The Future Of FitTech
It sounds all rosy and nice to start a regular gyming class or taking regular yoga lessons because a healthy mind resides in a healthy body, right? But is it easy to maintain this newfound love for health and fitness for a long time? No, it is not. It was not easy before the pandemic, and it is not easy now. Whether you are procrastinating, juggling with hectic schedules, living a sedentary life, or finding a low-cost solution than enrolling inexpensive classes, there’s one reason or the other behind a lot of people being unable to remain loyal to their fitness routine.
However, all this is gradually getting disrupted. With the advancements in technology and sophisticated new-age tools, staying fit and healthy is no longer a tedious chore. Of course, it still requires a person to sweat, but otherwise, technology makes exercising enjoyable, flexible, efficient, and absolutely frictionless.
For instance, if a person hates waking up early and going to the gym at the end of the day, they can simply enrol and exercise flexibly by opting for a virtual class. Similarly, is if a person doesn’t like waiting long hours to get the machine at a gym or getting stuck in traffic while driving to the gym, they can simply buy at-home gym equipment and continue their fitness regime without facing these minor issues.
"In simple words, gone are the days when people needed to go to a brick and mortar fitness institution to stay fit. Modern-day tools like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) has made fitness routines more straightforward and coherent," asserts Hamish Patel, Chief Product Officer, World of Play
Revamping the present-day fitness industry on the back of new-age resources
Here we have listed a few ultramodern tools and equipment that have disrupted the 21st-century fitness industry:
1. At-home gym equipment: Unlike boomers, Gen Z and millennials are more focused on their individuality and thus prefers to live in nuclear families. Automatically, this has also shrunken the size of their homes. So, buying many iron weights, large gym equipment and similar tools are not feasible anymore. This gave birth to compact, time and space-efficient home gym equipment that were multipurpose and easy to maintain. A Research and Market report highlighted that the at-home gym equipment industry is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9% between 2019-25. Unsurprisingly, the home-equipment segment has caught the attention of many entrepreneurs and business owners.
2. Multipurpose and economical equipment: Many modern electronic wearables like fitness bands, smartwatches and fitness trackers can track wearers sleep cycle, oxygen saturation (SPO2) and pulse rate, heartbeat rate, total steps taken and many other things. Similarly, smart socks and high-tech tank tops can monitor running speed, cardiac and pulmonary activities, peak acceleration and breathing rates. These e-wearables can serve more than one purpose besides adding to the wearers' style quotient and are highly cost-effective. Rather than purchasing individual equipment, consumers can simply buy one of these multi-use wearables to elevate their fitness routine.
3. Wellness and Fitness Applications: The extended lockdown period forced people to adapt to the new fitness regime. Initially, it was difficult as most fitness enthusiasts were used to a physical trainer continuously monitoring their progress. However, as time passed, these fitness and wellness applications became more interactive, fun and flexible. Gradually, people started competing through virtual fitness classes or shifted from one class to another as per their mood and calibre. Various fitness experts and trainers make it easier to stay fit and healthy without burning holes in the consumer’s pocket. Most applications provide limited free classes, while for extra classes, consumers can take a subscription.
FitTech- Going Forward
Even before the never-heard-before pandemic brought frenzy into our usual, borderline-boring but peaceful lives, technology was making its way into our daily schedules.
Talking about the role of technology in everyone's life he said, "However, given that most people were working from home and the last year was spent mostly inside the comfort of four walls, it is not surprising that technology has become closer to people’s fitness and health routine."
Furthermore, the pandemic made people realise that health and fitness are more than just a few hours of vigorous exercise, six-pack abs and lots of running. Instead, it is about having a healthy diet, proper and disciplined routines, a peaceful sleep cycle and overall wellbeing. These minuscule but crucial aspects of fitness forced people to shake hands with new-age technology.
(The given article includes inputs from Hamish Patel, Chief Product Officer, World of Play and has been created exclusively for BW Disrupt website)
