1. Intro
2. Example of usage
3. Importance for gyms
4. Suggested usage in the health insurance industry
5. Potential as a research tool
1. Intro
We have created the first and currently the only Decision Support Software designed specifically for creating personalized exercise programs in the gym.
Our software guides the professional trainer to design superior exercise programs than they could design unassisted. It makes the process quick and foolproof.
The trainer inputs data on the client’s health issues and the amount of time the client can spend at the gym. The software’s algorithm creates a list of training options for the trainer to choose from.
All provided training options are precisely timed to the client’s preference and do not conflict with their health issues.
The software is gym-specific, meaning:
- The exercise library is built based on the equipment the gym has available.
- The training protocol library can change according to the gym’s and the clientele’s needs.
- The list of items to be considered by the software for decision-making is updated to meet the characteristics of the gym’s clientele.
2. Example of Usage
We will be creating an exercise program for a real person using ResistanceDo, a proof-of-concept software developed, calibrated, and tested by fitness trainer Fanourios Diplaros and software engineer Yiannis Anthoulis in a popular gym in Athens. For this demonstration, our client will be referred to as George.
Our interview with George yields the following information:
- George was born in 1962.
- He underwent a coronary stent procedure a couple of years ago and is currently in good health.
- He has had minimal physical activity in the past and has never been to a gym before.
- Besides an old motorcycle injury to his wrist, which occasionally bothers him, he has no other significant health issues.
George plans to visit the gym three non-consecutive days per week, with each session lasting about an hour.
Now, utilizing the ResistanceDo software, our first step is to create George’s profile. This involves entering relevant information such as his date of birth and any medical conditions. We select checkboxes for his cardiovascular condition, wrist sensitivity, and lack of athletic experience, and adjust the frequency and duration of his workouts using dials.
The software’s algorithm identified 80 training protocols -out of several thousands in our library- that fit George’s parameters, with 22 identified as highly recommended. After reviewing the options, we collaborate with George to choose a protocol that includes 30 minutes of cardio at “12” in the Borg RPE Scale and 30 minutes of isolative resistance training on a 3-day split.
Moving to the final selection, we choose specific exercises to complete the protocol. Each training day has designated places for exercises, with dropdown lists offering selections tailored to George’s needs. The algorithm excludes exercises that contraindicate George’s conditions. Highlighted in green are the highly recommended exercises for George’s case.
With the program finalized, we print out George’s exercise plan, ready for implementation.
3. Importance for Gyms
This tool is obviously valuable for a gym’s clients, but is it valuable for the gym itself?
Currently, the gym industry’s most profitable and prevalent business model is “selling low and betting they won’t go”. In this business model, having clients regularly attending the gym hurts the gym financially! Our software is financially irrelevant in the current business model.
However, this business model is becoming less profitable. The reasons are known. So are the arguments that support that a pay-per-visit business model will soon be the only viable.
In a business model where the client pays per visit, a gym’s financial success will depend on clients attending as regularly as possible, having as short training session as possible, and trainers utilizing the training equipment efficiently to maximize the gym’s effective capacity.
Our software can be the single most important tool that can make a gym with those objectives thrive.
Effective capacity.
“Effective capacity” denotes the maximum number of individuals who can train simultaneously within the gym premises. The aim is to optimize equipment usage, maximizing the effective capacity. For instance, an actual gym in Athens has three biceps machines and lacks triceps machines but has four adjustable height 2-to-1 pulleys, it’s logical to avoid assigning biceps exercises to the pulleys to keep them available for triceps exercises.
However, it’s common to see trainers prescribing biceps exercises on pulleys, leading to queues at the pulleys while biceps machines remain underutilized. To address this, we simply remove biceps exercises on pulleys from our gym-specific exercise library, preventing this oversight.
As more equipment and exercises enter the equation, even skilled trainers cannot optimize equipment utilization. But we can. Our exercise library for each gym is strategically designed to ensure every piece of equipment is maximally utilized, thus elevating the gym’s effective capacity to its peak.
Short training sessions. (daily capacity)
Short training sessions aren’t just good for business; they benefit the clients as well. Training adaptations, as a function of training time, follow a logarithmic curve initially, with diminishing returns over extended sessions. Conversely, tissue damage exhibits a trend ranging from linear to exponential as a function of any training measure. Despite this reality, gym employees often craft needlessly complex and lengthy exercise programs, inadvertently harming both the clients and the business.
Our software, however, advocates for the implementation of precisely timed short training programs, optimizing what we refer to as “daily capacity.” By efficiently utilizing time, these programs accommodate more clients per day without compromising on effectiveness. This approach not only maximizes the benefits for the clients but also enhances the overall efficiency and profitability of the business.
Client attendance rate.
When clients pay per visit, it is important to have them as regular long-term members of the business. Our software aids in this in various ways.
Firstly, the short training sessions that we discussed earlier play a role in client attendance too! Short training sessions can fit into the routine of the trainees, increasing the chances that they will become regular members of the business.
Secondly, our software’s algorithm is built on scientific realities and it supports conservative training practices. That means that the training programs that it guides the trainer into creating have the best chance of building fit clients and the least chance of producing injuries. Satisfied customers that are not injured means that they want and they can! attend the gym.
Lastly, the professionalism that our software brings to the table reassures the client that they are moving in the right direction during the phase that their fitness change is not yet visible.
4. Suggested Usage in the Health Insurance Industry
Recognizing global efforts to integrate exercise prescription into medical practice, we propose a modified Decision Support Software that we can create.
Here is why: For exercise to be prescribed and to be included in insurance coverage, it should be standardized. Meaning that specific training protocols should be used for specific health conditions. Problems arise -which our software can solve- as any training protocol should allow for leeway in its precise implementation. Due to coexisting health conditions -serious or not- or anatomical idiosyncrasies that affect one’s ability to perform certain exercises comfortably and safely, exercises should be substituted with other exercises of the same effect. Also, the available equipment being different in different settings, requires critical decision making from the trainer on the correct way to implement the protocol.
Those problems can either be solved by perfect trainers, perfectly trained to implement those training protocols, providing them with flow charts of decision making, and retraining them every time a change in the training protocols is needed; or we can support them electronically. They are trained to an attainable level, and we use our modified Decision Support System to guide them into overcoming the obstacles of implementing the protocol.
That way, patients are getting the best care possible, trainers cost less to create, they are being more efficient, and insurance companies can be sure that they are actually paying for an intervention of clinical significance.
5. Potential as a Research Tool
Widespread adoption of our DSS would offer an unprecedented opportunity for conducting large-scale, long-term fitness intervention studies.
Every trainee in gyms using our DSS becomes a potential study subject, eligible for assignment to various fitness intervention groups to compare different training protocols. Their progress can be tracked as long as they remain members of a gym utilizing our software, facilitated by a user-friendly mobile app for data collection.
We anticipate that most trainees will gladly consent to receiving fitness programs from academics.
Additionally, we believe gyms will embrace collaboration with academia as a selling point to attract clients.
This collaboration represents a win-win-win-win scenario:
- Academia wins by conducting groundbreaking research, overcoming previous limitations.
- Trainees win by benefiting from scientifically designed training protocols.
- Gyms win by leveraging the collaboration as a selling point.
- Society wins through the advancement of scientific knowledge in a field crucial to citizen well-being.