Perfect Plank by Exer

Its US only?

Howzit, I’m Zaw, one of the co-founders of Exer. This company and app have been a labor of love since early 2018, when we first started digging into the connected fitness/health space. We were inspired by Peloton and the other connected fitness devices that were/are taking the market by storm. Back in 2018 (pre-covid), what we found were two main problems / questions that most consumers were having with their routines: 1) I don’t know if I’m doing it right and 2) Not working out in a live class or without a leaderboard isn’t as fun or motivating as it could be. So, we set off to build a platform, starting a year ago, focused on AI on the edge (mobile) to democratize fitness and give anyone that had a smartphone the ability to solve those two problems without having to buy expensive hardware. We also wanted to make sure there was a free option for anyone that wanted to use our apps. Our belief is that you can augment the experience that you get with a coach, personal trainer, physical therapist, etc → but you can’t replace them. Enter 2020 and COVID-19: now we don’t know how long people will be forced to either stay home or will not feel comfortable going into a gym, studio, or clinic. What we’re launching on Product Hunt today is the first of many apps and solutions we have built for people that want the feeling of working out with a coach but can’t afford one, manage the time to see one, or are stuck at home. I’ll let Sean (co-founder and CTO) and Clint (co-founder and Head Coach) talk more about the how and why, but I’m both super excited and nervous for us to get this one out there. It tests not only how consumers will respond to AI coaches using just their phone...but also how coaches can use digital technologies like Exer to work with their clients even in a fully remote environment. Remember, we’re not trying to replace coaches, but give them even more ways to stay connected to the people they train. Please try out our first app and let us know what you think please! It’s only available on iOS for now, but we’ll have an Android version out soon. App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pe... If you have any questions let us know, and we’d love to hear your feedback 🙂 Cheers, Zaw CEO and Co-Founder, Exer @zawthet everywhere

Howdy, Product Hunters. I’m Sean, co-founder and CTO at Exer. Here’s a quick rundown of some the tech we’ve built on the Exer platform that you’ll see in our first app, Perfect Plank: We use a set of custom-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) based on Google's PersonLab (https://arxiv.org/pdf/1803.08225...) architecture with MobileNet backbones. These models are trained in PyTorch using open source and private datasets and then they are translated to CoreML variants. Depending on the exercise, we post-process the outputs of the models using on-device classifiers (e.g. KNNs, SVMs, etc.) as well as lots of good 'ole fashioned Linear Algebra. For math, we use Accelerate/vDSP, as well as an ever-growing collection of college textbooks :) It’s important to note that we do all processing on-device, without any of your pose data being sent to the cloud. In addition to protecting user privacy, this also means that our core processing and exercise assessment logic works while your phone is in airplane mode. Another interesting tidbit is that we’re not using the iPhone’s depth sensor, we’re only using 2D image data from the camera. Perfect Plank also has a version of our audio engine that replicates what it’s like to train with your favorite coach. In addition to interactions like corrections ("You're feet are too far apart") or encouragements ("Come on, you're almost there!"), we've also implemented the nuances that separate trainers from one another. For instance, some coaches are more immediate and forceful in their feedback, while others are a bit more relaxed. In the end, we've arrived at a complex audio engine that is architected just like those you hear in your favorite video games. It's able to make decisions based on hundreds of pieces of current and historical state, and it's even smart enough to learn from your mistakes and optimize itself (ML FTW). We've made it easy for any coach to come in, add their voice, and essentially "program" their feedback for an exercise based on how they approach their training sessions. Thanks for reading and please feel free to reach out with any questions. Sean CTO and Co-founder, Exer Labs @theseancook

Hey there, I’ve learned a lot of lessons over the last 20 years of being a gym owner and coaching both professional and everyday athletes. The most important lesson I’ve learned is that we’re all within a constant state of movement, both physically and mentally. People are now receiving a higher percentage of sweat sessions ‘online’ than ever before. I’m not sure that’s going to change anytime soon. Personally, I’m very proud of what coaches and the fitness industry as a whole have been able to pivot to quickly in these trying times. However, with this momentous acceleration to digital, things are bound to be left behind. Proper feedback (and fun!), particularly in real-time, is critical for the coach/PT and client relationship. This is where the building blocks for positive results are forged. Empathy, confidence, encouragement, and necessary correction are forms of communication that must accompany every successful session. A primary differentiator of our platform is that we have made a conscious and intentional effort to work with the health and wellness industry and democratize fitness for many. Providing coaches and therapists an opportunity to stay connected with their clients, with their own voice, their own private teams, their own private instruction, maintaining that confidence and acting as a useful tool for all involved. This is how real programming works in a coach/PT to client world. I’m excited for you all to try out Exer’s first app (Perfect Plank) and give us feedback. I’m even more excited to get thousands of coaches around the world onto the platform in the coming months to create better ways to help their clients. Mahalo, Coach Clint Head Coach and Co-Founder @ Exer

This is exactly the kind of thing I’ve been looking for. Congratulations! For a long time I was using Streaks Workout, which had some nice simplicity to it and encouraged me to keep my streak alive. But the simple stick figure animations for many of the exercises left me wondering if I was really doing it right. And I was finding myself straight up injured after some routines, so clearly something was wrong. I love the idea of using legit computer vision to track my form and make the necessary adjustments , both to make me stronger but also reduce injury. I hope to see many more routines added to Exercise soon!

In the description and all 3 Maker's posts there is reference that this is "the first of many" apps on the Exer platform - are you able to discuss what some of those others apps might be down the road? I see Physical Therapy on the website, but any others? Perfect Plank is awesome so far, so looking forward to more and excited about the possibilities!

The computer vision in this app is incredibly precise. As a skeptic, I tried testing it the first few planks and it always caught my error. I can't wait to see this applied to other calisthenic body workouts.