With the 2016 Olympics passing by just a few weeks ago in Rio, there will be a lot of young athletes inspired by the greats that they just spent the last few weeks watching. They are now motivated more than ever to get to the next Olympics, or the one after that, and will do anything in their power to achieve that dream.
For those who can resonate with the above description, and for pretty much anyone else who enjoys fitness and is ready to try something new with their workouts, Moov is wanting to work with you.
Moov aims to go beyond some of the advanced fitness wearables of the modern era, such as the Apple Watch and FitBit, which mainly focus on step tracking and vital monitoring. Moov is light, comfortable and easy to use, and it interacts seamlessly with an app on the user’s phone to keep track of all of their workouts.
Instead of focusing on how many steps the user takes in the day, Moov looks at how he or she is taking those steps; how their foot hits the ground, what impact it hits the ground with, etc. The wearable, attached to the user’s wrist or leg, tracks their movements and assists them by providing vocal feedback through the speaker in the wristband and visual aids on their smart device to ensure proper form and repetition.
“I think there is a significant percentage of the population that works out but doesn’t work out correctly or safely,” said Erick McAfee, Head of Business Development at Moov. “What Moov does is that it not only motivates you throughout your workout, but it also educates you on how to do the workouts safely and correctly so that you are not injuring yourself and not getting proper exercise.”
Moov educates its users by acting as their own personal fitness coach during their workout, analyzing the form of each individual rep and coaching the user along the way by giving them real-time, voice-activated feedback through the wristband itself. While the user is exercising, Moov looks at several different measurables during each rep, checking to make sure every repetition is done correctly so that each workout is as effective as possible.
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“If you are running, and let’s say you are landing too heavily on your stride. Moov will speak up and let you know to open up your stride or land more softly so that you don’t put so much impact on your knees and lower back. That’s one way we motivate our users,” said McAfee.
Another feature of this product is that it builds up the user’s workout regimen as they progress and continually use correct form. Moov comes with different levels for each type of workout it offers, allowing users to unlock workouts that become progressively more difficult as the user goes along.
“From the training standpoint, we track all of your data, so you know what your workout progress has been at the end of the month and the beginning of the month, added McAfee. “As you begin to become more fit, you start to unlock harder levels and workouts that take a little bit more time and become more strenuous. It progresses with our users.”
Moov is meant to be worn at all times throughout the day, tracking how much exercise the user is doing during their daily routines, even when they are not actively working out. It even tracks their sleep patterns, letting the user know when he or she is not getting enough recovery time, or rest, in between each day of activity.
Moov is water and dust proof, allowing users to workout anywhere they want, and in almost any condition, from a heavy rainstorm to a construction yard with trucks shoveling dirt just a few feet away.
The founders of Moov decided to focus on five types of exercise: running/walking, swimming, cardio boxing, cycling and training, which is another thing that differentiates Moov from its competitors. The app doesn’t have customized workouts or allow the user to do whatever he or she wishes, in terms of exercise. Instead, users advance through different levels of intensity as they improve in each type of exercise. Additionally, Moov’s variety of exercises keeps the body guessing, because as a user’s body gets used to the same workout routine, the results start to decrease over time. Offering five different exercises eliminates another deterrent that causes many casual fitness users to stop working out all together.
“Moov is the only product on the market that tracks all five workouts that we do, and analyzes them to our depth. No one focuses on the combination of workouts that we offer in one product and one app, even though there are cycling and running apps out there,” stated McAfee. “I believe we are the only product out there that offers cardio boxing, and the reason we added that is because it’s something you can do anywhere. There are a lot of wearables and pedometers out there, but no one is offering what we offer, especially from a coaching perspective.”
Within each type of exercise, Moov focuses on different metrics. For example, in Moov’s swimming exercise, the wearable tracks stroke rate, lap times, turns, speed, rest time and endurance. Each stroke is analyzed in real time, giving the user feedback to help improve their workout while they are still swimming. This instant feedback not only motivates the user to push himself or herself, but also allows for the quickest improvement in results, since corrections can be made during the middle of a set or a lap.
Moov was invented to help the casual fitness people. The people who may start a workout regimen, but then fall out of it after a few months, or the people who don’t have time to go the gym every day, and especially the people who quit working out because they are constantly getting injured, are all target consumers for this wearable.
“We aim to serve more of the masses of people that are not pro, and I think that we are definitely for the people who have graduated from step tracking and looking to do a little bit more, but aren’t looking to do all of the specific stuff that belonging to a gym and working with a personalized trainer offers, or they just don’t have the time to workout,” stated McAfee.
Moov’s form-based philosophy helps minimize the risk of injury while allowing users to maximize the potential of each individual workout. Its ease and flexibility of use allow even the laziest of people the chance to have a good workout from the comfort of their own home in under ten minutes or less. Furthermore, Moov’s $60 price point makes it much more affordable to the mass population, while still showing that it does offer more advanced features than step tracking, but does not go to the level of the high-end wearables.
Besides the increasing levels, Moov uses interval training, pushing users to their absolute breaking point in every workout, and then giving them proper recovery time. Interval training is incorporated into every type of exercise Moov offers, but none more so than the seven minute challenge.
“It’s just a great workout, because it moves quickly through a lot of different things and as you start to unlock more levels, it becomes harder as the reps increase and the exercises become more strenuous,” said McAfee about the seven-minute workout. “I’m on level 22, and it does not take seven minutes anymore.”
The seven-minute workout is the epitome of what Moov offers, a high-intensity, exercise gauntlet that requires no equipment and works out their full body in no time at all. The workout uses intervals of pushups, lunges, jumping jacks, squats, planks and more, putting the user’s body through the rigor every time. Best of all, this routine can be done anywhere, even in their own bedroom. No more excuses of not having time to go the gym, because there’s a workout ready to go as soon as the user wakes up in the morning, or before they go to bed in the evening.