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Tell HN: Personalized streaming video workouts (my second start-up)

10 points by podman ↗ HN
I very recently soft-launched http://www.physicalfix.com, my second start-up. While it is still very much a work in progress, I thought I'd share it here since health and fitness seems to be something HN cares about and also because I value the feedback this community can offer.

The basic premise is this: We provide you with highly personalized and customized streaming video workouts with a 'virtual training partner'. The partner will do the complete workout along with you and provide tips on proper form as well as provide some motivation.

We also have a food log, activity log, and weight chart. We tried to tie these all together so that when you do a workout it shows up in your activity log and when you enter some food it'll calculate your caloric balance and forecast your weight in the future.

We've got a ton of features planned like mobile apps, augmented reality workouts, an educational series to help people learn about health, fitness and nutrition as well integrations with things like the withings scale.

What do you guys think?

16 comments

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andrewtbham
so it's sorta like buying a workout tape, except the exercises are personalized for you? that seems pretty clever and useful. i don't know much about this space... is anyone else doing this?
andrewtbham
it would be nice to get at least one video for free... definitely useful for evaluating your site... probably useful for potential customers as well.
podman
We're still working on all of our marketing material and videos, but you're totally right. I think we don't give enough of a picture of what you get when you sign up. I'm not sure if we will give a free video workout, but we will most likely have a ton of screenshots and videos to help with this.
byoung2
I don't know who else is applying this to workouts specifically, but the same technique would be worth trying for all kinds of applications: tutoring, dance, music lessons, foreign language.
hugh3
What's the advantage over in-person tutoring, dance, music lessons et cetera?

If it's cost, it'd better be significantly cheaper.

podman
Cost and convenience were the two main motivations behind PhysicalFix. If you consider that a gym membership can cost anywhere between $20 and $200 per month and a personal trainer can cost between $35 $60 per session, the amount of workouts you get with physical fix would cost you between $440 and $920 whereas physical fix has two tiers priced at $25 and $100 per month.

The other benefit is that you can workout pretty much wherever you can bring a laptop or smartphone at any time you want. You don't have to worry about finding a time that works for both you and your trainer.

I don't see why these same benefits wouldn't apply to other fields as well.

byoung2
What's the advantage over in-person tutoring, dance, music lessons et cetera?

You can break the geographical boundaries. If the best math tutor in the country lives in New York, and I live in Arizona, I'm out of luck. I worked for Kaplan, College Network, Sylvan Learning Center, and Veritas Prep...this was always the problem. If you live in Manhattan, you're in a great place to find GMAT tutors. If you live in Wyoming, your choices are more limited (noting against Wyoming, but people with high GMAT scores and MBA's tend to be on Wall Street). A system like this would allow equal access to great tutors, regardless of location. I know someone who flew a tutor from New York to Miami for tutoring. So it's not always about price. If I can get a better tutor online than I can get within driving distance, I'll pay the same or more.

podman
Yeah, pretty much. You get three a week and they're different every time. We're constantly adding new exercises to keep things from getting stale and will start adding different trainers and different types of exercise like yoga.

I'm not sure if anyone else is doing exactly the same thing but there are certainly other people in the same space that have workout plans and some level of personalization. For our premium level, you get assigned a personal trainer who hand-builds your workouts, records intro videos for every single workout, and who the user has access to 24/7 to ask questions about their workout and general health and fitness related questions.

terryjsmith
Looking briefly at your pricing plans, and having just done some in person personal training, I would like to have access to a personal training but don't necessarily need that access 24/7. If I could send an e-mail with a 24 hour response time or something with your basic plan that would be perfect.

Other than that it definitely looks good and I think could be a great alternative to spending $75 a session with a personal trainer at the gym.

podman
We have considered, and are still considering, single serve workouts. If there is a big demand for something like that, we'll probably implement it.
SHOwnsYou
So I'm supposed to bring my laptop into the gym with me?

I love the idea, but man would it feel awkward looking at a computer or my phone screen in the gym to make sure my benchpress technique is right.

If this is geared more towards body-weight exercises, what is your advantage over something like P90X or Insanity?

podman
Well, the original goal was for it to be workouts you do at home. The value proposition is that you can get a gym quality workout with a personal trainer in the comfort of your home without having to pay gym membership fees or for an expensive personal trainer.

That said, we do plan on writing apps for both iOS and Andriod so you can take it with you to the gym if you would like to. It's not JUST body weight exercises though and we have exercises for dumbbells and exercise bands (things people are likely to have at home). And we do plan on adding exercises that incorporate gym or home gym equipment as well.

The advantage over something like p90X or Insanity is that these workouts are customized for you based on your current fitness levels and your fitness goals by an actual personal trainer. Every workout is unique and different so you're not doing the same thing week in and week out. It's not just some generic program that is the same for everyone who is doing it.

SHOwnsYou
Initially I am getting a strange feeling about the idea. It is likely just because I am not your target market. I work out 4-5 days a week and would rather pay the $40/month for a gym membership with top of the line equipment instead of the convenience of working out at home. The gym is where I let off steam by myself without the fiance right next to me.

I don't want to shoot down your idea, but I do see a few problems with it...

1) At my gym, I can bring my fiance as my plus 1 every time. Your web app doesn't scale the same way.

2) Anyone that already works out has a major outlay of cash to spend to get up and running. Dumbbells, exercise bands, maybe a few kettle balls... PLUS the membership fee.

3) Solitude. I can't get away from my family when I am at home. At the gym I am in my own little world.

For people that just exercise (ie no complex weight training) and are willing to watch it on their computer, I think the idea is great. But I also think you'll see more success if you target a specific class of gym-goers.

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