KEY POINTS:
At first glance it seems to be a complete oxymoron, an exercise website. Given the highly sedentary nature of going online, which typically involves being seated in front of a computer for extended periods of time, the notion that an online site is going to get me motivated enough to leave the comfort of my office cubicle and run up a flight of stairs seems a little far fetched. However, that's what Wellington based online Start-UP, TheNakedTrainer.net, is attempting to do.
Founded by Andy Hansen, a Wellington based fitness professional, The Naked Trainer is an online health and fitness community which allows it's members to set health goals, create and track weekly activity plans, and motivate each other through different group activities and individual messages of encouragement.
"When it comes to health sites, too many try to over complicate health in order to increase their own self-importance and justify their high fees" says Hansen. "If we simply succeed in getting people thinking about and writing down their health goals then we will achieve more health success than most".
If getting members to write down their health goals is the first step to success for this start-up then they appear to well on their way. When I visited the Naked Trainer site there was a diverse range of goals listed by its members, from the very typical 'lose 5kgs' or 'improve my diet' through to the slightly more quirky 'walk in the rain' and 'paint the house' listed by a member that goes by the pseudonym Spunk Rat.
The fact that the site is not filled with listings by tank top-wearing behemoths wanting to increase their bench press to 180kgs was both refreshing and relieving consider I only push 80kgs on a good day, and it is a feature that should keep the level of online participation high within the general populous.
As with most things "exercise" getting people to commit to their program over the long term remains as a big a challenge online as it is in the real world, especially when the online alternative is as simple as clicking your mouse to check on your Facebook page.
"We have a number of fun ideas that we think will help our members to commit to their goals over the long term" says Hansen, one of which is already seems to be proving successful. Gimme20 is an open group within the site where a group member can send out a Gimme20 exercise order to everyone else in the group who then must stop whatever they're doing and complete the exercise.
Hansen points out that "the exercise orders are aimed at getting everyone in the group visiting the site and logging their exercise on a daily basis, but more importantly, they get everyone in the group thinking about their health every day".
While The Naked Trainer's objectives are highly admirable, especially so in a nation which has an increasing obesity problem, a lack of a clear revenue model does raise questions on how this start-up intends to fund its future growth. A question that the founder answers with all the zeal you'd expect from a budding online health Guru.
"The health and fitness industry is overflowing with businesses that are 100 per cent focused on making money and couldn't give a toss about improving the health of their customers. Therefore, we believe that there is no better point of difference than creating a health and fitness tool that is 100 per cent focused on achieving health results".
From a design and usability perspective the Naked Trainer site ticks all the boxes and is intuitive and easy to navigate. The groups feature is also potentially a great way to manage corporate or sports group activities and could provide a means of scaling the service quickly.
While reviewing the site I signed up and listed a couple of activities and was pleased to find another member that shared a similar interest in boxing so I think I'll drop them a line to see if they're interested in sharing a workout.
I also signed up for the Gimme20 group and received my first exercise order, 20 sit ups, which I'll get to just as soon as I've checked my Facebook ;-)
- StartUP
