With people now spending a considerable amount of time at home, home based workouts have become the new normal. But what about the sense of community found at the gym? Or the fitness instructors that help people stay on track? This is where connected fitness comes in.
Combining one’s fitness with their digital life, connected fitness provides people with the near experience of going to the gym, however from the safe and comfortable environment of their own home.
An up and comer in the connected fitness market, and one to keep a close eye on is Australian brand Vitruvian.
Vitruvian provides training at home with innovative adaptive tech that responds to the body to ensure you are training in a better, more effective way. Its founder, Perth-based father of three Jon Gregory, is a former high frequency trader whose experience with algorithm-building helped him create the one of a kind V-Form Trainer. He came up with the concept for the V-Form Trainer ten years ago, and has been testing it ever since.
The V-Form trainer modifies weight loading between 7kg and 180kg to match the user’s ability as they lift across a range of curated classes and workouts.
“Vitruvian adaptive weight has so many benefits, starting with providing a workout customised to the individual user’s capabilities, it’s time-efficient, it’s incredibly space-saving, it enables pure eccentric training, which is becoming more widely known for its superior outcomes for hypertrophy, weight loss, injury prevention and rehab… the list goes on.” says Gregory.
Connected fitness is a rapidly growing market that is set to be worth $5.96 billion by 2025. With Covid disrupting the way people can train, there is a lot of evidence, anecdotal and otherwise, that suggest even people who are eager to get back into the gym would like a hybrid at home training solution.
“It’s not about replacing gyms or creating a like-for-like option, we’re genuinely offering something new, something that changes the game.
“People love boutique fitness, but boutique fitness can be extremely expensive over time. If you are committed to your fitness, it makes sense to get a connected fitness device, as it is a one off big payment that still connects you to others for that boutique experience.”
Raising $2.5 million in capital during the global pandemic, Vitruvian managed to outsell world leading exercise equipment brand Peloton and had to ramp up production to meet customer demand. Gregory says although his company has seen great statistics, it is the responses he gets from individual users that is most important.
“The delight and enthusiasm received makes it so much fun to jump on our Team Vitruvian WhatsApp and Facebook Groups every day. These are a precursor to in-app team functions, and the banter, motivation and data-sharing is unreal.”
As the connected fitness market rapidly grows, Gregory aims for Vitruvian to be one of the world leaders in the space. He predicts many new products will be coming out over the next few years and this will inspire a lot of competition.
“We will certainly be diversifying our offer outside of resistance training. Quality and an amazing user experience is something we will never compromise on.”
