Alpha Brain lawsuit, Puma capitalizing on Hyrox, and Lifetime Fitness AI app...
Here’s what we got this week in the business world of health, fitness, & wellness:
🗞️ The Story - Joe Rogan’s, Alpha Brain, hit with a lawsuit
📈 The Strategy - Puma capitalizing on Hyrox popularity
🛍️ The Product - Lifetime Fitness adds AI to their app
Joe Rogan’s, Alpha Brain, is being hit with a lawsuit for “false health claims”.
For context, Alpha Brain is a supplement that claims it helps with memory & focus.
And this lawsuit is claiming that a previous study done by Onnit (the company behind the supplement), allegedly is false - disproving the memory effects of the supplement.
Here’s why I care, and am gonna pat myself on the back:
Remember two weeks ago when I wrote about the Poppi lawsuit, and my takeaway was NOT about the actual product or lawsuit being mentioned?
My takeaway was about the rise in consumer awareness of what they are putting in their body and wanting to be healthy.
And that consumer brands see this and are both:
This is a recipe for consumers to just reach for the product, stick it in their cart, and start using it without doing much research on their own.
So with this Alpha Brain lawsuit coming to light, let me say this again.
You as a consumer, need to be aware of these marketing tactics (as well as the tactic of putting a popular face behind the brand, like Joe Rogan).
Don’t just take the brand’s slogan or big headline on the package at face value.
The world of marketing & packaging has a lot of blurred lines so the only way to cut through the fluff and find the truth, is by understanding labels, doing research, and making an educated decision yourself.
So Hyrox recently announced Puma to be their official apparel & footwear brand.
But what came before all of this is what I found interesting, and what you can learn as a brand in fitness.
Hyrox has been exploding in popularity, it’s no secret.
Just look at their Google search growth the last 5 years (huge spike recently):
So this video from Matt Choi, came across my feed and is really what sparked the learning I am going to share with you.
He recently did a Hyrox race, and in this video he mentioned his struggle to find a shoe that would support both the running and strength movements that required shoe grip & stability in Hyrox.
But after talking around, Matt realized all the elite Hyrox athletes wore Puma.
It was the only shoe that had a carbon plate for running and good sole grip for strength.
So while Hyrox is absolutely surging in popularity - Puma is the only brand making shoes for the athletes.
And it reminds me of how Reebok capitalized on the rise of Crossfit back in the day - by making shoes and products specifically catered to Crossfit.
Exactly what Puma is doing here with Hyrox.
This is a lesson for brands to always follow what’s trending.
Think about how you can latch on to the trend by offering supplementary products yourself and capitalize on the popularity.
Lifetime fitness adds AI to their app, in a push to make fitness more personalized for their members.
This integration is in partnership with Microsoft and will include personalized fitness recommendations such as class suggestions, workout plans, wellness questions, and club resources.
I haven’t used this yet, nor have I really used AI much at all in my own fitness life.
But here’s where I stand with it all:
The AI fitness space feels like a lot of companies adding “personalized recommendations” to their apps.
For things like class recommendations, workouts to try, and answer questions you ask it - exactly what Lifetime Fitness is doing here.
And while I think that is a great entry point for AI in fitness, I believe there is a ceiling to that.
From my own experience, once you get a solid knowledge foundation about workouts & proper dieting, you can do most of it on your own from intuition.
Where I see AI helping in fitness is with everything outside of fitness in my life.
Sounds counterintuitive I know, but hear me out.
I want AI to look at my calendar for the week, my screen time the previous day, the inventory in my fridge, my recovery score from my Whoop, etc…
And based on everything going on in my life:
THIS is the type of help I want from AI in my fitness life.
Look at my entire life, and help me not stress about the decisions I need to make.
AI is all about data collection and learning, so things like this will come with time.
So long term, AI in fitness needs to go to a place where it provides actionable insights to people based on the whole picture of their life, that is where the value is.
