Is the future of health, fitness,and wellness wrapped up in digital innovation?
With the outbreak of COVID-19, shutting down gyms and studios across the world for months on end, the health, fitness & wellness industry needed to adapt quick to survive the storm ahead.
During this time, fitness operators and providers rallied their teams and resources; reimagining their offerings. The adoption of digital fitness and wellness solutions have since skyrocketed, with many seeing this as paramount to ensure the future proofing of their profits.
Organisations and operators innovated in the shape of various channels and platforms, all with the prime ambition to accustom to consumers’ changing needs, and fit around their lifestyle, providing in-home solutions and a host of inspiring ways to keep consumers engaged, connected and motivated as well as generate revenue.
So, what will the future look like for the health, fitness, and wellness space, in the aftermath of COVID-19, as gyms and fitness establishments open this week? How will the new behaviours of consumers affect footfall and their attitudes moving forward? Will their priorities shift in favour of flexibility, at home workouts and apps or will consumers crave the social interactions they had once revered pre lockdown?
One thing is for certain, the digital acceleration is here to stay and is fast becoming the norm for how many choose to workout, with consumers investing in mobile fitness products, and digital solutions to serve their fitness and wellness journeys and track their personal goals.
B2B platforms like Gympass and Classpass have pivoted their focus to their digital offerings, promoting personal training sessions, live-streamed workouts and mental health services, all available through their memberships, rivalling the already established digital providers like FIIT and Peloton who have seen a huge growth in lockdown and already focusing on their next stage of innovation.
And innovation continue to explode for more niche tech brands and design centres such as McLaren Applied with the opportunities for wearable tech, digital fitness tracking, and AI programming exploding into the mainstream. Here, businesses are providing world-class experiences and online communities to rival real-life gyms, that can be accessed from the comfort of consumers’ homes.
Here are the 4 digital trends to watch out for in 2020:
AI-Powered Personalised Workout Coaching Devices - AI is playing an important role in personalisation and tracking with platforms such as Aaptiv and their AI-powered training programme. Aaptiv turns your phone into an on-demand fitness studio with all your favourite classes and music, analysing user behaviour patterns to create and recommend content customised to specific fitness levels and interests.
VR - Exercise equipment such as Hydrow allows users to utilize their built-in screens and motion sensor technologies to partake in an on-river rowing experience in gorgeous locations across the world, competing against other global users in real-time, with teachings by world-class athletes. FitXR has also created a new category of experience, with their virtual reality headset, redefining how people can get fit and strong.
Gamified Fitness - Apps like Run an Empire, Zwift and the Ergatta digital rower are tapping into the huge gaming market, combining the intensity of training with the immersive and engaging play of gaming, turning movement into on-screen rewards, and letting you compete with friends, and find new connections and communities.
Recovery tech - This is also becoming more popular, with massage guns and other percussive therapy devices like vibrating foam rollers, etc from brands such as Therabody. The opportunity to collaborate with wearable tech here can help provide insights into how much recovery is needed after exercise.
Moreover a lot of these trends are working together, combining wearable tech, AI, VR, and personalisation at the heart of their fitness innovation.
MIRROR offers the world’s first nearly invisible, interactive home gym featuring live and on-demand fitness classes in a variety of workout genres, bringing the essential components of a great studio workout – variety, personalisation, and community – to the most convenient place: the home.
The opportunities for design and innovation are endless. Watch this space.