the motivation to do better.
These benefits can lead to more frequent visits to the gym and improved customer experience, as they provide fun, interactive ways for members to track progress and compete, while also creating revenue potential through sponsorship or advertising.
Gamification can deliver a sense of accomplishment and progress, which is motivating for members, while also adding a competitive element that makes people more likely to push themselves and stay committed to fitness goals.
The community aspect can also be motivating and help people stay engaged – when you build a thriving community through accurate and effective wellbeing technology, it’s amazing how many members start becoming ambassadors for a facility with little to no additional effort on the part of the fitness professional. When you care, they care and this is the next step for many gyms that tend to limit the fun stuff to the gym.
There’s a key mindset change in that movement and motivation don’t have to just be about the gym. Operators can take their experience, expertise and education to where their members are when they’re away from the gym. Make their journey of physical activity more holistic through tech partnerships and engagement, and they’ll be loyal for years to come.
More: www.myzone.com
Myzone is a fitness tracker and online social platform for health clubs, corporate wellness, education, sports team and public and private sectors, that rewards effort for all physical activity, helping more people around the world to feel good about exercise.
• Monitoring and tracking keeps people accountable
• Leaderboards inside and outside the gym increase engagement
• Gamification creates a sense of accomplishment
• Community creates passionate ambassadors
• Gyms can take their expertise to where their members are
• A holistic approach keeps members loyal
By monitoring exercise, benchmarks can be created, progression frameworks can be implemented for programmes and goal-setting becomes more achievable.
Today it’s an expectation – users want their fitness service providers to understand their needs, their passions, personality and performance and in return to provide solutions that help them achieve results.
Additionally, they want personalised, engaging training experiences with seamless access to their data. In the same way they expect to pick up the TV series or film they stopped watching the night before – regardless of device and location – this ‘experience-transfer’ is expected in their daily lives.
Many people want to train both at the gym and at home, keeping connected to their PT, coach and their workouts. They also enjoy challenging other user performances within their community.
We’ve been investing for years in a digital ecosystem that deliver connected training experiences. The user experience becomes frictionless, whether that be through interacting with solutions on a personal or group exercise level and regardless of location.
Whether in the gym, at home, in the office or travelling, the user has one account, one mobile app and all their health and wellness data, leaderboards, and contents are accessible through this.
It has a key role in boosting motivation for sure, as does curated content, because users become more immersed in the training experience and when this happens they’re naturally increasing the exercise duration and the completion of their workouts.
More: www.technogym.com
The Technogym ecosystem is the only end-to-end solution able to adapt to the lifestyle of each user and to the business needs of operators, thanks to an unprecedented number of integrations with apps
• Tracking can deliver progression frameworks
• Seamless ‘experience transfer’ is expected on every platform
• People want to train at home and in the gym while staying connected to their trainer
• One account means access at home, at work, at the gym and while travelling
• Gamification increases exercise duration
Studies have shown there’s a direct correlation between people who track their workouts and those who make the best progress, yet only 12 per cent of members track their gym workouts.
Monitoring exercise helps with accountability and motivation, achieving progressive overload when weight training and identifying why goals are not being reached. Our system, which focuses on strength training, makes it simple for users to see what they’ve done in the gym with data visualisations and statistics to help them progress.
Leaderboards use intensity points which reward effort and consistency over raw strength, which makes lifting more inclusive and accessible. The calculation takes gender, age and bodyweight into consideration and then looks at what weight a user moved and for how many sets and reps. Leaderboards aren’t about top and bottom, but about creating positive competitive energy on the gym floor to help people push themselves. They help gyms engage their members and provide valuable data that can be used to help a gym learn more about weight lifting habits.
We’ve identified a growing segment of the gym membership who feel lost in the weight training area. By offering digital tools to help build confidence and remove that fear, we can help gyms with retention, while helping this audience to progress and stick to a routine in the gym. Small group training is a fast growing trend we think will accelerate in 2023 with the help of digital tools that enable virtual connections. The next big thing will be virtual or digital classes for strength training: connected lifting.
We also see AI and predictive technology playing more of a role in hyper-personalising experiences for gym members.
More: www.brawn.co.uk
Brawn is a member retention app for gyms that educates, supports and challenges those who love to lift. We help gyms build a connected strength training community that results in less member churn and more leads for personal trainers.
• Only 12 per cent of gym-goers track their workouts
• Data visualisations help members progress
• Leaderboards create competitive energy while also enabling gyms to learn about members’ workout habits
• Digital tools help remove the fear of strength training
• Hyperpersonalisation is a key trend for 2023
Tracking personal performance data, setting milestones and displaying live leaderboards can provide a more engaging and motivational workout experience for members, helping them achieve their goals and personalising their training experience.
By tracking performance data such as the percentage of max heart rate, mileage, power, and calories burned, members can see their progress over time and set realistic goals and milestones.
Reaching personal milestones based on performance data motivates them to keep pushing themselves to achieve their goals in a shorter time and to earn quick wins. Doing so while displaying live leaderboards can foster a sense of friendly competition among members, encouraging them to work harder and push their limits. They can compare their performance with others and strive to improve.
Based on performance data, members can receive personalised feedback on areas for improvement and suggestions on how to modify their workout routine to meet their goals more efficiently.
Gym members use wearables and heart rate sensors, including the Apple Watch. Spivi is an immersive fitness gamification platform that connects with these to track members’ performance data and gamify their fitness journey in a centralised way.
It helps clubs boost engagement and retention and build community by using the natural human willingness for improvement and the encouraging environment of group fitness. The immersive workout experience is personalised using avatars and animation, leaderboards, challenges, milestones, points, and awards. The platform enhances all kinds of activities in the gym to strengthen engagement and brand loyalty.
More: www.spivi.com
Offering live leaderboards, gamified experiences, and digital solutions for fitness clubs and boutique studios, Spivi helps gym operators achieve better retention and motivates gym members to become fitter and healthier, using existing wearables and fitness equipment to reward members based on group and individual performance metrics.
• Some gamification platforms can emulate group fitness benefits
• Tracking progress enables realistic goals
• Live leaderboards create community
• Competition inspires effort
• Gamification can now be centralised
To measure is to know. Exercise monitoring and progress tracking enables club members to see where they’re at and assess how they’re doing along the way.
A great way to measure progress is through body composition monitoring, since the majority of members aim to either lose body fat or gain muscle mass, or both. In addition to the use of professional scales in a club, such as Inbody or Tanita, members can measure progress at home with a club mobile club app and an integrated bluetooth home body scale, such as the NeoHealth Onyx.
Measuring progress enhances motivation. Through the use of wearables and fitness apps, you can not only visualise results during exercise, but also track and follow performance over time to meet goals.
This informed approach contributes to members feeling more empowered, valued and willing to keep progressing on their fitness journey. Motivated members are more likely to stay and get better results, which ultimately leads to a healthier business.
We’re at the tip of the iceberg in regards to what exercise monitoring can contribute to our health.
In 2023, I expect fitness providers to use wearable technology as a core element of their offering to attain a complete view of member health and preferences, integrating with check-in and booking systems and mobile fitness applications to inform realistic member goals and strategies to reach them.
I anticipate further innovations in this area, from gamified experiences to automated calorie goals or workout plans that adjust intensity by measuring exercise and heart rate. As wearables become increasingly accessible, we’ll see exercise monitoring shifting from being an add-on to an integral part of the connected fitness experience.
More: www.business.virtuagym.com
We build industry-leading technology solutions, which empower businesses, health professionals and consumers to create sustainable lifestyle change, including fitness and nutrition apps, club management software and corporate wellness systems. Virtuagym enables the creation of fitness communities to get clients involved using groups, challenges and leaderboards.
• Body composition monitoring tracks muscle gain and fat loss
• This can be extended to home monitoring
• Performance monitoring empowers members
• Gamified leaderboards enable group engagement
• Wearables will be integrated into operators’ core offering
