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As a lifelong mountain athlete, I have tried every fitness application on the market. I use applications that allow me to find and record new trails using GPS (Strava, MTB Project). I download studio applications that allow me to log training workouts and yoga sessions (Peloton, F45, Corepower Yoga). I have tried many health monitoring applications that tell me total steps, calories burned, and hours standing (Health App, Whoop, etc.).
One day, I found myself complaining to a friend about the plethora of fitness applications I had on my phone. He laughed and described having the exact same issue.
How might we create an all in one fitness application that allows athletes to find, schedule and track outdoor performance and gym sessions?
Most outdoor athletes currently utilize between 3-5 applications to track their gym sessions, outdoor mileage, sleep cycles, diet, yoga classes, etc. There was an opportunity to create a new application that would allow athletes to combine all of this information into one so that athletes can see their fitness schedules and progress at a glance.
In order to to solve the problem, the new fitness app would need to be able to pull data from other applications as well as contain its own GPS tracking system to log mileage on the trails.
Goal #1: Understand which features of current applications mountain athletes use most to track and store fitness data
Goal #2: Discover if there is a desire for a comprehensive platform that tracks data for gym training and outdoor workouts
Goal #3: Understand how mountain athletes use technology to create goals and schedule smaller training sessions
Interviews were conducted with six participants who described themselves as mountain athletes (runners, hikers, climbers, skiers, bikers, etc). All research participants said they regularly engage in outdoor recreation and use studio fitness to enhance their performance.
Heart-rate, mileage, GPS, location, calories burned are among the many stats collected and monitored by mountain athletes.
Result: FitFind will sync seamlessly with monitoring devices and store fitness data inside the application.
Athletes currently have to navigate between health monitoring applications and sport applications to get a full picture of their performance.
Result: FitFind will contain fitness data, GPS tracking and trail finding. Additionally, the app will allow athletes to plan and track workouts.
Many of the trail finding apps allow users to explore new terrain. Athletes reported using these apps to find new adventures at home and while traveling.
Result: FitFind will allow users to find new trails, gyms and studios that compliment their fitness goals.
After I completed the user interviews, I conducted secondary research in the form of competitive analysis to understand how existing fitness applications, particularly those used by my research group, helped athletes plan workouts, track goals and fitness data, find trails and log workouts.
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Users socialize on these platforms by giving high fives, sharing routes and times and by sending messages.
Result: FitFind will be social. Users will be able to see recent activities shared by their friends and share their support.
Top fitness applications sync with wearable health monitors.
Result: FitFind will need to collect and incorporate health data to make it competitive.
Many users said that they love to schedule their workouts - especially when training for an upcoming race, ski or climb.
Result: FitFind will contain a calendar feature that allows users the ability to see completed workouts (withe data) and what they have planned for the future.
Time off in the mountains is precious so these athletes needs to stay fit during the week and be able to find information about adventures so they can make every weekend count.
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Following the research phase, I used a Moscow Matrix to determine the most important task and user flows necessary to demonstrate proof of concept.
Flow #2: Find a new workout, start GPS and collect data
Flow #1: Set up profile, add gym memberships and sync smart devices
Flow #3: See past and schedule future workouts on fitness calendar
Creating a brand identity
Initial User Flows and Sketches
The apps initial design focused on the creation of three key user flows: setting up a profile and syncing devices, finding new workouts, and scheduling workouts for the future. The first step was to create low-fidelity sketches which evolved to wireframes and then mid-fidelity prototypes.
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The three mid-fidelity user flows were tested with the original six research participants to gain a better understanding of concept, ease of use and product enjoyment. Users were asked to complete the following three tasks during testing.
Task #1: Set up a new profile, sync their memberships and set goals
Task #2: Find a new trail running workout, start GPS and save workout data
Task #3: Set up a new profile, sync their memberships and set goals
Overall, the users loved the idea of being able to track outdoor adventures and gym workouts in the same location. In particular, users loved the calendar feature so that they could see how all of their different training aspects fit together as a cohesive plan. They loved the idea of being able to click on a certain day and see what workouts were completed. Users also loved that they could use GPS and other tracking devices on the same app they used for scheduling.
Overall, the users loved the idea of being able to track outdoor adventures and gym workouts in the same location. In particular, users loved the calendar feature so that they could see how all of their different training aspects fit together as a cohesive plan. They loved the idea of being able to click on a certain day and see what workouts were completed. Users also loved that they could use GPS and other tracking devices on the same app they used for scheduling.
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