The Movr App - Aaron De Jong

All of us should feel great every single day. And I don't think that that needs to take more than five minutes. And that's the product we built. The belief that somebody is just stuck with a physical limitation because they're aging blows my mind.

Yeah.

So that's that's where we're like, okay, we have something here. We have a product that you know we believe is going to make a big, big impact in this world.

What's up, fitness fans? Welcome back to the Future of Fitness podcast and interview series. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and we're on episode 137. I talked to Aaron DeJong. So Aaron is out of Vancouver. Uh if you haven't been to Vancouver, it's a really, really cool place. Uh fast growing, uh modern, uh, multicultural, hip, great food, all of that. Uh, but I can ramble on about uh Vancouver. I just really like it in Victoria too. We talked about that during the interview uh and my love for Victoria. So, what about Aaron? Well, Aaron is a fitness professional, of course. I met him through Elite Gym Insiders. And uh we chatted a little bit and I realized that there was, you know, uh a great story there. So uh we we hopped on a call and here we are doing an interview. So uh successful gym owner in Vancouver. Um, the way he talks about the way he's built his business and his story there and how we got into the fitness industry. And now he's taking his stab at technology with the Mover app, M-O-V-R. So to me, uh the biggest opportunity that we have as fitness and health professionals uh utilizing technology is the ability to get to the other 99% of the world's population that do not have gym memberships or go to the gym. And that's exactly what Aaron's doing. And he's producing a system uh that will help people move better, feel better, get out of states of pain, and uh do it in a very short amount of time every day. So uh it's a great way to essentially just instill healthy habits in people, allow them to move better and longer uh in their lives. So it's a great story. Uh, I hope you enjoy it. Uh before we get into the interview, let's talk about Elite Gym Insiders. So, like people like Aaron, right? Just met Aaron in there. Uh he came in, we asked, he asked me a few questions within the Slack community, and here we are. And uh, if you are a gym owner, anybody who wants to work with gym owners or just a general fitness professional, uh go check it out, EliteGymInsiders.com. There's a short application. Like I said, it's a free group, and uh you know, we will be offering to our members a lot of great things, discounts on digital marketing services, mentorship, um CRMs, education, uh, supplements, equipment, all that. So it behooves you to get in there and check it out and be active and really engage in the community because it's it's a great one. So uh on top of that, check out certifiedcoursecreation.com. So we are creating online accredited certifications for people with a great expertise. So perhaps you know you have a certification in you, you have something that you need to get out into the world, right? You just don't know how. You don't know where to start. What software do you use? How do you put it together? How do you edit it? What kind of annotations and citations do you need? Do you need a scientific writer? All those things, don't worry about that. We take care of all that. We partner with you and we create a beautiful and lucrative online accredited certification. So go check it out at certifiedcoursecreation.com. And without further ado, let's get into it. Uh, number 137, Aaron DeJong. Enjoy the show. All right, and we're live. Aaron, welcome to the future of fitness, man.

Very, very excited to be here. This is very cool. Like I just said, a relative first, a podcast.

Yeah, well, um many more to come, I have no doubt. And uh God, I mean, there's so many things that we talked about that were really great before recording. That's the way it always goes, right? I talk about all the time. It's like you guys missed all the great conversations after we started recording. Uh, but we'll get into a lot of it because it's really powerful stuff. And it's not just what you've done with your your fitness business and your life and the application that you're developing, and um, but you know, the storyline behind it and the little things that that got to where you are. So let's let's start with your story, man. Give us some background on what you do and kind of how you got there.

Cool, man. I mean, uh I'll I'll I'll give the sort of the the meediest version in as concise words as possible. So um, yeah, I well, my name's Aaron, uh Aaron DeJong, and I and I live here in Vancouver, uh, Canada. And uh I've I'm from a family of four. Uh there's four boys, and we're all my size, which is six, five, um, over 200 pounds. We all played sports and we're very active in all this stuff. Um, so I grew up playing sports, never anything that was like crazy high level, but always, you know, running around and chasing basketballs or soccer balls or whatever, and then wrestling with my brothers. Um moving forward, I think um really quickly as I got older, I got connected to being active in a very recreational way and across as many sort of different activities, whether that be like you know, kayaking trips or hiking or soccer, playing a little bit more competitive, um, to then going to university to become a PE teacher. So I went to university for five years in Victoria, and we um by we, I mean me, um came out of school having some experience working in um an athletic therapy clinic, having taught a bunch of students at high schools during different practical experiences, um, and getting a lot of time at the actual university gym training myself, but also being a personal trainer for two years. Um very hands-off, um, very much more of a gym facilitator, and uh and seeing what people were doing in the gym space, and then myself practicing that as well, and not connecting the dots. That at the time that was also the most injured I've ever been in my life. Um, and so that was like the starting of this environment of I'd been active, uh, I worked in a gym and I saw what people were up to, I was injured, and I was learning how to educate people in physical activity. So that's kind of like the birthplace of all these different worlds I'm now totally immersed in. Um and now fast forward, I mean, like seven years, um, what happened was I came out of university, and I'm fortunate that my uh brother was dating a woman who's a personal trainer, and she was in many ways way ahead of the curve. She was looking at a lot of functional movement system stuff. She was doing a lot of kettlebell training, and she kind of just pushed me in the right direction of hey, if you're gonna be a personal trainer or if you want to do this on the side, here are the ways in which you should go educate yourself. Here's like the most functional way that you could help people. Um, and man, and that was that started me down a road that was like, you know, that you know, when you get interested in something where it's like a forward momentum that you can just kind of get caught up in and you can't stop reading stuff. That was it, man. It was like 2012, 2013 was the time that I started leaning into that sort of functional movement system stuff, and on the other side realizing that teaching wasn't my best environment that I felt professionally satisfied in. So that culminated with um me ending up opening up a personal training studio in 2014. Uh, five years later, we're gone from myself in a 200 square foot space to uh those 12 trainers, and uh we've got up to 3,000 square feet now. Um, personal training, classes. We have a really cool model of how we intake people into um we call it like um movement-based strength training. So it's a lot of like continually uh programmed flows that are a lot of mobility-based stuff built to a strength. And then it's called Movement 108. Um, it's here in Vancouver. And then uh three years ago from that model started an app called Mover. And you know, we've been in the store for two years and now heading uh for a major launch um in partnership with Lululemon uh this summer in July. So that's like the high level. And um, and then on the that's that's kind of like what I'm up to on the other side of it. I'm getting married in five weeks um to the love of my life, which is really amazing. I'm very excited about that. And um, and I'm a guy who's just like loves still to be active and and I feel the most um the most passionate about what I do when I can help facilitate people in feeling better in their body as fast as possible. And that's what I'm all about, man. I love it.

I love it. So I one of my first questions how'd you like uh going to school in Victoria? Because that's that's one of that's one of my wife and I's favorite cities. Go over there.

Um man, what's so funny is I'm from a really small town. So when I my older what I have two older brothers, um, I'm the one of the middle childs, and my oldest brother went to UBC, which is in Vancouver. Vancouver in Canada is a huge city, you know.

Um big for any standard, yeah.

Yeah, so like and for me from a small town, it was like that was an option. And I remember coming to the city, just like, man, this is too big for me. I'm too overwhelmed, I'm intimidated. Like, um, so I just didn't want to go to UBC, and then I visited my brother who went to UVC. Um, and I just fell in love with it. Victoria has got this charm, it's it's beautiful, man. I I lived there for five years, and it was some of the best five years of my life for sure. Made made some of my best friends, and really it was like the I look back, and it's like where all the the events and the key pieces of life kind of happened that I now look back on like, oh yeah, that that mattered, you know, the program I was in mattered, and that relationship mattered, and yeah, you know, so and just the space, man. I encourage anybody to go visit it, it's beautiful.

Yeah, I remember uh the first time my wife and I took the ferry from uh whatever it is near Seattle, whatever port that is, and then we came through the harbor into and I was like, oh my god, where am I? Like a mixture of like old England and this it was amazing. And every time you know we spent a couple months there, uh, really enjoyed our time, and it's got great food, it's got culture, and it's not that crowded.

No, it's not that crowded. It's so funny, man, because I mean it's kind of like we're spoiled with our blessings, you know. In the summertime, it gets super busy, and you go to catch a ferry, and you'll miss a ferry or two, so you gotta wait two hours. So, as a local, you'll complain about having to miss a ferry. And meanwhile, you're sitting next to like the sparkling ocean, mountains on every side, there's islands, there's wildlife, like there's these amazing restaurants. We're like, oh, like the ferries are so bad. It's like we live in just an incredible part of the world, you know.

Yeah, and the whole all the islands there. We spent uh, you know, another two months in Pender Island. And in the having to take the ferries everywhere, what a unique way of life. And uh, you know, people and that was the thing all the locals are bitching about. Fairies, right? God, this is awful. And like, really? Like this fairy is like the best thing ever. I could do the It's unbelievable.

Totally.

Anyway, yeah, yeah. Victoria's great. Uh it's it was really amazing. And for us too, you know, it gives you all those things that a big city can give you, but with literally like one tenth of the crowd. Yeah, it's really easy to do. Totally.

So um it was definitely the place for me that I like I was able to transition from a small town, like I grew up in a town of 10,000 people, and then in Victoria, there's like 300,000 people in the school there. Um, and then that allowed me to be ready for the city of Vancouver, which um, you know, I moved here eight years ago and haven't really looked back.

So yeah, and what's going on in Vancouver, man?

That place is just it's bananas here, man. Um, across I think all industries, like everywhere you look, there's new construction. The city is growing up, so there's not really much expansion outwards, but every building is just getting taller. Um the the livability cost is really challenging for a lot of people. Um, I think I think it's also just in front in in transition from this place where um uh a generation before us was able to buy a home or buy a condo and be like, yeah, that's this is part of the expectation of growing up in the city. And now that's just not becoming realistic. You know, it's like people are transitioning into being like a renter because there's just a lot of influx of people, money, um, and industry in the city. It's pretty wild. And it's and it's and it's also on with that, those life stresses, there's some cool stuff happening. There's like the fitness industry is alive in Vancouver. There's so much innovation, there's a lot of people doing different conceptual stuff, studios. Um, Lou Lemon's head office is here, so they've they've got such a pulse in the city. Um, it's it's a pretty fun place to live, man. And we have the playground of the mountains and the ocean right here.

Yeah, it's a crazy cool place. Uh the whole area is amazing. And you know, I'm I know a big discussion too that's happens uh when I talk to people up there is whether or not they're gonna build a bridge from Vancouver to Vancouver Island. And I hope that never happens.

I hope it never happens. I like I you know that would be a monster project, but anything is possible, man.

Yeah. Um yeah, so anyway, if if people haven't figured it out yet, uh we're fans of of British.

That's what this podcast is about. It's just a geographical talk about that.

I mean, yeah, and um, you know, we like to to dive into urban metropolitan areas when we can and soak up the culture and then get back out to the mountains. It's just it's so perfect. But yeah, um, yeah, we can talk about that all day, but we won't. Uh let's talk about your development. You know, I we're we're definitely gonna talk about your app because it's really cool. I mean, that's one of the things we talked weeks ago. I was like, wow, that's such a really cool concept. And you know, the fact that Lulu jumped on it is gonna help you launch. That's that's tremendous. So obviously you have a concept there, but you know, talk about your development up until this point because there's an interesting things that we talked about before.

Um yeah, I mean, there's when I talk to people about how I built out my my first business, which was the my my studio, um, it's really easy to see bricks and mortar and a big team and people be like, wow, success. Like the way to go. You must have everything figured out. And really, I feel like a guy who never has a single thing figured out, but we're just pushing in one direction forward, you know. Um, and the way that started was working through a bunch of my own my own stuff. Um, when I opened up in 2014, I um I'd started seeing I went through a a number of things. One was in 2007, I was actually in a house fire that um two of my friends passed away. And at that time, um I was introduced to a therapist. And I saw him briefly for a couple months and then stopped seeing him and went through university after that. And um at the end of university in the spring, I think, or the January of 2012, um, my long-term girlfriend and I broke up and I was just in a really sad, you know, exploratory place of like, what's what's this all about? Where am I heading? I'm done school. I'm like, you know, this this relationship of five years is over. Um, so I went back to that same therapist, and you know, there was a chunk of work, personal development work, moving into a new city in that time. And the big sort of everything happened in 2014. Um, I'd come back from working abroad, and um, I had the opportunity to open up a studio space, and with that, uh, I started asking my quick myself questions like, am I like, it sounds cheesy, but it's like, am I worthy of opening up a business? Who would come? Why would people show up? What is this thing that I would offer? You know, like I don't know anything, all these things that there really a lot of self-doubt. So I really leaned into the sort of therapeutic side, and then also I got a business coach. And between the two of them, I started seeing that really the only limiter across all the things in my life was myself, but sort of like the common denominator, and learning to A, like learn about how I think, um, and then B, learn about the business world. I was like, if I go out and I can learn to communicate clearly, to discern what people, other people's intentions are clearly, I mean, there's no reason why I can't open up a space and be passionate about the thing I'm doing. Um, so that was my own sort of like initial part of that. And so I opened up the studio space and it was a 250 square foot space, um, and there was a stairwell in it. So it was like 200 feet of trainable space. Think about that, it's that's small, man. So like I had my one-to-one clients, and we did like four to five person classes in there. Uh and really quickly I got really busy. It was like it just I was next to a spin studio that was super supportive. I was a Lululemon ambassador, so they were pushing people my way through their store and the head office. Uh, word of mouth started traveling around. And the next piece of development, which I found so interesting, is I was I got busy enough that I needed to bring on one or two more people. And I got terrified that they were gonna come in and change the business model, or that I was gonna have to no longer be open-minded or clear about my thinking or intentions or communication. And so there was another step there where I was like, a requirement to working here is that you have to go through your own personal goals coaching, and we have to get on a communications model that we can interact regularly, not only as like friends on a you know, friend level, but like in a very professional communication base where there's you know expectations and accountability and follow-up. Um, and that was terrifying. And that was the pivot point of me going out and and doing as it was called I goal you at the time, this goals coaching um system for four months and asking these three people to do it with me. And I was blown away when the three of them said yes, they'd be they'd do it. And by the end of the four months, we had this like incredible awareness of what people's personal goals were, some of the things they've been through and where they wanted to go. And it allowed us to really collaborate with our direction of training, and and two of those people I've I still continue to work with, you know. So those pivotal six months in 2014, man, kind of set the course for not only like my own personal development, but the continual growth of the other coworkers, and that just like trickles down into the entire community of any client that I've interacted with and future um employees or contractors or future clients. And it's it's been quite an amazing growth of this thing that I could never have expected, you know.

Facility owners are are certainly one thing. It's a great example just to talk about for context here. But you know, the the most successful facility owners I know always have a really, really strong focus on people, you know, they focus on their staff and the development of them from all aspects, right? Not just, hey, Richard knowledge base, you know, do you know how to do reps, reps, sets, and skin and rest, right? But it's the whole thing about how you communicate with people, um, how you form bonds, understand um, you know, their challenges and empathize and all of those things. That's just that's universal in life and business, right? And I think, you know, once you, if you can really focus on those skills, I'm I'm a huge personal development guy and I'm constantly reading books about personal development and and uh and working on on a daily basis. People knew my morning routine, which I've talked about um a couple of times on the show. It's it's pretty wild. And uh it works for me, right? Because that's something that I need to to get focused and centered and and kind of reprogram the things that have been programmed in over decades. And uh, you know, that it's such a huge component. And unfortunately, a lot of that that deep work that people have to do, there's usually has to be a catalyst for it.

You know, it's not well I totally agree. You know, and usually that catalyst is something like that's tough, right? It's pain. Yeah, it's pain. It's totally pain. Yeah.

So yeah, it's it's and I think uh, you know, maybe if there's like people who are listening out there right now, like going through a really shitty time, um, know that this could be your catalyst and that you'll get through it, right? I mean, all things pass, right? Uh with time. You'll get through it. This could be your your moment to really start doing some deep work and and changing the way that you just uh your wiring is configured um and how you approach people, and everything will change after that point, you know.

Man, and I think I think on that note, I think that one of the most empowering learnings that I had is I always felt so um vulnerable or insecure in moments where I was gonna share something that I was struggling with or or I hadn't figured out yet, you know. And in doing so in the right environment or around somebody that I thought I could trust, or or or just somebody who was like, I think I'm gonna gotta chat with this person. When I would open up and talk about those things, instead of ever feeling ridiculed or judged, there was always like the person being able to talk about barrel and stuff. So it was this like pause. Positive feedback we've of oh yeah, we both don't have stuff sorted out. So let's talk about that. You know, and it's quite simple when you say it, but like the actual our our barriers, our ego barriers are so so structured and hard to get past sometimes.

Yeah. I you know, I I had a conversation this week, um, and this recording will happen, you know, a month or at least a month after this. But it was this guy who, you know, one of the best digital marketers in the world, right? Yeah. Just like you look at it, you look at him, you're like, this guy has got it nailed. And you know, then you start talking to him. It's the same problems, right? You know, same problems that everybody faces, just on a different level in that area of his life. Totally. Always something you can relate to with people. Don't think because, you know, uh Josh Hillis is on the show too, and he's gonna be back on um for listeners. Uh he'll be back on sometime in the next few months. But my favor maybe my favorite line of of anybody on all of these 130-something podcasts is like, is like, just remember, you're probably only better than your clients at one or two things. That's it. Like, they're probably better at everything else. And it's like that mindset that you go into, and I think you can reflect that you know in a mirror upon everybody else that that you work with. It's like they're probably really, really good at one or two things, and then they're hoggers, just like everybody else and all the other. Right? And I think that's what makes us human. And it when you think about it that way too, it makes everybody very approachable and realizing that no matter what it is, if you're good at those one or two things, you can help everybody else, but you also have to be open to the fact that um you need a lot of work on all the other stuff too. Yeah, totally.

Yeah, I just similarly, man, like that it's just so funny. The two things I always think about one is there's a there's a guy that I've worked with for the last four years at the studio, and he's just a very approachable, grounded guy. And and I remember asking him after knowing about six months, I'm like, so dude, like how do you how do you hold so much space for people? How are you so approachable? He's like, Oh, I just you know, like 10 years ago, I just realized like everyone's just a big baby, you know, everyone's just like all I see is a big baby. No matter how bossy they make themselves look, they're just a big baby. And so I really like that one because it's very like, oh, you're like, yeah. And then the other one that makes me laugh is is similar context. It's like, you know, if you're ever intimidating yourself with someone or you're in a meeting and someone's kind of got this decision or power of authority in the meeting, and then you just remember that they have to shit too. You're like, oh, you know, you you make a bathroom stinky. All right. Okay.

Yeah, that is awesome. That's great. Uh so tell me, man, tell me let's talk about your app. Like, what's the concept of what you're doing with your app?

Okay. Um so before before I opened the studio, I worked in a gym, and the gym was a space where trainers could rent out space and then bring their clients in. And it was probably anywhere up to like 20 to 40 trainers and clients in there at any one time. Everyone was doing different stuff. Um, I didn't really know what was good and what wasn't. And everyone was like, it was like you just said, it was like sets, reps, timed rest, and then go again. Um, and the gap that I was like missing was how are people feeling? You know, how are people actually feeling like in the moment in their body? Are they doing a deadlift and there's like tension in their back, or like do they have a neck thing, or whatever else? And and I didn't have interest ever. And I haven't had interest to be a manual therapist or go into physical therapy, these type stuff. So that's when I when I mentioned the FMS, functional movement systems. I remember going to um my second workshop with them, their corrective exercise one, and seeing the facilitator do some stuff with people where he would see something, a dysfunction, and then do one exercise or do one movement with no hands-on stuff, and then they'd go and repeat the same exercise, and it would be fundamentally different. And I was like, what the hell just happened? Like, what did he just do? That guy's magic, right? So that's when like I was insatiable. I was like, so something's happening with the brain, we're changing the relationship with the brain, something's happening on the physical, so like there's like a now like a restriction that was there that is now enabled to move around. So maybe you braced your core so your back could open up or whatever the thing is. Um, and then the person now has the opportunity to move differently, and typically that would enable someone to feel better. Uh, that was that was a big learning for me five years ago. I opened up the studio and tried to apply the FMS principles into um my coaching with clients and people who were there as quickly as I could. And the cool thing was was within six months, people were just moving better. And the the studio was packed, and I did zero advertising, you know. So it was like people were bringing their parents, people were bringing their friends, like there was no age restriction to the studio. Like 20-year-olds, and there's a guy who still trains with us, he's like late 60s, you know, like, and we're not, you know, doing anything except fundamental movements. We're moving in all different movement patterns, you know, your squats, your lunges, your hinges, but we're getting people into them really intelligently. So that was the studio, and I was like, okay, something's here. I want to help as many people as possible. I'd been in the classroom with kids, I'd seen how like dysfunctionally students at in their teens were moving. I was like, man, these adults, they then turn into adults that just sit. So, like, how do we how do we get to as many people as possible? And it wasn't gonna be from me opening up more studios because I just I'm not that guy, I don't want to manage more than one space. So I threw a friend of a friend, I put out like a Facebook ad and met a developer. And I'll like this isn't anything to do with the actual what the app does, but I find the story so interesting is it was one of those moments where I was in my pajamas on a Sunday, and I got this phone number for a developer. I'd already met with two and they were both duds. And I was like, okay, I got this idea. I need to talk to somebody who's great. And I messaged this guy, like, hey, I just got your phone number from a friend. Are you able to meet and talk about this like fitness app or exercise app? Um he's like, I can either meet right now or in three weeks. I'm heading on, I'm like driving to the airport for a trip to Mexico. Like, let's uh let's meet right now. So we met at a coffee shop, and two hours later we walked out like on napkins, our first concept of a digital product, you know, and so he's my co-founder. Um and and it was just an incredible first, oh my gosh, this thing has legs. And essentially what the app does is it goes, it takes movement into it puts movement into a system. So we call it the three by five by seven model, and it's the most technical I'll get, but essentially our bodies move in three ranges of motion. We can rotate, we can move side to side, and we can move forward and back, flexion extension, whatever you want to call it. And every part of our body to a degree has to move in that way. Even our knees, even our elbows, they got to rotate a little bit, all that stuff. And within that, the five part is the five movement patterns. And there's some speculation that you could add carries and stuff, but we got we call it the push, the pull, the hinge, the squat, and the lunge. And and I believe that every single exercise under the sun exists in those three ranges of motion within those five movement patterns. So looking at that, I was like, okay, I can put these tags on exercises as oh, this is a rotational lunch, or this is like you know, a squat with a push at the top, whatever. And we wanted to create a leveling system. So we said, okay, level one, anybody can do, like our my grandma can do. Your, you know, anybody with any mobility dysfunction could do. And so that would be something like lying on your back and pulling your knees to your chest. We're like, okay, if you can do that, that's step one to you standing and squatting because that's the least stress on your body. And then level seven being like the fully loaded, you've got you know, two kettlebells, you've got a barbell, and you're doing uh a snatch to a squat to an overhead press, whatever you want to call it, super loaded up. You have to have all your systems running on go to be able to do. Um, and so we created a system where we could put in information in about somebody's profile, and then it would just spit out workouts, and we would categorize it where you'd have about five to ten minutes of really low-level activities, and then you'd get a little bit more challenging, so the activation, and then uh the big meat part of it, which would be your exertion part, and then at the end we'd reopen your body up in all the and all the ranges of motion you that you moved. Um, and that's what we were doing at the studio, and that was the original concept of the app. Uh, and we got super excited about it and spent two and a half years building it. We launched, it was in the store in 2017. Uh, it was super fun naming it, designing it, going through like the you know, uh startup funding. My parents gave me 50,000 bucks, you know, on a total whim. Like I asked my dad a couple months ago, I'm like, So did you know what you were investing in? He's like, Oh, we had we have no clue. He's like, We still don't know. You know, like you seemed really passionate about it. I I trusted that. I was like, okay, thank you. Because no one else really had a clue. But um, and and the cool thing was, man, is like it did what we wanted it to do. Uh the problem was we the product wasn't uh customizing information to people based on their inputs. It was all about us making assumptions about how someone should be moving. So really we were like, oh, we're just kind of doing what everyone else is doing. And and all the other apps in the space at the time were just prescribing really hard stuff. They were all working in that higher range of um like nervous system stress stuff. So it was all very heavily loaded, a lot of junk stuff, like really selling sweat and not thinking about how does someone feel and are and and are they moving better. So about a year ago, we just shifted gears completely and we said, okay, um, the workouts are available anywhere. Yes, somebody can use our app to work out, but we're way more interested in um putting someone into some corrective opportunity, some opportunity to unlock something. So we built something called uh our body analysis, and it's 10 movements that we screen or the user screens. Um they come into the app and they get asked to do a very simple thing like touch your toes or you know, line back and do what we call a side reach and just see what your thoracic mobility is like. Um, and based on how it moves, you get a score from one to five. And we build a super cool engine where it then takes all of your inputs and gives you your biggest area of opportunity to improve. And we prescribe a five-minute what we call a mini. So the mini just is two to three exercises or movements that will improve the thing that didn't go very well. So if if you like, I hope that you and I get the opportunity to hang out in the flesh and I can check out your your body analysis scores like, oh man, Eric, like this moves well, this moves well. I don't need to do anything with your shoulders, this great. But when you go to touch your toes, like your hands are dangling at your shins. Let's do three things to open that up and retest it. And what typically happens is there's either a greater range of motion that's improved, or if the range of motion doesn't change significantly, the feeling of getting to that same range of motion for the person improves. So that's what we talk about in terms of like moving better. We're like, man, it should feel good to move our bodies. And unless you've been in a car accident and have pins sticking out of bones, like all of us should feel great every single day. And I don't think that that needs to take more than five minutes, and that's the product we've built. Um, and that's where it is right now.

Yeah, yeah, it's a great concept, and that's the power of five minutes a day, if done routinely, is incredible. People like even if, like, okay, well, I don't read a book, right? Well, read five minutes a day every day and see what happens. Like, that's anything for five minutes a day is is incredible, and it's so um understated at what that can do. You know, you and I have talked about Mac Schenk, who's been on this show a couple times as well, you know, and his uh his five-minute flow with a very similar goal is like if you can just get people to move five minutes every morning and then drink two glasses of water first thing in the morning, you know what the major impact that has on overall health and and everything longevity, enjoyment of life, um, healthcare costs, like five minutes a day, right? And it's very similar in your path. And so with this this particular app, like who who do you tend to be who's gravitating towards this? Like who's it for for the most part?

Well, I think so. I have a tendency to talk a lot, so cut me off, man. Um, but what I'll kind of take the the longer road to answer the question because we originally made our app. Um, it was designed by millennials. I'm a millennial, you know, and we made it very moody, edgy, dark feature set. And we thought, okay, 20-year-old 20 somethings are gonna love this product. But the 20 somethings don't have necessarily big problems that they're looking to solve. They have a bit of extra time. They can go sweat all they want and not necessarily feel the aches and kinks that somebody who's working and has kids and doesn't have a lot of time and isn't sleeping very much are gonna experience. And so, like we were saying before, like we're targeting anybody that has gone through feeling a bit crappy, you know, like and they have to realize a problem to then want to go solve it. And it's like human beings are so smart, but we're we're so bad at preventative actions, right? So um when we boil that down, like who is aware of their problems and who who is looking for the five-minute solved. For for our target demographic, it was the you know, between 32 and early 40s, the person who has um who might be in a relationship is a hard worker, um, has some experience moving their bodies. It doesn't need to be like some athletic, crazy experience, it's just they're somewhat body aware. Um and they're stressed. And stress can come from having poor diet, poor um movement lifestyle, uh, not enough sleep, you know, all the different factors. But essentially, um, that person who's like, you know what, I have this backache, and that's the thing that's holding me back from being healthier because I know I want to be healthier, I just don't know what to do. Yeah, so that's kind of our target. And and what we found through we did a big user test this last fall. The the two most interesting things, man, uh, and I'll share the nuggets of the secrets because they're just outstanding, in my opinion, is one is that we found that the the male demographic that used our app was about four to five years older than the average female demographic. And I believe through interviewing that it was because the male demographic took longer for their egos to get over the fact that they don't know what they're doing. You know, they're just like, no man, I'll just keep going to the gym and I'll keep doing my bicep bench press and I'll just live with this back thing that I have. You know, whereas a lot of the female demographic, whether they were about to have kids or have had a kid or are working really hard or have realized how their body has shifted after stopping their yelp practice or stopping their recreational activities, they were the most hungry to get back into something right away. Like, I'm okay with not knowing, just show me what to do. And if it worked, they trusted it, you know. So power to the women out there for not having as much barriers of their own stuff than the men that we that we tested. But um, so that was kind of realization number one. And then the second realization that I think is this universal thing that blew my mind was we found about 20 people who were using the app very consistently. So we got on the phone with all of them, and we we had about 30-minute conversations, we interviewed them and and had a bunch of questions, and none of our questions asked specifically this, but all of them had the same response somewhere woven in that they had a fundamental belief that something in their body was just the way it is now. So, and we talked about this a woman when I talked to you on the on the phone like a month ago, is guys 35 would be like, Oh, I just have a bad shoulder. And I'm like, Well, what happened? Like, oh nothing. I just kind of woke up and over the last five years just kind of worse and worse and worse. What are you doing for that? Like, well, nothing, it's bad. I just have a bad shoulder now. I'm like, so for the rest of your life, you're gonna have a bad shoulder. And for a lot of people, it's like mid-back tightness, or and it's not an acute injury, there's no sharpness, it's just I got this ache, you know, or I got this like this need that's not really happy. And I and and I to me, it was like there is a huge, huge opportunity here to get this person moving specific to that area and improve that mobile that dysfunction, whether it's mobility or stability or or any of like if they lack strength, like it's so prescriptive in nature to the person, but the belief that somebody is just stuck with the a physical limitation because they're aging blows my mind.

Yeah.

So that's that's where we're like, okay, we have something here. We have a product that you know we believe is gonna make a big, big impact in this world.

Yeah, it it is incredible. And you and I talked in that same conversation about the Louis C. K. example.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, yeah. Whatever you want about Louis C.K. with his personal endeavors, but the guy's funny. And uh, you know, I I personally resonate with this one skit because uh it was the the shitty ankle, right? So he goes into the doctor and he's 40 now, and uh the doctor looks at the x-ray and he's like, well, you know, well, here's the problem. You have a you have a shitty ankle. And uh he's like, Okay, well, what do I do? He's like, Well, nothing. You just that's just the way things are now. You can take some Advil, maybe stretch it a bit. That's it. He's like, Yeah, that's that's it. He's like, Well, you know, can't you do surgery? Or, you know, there's all these amazing athletes that you can, you know, you can fix this stuff. He's like, you're not an athlete, right? He's like, that's just the way it is. And it's funny because I have a shitty ankle, right? And for a while I was like, uh, I was just like, well, I guess that's just me being 40 now, you know, because I watched it and I resonated with so so uh so strongly. And it is it is something that you know we just assume as we age, but here's the thing like you know, if if we live well uh with all the modern advances and even the things that are coming down the pipe strongly between you know um all the different rejuvenation and stem cell and all these things are coming down, we're we're could live hundred, 120. So start thinking like that way, like, yeah, I my ankle is still tweaked, and I'm gonna try your app, absolutely, and and get this thing going, see if I can fix it because it annoys me that I can't run all the time anymore. Yeah, probably process. But like start thinking like that. It's not now I'm 42, I don't necessarily have you know the expected life expectancy is what 76 in America. That's not necessarily true. If you take care of yourself, right? Totally and you do things there's we're gonna live for a long time. Um which is a whole nother issue globally and universally of what we're gonna do with that population. Um I don't want to get into that now, but it's true. You know, you we gotta shift our mindset, is no, you don't have to live with that. It can be fixed at just about any age. Yeah, yeah.

And we talk about preventative health to set up ourselves for that, like this continued exploration of how to how to live longer. And and to me, it rolls back to like how do you feel better today? Like, feel good today. And like that's step one, man. Like it's not about investing for a future investment. It's like, no, no, no, like invest live right now. You know, do these five-minute minis that are prescriptive and feel better literally in five minutes.

Yeah.

Like that's yeah, that's the idea, you know. Yeah, and like you said, like then you end up finishing a book, or then you end up like learning something new, then you end up like your body changes and you've got this new area because you're like, Oh, I didn't know, oh my low back's gone now, and now I've got this thing on my shoulder, but now I'm cleaning that up and allowing people to go live active lifestyles that were you know held back because of a shitty ankle.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's it's amazing too. I mean, if you just look at five minutes, right? And it's so it flies by so quickly in just about any any context um except meditation. Sometimes that takes a while. Um but you almost always end up going over, right? Five minutes every time. Totally. So it's like if you just set your minds, I'll just do five minutes, you'll probably do like 10, 15, maybe. Totally. Yeah, totally.

Well, especially if you start seeing something work, you're like, Man, I'll give like twenty minutes to this. Feels great.

Yeah. You know, yeah, yeah. If you feel good. It's the same thing, it's like people are like, Well, you know, I don't really especially gym owners like, well, I don't have time to work out. Well, cool, we'll just go warm up.

Yeah.

And they're like, well, I start like, all right, well, I'll just I feel good. I'll just start doing a whole workout. Right? You know, and uh and there you go. Um so tell me about you know what what do you think, what does the next six months look like for this app? Because it's probably gonna, you know, you're you're already out there. What what's where is it currently? Like how many, what what what are some of the numbers you guys are looking at? And I know you guys have launch partners and all that. What's what is the next what does it currently look like? What does the next six months look like?

Yeah, I mean, uh like this one of the learnings in this whole project is is um realistic time expectations and then also how do how do things grow? Um in launching from our conception into the store in in like uh February 2017 to now, we've had about 6,000 downloads, um, which we're happy from a beta standpoint. We haven't done any advertising. Um we've you know a couple months ago received funding from Lulu Lemon. Um they're they're uh an equity holder of the company now. Um and so we have a lot of collaborative uh launch strategies that we're gonna enroll this summer. But the big thing, the thing that we're most excited about is we looked at our product and I talked about the moody, edgy color scheme and how we had branded ourselves. Um, and it worked really well three years ago when we launched. But we look at the comparative top five exercise apps in the space, and and there is no difference between ours and the other top five. We are all copying what Nike's done. Everybody is. It's this loud, bold, really fit person doing some box jump or something. You know, it's like so that that when we shifted our gears a year ago to moving better in these short amounts of times to really being an enabler to a better movement lifestyle, um, we didn't shift our branding. Um, and so this next six months, what we did is after receiving funding, we've we're totally redeveloping uh the front end of our app, so the app that people will be using in the store onto something called Flutter, which is just a beautiful system that makes the experience really seamless. It's a lot more customized and nice for the user experience. And then we we decided we got um pitched this redesign concept of living in this sort of animation space, which I was very, very like uh hesitant to go in towards. Um, but the the concept was like we're doing something different, we have to look different, we have to be a different experience for people to understand that this is something that will change the way that this industry is is placed. And so when we launched, we're launching our new product in July, and we're it'll be in the store in that in the second week of July. And it's called Mover M-O-V-R. People can go download now to kind of see how it's gonna change in the in the very short future. Um, but we've created this universe and we've created these avatars that are very human-centric in what is like line illustration. So everybody can relate with the shape, but there's no comparison to, oh, I'm not that body type, or that's too fit, or that person's too aspirational. I can never get there. Because right away, that was a barrier I noticed in the fitness industry in Vancouver. Is you go into some gyms and everyone's got their makeup on and they're perfectly fit already, feels pretty crappy for someone who's got you know sore back. You know, yeah. So we're shifting gears in that world, and I'm I'm super excited for the new product. Our website's gonna be live in a in about a month, and it's just we're gonna be reintroducing movement in a in a universe that's completely new. Um, and then tying that back to a very educational approach about how to do the things really well, and that will be human-based coaching. Um, so videos that are uh coachable, coachable moments with with human coaches. So that's kind of the product side. Um, and then our launch stuff, we're like I said, we're going live in July. We're really gonna focus on local events here in Vancouver. Um, we're gonna have a strong presence at Lululemon's uh half marathon, the Seawees in Vancouver, which is a huge event for the city. Um and a and a just crazy successful event for that company. They have so many people interested in signing up, and people come from all over the world to run in it. Uh, and it's a very much a weekend festival. And then we have some internal activations we're gonna be doing with them. And ultimately, man, now we you know, in receiving seed funding, we're gonna be going for a series A uh financing um over the summer and hoping to really push our product out to the world come September, October, November after a good you know, usability testing of uh being in the world throughout the summer. Yeah.

What is yeah, what's the revenue model for you guys? Is this subscription based? Is it ad-based? What are we how are you guys uh are you guys monetizing?

Yeah, so currently there's no monetization of the product. Um, what we did is about a year and a half ago, so the six months leading up to this, you know, let's improve movement quality, we put this thing into the app called modules. And it's just our way of saying programs. We're like, okay, we're gonna build programs. And at the time we we weren't trip heading towards external funding. So we're gonna we said we're gonna go to events and we're gonna build programs for these events and running programs and and sell the event at a spot. So the event it'll cost them a thousand bucks, and then they'll share it with all their runners or their you know, gymnasts, or their like their team, and they'll all have this custom program just that's for their team. So we spent like three months of development time, we designed it, we put it out, we landed a couple events, but I realized really quickly that I I didn't believe in it enough to get excited about getting on calls to to sell it to people. Um, and it wasn't clear enough what we were doing. Uh, there's so many systems and softwares out there that do that already, so much better than we were we were doing. So now with this new version that's gonna launch, we've we're stripping that right out. Um, somebody can go in and download the app and get the prescribed minis, the the body analysis, and something that we call the quick start or the the workout builder. And it's very situational, prescriptive to you where you can build a workout. And those things are free, and they and um as it stands, in my opinion, will always be free. And then once we kind of see that, we want to onboard that person into the product and say, you know, you're using it every day. Now let's put modules or programs back into the app and allow someone to sign up for a two to four week almost like a course. It is a program. You would be doing something every day, but it's trending towards a goal or an outcome. So it's like, oh, what is you know, let's fix your ankle and then teach you, reteach you how to squat. So then by the end of the four weeks, like, man, like I I, you know, I've never goblet squatted, you know, and felt so good. My hips, my my core, my ankles, like the whole show, it's unlocked and I'm feeling great. Um, and that will be something that we're looking at creating revenue around when we put it back in and that would be this problem.

Right on, right on, man. It's really exciting.

Yeah, it's man, it's it's it's so funny because it's I love it because it never feels like we actually have arrived anywhere, but there's so many little victories along the way. It's like, you know, having having a clearer, clearer vision. Um it's been a passion project that is turning into something that I truly believe will help humans, help people that are what's cool about it in my mind is that it helped it's gonna help people who are already active, but more importantly, help so many people access the world of of movement um that aren't, you know, that are that have the blockers of, well, I don't know what to do, or I don't have time, or I got this thing. Um, and we were we we want to smash those barriers down. Yeah. Um and I believe that we can and and and we will.

And that's the future, right? And that's that's the beauty of what um honestly why I stay in the fitness and health space is because uh I see now all the tools we have to access the other 80% that don't do the normal gym fitness thing, right? It's it's tremendous. Like we we we can, you know, we don't have to force gym memberships down anyone's throat anymore, right? It's like we can go meet people where they are. And uh, you know, stuff like what you're doing and uh countless other people that I get to talk to, that that's the thrill, right? You know, we talk about I talk about this number every day, right? You know, at least 80% of people don't go to gyms or have personal trainers on a global scale, that's 99%. So there's 99% of the world's population that we can now get to and and help them create and just make a bigger impact. And that's uh that's the excitement of things like this, is it's really figuring out. One question for you too that I didn't ask earlier is how many hours have you put into development of this app? Give people an idea. People are like, yeah, I'll develop an app.

Oh, I'll start a project, man. I'll just do this thing. Um man, so I I think it's tough for me to quantify because I even to this day, I still work with clients in the studio and I still learn stuff about the body that we're trying to put into the system of the app. So it's like when I look at the total hours of time spent with clients and then on this project, it's like the high thousands, man. Like, I gotta be approaching like it's the last five years of my entire life. The only other thing that I've done well with my time is meet my partner and convince her to marry me in a couple weeks. And and that was tenuous at the best at times because she's like, Aaron, you're giving too much time to this project. Yeah, you know. Um I gotta say, I would without attaching an hour figure to it, I think like the first three years of the project, I made zero dollars. I asked my parents for $50,000. I got about $10,000 from an Indiegogo campaign that totally flopped. Um, we didn't get, we got a quarter of the thing, the ask money that we wanted. Um, I spent about $50,000 out of my own pocket. And then I asked my parents for more of a loan before we secured this funding. And the personal risk I took was investing three years of my life financially stretching myself, but never once did I stop believing that this thing was gonna go because I just it just didn't go away, man. Like, and the the biggest thing for me is as my lifestyle shifted into something that I was so passionate about. My it sounds lame, but I I'm proud of it. Is if I didn't have anything to do on the weekend, I'd be like Friday night, hey, that's a free night. I got energy, I'm gonna sit and I'm gonna like conceptualize what this next piece of the product is or the project is or how we could activate or who I should talk to next week. And I loved it, you know. Um, so I think when I when I talk to other people about something that they want to do in the world, it's like, how much do you believe in it? How much are you willing to put in terms of time into it? And no one else is gonna do it for you. So so I mean, go do it, but don't think anybody's gonna do anything for you, or that it'll be easy, you know? Just be passionate about it.

Yeah. Yeah. No one's gonna, no one's gonna save you, no one's going to uh discover you. You have to you gotta make it happen, you know? Totally, yeah. That's that's a big thing too. Uh, you know, people try to throw a lot out there into the world, but you gotta look internally and just start creating. And that's I I think what's really interesting about your scenario too, which is something that drives a lot of people, is you gotta have your big idea, right? It's just huge, scary, big thing that you want to do. And everything else that you do, if it's aligned, will properly make that happen. Your gym is a testing ground for the thoughts that you have that go into that, it's gonna influence all that. So everything you do aligns with your big scary idea, right? Oh man, 100%. That's the beautiful thing. If those things are out of alignment, if you're disjointed at any given point, it's gonna be a lot tougher. But if you can make all those things align to where you want to go with your big scary idea, then uh things start to happen. So hats off to you, man. It's it's really cool to hear. Your story's great. Um, so where do people get the app? Where do people find you? Where's all that stuff happen?

Man, I could just keep talking to you for so long about all that stuff. I have so many thoughts. Um my one last thought on that, I will I'll answer that question, but my last thought on that is like this this whole thing with Lou Lemon was like an idea three years ago that we sat down and we're like, wouldn't it be cool if one day we got funding for Lou Lemon? And that concept, that idea was so scary and so so like an impossibility because we didn't even have anything. We were just talking about what we wanted to do. And and it's like you said, I think you have that North Star, and then it's like you keep that North Star keeps evolving, but when it comes becomes reality, like man, it it it is persistence, it's passion, and it's you know, believing that you're doing something that's gonna help people. That that was the right recipe for success for us. Um the actual app, um it's in the app store for both iOS and Android. So you can go into the app stores, um, just type down an M-O-V-R. Um, it's the first app you'll see, and and um just click download right now, you'll still get the body analysis. You can go check out how your body's moving and then get some prescribed minis, which is just five-minute fixes. Um, and you know, if if people are listening before we have the new product live, I encourage them to go check it out because it'll be evolving so much in the next couple months. And uh there'll definitely be early adopters to something that I think I hope that you and I are having a podcast in a year, and we're like, man, this thing is blowing up, you know. So it's being shared all over the place. And um, and I believe that I think like the the future innovations team at Lou11 believes that, and uh, and you know, the proof is in sort of the the continual success of the studio and and the people who have been using the product. So yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well we'll uh we'll we'll definitely be having when this thing blows up even more. Uh we'll get you back on, we'll talk about a little bit more what that's like. So yeah, man. Thanks for coming on, Aaron. This is exciting stuff looking forward to it.

I so appreciate the time, man. It's a pleasure, and um I hope that uh anybody who's listening gets a maybe maybe it helps a couple people who are listening as well.

Yeah, I think it will. Right on. Well, Aaron, thank you, man. Thanks everybody for listening. That's wrap. Hey FitnessFans, don't leave yet. It's your host, Eric Malzone, and I have a quick favor to ask. Actually, three favors. So, number one, if you're a fan of our show, I ask you to do something that takes under three minutes. Go to iTunes, please, and subscribe to our show. Please, please, please. It means so much to us, it's so important. And then give us a favorable review. We would really, really appreciate it. And uh I can't tell you how much it means and helps us out. So I know it takes two minutes of your day, and uh it means a lot to us. So please do that. Number two, go to our YouTube channel, our fitness marketing alliance, and uh please subscribe to our YouTube channel there. Number three, if you like this episode or any of the episodes that we've released, share it on social. That's huge, that's a big deal for us. And well, we put a lot of work into these episodes, uh, trying to give you great actionable content uh for the fitness industry. So that would mean a lot. And that's it. So we have some big plans coming up for this show. I'll be talking about that in the next couple episodes. But thank you so much for listening. It means so much. And uh if you have any questions, please reach out to me. I'd love to hear from everybody. Eric, E R I C at Fitness MarketingAliance.com