Exercise, for the most part, is often dull. While plenty of people out there enjoy the occasional bike ride or walk, trying to find enough different things to do that can be fit into a normal person's schedule is often difficult. For many, it's actually too difficult to even bother with. But for Team Geem at Disrupt NY 2013, it may be possible to get a better way to exercise, quickly, simply, and perhaps best of all, excitingly thanks to a little help from that growing communications giant, WebRTC.
Team Geem, like a lot of people out there, has looked at the growing array of exercise DVDs and discovered what again many have already discovered: these DVDs are often dull and repetitive, and no one's going to stick with an exercise plan long enough to make it a habit if it's not very interesting. But Team Geem thinks it may have a solution in what it calls its "Pandora for Exercise."
Under Team Geem's "Pandora for Exercise" concept, users would have access to a completely Web-based service offering a wide variety of options. While indeed, pre-recorded videos would play a large role in the service's offerings, the biggest plus would be for teachers who want to establish classes on the fly for certain breeds of exercise. Thus, not only would users be able to shake up routines and keep them sufficiently different to maintain interest, they would also have access to things that may not have been available previously via the standard channels of DVDs.
It's that "individual classes" part, meanwhile, that brings in the WebRTC concept. Team Geem was actually looking at bringing in, at last report, TokBox's OpenTok WebRTC service in order to better establish contact with instructors remotely. That means that, for those having trouble with certain exercises, those users could make contact with instructors and find out what's going wrong, with an eye toward correcting mistakes. Additionally, some social features are set to come in, particularly for Facebook users -- rating instructors is one of the top features on the list at last report -- and Team Geem is looking at using the Django framework along with possibly building on a Roku app for later inclusion in the larger overall launch scheme.
Indeed, getting users interested in exercise isn't easy. Establishing the habit of exercise can be even tougher as not only does it distract from things with much more immediate reward, the rewards of exercise can often go unnoticed for months or even years. But keeping things varied has a good way of keeping things engaging, and as such, a program like this can go a long way toward keeping people using the program, and thus improving overall health.
It may be a while before Team Geem's exercise system makes it out into the larger world, but when it does arrive, it may well bring plenty of users looking for a new way to exercise into the fold. Getting more people exercising is a goal that's well worth undertaking.
Edited by
Ashley Caputo
