Personal training should be available instantly to anyone, and now actually is – at least those with a mobile smartphone, thanks to GAIN Fitness, which offers customized workout plans based on an individual’s body, goals, and lifestyle.
Nicholas Gammell, Founder & CEO of GAIN Fitness tells what can be gained.
KineticShift: How has technology changed the way people can get personalized workout training?
Nicholas Gammell: I like to think in terms of the “3 P’s” when describing how fitness needs to be personalized: Psychology, Physiology and Practicality. The psychology part means each exercise session needs to strike a chord with each person emotionally — this could mean visualizing a goal or outcome (look better, feel better, lose weight, etc.), or it could mean appealing to the novelty-seeker in each of us (by making the exercise fun, fresh and less routine-like). The physiology part means the exercise needs to be appropriate for each individual’s physical capabilities, and also needs intelligent variety and progression so that the body can continually progress and not plateau (our bodies “get bored,” too). The practicality comes in when we consider everything else going on in our lives — work, commute, family-time, chores and all the other demands on our time and energy. Practically speaking, when do you have 15 minutes (or 50 minutes) to dedicate to your fitness, can you get to the gym today or not, and what tools do you have at your disposal when that time window opens up.
When you consider all these needs, fitness starts to sound a bit complicated (hence why it’s easy to find an excuse and miss a workout). But technology makes it possible to have a “conversation” with each person about their immediate needs and goals, and quickly do some processing based on rules and logic to generate a workout that serves fulfills all their different needs in a matter of seconds. It’s pretty cool.
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KS: Who can best benefit from using that Gain Plan?
NG: Anyone that has a busy life and has ever missed a workout because they “didn’t have time,” “couldn’t make it to the gym,” or “didn’t know what to do.” We like to say our app helps eliminate all excuses for not working out, and the GAIN Plan makes you accountable to yourself. So there’s nothing or no one else to blame!
KS: Do you think of the flexibility provided by fitness apps will help encourage people to stick to their workout routines?
NG: The flexibility is key. As mentioned above, practical concerns govern our abilities to make room for exercise in our busy lives. If people can truly exercise anytime, anywhere, AND have something actionable and meaningful to follow at that time, it starts to reduce the friction to working out consistently. And that means fewer missed workouts and consistently better fitness.
KS: What type of expansion packs are you currently offering, and might offer in the future?
NG: We started off with body part focused Expansion Packs. Since launching last year, we observed that many people have focus or problem areas when it comes to their bodies, and they often want to give these areas proportionately more attention in their workouts. In the future, after we make some further improvements to these body part focused packs, we want to start launching different exercise styles that work for different people and goals. Yoga, kickboxing, cardio, sport-specific, posture correction, dynamic mobility, circus arts…the different exercise styles are limitless and the ways you can challenge and evolve your body are fascinating to us. We want to be the place where people come to get fit on their own terms, in ways that they enjoy, where they get the best results and always find something fresh.
KS: Are there plans to develop the app for other mobile platforms such as Android?
NG: Yes, we are working on finding a lead Android developer right now. Let us know if you know any good (and fit) ones…
Thanks to Nick for talking to us.