• 10 – 13 April 2025
  • Exhibition Centre Cologne

Strength training at home is getting smarter – the latest developments

© Peloton

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In 2022 Freeletics and Peloton are launching new training systems for strength training at home that are not only digitally connected, but which also add new features to the workout itself. 

The coronavirus pandemic has turbocharged the digitalisation of the fitness industry. Apps, online workouts and at-home training are more important than ever before. It is a trend that has benefited some fitness providers more than others in recent months.

 

Particularly popular: training apps such as Freeletics, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide personalised training programmes. Also, in demand: home equipment providers that offer connected equipment, such as VAHA and Peloton. For example, trainees can user their Peloton bike or Peloton treadmill to link up with the community digitally and jointly experience highly motivating cardio workouts.

 

These are the innovations on tap for next year

Both Peloton and the German fitness firm Freeletics will be launching exciting new products for strength training in the new year. According to a survey that Freeletics conducted in the USA in 2021, 87 percent of trainees wish that their strength training was more fun.

 

Freeletics CEO Daniel Sobhani explains: “Here in 2021 it is really about time that strength training leaves boring and repetitive behind and becomes something smart and exciting.” In early November 2021, the German fitness firm used the occasion of an international web summit in Lisbon to debut its brand new product: ‘Staedium’. It was just one week later that Peloton launched its new ‘Peloton Guide’. This was the first time that either of these innovative new products had been presented to the public, and both are slated to be on sale to the public in 2022. 

‘Peloton Guide’ is designed to offer a new alternative for at-home training © Peloton

This is how the ‘Peloton Guide’ works

The ‘Peloton Guide’ is the logical follow-up to the bike and the treadmill: for 495 US-dollars, users can connect a TV box to their own television that leads them through numerous workouts. Users can then use the screen to access various strength training courses in the media centre.

 

A wide-angle camera analyses the trainee’s movements and uses AI (artificial intelligence) to make any corrections that might be necessary. People are able to use their own equipment and weights for their training. A monthly membership costs about USD 13 per month. 

This is what ‘STÆDIUM’ by Freeletics can do

‘Staedium’ by Freeletics goes a step further. The makers of Europe's leading fitness app have made it their goal to establish ‘strength gaming’ and combine at-home strength training with a digital gaming experience.

 

A ‘gaming console’ has been integrated into the camera that makes it possible to compete against other users. The package includes smart dumbbells called ‘Stæd Weights’ that can be set between two and 24 kilograms. The camera scans these continuously to record their current weight and the speed at which they are being moved at all times.

 

In addition to a camera and the weights, the hardware also includes a ‘base’. This is a type of weight bench that is integrated into the training and which also serves as place to store the equipment. The complete ‘Staedium’ package is currently being offered for just €1,850 during the pre-order phase (regular price: €2,350). The required monthly membership is provided free for the first six months, after which it costs €30 per month. 

© Freeletics
‘Destroy Boring’ is the Freeletics mantra. The hardware package includes a camera, smart dumbbells, training mat and storage option. 

Designed for fans of strength and endurance training

While the Peloton and Freeletics products might appear to be similar at first glance, they are designed for two very different target groups. With its focus on concurrent strength and endurance training, ‘Peloton Guide’ seeks to broaden its existing base amongst endurance athletes who do not have room for a bike or treadmill or who had been waiting for a lower-priced alternative.

 

With its innovative gaming approach, ‘Staedium’ by Freeletics sets out to change the nature of at-home strength training and make it more social. The concept is aimed at a very specific target group of fitness fans.

 

As the people in charge of Freeletics put it: “When we developed the ‘Staedium’, we set out to create something that could do for strength training what football does for running: we wanted to make training more fun. A football player runs just as much as a runner, but the process is not as monotonous because the player’s mind is on the game and on the emotions a game evokes. It is not a workout, but rather an enjoyable hobby. And that is exactly what we want ‘Staedium’ to be for strength training.”

 

Both innovations offer a glimpse of what at-home strength training will look like in future. Other manufacturers are sure to follow in their footsteps in 2022.