The past two years have taught us, in every sense, that health is wealth. It’s bewildering that something we often take for granted became the very thing we’ve been holding on to so dearly. However, the irony still persists, since most of us still aren’t doing much to improve our health and fitness levels. Going out for a walk once a while or hitting the gym a few times a week (hello New Year resolutions!) might sound like a good plan to keep your health in check, but unfortunately, it isn’t entirely effective or sustainable. It may sound absurd, but fitness isn’t just doing random workouts in the gym, having protein shakes or running 10 miles once a week; fitness is about consistency, technique, sustainability, diet, consciously making lifestyle changes and most importantly, fun.
During the pandemic and imposition of nationwide lockdowns, we were forced to find innovative ways to keep ourselves fit. Zumba workouts, “weight-loss” workouts, walking exercises etc gained immense popularity within no time, with entire families doing these workouts together. On the other end of the spectrum were our fitness enthusiasts and gym-lovers who found themselves in a difficult position with gyms closed down. Most didn’t have access to the equipment they were so used to working out on, which rendered them with no choice but to use makeshift weights from everyday objects or find new exercise routines altogether. Further, exercise is one such thing you must do with proper training. The absence of an instructor often leads to injuries that can be severely damaging. However, the bottom line here is, that irrespective of how good the video is, how well trained the YouTuber is, it can’t tell you where you’re going wrong, or if your form is incorrect.
We’re still learning to navigate this new normal with new impositions and guidelines every day, which requires us to find long term, effective and economical solutions when it comes to our health. This is a huge shift that is beginning to mobilize within the fitness and wellness industry: the need to provide personalised, result-oriented and fun ways for people to take charge of their health and incorporate fitness routines into their daily lives.
In the past few years, there have been some pioneering innovations in the fitness industry which has given people more responsibility and charge of their health, a big example of which are fitness bands. Being able to monitor your heart rate, blood pressure, sleep patterns and of course, the number of steps you take, amongst many other features, leads to better, healthier choices on a daily basis. The latest innovation in the industry is providing customized, live and on-demand workout programs to individuals across all fitness levels and demographics, transforming the way people exercise today and in the years to come. The true value, however, is to go beyond fitness and affect a positive long-term change in the overall health of users. The idea is to provide a safe, dependable and sustainable solution with the major functionality of time and space: which means you can workout anytime, anywhere, and build sustainable habits on nutrition and mental wellbeing.
We believe in exactly that, putting our customers and their health first. We are working towards leading a revolution in the fitness industry, from the front!
We firmly believe that the true game-changer is going beyond the personalisation aspect, by providing real-time feedback to a user about their form, posture and technique while they exercise. It’s about bringing a personal trainer in the comfort of one’s home and on-demand. This works in two ways, ensuring long-term results due to a safe and personalsed approach, and providing the satisfaction of completing a workout routine with the correct technique, to the user and ensuring that they always make progress, regardless of the workout format. In order to create a sustainable system that promotes conscious fitness and health change, it’s imperative to hack into their psyche and induce them to be consistent and disciplined, which can be done by creating a reward or incentive system to ensure they are regular with their workouts. Finally, the cherry on the cake is building a community for users, going beyond physical fitness and providing wellness services; allowing for a safe, thriving space for users to learn about and take charge of their health. This endeavour is something we, at Portl, are extremely excited about and we look forward to effecting long-term positive change in the lives of our users.
The writer is Co-founder of Portl.