ATN spoke with executives from Pvolve, Hotworx and CycleBar to learn how they are incorporating gamification elements online and in the studio
For most people, working out is not fun. This cold hard fact has long hindered the fitness industry’s collective efforts to get more people involved in exercise.
Gamification, the practice of incorporating game elements like leaderboards and point systems into activities like fitness classes, has become a core strategy for fitness brands hoping to get Americans off the couch and into the gym or studio.
In recent years, fitness brands like Orangetheory and Zwift have been looking to gamify fitness, and for good reason—research shows that gamification can be an effective tool in driving motivation to exercise.
Other brands are getting in on the act.
Against this backdrop, Athletech News spoke to three leading boutique fitness brands – Pvolve, Hotworx and CycleBar – to find out how they are incorporating gamification elements to increase member engagement.
Pvolve avoids community competition
pwolfa functional fitness brand that is expanding at a breakneck pace across the country, has made gamification a key part of its growth strategy.
Pvolve uses gamification to do two main things: drive accountability and foster community, Jill Brand, head of brand at Pvolve, told Athletech News.
“For us, gamification isn’t all the bells and whistles of gadgets and technology,” Brand said. “We’re thinking more about ‘What do people need to exercise?’ “What really drives and motivates them?” “
To drive accountability, Pvolve hosts participation-based challenges throughout the year that reward members for completing workouts online or in person.
Pvolve member and brand ambassador Jennifer Aniston recently designed a challenge that resulted in one member winning a free trip to Los Angeles to train with Pvolve’s head trainer, Dani Coleman , Danny Coleman also serves as Aniston’s personal trainer. Other challenges include members winning prizes such as custom-designed Pvolve apparel.
To foster community, Pvolve created a WhatsApp group dedicated to challenging members. In the group, members can connect with each other, share inspirational stories and get tips from Pvolve trainers. The group created for Aniston’s challenge has more than 1,000 people, some of whom have chosen to arrange in-person meetings.
“We’re seeing people so engaged that they’re even gathering on their own in different neighborhoods, completely spontaneously,” Brand noted.
Pvolve has chosen to stay away from the more competitive aspects of gamification, such as in-studio leaderboards that track physical performance metrics. The functional fitness brand found that its members responded better to participating in challenges.
“Our members are more just trying to move their bodies and hold themselves accountable,” Brand said. “So we haven’t gone down the competitive route yet.”
For Hotworx, gamification is present from day one
Hot Vox Known for its unique approach to boutique fitness, it offers classes such as yoga and cycling in an infrared sauna with temperatures up to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also known for its gamification.
Through the Hotworx app, members can track the number of calories they burn during each class and compete against other members across the country in leaderboard-style games.
The challenge lasts for 90 days, during which time members can advance from level one to level seven (warrior level) based on the number of calories burned. Members can earn rewards, including up to $100 redeemable for Hotworx merchandise or supplements.
Hotworx opened its first studio in 2017 and has grown rapidly through franchising.
“We’ve always had a ranking from the moment we had a location; now we’re over 700,” Hotworx founder and CEO Stephen P. Smith told ATN. “It continues to be an important part of the membership experience when members are able to compete against members of the studio they join or members of studios across the country.”
Hotworx tracks calories burned through metrics like heart rate, because Smith says calories are the best barometer of how hard someone is working in class.
“The simplest metric to measure the effectiveness of a workout is how many calories you burned,[which indicates]how intensely you exercised during that period,” he said. He noted that Hotworx also tracks “afterburn,” which is how much time a member spends in a workout. Number of calories burned. Within one hour after finishing your workout.
Hotworx sees gamification as a motivational tool, encouraging members to come to class first and then work out to the best of their ability once they’re in the sauna.
“If you work out on your own, it takes a really good, self-motivated person to achieve the same intensity…as opposed to external motivation,” Smith said. “So gamifying it in that way, having that competitive energy, always gives you a better workout.”
Hotworx’s gamification approach is paying off: Smith reports that the brand’s app usage is as high as 98%, driven in part by members participating in calorie-burning challenges.
CycleBar strikes a balance
cycle baris an indoor cycling brand owned by Xponential Fitness that aims to strike a balance between healthy competition and fun through gamification.
The indoor cycling brand offers ClassPoints, where members can earn points by taking classes. This encourages attendance while avoiding competition that may put off some members, especially newbies. Members can earn bronze, silver and gold badges based on the number of ClassPoints accumulated.
For more competitive riders, CycleBar offers CycleStats, a program that tracks and measures six key performance indicators. CycleBar Chief Marketing Officer Nate Chang told ATN that some CycleBar members compete in outdoor bike races, so they wanted to gain more insight into their performance.
“We found that gamification makes workouts more interactive and certainly more fun, encouraging continued engagement and class participation,” Zhang said. “Obviously, there is an element of motivation.”
CycleBar also participates in Walk to Win Porsche, an Xponential-wide competition during which members can earn points by attending Xponential classes or walking 5,000 steps a day. The winner of the competition, Zhu Guang, is a CycleBar member who completed 140 classes during the challenge. In addition to winning a customized Porsche Taycan, Zhu enjoyed the process so much that he is now studying to become a certified CycleBar instructor.
“This is definitely a great example of how CycleBar and Xponential Fitness are using gamification to motivate participants to adopt long-term healthy lifestyles,” Chang said.
Similar to its boutique fitness peers, CycleBar sees gamification as a tool to increase member engagement and retention in the long run. While it does offer a competitive element with CycleStats, the indoor cycling brand hasn’t gone too far down the competitive road.
“From a gamification perspective, anything we launch, we want to make sure it enhances the fun and motivation of fitness, rather than creating a cutthroat environment where, like, ‘if you don’t make the top ten,’ you’re a Losers,” Zhang explained. “We want to focus on the benefits of achieving our goals and bringing community support rather than the rat race.”
