Remote Fitness: Social Accountability, Gamification, AR and VR

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🔍 Problem

There’s friction between you and the gym. Lots of decisions and sometimes miles.

💡 Solution

Remote Fitness helps you workout with less willpower. Your bike, treadmill or rowing machine is not miles away. It’s right next to you.

And so is your instructor.

Remote fitness platforms don’t stop there. They add gamification and social accountability to lure you into exercising and keep you on track.

🏁 Players

Activities

  • Biking
  • Running
  • Rowing
  • Boxing
  • Weight Training
  • Meditation
  • Yoga

Remote Fitness Companies

People

🔮 Predictions

  • AR and VR will play a big role in this space.
  • Remote fitness activities will become more general. Mirror is leading the way with meditation and yoga.
  • Costs will drop. This is already happening with financing schemes through Affirm. Per month costs are comparable to many gym memberships.
  • Remote fitness companies will veer into continuous health monitoring.
  • Friendships, dates and marriages will come from these platforms.
  • Physical gyms will not disappear. Each environment does a different job. There’s overlap and a few distinct differences. Cloud kitchens and dine-in restaurants have a similar dynamic.

☁️ Opportunities

  • Start an affiliate blog on remote fitness. These companies have high customer lifetime values. A breeding ground for affiliate commissions.
  • Apply principles of gamification and social accountability to wearables. Fitbit does this with step leaderboards. What other opportunities exist?
  • Build commercial-grade machines and a B2B sales model. Take remote fitness into hotels and apartment buildings.

😠 Haters

“This isn’t new. At-home workouts have existed forever.”
We are not talking about workout videos from Jane Fonda, Shaun T or Richard Simmons. These are high-fidelity, immersive experiences with gamification and social accountability.

“You call it remote fitness. Why not connected fitness?”
Connected fitness is a good name too. To reference Richard Feynman, I think understanding something matters more than what you call it.

🔗 Links

  1. Nate Bosshard, Co-Founder of Tonal & Investor — A podcast interview of Nate Bosshard with Joe Vennare
  2. Inside Peloton: John Foley on His Company’s Surprising Rise — A podcast interview of John Foley with Daniel Roth
  3. CG: Peleton Primer — A pre-IPO analysis of Peloton with Dylan Lewis and Daniel Klein
  4. Brynn Putnam, CEO of Mirror, on Launching a Breakout Growth Smart Hardware Device for Fitness — A podcast interview of Brynn Putnam with Sean Ellis
  5. The Fitness Trend That Is a Mirror — An article by James Hamblin
  6. COLLECTIVE SWEAT — An article by Natt Garun
  7. The gym of the future — An article by Inge Theron
  8. What does the future of Peloton look like? — A subreddit thread on the future of Peloton


Published by drurly

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