"Striding" to the future of digital fitness with a Taiwanese startup featured in CES 2021

TAIPEI, Jan. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Home fitness has seen an explosive increase in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gym closures and home isolation has led people to look for alternative ways to exercise at home. Home fitness equipment, such as weights and exercise bikes, are in enormous demand. Fitness equipment companies reported a 600% sales surge during the summer, and popular items are in short supply.

However, it is not easy to exercise at home. People want to buy multiple machines to replicate the physical variety of the gym, but fitness machines require considerable space. People can only buy the equipment that they have room for in their home. Another downside of home fitness compared to the gym is the lack of human connection and encouragement that coaches or fellow athletes would normally provide.

Experience a new way to work out at home

Stride is here to offer a complete gym experience in this new era of home fitness. Targeting customers who have aspirational health and fitness goals, are space-constrained, and motivationally challenged, Stride offers a multi-use connected fitness machine called Transformer. This machine can be transformed between ergonomically correct modes: biking, running, rowing, and cabled strength. Stride-Transformer does all of this while only taking up the space of a single treadmill. Fitting four exercise modes in a small space without compromising on physical comfort makes Stride truly unique in the market.

But just offering physical fitness variety in a small space was not enough. The Stride team did extensive market research discovering that motivation is the most common challenge people have with home fitness. As a companion to the Transformer machine, Stride-360, a digital fitness platform, was developed to offer motivational support. This app significantly boosts user engagement using visual goal and progress tracking, social connectivity with peers, and a wide variety of instructor support.

The digital platform is enhanced by capturing data from Stride-Transformer. Smart sensors in the machine record exercise parameters and upload the data to the Stride-360 app. Besides the machine sensors, users will eventually be able to connect their favorite fitness trackers to the platform. Users can use this data in combination with teams they form to compete and support each other, creating a more enjoyable, gamified social experience.

To ensure fitness variety, the platform leverages user and trainer generated content like Youtube. Stride has a program to collaborate with trainers around the world. The program supports trainers who aspire to expand their online presence by offering detailed audience insights, and the opportunity to do brand promotion. Trainers will also be able to receive short-term compensation when they refer Transformer machine sales, supporting hardware expansion. This short term revenue is paired with long term revenue from content creation. The revenue models align with the desire to offer users the voices and content that speak to them.

Overall the two offerings are revolutionary. Transformer offers more fitness in less space. The app, Stride-360 has a wide variety of user-generated content that can act in a standalone capacity for platform users who choose not to buy the machine right away. For Stride this means a hybrid business model with the revenue coming not only from machine sales but also a digital subscription. Used together or separately, Stride offers the best of home fitness.

Stride uses innovative technology to create a tailored fitness experience.

Stride is the first and only connected multi-use exercise machine. You can get a complete cardio and strength workout while also experiencing human connection. The hybrid business model of selling a modular, choose-what-you-want machine, connected to a platform that lets a variety of voices speak to a variety of people is truly innovative. This flexible format platform the founders refer to as open social fitness allows Stride to capture a more complete data based view of users' activities. This data will help Stride to suggest improvements to users allowing them to achieve more controlled and customizable goals.

Putting together an amazing team for users' amazing experience

Stride was founded by Joseph Prosnitz and cofounder Alexander Kuzmin. The duo combine their passion for physical activity, professional experience in metal manufacturing, app development and electrical engineering to create Stride.

Stride's current achievements include issued and ongoing patents for space saving E-Motion drive train technology and the newly launched alpha of the Stride-360 Android app.

The next big milestones for Stride is the manufacturing of the first Transformer production sample and iPhone app release in January 2021.

Stride makes home fitness more exciting, encouraging and social, and Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) is happy to select it as one of the 100 featured Taiwanese startups to showcase at CES 2021.

CES 2021 TTA-VR Pavilion: https://pse.is/3bgdua

SOURCE STRIDE-360