At the Web Summit in Lisbon, Freeletics announced a further development of its products with which it would like to expand its global supremacy in the prospering fitness app market.
For the first quarter of next year, the Munich-based company has announced the market launch of artificial intelligence-based weight training, which, unlike all previous programs that did not use equipment, is aimed at athletes who are neither a member of a club nor a gym membership strive to get their body in shape.
Marc Heinrich
Sports editor.
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The development of the necessary exercise equipment under the name “Freeletics Staedium”, which will go on sale this Thursday, is a reaction to the experiences during the pandemic and the corresponding feedback from users, which in a study on their preferred habits in the home gym have been asked.
According to its own statements, Freeletics' customer base currently comprises 53 million followers who can either opt for the free basic program or for the more extensive versions that are available as a subscription.
At the beginning of 2020, there were 40 million users, and with its growth rates, the Munich-based company is setting standards in the industry.
Turn training into a game
It all began in 2013, initiated by the idea of the three founders Andrej Matijczak, Mehmet Yilamz and Joshu Cornelis, who studied different subjects at the Ludwig Maximilians University, got to know each other through common sports interests and launched the project. You have now withdrawn from the former start-up and completely sold your shares. Instead, the American investors Fitlab, Causeway Media Partners and Jazz Venture Partners, who helped accelerate the expansion with a 45 million dollar financing, stepped in.
In the meantime, Freeletics sees itself as a “grown-up”, as a spokesman for the FAZ affirmed, that it has outgrown its infancy. 165 people from almost forty nations are employed at the Munich location, from where all international activities are controlled. Daniel Sobhani, the CEO of Freeletics, named Freeletics' primary endeavor to make a contribution to the “holistic fitness lifestyle”, which is particularly popular with digital-savvy athletes. “In recent years, the fitness industry has often cared about how to build up as many muscles as possible as quickly as possible or how to work out a beach body. Such objectives are too short-sighted. "
Freeletics users can network with each other via social media to complete workouts and build strength, stamina and endurance. In addition, applications have recently been added that deal with mental health and healthy nutrition. Business developed disproportionately during the Corona crisis. This course is to be continued with the new “smart” dumbbells, which, like a storage bank and a console, are part of the “Staedium” package.
The equipment, with which a weight between two and 24 kilograms can be set at the push of a button, is intended to make full-body training more varied.
Barcodes in the weight plates track the sequence of movements, during which all relevant muscle groups from the shoulders to the hips to the feet are scanned.
It will be possible to compete against other users in game form using a camera that is part of the equipment and which can be connected to a screen connected to the Internet.
"With our new offer, we want to turn training into a game and bring a greater entertainment factor into weight training," said the spokesman.