Your strapline is ‘ANT+ It just works’. But what just works – what is ANT+?
To explain what ANT+ is, I first need to backtrack and explain what ANT is.
ANT is a generic wireless protocol owned by Garmin, which was born from a desire to track how many steps a runner was taking without putting wires all over him.
Many people will be familiar with another wireless protocol, Bluetooth, so this is often the best place to start when it comes to explaining what ANT does. It’s similar to Bluetooth in many ways.
They really are complementary technologies. Bluetooth is built around fixed pairing relationships: you can typically only connect a sensor to one other device at any one time. Meanwhile, ANT is set up to allow a sensor device to connect to many other devices simultaneously, which adds flexibility: you can, for example, connect your heart rate strap with a phone, your watch and the computer on your indoor cycling bike – all at the same time.
ANT+ is an application that’s been built on top of ANT. It’s a collection of what we call Device Profiles, built for very specific use cases, each of which has a specification of how to transmit the information related to that use case over the air using ANT – whether it’s data from an ANT+ heart rate strap, an ANT+ bike power meter, an ANT+ bike speed and cadence sensor…
More specifically, ANT+ is the wireless standard that connects an entire product ecosystem: a universal standard that ensures wireless fitness sensor data, whatever manufacturer it comes from, is all of the same format.
That all sounds a bit complex I know, but in a nutshell, what ANT+ represents is a very successful, multi-brand wireless ecosystem.
What do you mean by a ‘wireless standard’?
Rewind to before the days of ANT+ when, as a prime example, there were lots of different companies building devices to measure bicycle power – but none of them were communicating in the same way.
What ANT did was encourage the different manufacturers to recognise that building one-off solutions for specific customers – thereby creating walled gardens whereby only devices within those restricted ecosystems could speak to each other – would only get the industry so far. Although they were competitors, these manufacturers came to understand that collaborating within the ANT+ ecosystem would grow the market as a whole and ensure a bigger slice of the pie for everyone.
ANT+ works well even in crowded studios – it can cope with high levels of data traffic
From that, the standardised device profile for bicycle power was born – accompanying other use cases such as heart rate and speed – and ANT+ became the de-facto central organising body for a consortium of companies in the sport and fitness electronics market.
Nowadays there must be at least 15–20 bicycle power manufacturers in the ANT+ ecosystem, and lots of different ways to measure bike power – crank-based strain gauges, two-sided pedal power, rear wheel sensors… But although all the sensor tech is different, the wireless data they all send up is now of the same standard.
Why does that matter?
For the consumer, this standardisation means they get to choose the device that works for them and get their data regardless.
For manufacturers, it means great new ideas can come to market quickly, because they can tap in to an existing ecosystem. They can just focus on developing great sensor technology, knowing the wireless ecosystem is already there.
Aggregator apps need to make data consumable, so end users can make sense of itCan you give some examples of how ANT+ is used in the fitness sector?
The first couple of examples are related to Fitness Equipment Control.
All newer Samsung devices natively include ANT support, which means app developers can tap in to ANT+ too. For example, Zwift and Trainer Road both use ANT+ to connect with smart trainers – the devices you attach to the rear wheel of a normal road bike to be able to train indoors – and remotely control the resistance.
Zwift uses this to create huge, multi-player online games where you race around virtual tracks from across the globe. As the game footage shows the terrain going uphill, Zwift sends an instruction to the trainer to make it harder for the cyclist by increasing the resistance: an incline of 10 per cent on-screen is made to feel like 10 per cent on the bike.
I’ve seen really lovely examples of this in action in bike shops in Canada, where during the winter they invite people into the shop, hook everyone up to Zwift and do group rides indoors when it isn’t possible to cycle outside. It creates a great sense of community.
Trainer Road takes the same remote control capability but, instead of showing VR footage, uses it to curate workouts and training programmes to run through the trainer.
Another great example relates to heart rate belts, and the ability to create entire gym scenarios where multiple devices are connected at once – because any device that supports ANT+ can connect with any other device that supports ANT+, simultaneously.
Orangetheory Fitness is a great example: everyone wears a heart rate strap which they can connect to their own smart watches – but all straps are connected to the gym too, with big screens showing everyone’s heart rate. If you get on a treadmill, you could also connect your heart rate belt to that if you wanted to.
With ANT+, this is all possible even in a busy environment with a large number of devices – it can cope with the traffic. That’s useful in boutique studios too. These are generally smaller, so the concentration of devices can be quite high, but it’s still possible to create things like leaderboards, which again helps build the sense of community.
The ANT+ ecosystem means exercisers can choose the device that works for them and get their data regardlessAnything new from ANT+ that you’d like to tell us about?
We’ve just released a new version of our Fitness Equipment Control device profile. Historically it was always two-way: as with the Zwift example, ANT+ could be used to wirelessly transmit data to the sensor, as well as from it.
Now we’ve also created a one-way version which is great for studio bikes, as well as other types of fitness equipment: treadmills, rowers, ellipticals and so on. These aren’t, and don’t need to be, remote controlled, so this latest enhancement of the device profile allows us to better deliver on what studios need – which, as with the work we do for BODY BIKE, is ensurin g the data people actually want can be extracted from the equipment.
How do you see the fitness sector evolving, and how will ANT+ help shape this?
Sensors and devices are getting so much smarter, increasingly able to measure numerous different things. As this happens, so more data types will need to be broadcast wirelessly – and we’re uniquely positioned to deliver on this, because we’re a small and intimately run organisation that can quickly adapt to new use cases.
It will then be over to the aggregator apps – like Garmin Connect and Strava – to take all that data and make it consumable, so end users can make sense of it. In turn, this will drive an appetite among consumers to collect even more data and understand more about themselves. And so it will come full circle, back to the sensor manufacturers to make their devices even smarter still.
We’re in the centre of all this, supporting all of this development as it moves forward.
“What the fitness industry needs to recognise is that training isn’t about being in a certain location,” says ACTIVIO CEO Moris Lahdo. “Health club membership might work for some people, at certain points in their life, but there are lots of other ways to exercise.
“Fitness and training is about where you are in your life right now, and as an industry we need to acknowledge and address this. We need to follow people throughout their life journey, assuming a broader responsibility: that of getting more people, more active in whatever way is best suited to them at that moment.”
He continues: “Technology isn’t the only answer to this challenge, but it certainly has a big role to play – and the likes of Apple and Google are well aware of this. While the fitness industry is busy looking inwards and focusing on membership sales, these tech giants have identified a bigger opportunity to focus on the preventative healthcare agenda. In the next few years, I expect them to create a platform that will connect everything with everyone – where all you need to manage your health is your smartphone – and this will mark the end for a lot of traditional fitness companies.
“Our industry will be fundamentally disrupted unless we start working smart and working with each other. We need to connect and create a seamless platform for end users – one that educates people about their training, their nutrition, their sleep. One that centres on improving health rather than selling memberships; the latter should come once people have got moving, but it can’t be the starting point.”
He adds: “The starting point to getting fit and healthy is a fitness tracker or app with training recommendations: something that gets you off the couch and out for a gentle five -minute walk. Perhaps it’s prescribed to you by your doctor. Perhaps your friends recommend it. Whatever the catalyst, one thing is certain: the gym won’t be the natural first port of call for people who are currently inactive.
“To appeal to these people – and let’s not forget, this is the vast majority of the population – the fitness industry needs to adapt. This is our challenge and this is what we should be talking about, not selling memberships to the 10–15 per cent of already active individuals. If we don’t solve this for ourselves, believe me, Apple and Google will come in and solve it.”
Towards a solution
Lahdo explains: “This is something we’ve prioritised at ACTIVIO. Of course, we have great solutions for health clubs, studios and fitness centres – our roots are in professional sports and it remains our mission to optimise the training experience. In a health club environment, we motivate people to push themselves and achieve great results.
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t make our products relevant to the rest of the population, helping less active people to also achieve great results by taking baby steps.”
He continues: “In Sweden, where ACTIVIO is headquartered, a lot of people are prescribed physical activity by their doctors. That’s great, but technology-wise it’s a very closed system. Now imagine instead a system whereby your activity data is sent up to a cloud, to be shared with whoever it is who’s helping you improve your health – your doctor, your fitness coach, your mentor. This is how ACTIVIO works.
AS AN OPERATOR, HOW DO YOU DESIGN YOUR PROGRAMMING SO PEOPLE FEEL THEY’RE MAKING PROGRESS?
“ACTIVIO also becomes a coach inside your smartphone, recommending exercises and activities to help you towards your goals. To start off, it might prescribe 3 x 5-minute walks each week, telling you to stay in the blue heart rate zone – so just a gentle stroll to get moving. It’s about helping people accept the need to train in the first place, as well as helping them easily understand how to do that – how to live a healthier life.
“We also do a lot of work with schools. Kids are incredibly motivated by our system – even kids who are usually totally sedentary. The moment they put on an ACTIVIO heart rate belt and see their colour-coded gauge on the screen at the front of the room, they start running around to see how high they can get their heart rate. It’s about creating movement and joy at this age. In the end, they may become gym members – but not if you don’t intervene when they’re still children, getting them away from their phones and their tablets and getting them moving.”
He adds: “ACTIVIO is already used by over a million people every month. If we can continue to expand into new markets, and continue to extend our capacity to prescribe, I believe we can help whole populations to become healthier.
“I also believe this is what the whole fitness industry should be doing – connecting different levels and groups in society to encourage movement and health.”
The consumer is king
Even within the health club environment, a key goal for ACTIVIO is helping exercisers realise how their training impacts their overall health, by giving them ownership and understanding of their training data.
Says Lahdo: “ACTIVIO’s mission has always been to optimise the training performance. To this end, one of our key USPs is the way we present training data.
“When you’re under stress – during exercise, for example – the brain finds it harder to process
TO IMPROVE HEALTH, WE HAVE TO ACCEPT THAT PEOPLE OWN THEIR OWN DATA
numbers and figures. Based on this scientific insight, we made a conscious decision to use a simple analogue display for the ACTIVIO system: a gauge that looks a bit like the speedometer in a car, but where colours replace the numbers around the edge. The coach tells you to hit a specific colour zone and you gear your effort level accordingly – and that’s it. You learn how each zone feels, and that’s what’s important.”
This approach is constant across ACTIVIO’s portfolio of products, from the premium, fixed installation to the portable, tablet-based solution to the power solution that wirelessly collects data from indoor bikes. It’s also the approach in the brand new ACTIVIO Next Level platform, which will be launched soon.
What’s equally important about ACTIVIO Next Level is the open nature of the platform. Lah-do explains: “We’re already seeing consumers bringing their own smartphones and wearables into health clubs, and this will only increase over the coming years. They want to be able to use their own device, to wear their choice of heart rate belt or monitor in class. Closed systems will become less and less relevant.
“ACTIVIO Next Level is therefore an open platform that will work with all the major brands of heart rate belt. We will also integrate our solution with Apple Health, GoogleFit, Strava, Runkeeper and so on. If the member wants to use an ACTIVIO belt, great – they will be able to benefit from all the measures we can track, from heart rate and power, to pace and distance through our memory recording and accelerometer technology.
“But belt sales aren’t our priority. We want to be a ‘hub in the club’ that allows for excellent coaching, motivation and education – and where the club is at the heart of that experience – but where the member uses their own tech. They get to choose where their data goes after the workout.
“If we want to help people improve their health, we have to accept that they own their health data.”
Enhancing the experience
He concludes: “Interestingly, adopting this data-based approach also enhances the training experience, which in turn improves member retention.
ACTIVIO’s colour-zoned, analogue gauge is simple to read and understand
“Training data can add huge value to the indoor cycling experience too. In cycling classes across the sector, there’s a lot of stuff going on these days to keep people engaged: virtual footage, immersive experiences, real-time inter-club competitions and races. This is all great and will continue to play a big role in the future of indoor cycling, but I believe education is also key. Why should people do CV training?
Why should they cycle? Entertainment is great, but members need to know why they’re doing what they’re doing.
“We also need to add recommendations into what we do. What should be someone’s next workout? How can they progress? And as a gym operator, how can you design progression into your programming each quarter so people feel something is actually happening as a result of their exercise – that they’re making progress?
“Monitoring lies at the heart of all of this – heart rate, power and so on. In itself, it adds to the experience. It makes exercise very engaging when you can see your data in front of you and understand how what you do in your workout can affect it.
“But it’s also about showing someone how they’ve progressed. It’s about showing them how they’ve improved their health.
“If the fitness industry wants to be attractive in the future, it needs to focus on health – on helping people live a healthy lifestyle, and live it for many years.”
INTRODUCING ACTIVIO NEXT LEVEL: THE HUB IN YOUR CLUB
A new ACTIVIO Points™ (APS) system awards points to exercisers according to the effort they put in during their workout. This evidence-based system is linked to the ACTIVIO Sport Solution for professional teams.
Track and analyse a variety of performance metrics including heart rate, power, cadence, distance, APS™, calories and more.
Run fitness tests in class, from FTP to VO2 max. After each test, display the results and upload them for future use – a great way to boost member motivation and track progress over time.
Offer team competition mode, leaderboards and gamification to motivate members during exercise – and afterwards, with social media integration allowing members to share their training experiences.
Use structured workouts in your classes or let your instructors create their own workouts, which they can share with other instructors in your club. Using Virtual Trainer, club instructors can design their own class profiles – based on heart rate or power – and run those classes on the group exercise screen.
OPEN ACTIVIO™ doesn’t tie customers to specific technology: they will be able to use heart rate monitors from all the most popular brands and wearables.
A new cloud service will connect to the likes of Strava, Runkeeper, Google Fit and Apple Health.
An updated training app will offer memory recording and acceleration features.
Developed for future system integrations with modern API.
A new instructor education platform offers five different lecture programmes to share the latest science around heart rate training and power (watts) training.
What’s Peloton’s vision?
The inspiration behind Peloton is simple: people want to work out, but there are a lot of obstacles that stand in the way.
Peloton CEO John Foley experienced this first-hand when, with two kids at home, he and his wife Jill could no longer fit studio classes into their busy schedules. The idea for Peloton was born: studio-style, group fitness classes at home, letting people access the motivation, power and intensity of these classes any time, anywhere.
Peloton started with a bike, but it never set out to be just a bike company. It was always about bringing instructor-led group fitness classes to the convenience of your own home. Over the years, we’ve expanded and we continue to evolve our offering, but those founding principles remain the same.
Peloton has set the home fitness market alight. Why do you think this is?
The secret of Peloton’s success is that it’s more than just a class, a cycling studio or a bike: it sits at the intersection of fitness, technology and media and has reinvented the way people work out.
We talk about Peloton as a category of one; while there are similarities with brands that offer indoor cycling, we are more than any single bike, cycling class or studio.
The live component and community are what truly set us apart. We have over one million members in the Peloton community so, alongside the motivation from our instructors, our members can also give each other a boost.
The Peloton Bike features a real-time leaderboard, allowing you to track your progress versus other riders as well as your own Personal Record. In addition, we have a feature called ‘Here Now’, where the leaderboard shows other members who are riding in the same on-demand class at the same time as you; you can then give each other virtual high fives and support.
THE LIVE COMPONENT AND COMMUNITY ARE WHAT SET US APART – WE HAVE OVER ONE MILLION PELOTON MEMBERS
Other social features include ‘Ride with Friends’. When you hop on your Bike, you’ll receive a notification on-screen if a member you follow is currently taking a class. That way, you can join in and ride together on the leaderboard.
In short, members develop incredible relationships and connections with the community, who all share a passion for our brand. The way they motivate and interact with each other on the lea-derboard and on social media is truly amazing – and it converts riders into workout addicts
Instructors can see who’s taking part in live classes and give shout-outs to home ridersThe Peloton Bike has a fairly high price point. Who is your target market?
Peloton has a very diverse member community, both geographically and socio-economically. What unites them is their desire for a high-quality workout with a great instructor and motivation.
They are often time-poor, so appreciate the convenience of Peloton. In addition, the monthly subscription fee is charged per household, so if you have more than one person working out, that’s a shared cost: you can have multiple profiles and riders for a single Bike.
In the UK, our monthly subscription is £39. With an average of 13 rides a month per subscription, that works out to be only £3 per ride.
How many Peloton classes are live streamed each day?
For cycling specifically, up to 14 classes are live streamed each day and we’ll have hundreds or even thousands of members taking part. In fact, some of Peloton’s recent themed rides have at-tracted nearly 20,000 live riders at one time.
During the live classes, instructors can see who’s taking part in their class, as well as those who are celebrating a milestone such as a 100th ride or a birthday, which enables them to give shout-outs to home riders.
However, it’s not just about interaction between instructors and members, but between members too. Members who have connected via Peloton will often plan to ride together and will motivate one another during the class.
Every single class that’s live streamed is then automatically added to our on-demand library, so members have access to the content any time, anywhere, regardless of where they’re based in the world.
You also have class participants in the New York studio. Can anyone go to these classes?
Anyone can visit our cycling studio in New York City to try a class. Often, we find that existing Peloton members will visit the studio to celebrate a milestone ride or to meet up with other members they’ve met through the class leader-board or social media.
We always recommend that members and new visitors to the studio book their preferred class as far in advance as possible (schedules are released a week ahead) but, with up to 14 classes live streamed each day, there are plenty of options. In addition, rides outside of the peak morning and evening times operate on a free, walk-in basis.
You now have a treadmill product too. What are your plans for this?
We announced our second hardware product, the Peloton Tread, at CES in January 2018 and started delivering units in the US this past fall.
WE ANNOUNCED OUR SECOND HARDWARE PRODUCT, THE PELOTON TREAD, IN 2018; THE REACTION HAS BEEN INCREDIBLE
Similar to the Bike, the Peloton Tread allows people to take live and on-demand group fitness classes, led by world-class instructors, from the comfort and convenience of their own homes. Peloton currently has a team of 11 Tread instructors who teach total body circuit training, walking, running, strength, stretching and audio-only outdoor running.
The reaction to the Tread has been incredible so far. Though it’s technically a treadmill, it’s really designed to deliver a total body workout, with live and on-demand classes across running, walking, bootcamp, strength and stretching.
Any plans to launch more products?
Peloton is always expanding its fitness content offerings to provide members with an ever-more diverse array of options to stay fit, happy and healthy. In December, we introduced live yoga and meditation classes, which offer a great complement to cycling.
We now have three studios in New York City – Cycling, Tread and Yoga – which are set up for live streaming of content.
Pelotin digital is free to all bike and tread owners and offers access to over 10,000 classesYou also offer a digital membership. How does this complement the Bike and Tread?
Peloton Digital is free to all Bike and Tread owners and offers access to over 10,000 classes across categories such as cycling, running, walking, bootcamp, strength, stretching, cardio, yoga and meditation.
For non-Bike or Tread owners, you can access the full content library for £19.49 a month – less than the cost of one boutique fitness studio class. We believe the quality and breadth of content, as well as the community surrounding Peloton, sets us apart.
You recently launched in the UK. What has been the response to date?
The response has been incredible, with a community of UK-based members that’s growing daily – even faster than in the US when the business launched there.
Since the UK launch in September 2018, we’ve run our first TV advertising campaign, hosted thousands of rides at Peloton House in London, announced two UK instructors and opened multiple retail locations. Our pop-up in Covent Garden (Peloton House) has now closed, but you can take a test ride at any time at one of our retail showrooms.
We’re currently in our planning phase for a fulltime UK studio and will be opening it in 2020. In the meantime, cycling classes taught by our UK instructors are currently recorded from a location in London. They aren’t live streamed, but quickly become available on-demand for all members to access any time, anywhere around the world.
There’s enormous potential to disrupt the fitness market in the UK, and we’re only just getting started.
Will there be any differences between the way you operate in the UK versus the US?
In many ways, we’ve mirrored the US strategy in the UK. We sell direct-to-consumer through our website as well as through retail showrooms, and have built up our own delivery infrastructure to ensure we provide the highest-quality customer experience at each touchpoint.
Are you looking at any other international markets for expansion?
Right now, our international expansion efforts are focused on the UK and Canada; we launched into the Canadian market in October 2018.
The focus for the UK over the next 12 months is on growing our member base and introducing more people to Peloton. We have no immediate plans to launch the Tread in the UK, though, as we’re 100 per cent focused on penetrating the market with our core product: the Peloton Bike.
I read that you might go public in 2019. Is that still on the cards?
We’re not discussing specific timing for an IPO and, right now, are focused on using the capital we have to expand the business across product, retail and global expansion.
[Editor’s note: Recent news coverage suggests some progress has been made since this interview, with reports naming Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase as the banks chosen to lead the IPO. However, Peloton reiterates that no specific timing is being discussed for an IPO at this stage.]
HAVING LOCALLY-BASED INSTRUCTORS IS REALLY IMPORTANT: THEY UNDERSTAND THE MARKET
Is it your ultimate vision to have numerous studios around the world, all live streaming?
Our studios are different from other cycling studios – they’re really state-of-the-art broadcast production facilities – so our business model will never be to open many studio locations around the world.
At the moment, we’re focused on continuing to offer 14 hours of live cycling content from our current NYC studio, as well as on building the studio in London and a new multistudio facility in New York City, which will open next year.
Having locally-based instructors is really important though: they understand the market, the music and what motivates people. That’s why we announced two UK instructors in November 2018.
Do you think Peloton has changed the way people want to consume cycling?
Yes. I truly believe that Peloton has reinvented the category and that we’re creating demand.
We often describe Peloton as boutique fitness with a 2ft commute – you no longer have to live in a major city to get the benefit of boutique fitness classes – and the immersive experience of riding with Peloton means you’re motivated to train like never before.
Do you feel athome exercise can genuinely rival the experience of being in a club?
While gyms can still serve their purpose, we believe that fitness is moving into the home, much like movies and video games have over the past decade or so. If you can get a better fitness experience in a better, more convenient location, it could theoretically replace the need to belong to a gym.
What do you see as the future of the indoor cycling market, and what role will Peloton play in this?
I think technology will continue to play a huge role. For Peloton, technology underlies everything we do and is a big differentiator for us. We would consider ourselves to be a technology company first, content second, hardware third.
Ultimately the goal for Peloton is to be the global fitness platform for the home.
KEVIN CORNILS: PELOTON’S PERFECT MATCH
“I’ve co-founded, scaled and sold market-leading businesses across Europe in retail, media and digital services,“ says Kevin Cornils.“ I was a founding member of the team that brought the Match.com online dating business to Europe from the US, and was previously CEO of Glasses Direct, Europe’s largest online optical business.
“My passion has always been building businesses that are either creating new markets or disrupting old ones. Peloton is a great example: an exciting business that’s creating a whole new connected fitness market.
“I joined Peloton in January 2018, to oversee global business and expansion beyond the US, but have been following the brand since launch. I went to Harvard Business School with Peloton CEO John Foley, and was the first person in the UK to order a Bike when he launched Peloton on Kickstarter in 2013.
“I believed from the beginning that Peloton was a game-changing concept – one that would resonate with people who care about health and fitness, and who want a convenient and high-quality solution.“
PELOTON IN NUMBERS
Over 1 million Peloton members, and counting; reports suggest Peloton now has 4% more US customers than SoulCycle
The company was recently valued at US$4bn, with US$1bn total fundraising to date
The one-year customer retention rate is 95 per cent; it’s still 87 per cent after two years
The Bike retails at US$2,000 (£1,990) + US$39 (£39) a month subscription
Over 300,000 Bikes sold within three years of the 2014 launch
To date, each Bike sold is used for an average of 13 rides per month
Peloton members typically do 50–60% of their exercise on the Bike; the rest is done outdoors or at the gym
What has the emergence of boutique studios meant for the fitness sector as a whole? As we all know, the fitness market has been disrupted over the last 15 years, in particular by the low-cost operators – these clubs are just getting better and better – and by the boutiques.
Boutiques in particular have really captured the millennial taste and this is key to their success, not least because millennials now account for a huge proportion of the fitness market: Les Mills recently commissioned a new study from Qualtrix – surveying 18,000 people across 22 countries – which found that 79 per cent of people doing gym-type activities are either millennials (those aged up to 37 years) or post-millennials (those aged up to 23 years).
Clubs absolutely have to embrace this market if they want to survive, and that means adapt-ing their offering. Millennials are very different from Baby Boomers and Gen X. In fact, they very consciously don’t want to do what their parents did. Many millennials are therefore bypassing traditional clubs in favour of the boutiques, and it’s vitally important that health club operators realise and respond to this.
Why? Because not only do millennials represent a huge segment of the market, but this is also the age at which habits are formed. The average age of a health club member might be around 40 years old, but our research has found the vast majority of people first join clubs in their 20s; 24 years old is the biggest joining point. Very few people join for the first time after 35 years old, and after the age of 40 the numbers are statistically almost non-existent.
So, you have to get people when they’re in their 20s, or at a push their early 30s – and this is the age group that’s currently being drawn to the boutiques. Our research shows a 5 per cent growth in the number of people doing gym-type activities between 2013 and 2018 – from 28 per cent of the population to 33 per cent – and it’s the boutiques and low-cost club that are benefiting the most.
Only 49 per cent of the market now uses traditional health clubs; the remaining 51 per cent are split across low-cost clubs, boutiques, small local clubs – the Anytime Fitnesses, Jetts and Snaps of this world – and other niches like university and corporate clubs.
And while not all the boutiques are successful – anecdotal evidence suggests around a third are struggling financially – this is still a sector that’s booming. There are now hundreds of thousands of boutique studios around the world and they’re enjoying share of wallet as well as share of market: the average monthly expenditure per member at a traditional club is US$52; at a boutique studio, that figure rises to US$111.
Understandably, then, there’s been growing concern among operators that traditional clubs could become an anachronism. I don’t accept this. For me, all it means is that traditional clubs have to evolve.
Immersive class THE TRIP will be “the next big thing“, says Mills
And have traditional clubs evolved? They have started to, yes, with a number of operators creating boutique-style spaces in their clubs. In the UK, for example, David Lloyd Leisure has launched Blaze, while the Brazilian mar-ket leader – the BioRitmo/Smartfit group – has created a few different styles of in-club boutique. Meanwhile, in New Zealand – following the pre-vious launch of our millennial-targeted, in-club cycling studio Chain – our Les Mills clubs have a couple of millennial-style innovations set to come out this year: a boxing/running class and a functional circuit similar to the F45 model.
OUR RESEARCH SHOWS 83 PER CENT OF THOSE WHO HAVE GYM MEMBERSHIPS ALSO EXERCISE AT HOME
It’s these styles of class – in-club boutique offer-ings – that will help traditional clubs to compete with the boutiques. But they have to be done well. It needs to be an authentic environment: a small area with a community feel. Crucially, the programming and the teachers have to be real-ly great. If you look at the successful boutiques – Barry’s Bootcamp, SoulCycle and Flywheel, for example – they’ve created some really cool class-es which are also incredible workouts, and they’re led by amazing instructors.
This is a key point, because it’s in this area – instructors – that traditional clubs have done badly over recent times. Clubs have been allowed to age in this respect: US$22 is still the average instructor fee paid per class in a traditional club, which is pretty much the same as it was in the 1980s. Why would any good instructor settle for that when the average fee for teaching a boutique class is US$50–$100?
Of course, there are some really good hobbyist in-structors out there – people who are doing it for love and who are great at what they do. But this isn’t a model that will bring a new generation of rockstar instructors into traditional clubs. These operators have to start paying instructors more. They need great instructors to deliver great classes if they’re to stand any chance of compet-ing with the boutiques – and the low-cost clubs for that matter.
And there’s no point saying you’ll rely on virtual group exercise. It’s true that the leading virtual classes are taught by great instructors, and it can be a very powerful tool for traditional clubs in off-peak times. But it’s live classes that build a sense of community. It’s instructors who build relationships and drive retention. Plus, most of the low-cost clubs offer virtual classes now. Traditional clubs need to up their game when it comes to live group exercise.
What’s the best place for clubs to start? Clubs need to look at how and where to create cool boutique areas within their facilities, and the cycling studio is the easiest place to start. Cycle classes deliver the highest profit per square foot
– the number of people you can fit into an area is higher than for any other activity – and most clubs have a cycling studio already. However, in many cases they’ve been allowed to die, running just two or three classes a day.
Meanwhile, cycling is a huge – and growing – category in boutiques; even in traditional clubs, where cycling is done well, anything up to 30 per cent of members will include it in their routines.
1Rebel Victoria has done something incredible. It’s the single best group exercise studio in the world
And that’s because anyone can do it, it’s a high motivation activity, and it offers great results. There’s also a growing body of research coming out of the big global research institutes show-ing how interval training on a bike can boost metabolism and weight loss, change our DNA to make muscles fitter and healthier, and even im-prove the cellular health and functionality of our muscles as we age.
So, while running, boxing, HIIT, yoga and so on are all opportunities for traditional clubs when it comes to in-house boutique spaces, definitely the most logical place to start would be upgrading existing cycling studios: upgrading the décor, the AV, the programming, the instructor quality by paying for rockstars… If you have great content, great teachers and a great space, you become competitive again.
Can you offer a few examples of great cycling studios that might act as inspiration? There are lots of great examples out there. Décor-wise SoulCycle is great, and it has some very good instructors. The workout isn’t for me though, with too much high-speed stuff out of the saddle. In terms of the workout, I love Flywheel – it’s more athletic, more about interval training. Space Cycle in Shanghai is very cool too, as are some of the immersive studios we’ve worked with around the world: TMPL in New York City and Pure Fitness in Hong Kong, for example.
But in terms of overall experience, my two current favourites are London’s 1Rebel Victoria and the new TRIP studio in our Les Mills Auckland club. 1Rebel Victoria has done something incredible. It’s the single best group exercise studio in the world – a truly amazing experience – and it’s setting the standard for clubs around the globe. [Read more about 1Rebel Victoria in our interview with 1Rebel co-founder James Balfour.]
Meanwhile, in Auckland, we have 100 bikes in a theatre-style studio that’s been designed by some hot young architects. The studio is dark, illuminated from the front by a concave screen – 20m wide by 3m high – on which we run our immersive cycling classes, THE TRIP. We’re now on the 16th release of THE TRIP, with US$500,000 investment going into the production of each class, and it’s a truly addictive experience. I do it three times a week!
Tell us a bit more about THE TRIP… When we first launched THE TRIP, we were adamant that the screens had to be huge, but re-cently we’ve realised it can still work on smaller screens. If you have a 4×3 mosaic screen – that is, 12 smaller screens joined together – the experience can still be immersive for up to 35 people. Even on regular 3m-wide virtual screens, it’s great.
Cycling isn’t only booming in boutiques. Even in traditional clubs, up to 30 per cent of members take part
This has helped THE TRIP to explode: since we launched these new formats and virtual TRIP three months ago, we’ve gone from just a handful of studios around the world to over 100 installations sold. I have absolute confi-dence that it’s going to be the next big thing, available in thousands of clubs over the next few years. It leapfrogs any club’s studio ahead of even the best boutiques.
Finally, let’s chat about Peloton and the impact this has had on the market… The at-home fitness market is a huge category and always has been, right back to the days of Jane Fonda workout videos. Our research shows that 83 per cent of those who have gym mem-berships also exercise at home.
What’s happening now is simply that the technology is evolving, facilitating products like Peloton and Zwift. There’s a lot of content streamed online too, although here it’s often a case of quantity over quality – there’s a lot of rubbish out there. But overall, the range of at-home exercise options is growing fast.
In terms of Peloton specifically, it’s doing very well as a business and I love what it’s doing for cycling as a whole. But it is quite a simple prod-uct in terms of its content, simply streaming live classes out of a studio. Some of its teachers are quite good, but generally, I’d have to be honest and say the classes aren’t fabulous compared to other virtual classes that have been well choreo-graphed, filmed in great locations using multiple camera angles and top cameramen. You can get bored after a while
PELOTON IS DOING VERY WELL AS A BUSINESS AND I LOVE WHAT IT’S DOING FOR CYCLING AS A WHOLE – PHILLIP MILLS
So, what’s driving Peloton’s success? The tech is good, but it isn’t the live streaming that’s ultimately driving its appeal: only a small proportion of Peloton users take part in these classes, with most going back into the pre-recorded library to pick their favourites. Lots of people just use the Peloton app on their own bikes.
What Peloton has done absolutely brilliantly – and the same goes for SoulCycle – is an amazing marketing job. Both these brands have succeed-ed in bringing bikes back to the fore, so I really want to see them do well. They’ve done great things for the category. Really, the whole indus-try can now benefit from what they’ve done.
To meet the members’ request for superior cycling experiences, Fitness World Denmark is in the process of implementing a new indoor cycling concept. Upgrading all indoor cycles to BODY BIKE SMART+ and implementing INTELLIGENT CYCLING and the use of BODY BIKE indoor cycling app, the indoor cycling experience at Fitness World is getting a long-awaited boost.
Indoor cycles and facilities are generally cost-intensive, and to run a healthy business high attendance and happy members are crucial. By engaging the users, boosting the overall cycling experience and allowing everyone to participate in the same cycling session regardless of their level, the new indoor cycles and digital solutions are expected to ensure high attendance and membership growth.
Even though we offer a wide range of team workouts, indoor cycling has always been very popular and one of our top priorities
”Fitness World is a full-service fitness centre with a wide range of workouts and classes to meet almost anybody’s fitness needs. How important is indoor cycling to your business? Even though we offer a wide range of team workouts, indoor cycling has always been very popular and one of our top priorities. Even during periods with fluctuating attendance levels, indoor cycling has always ranked high. With the introduction of new indoor cycles and a new and updated indoor cycling concept, Fitness World is revitalising their indoor cycling classes and taking them into the future.
How did you choose your new indoor cycling concept? Fitness World is a nationwide chain with 106 centers. Upgrading the indoor cycling equipment and facility at all centers is, of course, a resource-intensive task, and it is important that we make lasting and future-proof choices that meet our members’ needs and expectations.
In the decision-making process, we were fortunate to have a large member base that we could count on to test various concepts and equipment and to provide us with valuable feedback. In addition to the continuous feedback we get from our members and instructors, we also did a widescale market research in 2017 to identify our members’ wishes and needs.
After the first implementation of our new indoor cycling concept in September 2017, we have continuously evaluated and adjusted the concept. The ongoing adjustments have resulted in a significant upgrade of the overall cycling experience, created the perfect working conditions for our skilled instructors, and the ultimate foundation for professional and motivational indoor cycling workouts.
”What are the most significant improvements and changes?” Previously, the BODY BIKE® SUPREME was our standard indoor cycle – and it worked very well for us. Fitness World, our instructors and members were all happy with this model for a long time. However, our members’ needs and expectations slowly changed and to keep their motivation high, maintain high attendance levels and attract new members we had to do something differently.
One of the things that has changed on the fitness scene today is that people want to track, measure and document their efforts. That was not an option with the SUPREME, but with our new BODY BIKE® SMART+, they can do just that. The bikes have built-in software that provides users with all the data required and is compatible with various devices and platforms.
To ensure consistent, high-quality workouts we have decided to implement INTELLIGENT CYCLING as our shared training platform. It is an online tool that allows our instructors to effectively design workouts within the predefined Fitness World bike classes, such as Bike Standard, Bike Edge and Bike Rush etc. INTELLIGENT CYCLING uses five colour zones that indicate the level of resistance. and allows the riders to follow the progress of the workout on screens in the studio.
The new BODY BIKE® SMART+ cycles work with the BODY BIKE indoor cycling app. The app allows the riders to connect their phone with the bike and receive performance data throughout their workout including watt. The BODY BIKE indoor cycling app uses the same colour zones as INTELLIGENT CYCLING and makes it easy for the riders to follow the workout. By entering personal FTP value, the colour zones will automatically adjust the level of resistance within the zones to match each individual rider. Meaning that riders on various levels can attend the same workout and still get a personalised cycling experience. After each workout, riders are able to save their performance data on their mobile phones and subsequently upload the data to STRAVA.
Last but not least, we have worked intensely with our instructors. Even though technology has made its entry into the cycling studios, the instructor still plays an important role, when it comes to ensuring high attendance and attracting members. We have tried out video classes without an instructor present several times, and it has not been a success. Our members want a motivational instructor to inspire them to do their utmost, and they often choose their favourite instructor rather than their favourite class.
People want to track, measure and document their efforts
How has the new cycling concept gone down with the instructors? The new cycling concept is, of course, different from what the instructors have been used to so far, and their reactions have spanned everything from concern and frustration to joy and excitement. But regardless of the new setup and the new technology, our instructors are still the most important factor in the studio. They are the ones creating the positive vibes, the energy and the strong personal relations.
Consequently, training our instructors has been a top priority. We have made a huge effort to inform our instructors about – and train them in the use of – INTELLIGENT CYCLING, the BODY BIKE® SMART+ cycles, and the BODY BIKE indoor cycling app. We have continuously focused on the positive and the many new possibilities instead of on the limitations. If it is used correctly, we are convinced that the INTELLIGENT CYCLING platform will allow our instructors to focus on motivating our members instead of on communicating information about the workout program and content. Brian Overkær from INTELLIGENT CYCLING has been in charge of training the instructors, and after a test period, evaluations clearly show that our instructors and especially our members are very excited about the new concept and the many new possibilities.
Even though technology is used in Fitness World’s cycling studios, the instructor still plays an important role
”You point out that skilled instructors improve attendance and attract members. How do you find instructors with the right qualifications and personalities? We make sure that our instructors have the right level of training and the right qualifications at our own training academy, Group Fitness Academy. It is an ongoing process, and we continuously invite our instructors to improve their skills and participate in workshops and further training. One of our key focus areas is developing social skills making sure that our instructors are able to deliver motivating and entertaining workouts.
Being a Fitness World indoor cycling instructor takes dedication and a strong personality
Being a Fitness World indoor cycling instructor takes dedication and a strong personality. It is important that you are outgoing, energetic, have strong social skills and are able to motivate others. You are not necessarily a Pro Tour rider with a body fat percentage below 10 climbing the Alpe d’Huez in less than 50 minutes. Our members form a representative cross section of the population and so do our instructors. Some of them have a background in the fitness industry, others do not. Regardless of their background, they all have to go through our internal Fitness World training programme including workshops and online training.
”How do you make sure that there is a class to meet every fitness need?” It is our goal at Fitness World to meet the general public’s diverse needs for exercise and fitness. Indoor cycling has a very wide appeal, and we strive to put together a mix of classes that accommodate various needs. With the implementation of new technology our members are able to join any cycling class they prefer regardless of their fitness level. With the BODY BIKE® SMART+ cycles, INTELLIGENT CYCLING and the BODY BIKE indoor cycling app everybody can join the fun and participate at their own pace and level.
Do you continuously develop new classes? Our members are happy with the cycling classes, we offer today, but we still want to come up with new and inspiring workouts to keep them motivated and coming back for more. One of the new things we have in the pipeline is boot camps that focus on developing the individual rider. Maybe the boot camps can combine some of our existing concepts as for example personal training and BIKE?
Furthermore, we are in the process of exploring how our many digital platforms might work together, and how we – together with BODY BIKE – can create even cooler digital cycling experiences.
”What is the future of indoor cycling at Fitness World? We launched INTELLIGENT CYCLING and BODY BIKE® SMART+ cycles in eight of our fitness centres in September 2017. In the first year, attendance increased by 5% with an average of 11% more riders joining the classes. We continuously receive positive feedback from our members, and with intensive training our instructors have embraced the new solutions focusing on what they do best – training, guiding, entertaining, motivating and creating great energy.
Today, the new cycling concept has been introduced in 38 out of 106 centres and the rest will follow in 2019-2020.
10-12 hour Indoor bike events with 300 bikes and a new presenter each hour is discipline of its own within indoor cycling. Not to be compared with a normal 1-hour workout class in the local gym at all.
With up to 300 bikes on the floor and 1200 riders, most teams being 4 persons to keep the bike in motion, but still some are doing all hours on their own. It takes endurance and stamina to ride such hours and you don’t want to burn it all out within the first few hours.
On stage the instructors on the other hand, only ride 1 hour. Giving it their best performance without leaving the crowd exhausted and bored – energized and still wanting more. Keeping the crowd motivated and all bikes in motion till the very end, takes a different approach than a single 1-hour workout class. Presenters often take alternative methods in use. DJ on stage, Live dancers, live singers, live music performance, special themes, music, video, Pyrotechnics, fireworks – you name it! IT´S SHOWTIME!
“I first came up with the idea for FirstLight Cycle in the lobby of a New York hotel,” says Mark Anthony, the former celebrity PT turned indoor cycling enthusiast, sitting in the bright reception area of his newly-opened boutique cycling studio.
“I’d gone out to New York to look at the cycling scene there and was immediately hooked. I loved what the studios gave me: the energy of working out as a group rather than one-to-one.
“I had previously worked as a personal trainer, operating at the top of my profession for two decades, but the time had come where I no longer felt I had the energy to get up at 4.00am and go to bed at 1.00am every day. I felt opening a cycling studio might be a good next step for me.
“I had already started mulling over how I might do this when I found myself watching an incredible sunrise over New York through a huge window in my hotel lobby. I thought to myself: ‘How incredible would it be to run a group cycling class right here, with this view?’ That was the beginning of FirstLight.
“This was back in 2014, so it’s taken time to come to fruition – I’ve had to find the right technology to recreate that solar experience, as well as finding the right location. Really, the property market in London is a bidding war nowadays, and it’s taken us a long time to find the right space.
“But we’re here now, we have a strong vision, we’re clear what we stand for, and I believe we can become a key player in the boutique market over the coming years.”
Journey of the sun
He continues: “The concept of FirstLight is centred on harnessing the combined power of light and exercise, both of which have huge benefits for our body and our soul.
“Studio 1 houses our signature cycling concept, which revolves around the journey of the sun: from first light through high noon to sunset. There’s a 30ft screen filling the front wall of the studio, so you find yourself immersed in a landscape over which the sun rises, moves across the sky and then sets. This simulated sunshine is designed to boost participants’ energy levels and mood – sunshine makes us happy.
“The screen is also a mirror, so our instructors – we call them our maestros – can switch between the two to suit their class structure. We create threads they have to follow in their programming – we dictate the high points based on the phases of the sun, which is reflected in the prescribed BPM of the music – but they choose their own tracks and do their own choreography around these threads. In this way, they can create their own signature workouts, each of which we review and approve before they’re allowed to use them in the studio.
“We also put our maestros, all of whom are employed by us rather than freelance, through eight weeks of training at our academy, so they absolutely understand our concept and our expectation of robust, credible workouts.”
Box and ride
“But we have 9,000sq ft of space here, which is large for a boutique. It means that, in addition to our 58-bike studio 1, we’ve been able to create two further studios.
“Studios 2 and 3 will open in January: a 40-capacity boxing studio, where the sun will gradually work its way from east to west above your head, rather than across a screen at the front of the cycling studio; and a 21-bike HIIT cycling studio, which will be dark and intense and raw, with tough workouts that last half an hour as opposed to the 45- or 60-minute classes in studio 1.”
He adds: “My uncle used to be heavyweight boxing champion of Asia, so I’ve grown up with boxing. Meanwhile, my personal expertise is strength training. We’ve combined both of these elements to create a unique twist on a boxing class, combining free weights with punchbags where you ‘punch by number’ – the bags are marked up to show exactly where to hit them.
WE DICTATE THE HIGH POINTS BASED ON THE PHASES OF THE SUN, WHICH IS REFLECTED IN THE BPM OF THE MUSIC – Mark Anthony
“We’ll also be introducing some more challenging cycling workouts into the timetable over the coming weeks, even in studio 1. At the moment, it’s a fairly comfortable ride. We’ll still offer that – our audience is mostly 35- to 60-year-olds and we don’t want to alienate anyone – but younger riders tend to want something a bit tougher, so we’ll be addressing that.”
The future is live
Anthony continues: “The other thing we’re launching in January is home streaming, and this will be central to our whole business model moving forward. I firmly believe people are
increasingly leaning towards home fitness, so all three of our studios have been built with this technology embedded.
“Our boxing studio has two cameras, so the maestro can switch between them and talk directly to people taking part from home; they’ll be shadow boxing rather than using a bag, so all they need is a bench and some dumbbells, which we can sell to them. We’re still working out how to fully convey the journey of the sun when we live stream our boxing classes, because people will be streaming it to their TVs.
“However, for the cycling classes we have a really exciting innovation: we’ll be unveiling our own Peloton-style home fitness bike in January.
FirstLight classes will be live streamed to its 22-inch screen – the maestro will be able to see exactly who’s tuning in, so they can give them a shout out – but there will also be a frame around the screen. This will emit light throughout the class, in line with the phases of the sun, so at-home exercisers experience all the feelgood benefits of our studio-based workouts.”
A unisex model
“We had originally planned to launch a second studio in London, but we aren’t doing that any more. We may eventually open other studios if we move into Europe and the US, but there will be no more in the UK,” adds Anthony.
“That’s because I believe the future of indoor cycling – in fact, the future of all genres of exercise – is streaming. We’re gearing our whole set-up around this, which is why I’ve invested in bringing the very best technology to this 9,000sq ft studio. This will be our hub.
“In fact, I also believe streaming is the way to get men involved in group exercise. They don’t want to come into a studio environment – 85 per cent of our customers at FirstLight are women – but being able to train from home makes all the difference. In addition, whereas our studio classes are all about the experience, the FirstLight at-home bike will also offer stats and performance data – something we believe will further extend our appeal among men.”
He concludes: “I do think you need a strong
story to make live streaming work, but I believe our light-centred classes have what it takes. As we build our brand and extend our reach, I
believe FirstLight will become a brand that people love to follow.”
FirstLight Cycle – vital statistics
Location: Westfield London shopping centre
Opened: Late September 2018
Investment: £1.5m
Size: 9,000sq ft
Studios: 3
Total capacity: 120
Break-even: 35% capacity
Studio class prices: £20 per class, up to £125 monthly unlimited; packages also available
Home fitness prices: £19 a month per discipline, or £35 for both cycling and boxing
What’s the idea behind Kinomap? Indoor training can be boring. People buy a piece of gym equipment for their home and within months they’re disengaged and no longer using it. In creating Kinomap, our idea was to make indoorsessions fun, using technology to engage people and make their journey to good health more interesting.
What is Kinomap? Kinomap allows exercisers to access real-world video footage – a huge variety of routes through which they can ride, run or row – to make their indoor training more engaging.
It was developed over two key phases. The first phase, in 2010, was Kinomap.com: a free sharing website for geolocated, user-generated video content. Anyone who uploads content to Kinomap needs to upload not only a video, but also the corresponding GPS track; it’s a bit like YouTube and GoogleMaps rolled into one.
KINOMAP WORKS WITH ALL TYPES OF CARDIO EQUIPMENT: BIKES, TREADMILLS, CROSS-TRAINERS AND ROWERS
We now have 140,000km of track – real video footage – from 86 countries around the world, from Europe to Brazil, China to Vietnam to Mongolia. You can go for a run on the Great Wall of China, cycle the Alpe d’Huez route from the Tour de France, row along the canals in Amsterdam… There’s a huge diversity of content, with five to 10 new videos uploaded by users every day and made available to those using Kinomap to train indoors.
Having created Kinomap.com to collect video content, we then moved on to developing training apps that used this content. The main Kinomap app was launched in 2013 and was followed by a series of white label apps for partners, like Decathlon and Kettler, who promote Kinomap to those purchasing their equipment; Kinomap works with all types of cardio equipment, from indoor and recumbent bikes to treadmills, cross-trainers and rowing machines.
What makes Kinomap technology special? The geolocation technology, combined with the real video footage, is key. It moves Kinomap away from being virtual reality entertainment and into a sporting, performance-focused arena.
These are real videos of real tracks that you have to complete; anyone using our Challenge mode will see their avatar moving along the track on the map at exactly the same speed as they’re moving through the video footage. It doesn’t matter how long the original contributor took to complete the track: they might have labelled it as a 30-minute track, but you could do it faster or slower depending on your power output on your chosen piece of cardio equipment.
And the system is highly accurate – so much so that when it comes to cycling, for example, Strava equates it to a real road ride and allows you to log your Kinomap training data on its app.
The system works best when the cardio equipment features a sensor that Kinomap can pair with. On a bike, for example, this allows the resistance to automatically adjust to the incline of the track. Where the bike has a power meter, we can also accurately adjust your speed: if your output is 200 watts on a flat road, we’ll move you along at 30kph; if you’re climbing the Alpe d’Huez at an 11 per cent incline, you’ll be down to 8kph.
However, you can still use Kinomap if you have an older piece of fitness equipment with no inbuilt electronics: the app can use the front-facing camera on your mobile phone to detect your cadence on a bike, your stride if you’re running, or your stroke on a rowing machine. Alternatively, if you’d rather just use the video as entertainment, you can choose Discovery mode. In this case, you pass through the video at the same speed as the contributor. You’ll still feel the inclines and declines, but you don’t get the full experience of completing the track for yourself.
you can still use Kinomap if you have an older piece of fitness equipment with no inbuilt electronics
How does it work if you’re training from home? Most people run the app through their smartphone and cast the video onto a TV screen, so the whole experience is very immersive.
It’s made even more engaging by the fact that you never train alone. We have a multi-player mode, so you can get a group of people together – in the same room, around the world or a combination of the two – and compete against each other on-screen. But even those who don’t have anyone to train with will always be competing against the original contributor of the track; an avatar of their own previous best performance if they’ve completed that track before; up to six other users at a similar level as them; and the best performer on the track to date.
Importantly, anyone else shown on-screen will have logged their time using the same piece of fitness equipment as you; inevitably some brands of equipment are more accurate than others when it comes to measuring power output, and we want to compare like with like.
Can Kinomap also be used in a gym setting? For gyms, the best use of Kinomap is in a cycling studio: it’s a great way of maximising the value of the studio during off-peak times when there aren’t any live, instructor-led classes. Gyms can use Kinomap’s multi-player mode to allow groups of members to compete against each other, either in scheduled ‘public races’ or in on-demand ‘private races’ set up by the members themselves. In this scenario, we charge a licence fee per bike rather than per user, and the videos can be downloaded in advance to avoid problems with internet speed.
We’re finding it hard to break onto gym floors though, at least at a commercial level, because Kinomap works almost too well: it causes people to be on the cardio kit for longer than gyms’ equipment usage models allow. The average time people spend on a treadmill in the gym is 13 minutes; Kinomap users average 38 minutes. Similarly, on indoor bikes, the average usage time is 17 minutes; with Kinomap, it’s 42 minutes.
The technology does offer a great opportunity to run tactical marketing events in a gym though: a cycling challenge in the run-up to the Tour de France, for example, or a team run around Central Park when the New York Marathon is coming up. We have enough different tracks around the world that you should be able to find something to match any upcoming event.
What future developments are you planning for Kinomap? We have a few things we’re working on, from slipstreaming technology to making the avatars more realistic.
We’re also keen to get more official race footage, so for example you don’t just have the chance to cycle the Alpe d’Huez course. You have the chance to cycle that route as part of the Tour de France peloton and get your ranking at the end.
We’ve already started doing this with the Hammer Series – a new race series for elite cycling teams such as Team Sky, where three races take part in one city over the course of a weekend. We see huge potential in this sort of agreement, both for the end users of Kinomap and for the brands involved in the tour.
WE WANT TO SEE INDOOR CYCLING RECOGNISED AS A SPORT: REAL RACES, TAKING PLACE ON REAL TRACKS, INDOORS
Tell us more about this Hammer Series agreement We’ve signed an agreement with Infront, which holds the rights to the Hammer Series. As part of this, it asked the pro cycling organisation Velon to film video footage of three races – in Norway, the Netherlands and Hong Kong – with a camera on-board one of the bikes. It then approached us to create an indoor version of the Hammer Series using this footage.
It’s a great strategy for Infront for a number of reasons: it keeps the buzz going around the events for far longer than simply the day or week of the race itself; and it gives the participating teams something to involve their fans in throughout the winter, when there are no races going on. Team Sky, for example, has 800,000 followers on social media – and little to tell them during the winter months. How amazing would it be to offer those fans the chance to take part in a half-hour section of one of the races, racing alongside the likes of Chris Froome – maybe even giving them a ranking compared to him at the end of it?
Once again, we come back to the fact that this isn’t virtual reality: it’s a real race, indoors.
What do you see as the future of indoor cycling, and what will be your role in this? We want to persuade the British Cycling Federation to allow a broader definition of indoor cycling. At the moment, it views indoor cycling as track cycling in a velodrome, but we feel what we deliver is also indoor cycling – not just exercise, but a sport.
If you look at rowing, there’s a World Rowing Indoor Championships: a real, competitive event using Concept2 rowers. We want to do the same with indoor cycling.
In fact, we’re already seeing this start to happen in places like Paris, where a peloton cycling out on the roads is deemed too much of a terrorist target; the cycling legs of triathlons now have to take place indoors.
But we want to formalise this. We want to see indoor cycling – using Kinomap technology in conjunction with the most accurate power-based bikes, like Body Bike and Wattbike – recognised as a sport: real races, on real race tracks, indoors.
Kinomap: Facts & figures
Kinomap was created by co-founders Philippe Moity and Laurent Desmons.
The Kinomap community is currently about 200,000 strong, with 30,000 active monthly users.
Prices start at US$5 a month on an annual contract, for which you receive unlimited access to all videos on Kinomap.
Most users use Kinomap at home, with about half choosing Challenge mode and the other half preferring Discovery mode.
At the moment, cycling accounts for 70 per cent of activity on Kinomap, with running and rowing making up the rest.
Regarded by many as the ultimate fitness festival for the region, we combine the best of entertainment and exercise in what we call “exertainment” with the best of stage setup, lighting and sound carefully coordinated with each program track, elevating the offerings of our presenters and the experience of all participants. This will also be exemplified through our program THE TRIP, which takes cycling to a new frontier of motivating and immersive fitness experiences.
Over the last few decades, Les Mills International CEO Phillip Mills has seen huge change in what drives club members and keeps them motivated. In this video, using exercise bikes as an example, he explores how the evolution of technology has helped create a more motivating environment for exercise that helps members achieve more.
Imagine being among over a thousand people, energized by the music, moving full-out to the hypnotic rhythm
We started running Les Mills Live for the first time in Singapore in 2018 and we saw the benefits and potential that it offers to various facets of the business, especially in Southeast Asia which is currently experiencing rapid growth in terms of fitness awareness and gym/club membership adoption. That’s why we decided to bring it back to Singapore for 2019 as it is a strategic point for the various countries in our market to congregate, as well as a popular international hub for other countries. This is possibly why our 2019 event has already attracted fitness fans from as far as US, UK, France and we anticipate that there will be more people from other countries joining us. We’re expecting many international instructors and fitness leaders from emerging and established markets alike to take this opportunity to network while enjoying themselves.
From a participant number of over 1,300 people in 2018, and the rave reviews received, we are not surprised that ticket sales for our 2019 event is already close to that figure at this early bird ticketing stage, and we anticipate to be playing host to over 2,500 participants in 2019!
Imagine being among over a thousand people, energized by the music, moving full-out to the hypnotic rhythm and beats as they are led by our program directors or their ‘fitness heroes’ who are the designers and first teachers of the various Les Mills program tracks and are pretty much synonymous with them.
The classes will be delivered by a team of hand-picked presenters
This event is not just about ‘doing exercise’ or working out in a group, but it’s about experience, connection, challenge, community and performance. Our goal is that each and every one who attends, leaves inspired and with tools and insights that they can harness and build upon even long after the event ends.
We are excited about the impact that we will be making in each participant’s life through this epic event.
Friday night bikes
For the first time in Singapore: FRIDAY NIGHT BIKES powered by BODY BIKE® makes its debut. The 4-hour cycle-a-thon features popular Les Mills cycle programs RPM, SPRINT and new to market THE TRIP. THE TRIP is an immersive cycle experience where riders are lead through fantastical worlds on big screens. The classes will be delivered by a team of hand-picked presenters from Australia, Southeast Asia and THE MAN himself Glen Ostergaard – the Program Director of both RPM and SPRINT.
Ophelia from Australia is making the trek to Singapore especially for Friday Night Bikes “I’m expecting on the Friday night a whole lot of crazy cycle obsession!”, “We are quietly confident there will be a whole-lotta-obsession as at the time of writing most of the cycling sessions have sold out.”
Amanda Breen, Les Mills RPM Presenter says: “I can’t wait to ride with 150 people who love indoor cycling – the energy will be insane!”, “The fact that we are featuring our 3 cycle programs makes the event even more special, I’m so excited!”
LES MILLS ASIA PACIFIC
Les Mills Asia Pacific (LMAP) was founded when Bill Robertson, then owner of Deakin Health Spa in Canberra, Australia (now Fitness First) mused the decline in aerobics classes. In search of answers Bill travelled to Auckland New Zealand to investigate a new concept in aerobics: PUMP.
Bill Robertson
Immediately he liked what he saw: enmasse members participating in a weights class to music – revolutionary in so many ways: females participating in resistance training, males participating in aerobics and barbells and weight-plates occupying real-estate on the studio floor. Today we would think nothing of this concept – but in the 90s, females and weight-training were atypical, males certainly didn’t participate in aerobics and weights were confined to the gym floor. However, Bill was immediately hooked and recognized the potential in the concept for his facility back home. And right he was: PUMP was a success. Members flocked back to the aerobics studio no thanks to this pre-choreographed-weights-to-music class. This gamble on a single program, in a single facility in Canberra has 2-decades later expanded in to 15 programs (including RPM and BODYBALANCE) across 1,000 facilities in Australia and Southeast Asia. Facilitating these classes across the Asia Pacific region is close to 10,000 Les Mills trained Instructors.
Les Mills mission
Les Mills’ mission is to create a fitter planet, and we do this by helping clubs build healthier businesses by making more people love their clubs. Our programs help them achieve this through better member acquisition and retention as studies show that club members who join group fitness classes are 4 times more likely to attend their facility. Statistics also show that members that attend their facility twice/week remain a member between 2-5 years. As instructors play a key part in enabling this to happen by delivering our programs, we also focus on growing our instructors so that they become the greatest instructors (and human beings) they can be. LMAP countries Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Guam, Brunei, Maldives, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Laos
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Do you think Peloton has changed the way people want to consume cycling?
Yes. I truly believe that Peloton has reinvented the category and that we’re creating demand.
We often describe Peloton as boutique fitness with a 2ft commute – you no longer have to live in a major city to get the benefit of boutique fitness classes – and the immersive experience of riding with Peloton means you’re motivated to train like never before.
Do you feel athome exercise can genuinely rival the experience of being in a club?
While gyms can still serve their purpose, we believe that fitness is moving into the home, much like movies and video games have over the past decade or so. If you can get a better fitness experience in a better, more convenient location, it could theoretically replace the need to belong to a gym.
What do you see as the future of the indoor cycling market, and what role will Peloton play in this?
I think technology will continue to play a huge role. For Peloton, technology underlies everything we do and is a big differentiator for us. We would consider ourselves to be a technology company first, content second, hardware third.
Ultimately the goal for Peloton is to be the global fitness platform for the home.
And the system is highly accurate – so much so that when it comes to cycling, for example, Strava equates it to a real road ride and allows you to log your Kinomap training data on its app.
