Fitness app Fitocracy has reached 1 million registered users and to celebrate, they’ve signed a partnership with movie star/politician/robot/fitness guru Arnold Schwarzenegger to give users a new workout routine to try.
Founded two and a half years ago and launched as a video-game like fitness app, Fitocracy makes users earn digital points using the iPhone, Android, and web apps and “level up” as they do exercises. It has evolved from being an “RPG for fitness” to a network of people supporting each other on their fitness goals.
“People are using Fitocracy as a social network like they would Facebook, It’s taken on a life of its own” Fitocracy co-founder Brian Wang said.
Fitocracy’s network has expanded into the real world with meetups in New York, Toronto, Houston, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Indianapolis. The social network aspect lets you post about your routine and compete with your friends for badges.
Along with its growing network of users, Fitocracy wants to provide tips and advice from fitness experts about workouts to try and ways to keep hitting their goals. Fitocracy called “Spark Challenges” and they are each 15 minutes long. The routines will start running in April.
“Very few people have someone to tell you what to do and personal trainers are prohibitively expensive, We want to provide users with fitness routines and goals they can actually accomplish.” Wang said.
Schwarzenegger who was a prominent bodybuilder and fitness expert before he was known for movies and politics has offered up his own 15-minute “Spark Challenge,” bringing his celebrity power to Fitocracy makes sense as a way interest new people in the service.
“From my first day of training, I’ve known the importance of counting reps to constantly improve, then my only technology was chalk and a chalkboard, but innovation has opened up endless possibilities to track health and fitness. That’s why I’m excited to launch this challenge with Fitocracy, so that we can inspire others to find the joy in doing one more rep today than they did yesterday” Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
Fitocracy has eight employees and has raised “between $1 and $2 million” in funding to date from 500 Startups and several angel investors. The company makes money by offering premium accounts with more features for $5 a month. Wang would not reveal the company’s number of paid users or monthly active users.
Credit: Venture Beat
