Bodeefit, a Microsoft BizSpark company cofounded by Adam Griffin and Blake Miller, is an app designed to bring CrossFit-inspired workouts and paleo diet meal ideas direct to Windows 8 users.
It’s popular with travelers unable to regularly attend CrossFit classes; since its workouts involve only one’s body weight, workouts can be done practically anywhere. Bodeefit is also ideal for others. Busy entrepreneurs whose unpredictable schedules preclude attending a class at the gym with regularity benefit from being able to access its workouts anywhere. And individuals just don’t want to join intense – and intensely public – CrossFit workouts at the gym quite yet can do CrossFit-type exercises
In helping users follow a structured workout regimen and cook paleo meals (Bodeefit also delivers paleo-inspired recipes and shopping lists) wherever they are, this app stands out from the field of other virtual fitness tools. Rather than tracking user activities, Bodeefit directs users, acting as an actionable reference tool.
“It’s sort of like a personal trainer,” commented Miller. “And we’re getting a lot of traction.”
Indeed. The Windows 8 app already has 15,000-plus subscribers for its free email service. For an app that only launched last December, BodeeFit’s popularity has grown fast.
Griffin brought in the idea for BodeeFit to Think Big Partners, a Kansas City accelerator where Miller’s a partner. Miller was eager to support the idea given his personal connection to CrossFit: he says he lost 60 pounds in the past year and a half thanks to the exercise system. There was another connection, too: Miller and Griffin were childhood friends.
Once the duo had reconnected over their passion for CrossFit, they teamed with Juli Bauer, the brains behind PaleOMG.com, an incredibly popular blog devoted to lifestyles around the paleo diet. Bauer shared story about BodeeFit on PaleOMG, where it resonated quite well with the audience.
“Our Facebook page just exploded” shortly thereafter, recalled Miller.
The company’s paid service will cost $14/month and includes the Windows 8 Surface App. As with any startup, Miller and Griffin have their work cut out for them. But they’ve been selected as Microsoft BizSpark companies – meaning Microsoft has helped fund the company. And it’s probably also safe to say that if half of their personal passion for CrossFit (Griffin is a certified instructor and Miller is working on his certification) carries over into their devotion to their app users, the company will have nowhere to go but up – and fast.
