Obé Pivots to Personalized Fitness With Weeks-long Training Programs
The way people want to work out is changing, and on-demand workout platform Obé Fitness is pivoting to give users what they want.
The fitness business will now offer more personalization, focusing on “progressive programs that are more outcome driven,” said Ashley Mills, who cofounded the business with Mark Mullett. The two serve as Obé’s co-chief executive officers.
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“When we [first] Get started with COVID[-19] obviously, a lot of people were looking for an at-home fitness solution and they wanted much more of a ‘choose your own adventure,’ boutique fitness approach,” Mills said. “People’s lives have changed a lot during COVID[-19], but the advent of hybrid work has thrown a wrench in our core user’s, which is a woman 25 to 54, schedule. It’s made it so her schedule is somewhat unpredictable, which means it’s even harder to fit in fitness than it was during COVID[-19] and before.”
Obé’s team saw that users were gravitating toward focused programs, like its eight-week Run 5K series or its three-week Sculpt Burn Repeat sequence. The brand increased the number of programs in 2022 after users requested more from the trainers on social media and reached out to them.
Users will be asked to complete an initial survey in order to determine their future workouts and classes.
“They’ll go through a pretty extensive onboarding quiz that asks about their strengths, preferences and the days of week that they can work out, the amount of time, where they are in their life, if they have any injuries, what kind cardio they prefer, are there any skill sets they want to learn,” Mills told WWD.
Along with the quiz, Obé will employ the user’s wearable data and cycle tracking information, as well as former user information, to create a personalized program that will update every two weeks.
“It takes out all of the guesswork. There’s no scrolling,” Mills said. “There’s a lot of data and a lot of programming that goes into the back end to give her the programs. Having the wearable data and understanding her exertion levels and the intensity and where she is in the cycle, we know if she’s ready to level up.”
The brand expects this new approach to not only respond to its current user’s needs but bring in more customers, as demand for personalized programming increases. The brand will continue to offer all of its previous content on the site, despite the shift in focus.
“It’s truly an evolution of what we set out to build. We built a company based on the principles of getting people to move in some way, shape or form every day,” said Mullet. “As part of that evolution, we need to make sure that we’re serving the exact right modalities at the exact right time depending on who you are, where you are, and how you want to move.”
The platform will also increase the self-care content it offers, including meditations, mobility exercises and sleep-related options, as users become more interested in holistic, personalized wellness routines.
“This new direction will help people find results that they’re looking for faster, as well as fit our need to shift mindsets away from weight loss and more towards strength and confidence, and being empowered and inspired to live your best life,” said Mills.