In November, we reported on an emerging startup in Vancouver’s fitness industry.
The startup was conceived of by Zach Higgins and Connor Holowachuk, who met through the League of Innovators’ youth-focused Labs program, established by former Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes to mentor and invest in young entrepreneurs.
The pair started working together on a wearable technology and software solution to track metrics specific to resistance training.
Under the brand Eigen Fitness, Higgins and Holowachuk have been developing a new tech product called Nodes, which are coin-sized wearables that empower gym goers “to progress as fast as possible while avoiding injury,” according to the BC startup.
“I found myself in constant pain from gym injuries that were a result of adding too much weight before my body was ready,” CEO Connor Holowachuk informed Techcouver last year. “It’s a common problem amongst all levels of gym-goers who are trying to reach their fitness goals as fast as possible.”
He said that devices like the Apple Watch are good for endurance activities like runs, bikes, and swims—“But if I’m working out hard in the gym, how do I measure my performance? How do I know if I’ve improved since last week?”
Nodes leverage real-time power, velocity, range of motion, tempo, and rep variation data to provide insight on ideal weight selection for each set.
The sensor-based hardware device is boosted by artificial intelligence on the software side, which acts to help gym users measure weight training progress, form, and more.
“The Eigen Fitness Nodes use motion data from your last sets to determine your capacity and suggest the optimal next weight and repetition count to help you improve optimally towards your personal goals as quickly as possible,” the startup states. “Nodes closely monitor your form and alert you when you … deviate from a safe, effective lifting technique.”
After the set, the app will display form correction tips specific to what an athlete may have done wrong during the exercise.
Eigen claims the AI-powered Node is “the only truly wearable device built exclusively for the gym.”
Using three to nine Nodes around arms and legs, wearable devices connect via Bluetooth to the Eigen Fitness smartphone application, which provides real-time feedback for each set to help the user improve form, which will reduce likelihood of injury and accelerate weightlifting progress efficiently.
The passion and vision behind Eigen Fitness recently landed the startup among Techcouver’s annual “10 Homegrown B.C. Startups to Watch.”
Now Higgins and Holowachuk are looking to spur the next phase of growth for the company by pushing the Nodes into the public sphere.
This week, the Vancouver entrepreneurs launched the Eigen Fitness Nodes on Kickstarter, rendering Nodes available for preorder for the first time.
“Designed for the gym from the ground up, Eigen Fitness Nodes are packed with the latest cutting edge technology to track every set,” affirms Higgins. “Equipped with a high-sensitivity, nine-axis inertial measurement unit, lithium battery, and 16MHz CPU for fast motion fusion calculation, the Nodes make up to 200 measurements per second to monitor multiple, important aspects of physical performance—aspects that are essentially ignored by other fitness wearable devices.”
At the end of the day, Nodes are no magic trick for gains, however: you still have to put in the work. But at least now you can know exactly what you’re getting out of it, and how to squeeze out even more.
Eigen Fitness is among other Vancouver-area startups tapping AI to innovate industries.
Update: The Node’s crowdfunding campaign is off to a strong start. Eigen Fitness blew past their initial goal of $10,000 within the first day, and within the first week have more than quadrupled their minimum target.
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