It can be difficult to categorize how people feel about fitness. Many maintain regimented routines and healthy eating habits, sticking with health plans to thrive throughout their day-to-day lives.
For many of us, however, keeping up with training and breaking bad habits is easier said than done. Luckily, these seven fitness startups in San Francisco are making engineering new ways to break down barriers and make it easier for people from all walks of life to integrate new fitness routines into their lives with the least amount of friction possible.
Fitness Startups in San Francisco
- Strava
- Tonal
- 6 Pack Fitness
- FitBod
- MoveWith
- Skimble
- Vitagene
Founded: 2009
Focus: Social
What they do: Strava created a mobile app where cyclists and athletes of any sport can form a community to motivate one another while working towards fitness and athletic goals. Beyond its social networking features that enable users to capture and post activities to their feed, Strava also features emergency safety capabilities. Strava can link users together as emergency contacts and provide path tracking, ensuring a safe session from start to finish.
Founded: 2015
Focus: Training
What they do: Tonal enables users to maximize their workout potential through its intelligent fitness system that delivers effective fitness programs directly to its user’s homes. The Tonal system features digital weights, smart accessories and personalized programs that include both upper and lower body training; the system also offers payment plans to give anybody the opportunity to put Tonal to work.
Founded: 2010
Focus: Travel
What they do: 6 Pack Fitness is focusing on improving one of the most overlooked areas when it comes to working out — going to and leaving the gym. The company manufactures innovative bags and accessories that make commuting with fitness equipment easier and more stylish, along with apparel, silicone rings, portable food storage containers and a variety of additional products that promote a healthy lifestyle.
Founded: 2015
Focus: Training
What they do: FitBod puts entire exercise regimens into the palms of its users' hands, utilizing a fitness algorithm that builds personalized workout plans based on goals and body type. The algorithm develops over time to understand the user’s strength-training capabilities, recording results, studying past workouts and adapting to available equipment to provide a safer and more effective way to exercise that is individually focused.
Founded: 2015
Focus: Training
What they do: The majority of people use headphones as a motivator during their training, making the most of their favorite songs or getting lost in a podcast, but MoveWith wants to make exercise listening habits more effective. The company creates and records audio-only workouts for a variety of trainings, including strength training, cardio, yoga and meditation, putting a personal trainer in its users' ears to power them through every stage of their fitness routine.
Founded: 2010
Focus: Training
What they do: Skimble’s Workout Trainer app is a go-to for users looking to maximize workout routines with a virtual personal trainer pushing them to put in as much effort as possible. One-on-one training sessions can be scheduled in advance or currently available trainers can be selected from an on-demand list. Skimble also offers additional apps including the GPS Sports Tracker where users can follow and share over 45 sports activities.
Founded: 2014
Focus: Nutrition
What they do: Vitagene aims to improve the life of its customers through the use of DNA health kit tests. The program combines kit results with personal genetics, lifestyle and goals to create a nutritional plan customized for each customer without the need for guesswork. DNA testing privacy sits at the forefront of Vitagene’s operations, featuring a CLIA-certified lab for testing DNA samples and industry-standard security protocols for storing results.
