Under Armour’s stated mission is “to make all athletes better through passion, design, and the relentless pursuit of innovation.” Recently, the company has been in the news for its digital acquisitions rather than its traditional apparel advancements. With a new technology division, Connected Fitness, based in Austin, Texas, UA claims to offer “the largest connected fitness platform in the world,” and Gritness is the newest addition to this rapidly growing division.
What is Gritness?
Gritness is a search engine for athletes. It was created in 2012 by Tommy Fad and Jason Whitson, two guys who are self-proclaimed ‘fitness gurus’ and who wanted a more effective way of organizing training sessions with like-minded people. Individuals can use Gritness to find, list and join group activities, including everything from cycling and running to basketball and yoga. Business owners can add their classes and events to the database as well. And it’s free for everyone – individuals and business owners alike.
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Unlike UA Record, which merged MyFitnessPal, Endomondo and MapMyFitness to form the new app, Gritness is not a food and fitness tracking app with a social component. It is predominantly a networking app specifically designed to connect athletes with similar training goals. Under Armour has yet to announce how Gritness will be tied in with UA Record but the app is a logical fit within UA’s aggressive digital expansion. The Nitty Gritty What features make Gritness a unique and compelling product that grabbed the attention of Under Armour’s tech division?
- The Explore Tool: With helpful filters, including the ability to sort by sport, date and location, you can quickly find a list of activities that meets your specifications. Many of the activities include workout details, such as duration, distance, and estimated pace, but it is up the event organizer include this information.
- Activity Creation: All of the activities on Gritness are user-generated. Individuals can list runs and rides, clubs can list their group activities, and businesses can list free and paid events – all at no charge to the activity creator. If you set up your group as a business, you can collect event fees directly through Gritness.
- The Mobile App: Available on iOS and Android devices, you can log into Gritness anywhere and find a workout that suits your fancy (perfect for the traveling fitness junkie). If an activity requires advance registration or charges a fee, you can sign up and make a payment without leaving the app.
- Integration & Sharing: What’s the point of working out if you can’t brag about it? Gritness currently integrates with GPS-based tools such as Strava and Map My Ride, allowing you both to look up routes and to upload your data post-ride. The benefit to using Gritness is that you can share and compare data in one place, regardless of what platform your friends use. Of course, there is also a photo-sharing feature.
- Groups: At its core, Gritness is designed to bring people together. In addition to searching for activities, sharing your workout results and photos, and adding your own activities, you can join and follow groups in your area that are engaged in your preferred fitness activities.
Ready to sign up? Sounds great, doesn’t it? Free, easy to use, full of relevant, motivating information that can benefit both fitness buffs and savvy business owners? Well, sit tight and check back soon. While it is possible to search for activities on the Gritness website, the app and many of the product features are currently unavailable, explained by this message from the founders: We are happy to announce that Gritness was recently acquired by Under Armour. During our transition to the Under Armour Connected Fitness platform we will be undergoing some changes and will need to shut down our site and mobile apps. This does not necessarily mean that Gritness will be gone forever, however in order to complete our transition to Under Armour, this is a step we must take. Thank you, Jason Whitson and Tommy Fad Gritness Founders.
What the app will offer after an Under Armour makeover remains to be seen.
In addition to being a freelance writer, Stacey Moses is also the president of Blue Sea Creative, a marketing and communications agency based in the DC area. Stacey is an outdoor enthusiast, a Pittsburgh Penguins devotee, and has more than a decade of experience in the sports marketing world.