7-May-2020 By Jeffrey Cooper
The Virtualized Club: Outdoor Workouts- Part 3
Note: This article has been updated to reflect what is now a 5-part series.
In the previous article about the Virtualized Club @Home, we discussed how the club app takes on a different persona when you are working out at home. All this really means is that the app, tapping into a much larger, underlying library of content, smart filters that for workouts amenable to an @home environment and the equipment you have. This makes it much easier for the Member to identify useful and fun workouts and not have to skip through lists that include the need for specialized equipment they don’t have.
Being a runner, I run 3x a week and hit the gym 2-3x a week, so at least half my workouts are outside the gym. The typical workout regimen of many people includes a blend of @club and outdoor workouts. Some people track those workouts, but many do not. And gyms never seem track them for their members.
Get in the Habit of Tracking
It doesn’t need to be that way. There are for sure people that will use Strava, Runkeeper, FITIV, etc… but it’s good if you can have a tracking component in your club application and to offer up coached content. When a new member starts a fitness journey, something simple like getting them to sign up to a 5k race, and coaching them from not being a runner to being able to complete a race will inject excitement and enthusiasm into your members.
A good running regimen always includes a good, complementary fitness regimen in the gym. Proper running needs supporting muscles to be in shape to prevent injury and improve stamina. Upper body muscles should not be neglected.
The same goes for cycling. Both sports are great exercise and great for the mind. They get you outdoors, out in the sun, out in the fresh air. They are healthy and complementary to working out in a club and should be encouraged for anyone who is physically capable of it.
There are, however, not a lot of options that offer audio-coached running and cycling.
For running, you have a couple of options. Aaptiv has a good library of content geared towards every type of running, up to marathons. Each session is unique and human curated (in advance), and backed by licensed music. While it allows you to record a workout, there is no actual feedback from your running performance to the application, so it can adapt and advance you faster or hold you back. Sadly, this is almost universally lacking, with just a few exceptions.
The other is Pear Sports, which has a white-label version suitable for Clubs. They can supply music, and they supply audio coaching. The difference with Pear is that the coaching is algorithmically driven, and adapts to your fitness level.
For cycling, the only option I know of is, again, Pear Sports. They actually got their start working with professional runners, cyclists and triathletes many years ago with audio-based coaching.
The Club App
The Universal Club app should cover all workout scenarios. We have discussed at the club and at home, and for outdoors, it’s good to have content for your members no matter where they work out, whether by choice or circumstances. It’s easy to find excuses not to work out. Providing options and suggestions helps members overcome complacency.
A good universal gym app will provide content for those that don’t have it, but still integrate with other trackers (such as Strava and MapMyRun) for those already invested in those products and ecosystems (particularly Strava’s social network).
I keep circling back to Pear Sports’ Club Application, but as far as checking boxes for both the Connected Gym series I presented as well as this Virtualized Club Applications series, they are best placed to go beyond the 4 walls.
Their content is also adaptable. The better you get, the harder it works you out. They have a decent algorithm to approximate your VO2 Max, and they can compensate outdoor activity based on flat, uphill or downhill terrain.
Benefit for the Member, Benefit for the Club
When the club gets this feedback, whether it be by integration with Strava or providing coaching and tracking directly in their application, both the club and the member win. The Club can adaptively suggest workouts that complement and support the running or cycling they are doing externally.
Doing so will mean your members fitness is more complete. It can help reduce injuries, especially from running. And it can result in a happier member, one who sees the benefit of doing both types of workouts- outdoors and in the club. And that benefits the club.
Engage!
I keep harking back to measurement and club encouragement. I have been a member of a number of clubs. In my experience, all have been “fire and forget”. You sign up, and then are left to do your thing. No oversight, no coaching, no encouragement. I’ve heard of a few clubs that require an orientation, which I think is a great idea. But I don’t see actual assessment of new members (are they beginners or pros?) and few attempts to help out the beginners to start this journey in a successful way.
I was lucky- I had a fiance who encouraged me, and I was serious enough to hire a trainer, since obesity ran in my family and I was worried enough I was going to keep gaining weight. But not everyone has a good support network. Be that support network. Cheer them on. Celebrate their successes. Create an experience they want to stay for.
As we move into a post-COVID world, the push-pull of DIY vs. clubs will increase. Clubs will face the same market forces retail has faced. Some malls have become successful destinations. Make the club a place of celebration and victory- make it a destination. It wouldn’t hurt to actually have physical celebrations (when we are able to get back to normal). Members making early progress towards goals can meet others and make new friends. Those social connections will reinforce their determination and create a healthy group dynamic, in or out of group fitness.
Next up is the Virtualized/Universal Club Application when traveling.