Women's Fitness

just starting out? No worries. Pop

your details into Fitssi find people

in your area with similar workout

goals and bi ngo – prob lem solved

in less than 60 seconds.

But it’s not just a confidence

game. ‘Through my extensive

experience in the gym business

I have seen people excel time and

time again with th e support of a new

peer group’ explains Chris. A study

by Virgin Acti ve found that women

who workout with a friend burnup to

236 calories in an average workout

compared with195 calories fo r those

who workout al one. Meanwhile

Indiana Univer sityfound that

couples who worked out separately

had a 43per cent drop-outrate

compared with 6.3 per cent for those

who did it to gether.

Pickof thebunch

We can’t argue it’s an ingenious id ea

but not one that Fitssi can claim al l

to it self. Anothe r app WellSquad

works in similar ways but rather

aims to connect users with whole

groups al lowing them to partake in

teamsports. This too was the id ea

behind Atleto. ‘For 20 years

I was the sports event organiser in

my circle of friends’ explains Patrick

Lundgren  Atleto CEO and co-

founder. ‘It ofte n took me days to

coordinate schedules through calls

and emails with fr iends. So I felt that

there must be an easier way for me

to connect to my groups but al so for

othersaroundthe world to do the

same – and so Atleto was born.’

Like a lot of things inour

generation it comes down to

convenience. But that isn’t the only

driving force. Fitivity one of the

largest sports an d fitness mobile

bran ds that supp lies over 400 apps

is now launching a Pick -Up Sports

app (albeit only in the US and

Canada currently) designed to

reignite pe ople’s love and use of

outdoor spaces like pl ayground s

and courts. ‘There ’s always a high

prob ability that there are six people

within a five-mile proximity itching

to play three-on -three basketball’

says Guy Pistone CEO of Fitivity.

But a declin e in those utilising local

spaces has caused manyto turnto

expensive gyms and sports league

memberships instead often being

hooked into paying mont hly fees

they can’t afford.

This is where the Massachusetts-

base d startup stepped in providing

its users with th e opportunity to

reserve a playgroundvenue which in

turnnotifies all app users in the

area. ‘Our job is to make sure they all

can connect through this app’ Guy

continues. ‘The number of people

playing teamsports in playground s

has rapidly declin ed and the tech

companies that have tried to so lve

this is sue never had enough app

users to make it work.I think we’re at

a point where we can startbuilding

up playgroundcommunity again.’

Sweatysoul-mates

While these apps ig nite many purely

platonic friendships othersare

tapping into anothe r si de. We’ve al l

seenthe ad verts. There’s datin g

sites for those who workin unif orm

for Christians for beard-lovers for

gluten-free si ngles (yep). Niche

datin g si tes or apps are certainly not

a new concept but this is one sector

that’s growing at sp eed.

Sweatt for example matche s

people romantically base d on their

exercise habits incl uding type of

exercise workout frequency and

preferred time of day to hit the gym.

The app still matche s people base d

on the standard crit eria too – age

gender sexual orientatio n location

• but within a community of people
  with a si milar passion for a healthy
  way of life. It’s heavily image-led
  and operates using a swiping
  Tinder-style format so it’s no
  surprise the two apps were quickly
  compared. But with fitness-focused
  lifestyles such anintegral partof our
  culture it’s a pret tyclev er depa rture
  on Sweatt’s part. ‘Fitne ss is so much
  more than the time we spend
  working out’ Sweattfounder Dan
  Ilani explains. ‘Our commitme nt to
  fitness dictatesso many of the
  choices we make on a daily basis.
  Chances of compatibilityare
  heightenedwhen you choose to date
  people with shared interests
  lifestyles and mindsets.’
  There are small refreshing
  differen ces too. Potential matche s
  or ‘Sweatts’ for example are capped
  at five per day the app choosing only
  the best for eachuser. ‘At the end of
  the day our users don’t want1000

78 womensfitness.co.uk | September 2016

WORDS: ERICA BUSH

PICT

URES: SHUTTERSTOCK

78 womensfitness.co.uk| Septem

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