Marathon is an app that enables people to discover a healthy lifestyle tailored to their behaviour and goals, while also caring for their mental health and holistic wellbeing. The app is also focussed on helping people out of situations where they begin to avoid or put off taking care of themselves – and lose control – both mentally and physically.
How is this a COVID-19 fitness solution?
As people, we can often lose sight of why we work on ourselves, especially in times of prolonged distress and such heavy restrictions on day-to-day activities. Losing control of the environment can make one feel passive regarding most other things. The idea is to try to take people out of this limbo and make them return to a sense of regime and normalcy within the confines they are in.
We want to focus on striving for balance and routine to meet goals at an achievable and comfortable pace for the user. The point is to be able to do so in a way which does not restrict or motivate the user to not look at fitness as a bubble of only intense workouts and nothing else.
USP:
We regard fitness as a combination of diet, exercise, rest, and mental health, and therefore encourage our users to find a balance between them. We also acknowledge fatigue, the urge to quit, and laziness as a part of the process and attempt to help our users out of those phases. Instead of measuring weight sizes and lifting weights, here at Marathon, the main concern is always health and fitness.
Why will it work?
Because the idea behind this app is to keep the user in control. Most other fitness apps assume a role which is meant to nag and remind the user until they work out. Marathon is present to help the user help themselves, and not assume control of the process altogether. For a user that has never counted calories or measured weight before, doing so can feel impersonal and too pressuring. With this service, the idea is to create the best version of what the user either wants to do, or is already comfortable with.
‘Coming Together’
The service provides the customers with ways to collaborate, breeds a sense of accountability, and gives them an opportunity to receive and share encouragement and experiences with other people.
The app allows the user to sign up with scheduled and collaborative spaces for multiple things – synchronising meal times and cooking/eating, virtual workout regimes, and shared safe spaces for personal conversation and integration. A sense of community among the users, many of whom will be focussing on mental health during the pandemic, will create motivation and give them others they can easily relate to.
