Sam Cole: Revolutionizing the Fitness Industry

Sam Cole started his career in corporate finance and private equity, but he always had entrepreneurial DNA.

The journey that led Sam to starting FitXR stems from playing sports in high school and university as well as a personal passion for technology and innovation. During university, Sam dedicated much of his time to sports, and post-graduation, struggled to find ways to continue the active lifestyle he had become accustomed to.  Like many other people, Sam found traditional fitness a bit boring and tedious at times. It lacked the fun and effortlessness that came with playing a sport. This led to Sam’s search for fitness activities that would get him in that flow-like state and drive him while still making him forget he was exercising. In parallel, Sam began researching the next computing platforms to see if technology offered more alternative options. Sam was determined to create a fitness experience in a headset that would be more unique, motivating, and stimulating than traditional fitness classes while still driving the desired results.

So in 2014, he started playing around with an Oculus DK2 headset on a spin bike and experimented with bringing all of the core elements of group fitness classes into a headset. FitXR is only just getting started and is on a mission to impact more lives than any fitness company before us.

About FitXR

FitXR is the world’s premier virtual reality fitness app developer. It offers the widest range of fitness studios including Box, HIIT, Dance, Sculpt and Combat. In addition to delivering seven new classes every week, it offers premium music, various fitness levels, ranging from beginner to expert, and all are created in collaboration with world-renowned and highly trained fitness instructors. FitXR’s classes deliver real results with real gains while making it all feel easy, fun and inclusive.

Fitness does not have to be about performance and competition but about health and wellness. FitXR workouts are about moving your body effectively and consistently while avoiding burnout as a result of too much intensity. FitXR intends to be a movement, for movement.

Changing the World of Fitness

The change FitXR is bringing with its product is convenience, consistency, fun and real results. Your fit, your way.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the flexibility within their schedule to workout everyday in the gym and for some this simply isn’t how they would choose to work out. Additionally, traditional workout videos can be boring and uninspiring. With FitXR, you can workout for any length of time (from 5 minutes upwards) everyday, in a gamified, virtual environment, anytime and anywhere. FitXR makes your goals achievable, keeps your exercise routine consistent and delivers long-term results. The class variety also helps keep things fresh. One day you can complete one of our Box classes, the next day you can strengthen and tone muscles with Sculpt and you can end the week on a Friday night with a dance party in your headset. FitXR delivers consistency which leads to real results and empowers our clientele to achieve their ultimate fitness goals.

FitXR offers the largest variety of class types so you can explore different types of studios and exercise experiences at any level. The fitness experience is gamified to keep you excited for the next workout. With FitXR, you earn points, can count calories, and you can even use the multiplayer feature to work out with friends and family. These features work together to give us a competitive edge in the VR fitness space, the app is so much fun you forget your working out! 

Navigating Challenges

Sam believes there are two major challenges in the fitness industry. The first major challenge is that the focus is on intensity and performance which serves only 20% of the market. Bootcamp classes, Core Power Yoga and TRX training, whilst super cool, may not be pleasurable, or sustainable for everybody five days a week.

There are so many variables influencing the choices we make around exercise and fitness, from work schedules, to family life, to finances, and yet somehow the fitness industry still seems limited in variety, focused on complexity, and results can seem unattainable. FitXR is a solution designed to not only broaden one’s access to quality fitness but to also elevate the desirability of that experience.

FitXR is poised at the forefront of creating a different narrative around fitness -which focuses on consistency over intensity. Your fit. Your way.  FitXR’s community members can  pick their level and set their goals. Further, FitXR’s  flexibility makes it easy for the community to exercise consistently while still having fun. Fitness should be something that everyone looks forward to and not just a cumbersome obligation.

What really drives the FitXR team is the incredible transformation stories from our community. Seeing reviews on social media such as “FitXR has made working out so much fun” and “FitXR and dieting helped me get to a point in life where I actually loved myself for once,”  helps to inspire the team to keep innovating.

Feedback from customers shines a light on the second major issue we face right now globally which is obesity, and more specifically, childhood obesity. In the past three decades, childhood obesity in the U.S. more than tripled in adolescents and more than doubled in children. Customers have expressed that their negative experiences with fitness as children led them to the conclusion that a fit lifestyle was not for them. This caused them to abandon exercise routines and healthy habits.

We believe that by creating more desirable alternatives to school gym class, children will be more inclined to develop consistent fitness habits that will positively impact their health in the long-term. . If exercise is engaging and can be completed in just 15 minutes every day,  the incremental benefits can be life changing. The FitXR team wants to  break the traditional perception of fitness and offer more inclusive and fun alternatives for both adults and kids.

The Future

Sam’s goals in the next five years are centered around making FitXR the most widely used fitness app in the world by offering the widest range of next-gen experiences that sit at the intersection of exercise, fitness, sports, gaming and entertainment. FitXR envision a world where FitXR is used in every household, both individually and collectively. Sam wants to positively impact long term health goals as well as people’s perception of exercise through the creation of a virtual public gym and fitness community where people can motivate one another and share incredible experiences.

There is so much more we could say and more to come about FitXR’s product, business and commitment to public health. The FitXR team is dedicated to building its movement for the improvement of public health globally.