Fitbit has added a new product to its line of activity trackers and Wi-Fi Smart Scale with its purchase last week of FitStar, a platform for delivering personal workout videos and fitness routines over mobile phones.
Fitbit tracking device users now will be able to publish their FitStar workouts into Fitbit to see how their personal training or yoga practice impacts their overall health.
FitStar has made its mark during the past three years with personal trainer and yoga apps, which offer tailored exercise programs custom-designed for individual users—what the company describes as a personal trainer on-the-go, served via the app on mobile phones, pad computers and into home and hotel room TV screens.
FitStar video workout programs let users rate each workout they try from one to five stars and comment on each workout as "too easy," "just right" or "brutal." The interactive program then adjusts future workouts based on this data as well as on user-entered data feedback about the duration of the workout, total number of reps achieved and other metrics.
FitStar has partnered with fitness experts such as NFL football player Tony Gonzalez and yoga expert Tara Stiles to design and deliver its video workouts.
Fitbit will soon roll out the ability for Fitbit users to set up a FitStar account using their Fitbit account login, and FitStar users who also use a Fitbit tracker equipped with PurePulse will be able to see their heart rate trends during FitStar logged workouts, the company says.
"FitStar has created some of the most popular and top-rated fitness apps in the world with a mission very similar to ours and a history of success," James Park, CEO and co-Founder of Fitbit, said in a press release announcing the deal. "The addition of FitStar to our Fitbit family will allow us to offer a custom-fit experience based on personalized tracking data and also deliver on our promise of providing enhanced services and coaching."
"Fitbit was the first hardware tracker FitStar integrated with over two years ago, so FitStar had a long time to get to know the team and realize that the two companies have a shared vision of where the digital fitness space needs to go," Mike Maser, FitStar's CEO and co-founder, said in the same press release. "By combining forces, Fitbit and FitStar can collectively expand to offer users around the globe new, motivating ways to reach their health and fitness goals."
Fitbit products are carried in more than 30,000 North American retail stores, 45,000 stores around the globe and are sold in 54 countries.