Anyone who is a frequent gym visitor knows that as soon as the month of January begins, the gym is going to transform from a stress-relief sanctuary to a Best buy on black Friday.
This is because of the fabled New Year’s Gym Resolution.
Just after 3 weeks however, surveys have shown that almost a quarter of all people have already given up on their New Year’s resolutions, especially when it comes to getting fit and losing weight. People lose focus and motivation because staying in shape is hard. It is physically demanding, time-consuming, and it gets boring very fast. Consequently, this is why only the strongest 8% of all people actually end up achieving their fitness goals.
Now, to all the New Year’s Resolution Warriors or gym enthusiast who have always struggled with consistency: do not panic.
A company called FocusMotion is trying to help your workout go from brute memorization of exercises to something much better.
The Power of FocusMotion
Founded in 2013 by co-founders Cavan Canavan and Grant Hughes, FocusMotion is a Los Angeles-based company that utilizes innovative motion technology to track and analyze an array of human movement. The company’s motion recognition hardware and OS agnostic Software Development Kits (SDK’s) engage in processing, analysis and other complex signal algorithms that make accurate analysis of human behavior.
Through the data received through such actions, FocusMotion technology is able to understand consumer activity, while offering advice and engaging applications that will help improve the user. Whether this means being at the gym or participating in yoga class, FocusMotion makes it easy for consumers to understand and more importantly improve themselves in their activities, offering a solution to the boring-traditional workouts that everyone dreads so much.
“Cavan, our co-founder and CEO, saw what was happening to the Nike plus and Nike fuel band and what he saw was a huge gap between what these devices were saying they could do versus what they actually did”, said Grant Hughes, co-founder and COO at FocusMotion. “So they were doing all steps and stairs but they weren’t really showing users anything that was truly relevant based on contextual understanding of what they’re doing”.
Hughes and Canavan realized that these motion sensors were more powerful than most people interpreted them to be, and through curiosity and ambition, they sought to design a program that can greater benefit the user in all dimensions.
“At FocusMotion, we designed a program that allows users to truly understand their workout and not just look at numbers”, Hughes told us. “We want people to understand what exercises they are doing, how many repetitions they are doing, how consistent their repetitions are, and what kind of form do they have compared to top trainers.”
How it Works
Every device that is on the market today will all have similar sensors in them. Almost all of them will have both an Accelerometer and a Gyroscope, and depending on what type of customers the watch is made to attract, it will have additional apps such as those for social media and communication.
FocusMotion is the first company to commercialize a technology that can truly “analyze and map human movement on a per exercise, per repetition level”. They’ve utilized the convenience of smart watches and packaged the technology into many hardware devices, one of which was TRAINR- an application for Samsung Gear devices as well as the Pebble smartwatch.
Without revealing too much of their sensor technology, FocusMotion can track personal data in the following way:
In the near future, this program can be adjusted dynamically based on one’s performance not only to help provide an efficient and effective workout, but also add a continuous challenge component that can help people achieve their fitness goals.
The following are some of FocusMotion’s Key Features:
Ease and Versatility.
Not only is FocusMotion easy to use, but also it can be used on multiple platforms. Regardless of iOS or Android, FocusMotion works on any open wearable platform that gives the developer access to the motion sensors. No matter what new device comes out in the future, people can be assured that FocusMotion will remain accessible.
Statistical Explanations (not just data): FocusMotion can be used to understand, classify, and count any repetitive human movement. The app allows for customization of any fitness assessment or program, and will start at the basic level before moving up. It will also show the user how to perform exercises, while automatically “mapping movement to track exercises, repetitions, sets, and rest periods”.
- Training: FocusMotion can recognize and track workouts from bodyweight to dumbbell to barbell.
- Sports: FocusMotion can track swings, throws, shots, and more. Identify poor form and identify periods of fatigue to prevent overtraining
- Physical Therapy: Track patients at home, monitor their Home Exercise Programs, and improve accountability.
- Industrial: The SDK’s found in FocusMotion can monitor activities to help prevent repetitive stress injury.
“Our technology’s niche is the ability to process all this information and receive a highly accurate reading of what users are doing in real time”, Hughes stated. “So whether that is working out, or practicing yoga, we are looking at an infinite amount of activities that we are able to map using the devices that are already proliferating throughout consumer space today”.
Fitocracy + Pebble
In the recent month, FocusMotion has teamed up with popular fitness app Fitocracy to produce a first ever all-in-one program for gym enthusiasts and athletes alike. Fitocracy has been one of the most popular fitness apps that has helped users in the past reach their fitness goals via professional coaching and communal support. The combination of Pebble and Fitocracy will lead to high performance monitoring of cardio information such as calories, distance and time, while also providing accurate feedback on strength training, exercises, number of repetitions and more.
FocusMotion COO Grant Hughes recently sat down with SportTechie to discuss the fabrication of the smartwatch market, and how their app through multiple devices is helping to change the way people achieve their long-desired fitness results.
Q: FocusMotion offers a significant advantage when it comes to fitness apps because it not only shows people the results, but more importantly, where and how they can improve. How do you think this product will affect the $9 billion per year personal trainer industry that has dominated the fitness market past decade?
The way we look at the market is like this: First, we have the general gym customer or general exercise enthusiast that is going to a DIY approach to their fitness. They might say “I want to lose 10 pounds, so if I run 3 times a week and If do a program that I may have made up or gotten from a magazine its going to help me get in shape”. On the other hand of the spectrum you have personal trainers, that are very high touch and effective but expensive. So we can create a feedback loop between the experts and our app that will allow the best of both worlds. In addition, people won’t have to count numbers and they will be able to work out according to a plan that will adapt to their own body. Is that going to threaten the personal trainer industry? In the conversations that we’ve had with top trainers, these trainers are not concerned because it is a way for them to extend their brand and reach. Their time is finite, and they can only train an x number of people per week. If you can create a technological extension of a trainer (aka you) you can still reap monetary benefits from that and expand your personal. It provides a win-win situation.
Q: What are some important geographical areas that FocusMotion is currently targeting in regards to consumers?
The US market is the most developed as much as fitness and smart watches are concerned. The US, Europe, Australia and The UK are all very attractive markets, however if you look at the numbers for fitness trackers on smart watches in Asia, especially in China right now with what’s happening with Xiao Mi, you’ll see a lot of proliferation with these devices that are starting to occur over there, so there’s a huge opportunity over there. Whether it be Taiqi or other sports, the app is applicable to many other activities that isn’t as popular in the states so a huge part of our research is definitely focused on Asia.
Q: How much will the average wearable device cost? And when can fans or consumers expect the devices from FocusMotion to hit major markets and electronic stores?
The Fitocracy app can be downloaded for free on the app store for use on the Pebble Watch (https://itunes.apple.com/us/