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Links 🔗
- The gym of the future
- A subreddit thread on the future of Peloton
- Collective Sweat
With the recent spike of Covid cases in Malaysia and the rumour of a potential MCO again, it's without a doubt that going to the gym is going to be very difficult. But our physical and mental health is still the number one priority and people should be exercising, if not more, during these hard times.
The problem 🔍
- Given the current situation, it's not exactly safe right now to go to the gym and it might not be for a while but people will still want some form of workout to keep them in shape. But without any equipment, most people won't have the will power to exercise at home.
- Even before the pandemic, there were already lots of friction between people and the gym. Membership issues, dealing with traffic, finding a parking spot.
Enter the solution 💡: Connected Home Fitness
And it's not your typical at-home workout videos. I'm talking about immersive experiences with gamification and social accountability, like what Peloton is currently doing.
Group cycling has always been popular, Peloton didn't exactly reinvent the wheel, they just reduce all those friction and brought what's already working into your home.
Connected home fitness gives you the feeling of going to the gym or attending a spin class that requires less will power from you as the bike is literally next to you.
It doesn't just end with cycling. There are a lot of different forms of connected home fitness out there, for example, Hydrow for rowing, Tonal for strength training, FightChamp for boxing. But the concept is basically the same, equipment + IPad + Netflix subscription.
The Opportunities 🔨
- In terms of potential upside, creating your own connected home fitness brand has the most upside. Even though connected home fitness like Peloton already exist, it's still pretty much a blue ocean in South-East Asia. When you managed to build a cult-like following like Peloton, then you'll no longer be in the hardware business, you'll be in the content business and that will open up so many doors.
- Create fitness content and partner with OEMs to provide freemium subscription service with every purchase of their fitness equipment.
- Apply the principles of gamification and social accountability to develop a platform where instructors can teach virtually, grow a community and have the ability to monetize.
With this new innovation, now everybody can have an immersive workout experience from the comfort and safety of their home.
But if you ask me, will this ever replace the conventional gym. The answer is no. People will never stop going to the gym, just like how people have not stopped going to the movies because they can stream it at home.
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