The gym may never be as crowded as it is in the weeks after people across the nation make New Year's resolutions to reach their fitness goals. While the plethora of activity trackers might make it easier for athletes to head outdoors for exercise, in some colder areas that might not be an option. This year though, several new digital health startups have launched that aim to offer users an improved in-gym experience.
These startups use a variety of techniques to try to make going to the gym less of a chore. While some, like Gympact use incentives like cash to help users accomplish their goals, others, like exergame Blue Goji use games to excite users about their gym time. One company, Koko FitClub, is simply creating completely digital gyms with personalized workout plans and machines that have digitally driven workout plans to incentivize users to reach goals.
MobiHealthNews has rounded up seven gym-friendly companies that might help users ring in the new year and perhaps keep them coming back.
There's no honor system at GymPact, because users must check-in at the gym by using the phone's GPS, but GymPact also provides users with cash when make their promised quota of gym visits. The app asks users to give the company their credit card information and choose an amount of money that they’ll have to pay if they miss their workout goal for the week. GymPact is available on both Android and iOS platforms.
“There’s some things that went really well, some things we definitely had to tweak,” CEO and Co-Founder Yifan Zhang said in a 2012 interview. “We still have over 50 percent of the users who signed up January 12th [of 2011]. About 500 people having been with us for an entire year.”
