Fitbit introduced a few new products earlier this year, including a slim swim-proof tracker and an update to its popular Charge model. Only product-watchers saw that the Charge was piling up on store shelves, and the swim-proof tracker, the Flex 2, was in short supply. Now Fitbit predicts that its sales will be way down this holiday season. [More]
fitness
ClassPass Eliminating Its Monthly “Unlimited” Option
By 11.2.16
More than three months after ClassPass started ticking off customers by raising prices for its “Unlimited” monthly memberships — first on the East Coast and then on the West Coast — the startup fitness company has some more bad news: it’s getting rid of unlimited memberships entirely. [More]
Have Aetna? The Health Insurer Might Pay For Your Apple Watch
By 9.28.16
Do you think an Apple Watch will help keep your health on track? Health insurance provider Aetna thinks it might, and plans to subsidize the cost of the device for some customers. [More]
San Francisco Pot-Friendly Gym Will Let Members Get High While They Get Buff
By 5.26.16
First it was juice bars, now this: a new pot-friendly gym in San Francisco will allow members to get high on the premises. [More]
Amazon Teams Up With Fitbit, Makes Alexa A Fitness Guru
By 3.17.16
Amazon Echo’s personal assistant, Alexa, can serve as your financial advisor by paying your Capital One bill, your personal chef by ordering Dominos, and now she can act as your personal trainer. The smart speaker now works with health tracking company Fitbit to provide users with details about their daily fitness routine. [More]
Pharmaceutical Companies Using Fitness Trackers To Collect Data On Drug Trials, Other Research
By 9.14.15
Consumers looking to improve their health have turned to fitness trackers like Fitbit, Jawbone, Vivofit, and Fuse that record the user’s heart rate, calories burned, steps walked, and other pertinent data. These devices are also increasingly being used for another purpose: tracking the effectiveness of new medications in drug trials and other research for pharmaceutical companies. [More]
Under Armour Buys MyFitnessPal And Endomondo So You’ll Buy More Clothes And Shoes
By 2.5.15
When you’re a fitness gear company, your goals are simple: you want people to buy more fitness gear. That’s why it makes sense that Under Armour, a company that makes athletic clothing, is buying up popular fitness apps, but the company’s master plan is very simple: people exercise more when they have apps that nag and reward them to do so, and those people need more shoes and clothes. [More]
Gym Business Models Depend On You Being Too Lazy To Work Out
By 12.18.14
Generally, there are two different kinds of gyms: the kind that actually expect their members to show up regularly and work out, and the kind that depend on most of their members to not show up on a regular basis. How do you get someone comfortable enough with a gym to pay up, even if they’re too busy or too lazy to show up? Sounds weird, but that’s their entire business model. [More]
Planet Fitness Kicked This Woman Out For Being Too Fit, Or Breaking The Rules
By 3.20.14
A California woman made headlines nationwide when she went to a local TV station, claiming that a local Planet Fitness kicked her out for distracting other customers by being too fit. Wait: what happened to the whole “no judgement zone” marketing campaign? [More]
Give Fitness-Related Gifts Without Angering Your Loved Ones
By 11.21.13
Let’s say that you want to buy a fitness-related gift for a friend or relative, but don’t want to imply that they’re secretly a giant slug. You love them, which is why you want to encourage them to enjoy the life-extending benefits of exercise. Just without the life-shortening stress of being mad at you. How can you do that? [More]
Tell Me How To… Join A Gym
By 11.7.13
Our own expertise is limited, but the knowledge and experience of the Consumerist community is unlimited. That’s why we’re turning to you, the Consumerist Hivemind, to provide guidance and help solve readers’ problems. Today’s question: how does the wise consumer choose and join a gym while getting the best deal and avoiding shady practices? [More]
Should Group Fitness Classes Stay Out Of Public Parks?
By 4.24.13
Boot camp-style fitness classes that meet outdoors in parks are a much more fun way to exercise than staring at your own sweaty face in a mirror. Do they affect life in the park enough that cities should require them to get permission before setting up shop and pay fees? The city of Santa Monica, California thinks “maybe,” and is considering such a policy. [More]
Gym Staff Member Bullies Couple For Being Fat, So They Want Out Of Their Contract
By 2.5.13
It’s hard enough some days to motivate oneself to get off the couch and head to the gym: what if you had to worry about being bullied and harassed by one of the staff personal trainers whenever you’re inside the facility? That’s what’s happening to Shayla and her husband. Now they want to be released from their contract, presumably so they can go to a different gym with fewer jerks on staff. [More]
Walmart Will Kick-Start Your Fitness Regime With Chocolate Bark And Crisco
By 2.4.13
Kelly noticed a display at Walmart with signs that said “Get back on track,” which she assumed meant health foods and workout equipment. What else could it be? (Well, maybe NASCAR merchandise.) Instead of protein supplements and Shake Weights, she found cake mixes and cans of Crisco. Pretty much the opposite of what she was expecting. [More]
Customer Sues L.A. Fitness, Says Pervy Trainers Gave Her ‘Suggestive’ Exercises
By 1.31.13
No one expects their workout with a personal trainer to be comfortable, but they also don’t expect to be sexually harassed, either. A Dallas woman is suing her local branch of L.A. Fitness, claiming that two different trainers at the gym made lewd comments to her and gave her what she considers “suggestive” exercises to do in front of them. Now she’s suing for Deceptive Trade Practices and Negligence, claiming that she kept up her end of the gym contract (paid her bills, didn’t break any rules) but that L.A. Fitness didn’t provide a safe workout environment. [More]
You Don’t Have To Face Fitness Resolutions Alone: 5 Apps That Help You Work It Out
By 1.15.13
If the thought of heading to the gym where it might reek of body odor like the cellars at the coliseum in the heyday of gladiators, where you inevitably end up in a standoff with a huffy, tiny woman in yoga pants who thinks you’ve spent enough time on the treadmill makes you shudder, maybe you’d prefer to fulfill your New Year’s fitness resolution at home. But that ain’t easy, either, which is why a slew of apps on the market are offering to help. [More]
Would You Feel More Comfortable Exercising In A Gym That Bans Skinny People?
By 6.20.12
One of the main reasons given for avoiding the gym is anxiety or embarrassment about trying to exercise while surrounded by people who are already in shape. But some gyms are now actively marketing their services to the people who need to lose the most weight, and at least one has a policy keeping the fit folks from joining. [More]
If You Want To Work Out To A Video, Just Stay Home
By 2.8.12
Vikram has been pretty happy with his gym, Life Time Fitness. Until an employee caught him working out to a P90X video on his laptop. He was asked to stop. Vikram says that the first employee explained claimed that electronic devices were banned because they might have cameras–a weak argument when smartphones and camera-toting iPods rule the gym. A manager explained that it’s about “competing services.” Presumably the choices are: take a class or hire a trainer at the gym, or follow your workout video at home. [More]
