A year and a half ago, Hemi Re’em found himself in the hospital. It came as a bit of a surprise for a man who runs triathlons and marathons. To his dismay, he ended up undergoing heart bypass surgery — surprising for a man so active.
Doctors explained that what was happening shouldn’t have come as a surprise. He could’ve been keeping track of oxygen intake during exercise — a parameter many doctors agree is best for checking heart health. Re’em began researching and eventually created a small wearable device called YOPI.
Now launching on Wefunder, YOPI measures oxygen consumption without needing to enter a lab setting. Normally you’d put on a mask with wires hooked up to it and run on a treadmill for a few minutes. Instead, all you need to do is clip YOPI on during a workout and advanced algorithms will measure biomarkers in the skin and sweat.
With this data, professional and amateur athletes alike can train smarter in real-time based on their bodies.
“For sure we can help the professionals,” YOPI CEO David Freidenberg explained. “That’s pretty obvious, people who want to improve their way of running and exercising. But we believe in the concept that everybody eventually would enjoy this revolution.”
While primarily aimed toward endurance sports like running and swimming, YOPI can be applied effectively in other disciplines as well. Based on each player’s numbers, it can be easier to recognize when one might need a rest.
Freidenberg used a college basketball coach as an example. “Let’s say you are a coach in college and all your team is carrying the sensor and you are online,” he said. “On your laptop, your iPad, you get all your data of what’s going on with them.”
The device is supported by David Blu, a who played college basketball at USC and went on to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“I believe Yopi is here to change the way of life of professional sportsmen and actually anyone who is exercising,” Blu said in a statement. “Yopi enables us to reach our best performance and meet our training targets all season and yearlong; without compromising our health alerting us when needed so we don’t face risk of heart failure, improper oxygen consumption or any other health issue. Yopi fitness companion is the perfect way to monitor both activity and health effortlessly and with unmatched accuracy.”
YOPI’s goal on Wefunder is to reach the $1 million mark. With the investments they hope to continue building the product and eventually sell to consumers.
“VO2 measurements are the best way to measure physical fitness and heart health,” Re’em said via the WeFunder page. “VO2 statistics typically require costly labs and bulky equipment. YOPI makes VO2 accessible for everyone.”