Green Queen Review: Avigo Mobile App Brings Personal Trainers To Your Home

These days it seems fitness is no longer an optional pursuit, with the whole world donning their athleisure best and spending more and more time at the gym. Fitness studios are opening and different types of workouts are launching almost daily…it’s hard to keep up with it all to be honest. It’s also difficult to find time to try it all. Mobile app Avigo is rising to the occasion. The brand new iOS & Google Play app conveniently connects you to personal fitness instructors and group classes in your surrounding area. Green Queen takes a closer look.

Reinventing Personal Training

In lieu of having clients travel to conventional health clubs for a workout session (and having to shell out for those dreaded membership commitments), Avigo instead partners with hotel gyms and third-party fitness facilities to bring your workouts to you. The idea came to Venture Capitalist Co-founder, Melvin Chen, as he was jetting around the globe for work and found it difficult to find the right kind of workout: “Whenever I traveled to a new place, I realised hotel gyms were underutilized,” the Oxford grad explains in his lofty WeWork co-space. “I was thinking about how to leverage a sharing, mobile-centric economy where you can offer on-demand fitness and use hotel gyms to avoid paying rent while still delivering something for the hotels.” When all the pieces came together for the triple Blues athlete, he invited his college buddy Alexander Robinson to relocate from the UK to help launch Avigo. Partnering with big hotels like the Regal Hotel Group and the Ritz Carlton, as well as luxury service apartment brand Ascott, the app has already expanded to Singapore and Dubai.

Short on time this past week, but desperately needing to squeeze in some yoga time, I went onto Avigo and selected instructor Victor Chau for a Sunday session in the open studio at my clubhouse. A certified RYT 200 yoga teacher and Lululemon ambassador, Victor greeted me with an affable smile and soon had me energised and twisting in all manner of ways thanks to his Vinyasa asana flows. Observant and intuitive, Victor gauged my body strength and was able to tailor-make postures that helped me push past my usual boundaries. I left our hourlong session reinvigorated, thoroughly stretched, and so stoked that I was able to have my yoga teacher come to me.

Holistic Mobile Solution

Another key part of Avigo is their personalised mobile coaching offering that makes use of data and technology to give users the best results. Launching at the same time as their upcoming fitness and health challenge, app users will be assigned instructors to ensure they are maintaining their goals. Artificial intelligence technology (think chatbots) will be available to provide general consulting, while an able-bodied relationship manager is on hand to provide a a more personal touch approaching to keep you on track.

“What this mobile coaching solution provides is a holistic approach to health, wellness and fitness,” says Chen. “You will know exactly what you’re doing on the app and be able to track your progress.”

With a week full of meetings around the city, I book a personal training session with competitive (and award winning!) bodybuilder and powerlifter, Sebastian Mok, at one of Avigo’s partner facilities. Extremely knowledgeable and good-natured (not to mention ripped AF), Seb does a short assessment of my abilities and then focuses my training on my problems areas: shoulders and hips. He keeps the session interesting with a variety of exercises before we cool down with an intensive stretch. I leave feeling great- Avigo definitely looks for the city’s top fitness talent.

Avigo Challenge 2017

Over the course of five weeks, beginning on February 27th, the app is hosting the Avigo Challenge, during which contestants will attempt to improve their health and fitness by taking part in bi-weekly online challenges. Avigo will also offer two free classes and one online seminar each week as motivators to reach your goals. By documenting your progress through the app, judging will be based on your progress and the amount of activity you post. 12 top-performing contestants will be chosen to compete during the finale where live media coverage will broadcast the finale with big prizes to boot.

Download the app to participate in the Avigo Challenge. Click here for more information. 

Images courtesy of Javi_Indy for Freepik and Avigo.