BH by Kinomap: simulating outdoor training conditions to enhance indoor training

The company

BH fitness is the home fitness brand of BH Group, a Spanish company based in Eibar and employing 200 people in Europe. BH started business in 1909 manufacturing road bikes and has been creating fitness machines since the 1970’s.

The challenge

To stay competitive in a highly innovative and developing sector, BH continuously improves the specifications and ergonomics of its fitness machines.

In 2001 BH developed the i.concept – an application that adapts to emerging sport habits and relies on new technology trends, especially new uses of mobile phones and tablets. In particular, the company identified an opportunity in making it more attractive and fun for city users to train indoors.

The satellite solution 

BH Fitness worked with Kinomap, an online platform for sports and outdoors enthusiasts, to develop a dedicated immersive fitness application integrating geolocated videos that can be displayed on mobile devices and integrated on i.Concept fitness machines.

The GPS data, recorded while shooting the videos, provides details on the outdoor environment, such as distance, speed, type of terrain, slopes etc. in real time. These same physical conditions are converted automatically in resistance and inclination effects by the i.concept fitness machine engine. Users of fitness machine can thus choose their video (it can be riding, racing, skiing or cycling) and re-enact the training conditions shown, on their training machine. They can also follow their progress in real time on the map of the outdoor circuit. Users can even take on challenges such as biking through the Alpes d’Huez, running the New York Marathon or racing on the Great Wall of China.

The result

With its i.Concept, BH Fitness successfully integrated new technologies and trends reflected in their customers’ lifestyles and habits. The development of this innovative application was possible thanks to a win-win partnership with Kinomap, through the joint-venture BH by Kinomap.

The immersive videos for the training application were officially launched in January 2014 and are already available in five languages. The company expects 10,000 downloads per month by the end of 2014.

 “Bring the outdoors inside! Our customers enjoy geolocated outdoor videos indoors with a real training experience” Fernando González de Zárate, Marketing Manager, BH fitness.