I grew up immersed in sports. I loved the competition, the camaraderie, and the fact that I could get lost in it. I loved the fact that a simple, arbitrary set of rules could create an experience that was incredibly motivating and engaging. I also love the way sports made me physically feel afterwards – accomplished, healthy, satisfied.
In adulthood, I struggled to find a fitness routine that I enjoyed and that fit into my life. I played sports or hiked mountains on the weekend, but I needed to break a sweat almost every day in order to feel good.
When I looked at my everyday fitness options, they either hurt my knees, didn’t work for my schedule, or just bored me. Somehow every workout option seemed to involve a class with an overly enthusiastic instructor.
Classes just didn’t quite do it for me: I found myself rolling my eyes, the workouts weren’t tailored to me, and following along with an instructor just wasn’t engaging enough to pull me in. My co-founders and I agreed: what we wanted wasn’t out there, so we were going to design something new.
As New Yorkers, we know not everyone has the space for a separate home gym. Our product needed to look at home in the living room.
Like many busy people, we wanted a quick option for a full-body workout, which led us straight to rowing. Plus my knees were shot from 15 years of running.
Our content needed to be highly interactive and engaging. Most importantly, we wanted to capture the magic of a competitive sport or game to make people actually want to do it.
Tom Aulet
Co-Founder & CEO
