Coronavirus pandemic | Lockdown unlocks gains for fitness startups, live workouts a big hit

The unprecedented 21-day nationwide lockdown to check the rampaging coronavirus has thrown up its own challenges. Gyms and outdoors, like so many other facilities, are out of bounds but startups are adapting to what could be the new normal.

Celebrity instructors, live workouts, award points, and even consultations with doctors have been bundled in as part of the new fitness regime to keep customers and get new ones.

“The live classes are helping us get new users, it is helpful for even our existing users who might not be able to visit a physical centre even after lockdown ends or even to expand internationally to new markets,” Naresh Krishnaswamy, head of growth at CureFit, said.

The Bengaluru-based fitness and wellness startup is bringing in celebrity trainers through interactive video classes so that users can stick to their workout routine. Boxer Mary Kom and actor and fitness enthusiast Mandira Bedi are giving free online classes to Cult members as well as others. Cult is the chain of gyms that CureFit runs.

With the classes moving online, the app was seeing 2 lakh daily users, growing 5 to 10% every second day, said Krishnaswamy. Almost 50% of users attending the sessions are new.

Founded by Myntra's Mukesh Bansal and former Flipkart top executive Ankit Nagori, CureFit is also bringing in social elements into the app to replicate the experience of a physical classroom.

From sharing selfies to sharing workout streaks to tracking what others are doing, everything is being down to bring the virtual regime as close to the real deal as possible.

The Mumbai-based startup StepSetGo is looking at gamification of the workout, which it hopes will make customers stick around, and also reward good performance.

The bootstrapped company’s app tracks how many steps a user walks and offers “coins” that can be redeemed online across consumer brands.

“People enrol in gyms but then many drop out after few classes, we are trying to encourage people to walk, which is a simple form of exercise but an effective one, we are trying to keep them engaged with rewards,” StepSetGo co-founder Shivjeet Ghatge said.

Founded in 2018, the startup has 1.6 million monthly active users and over 5 million downloads, acquired organically. The startup is running multiple programmes so that the users can continue walking indoors and remain engaged.

“We used to encourage people to walk outdoors, we could track that with our GPS trackers but now we have removed that and instead we sometimes challenge users to burn 250 calories in an hour or bring in hyperwork out sessions at specific times of the day. This has helped them remain motivated,” said Ghatge.

Just like Ghatge is looking at building a wellness proposition around rewards, CureFit, which is inching close to a unicorn status, is aiming for a well- rounded product.

Not only is the startup bringing in virtual workout sessions, but it is also paying attention to mental wellbeing, as people complain of stress resulting from being confined indoors.

Pranayama, anxiety therapy, one-on-one consultations are all being done virtually. Even doctor consultations have moved to video calls as hospitals are not easily accessible.

“We are getting new doctors onboard since even they are not being able to attend to clinics, they are opening up to doing consultations online,” said Krishnaswamy.

Even after the lockdown ends, things are unlikely to the same. At least, in the beginning, people will be cautious and are likely to avoid places that see crowds or where fear of infection is real.

Entrepreneurs see an opportunity in such a scenario. While most of the offerings are free of cost, in the long term they could also look at monetizing this offering.

“…we will be launching new verticals like nutritional consultations, dieticians and others could conduct sessions over video and bring in healthy food habits for their users,” said Krishnaswamy.