Track your gym movements and share with friends using a new wearable device and app launching in Hong Kong this month
Tracking your gym workouts will soon be a breeze with a new wearable device from a Hong Kong fitness startup Ahera. A magnetic band—“Osia”—and its accompanying Ahera app are designed to meet the needs of those whose exercise routines tend to lean more towards the weights section of the gym, rather than the treadmill.
The device is designed to be worn either on the wrist or attached to equipment, such as barbells, and will record metrics like weight and number of reps before updating the user’s profile on the app, which operates like a cross between a social media platform where gym-goers can cheer on their friends, and a training companion, where data is logged and expert advice is offered to boost progress. Best of all, Osia is friendlier to the environment than your average sports tracker: it is made from recycled plastic and presented in plastic-free packaging.
Co-founder and CEO Rudy Bottin, built his career in the sports industry, developing products for brands like Cannondale, Scott Sports and Salomon. Growing up in France, he had swum and competed in triathlon at a national level, though he now counts trail-running as his primary form of exercise.
Big-players like exercise app Strava offer recording options for generic gym-based workouts, but, when posted onto the users’ feed, lack specific metrics and can look rather uninspiring next to intricate maps showing where others have run or cycled. For the gym-based crowd, Ahera fills a gap in the market, Bottin says.
“There’s nothing already available that has a strong social aspect to it,” he says. “People go to the gym, they do their training, then they record it—but just for themselves, and so they might lack motivation because they can’t see what others are doing. And they kind of forget their goals too. So we decided to look at all of our competitors and take everything they don't do that we felt was necessary and then implemented those things into our product.”
See also: 10 Best Female Personal Trainers In Hong Kong To Get You In Shape
