Building a Safer and More Affordable Fitness Experience
Overview
Building a guided exercise app for Indonesians to address common challenges such as high injury rates, low motivation, and the high cost of hiring a personal trainer. This case study showcases my approach and thinking as an aspiring Product Manager.
Scope
Product Management & AI Prototyping
Industry
Fitness
Background
The growth of strength training such as gym, calisthenics, home workout in Indonesia has surged in the last 2 years (2024-2026), with overall strength training increasing by 65% in 2025 according to Garmin Connect data, and the trend is predicted to continue growing until 2030. (source)
This growth is accompanied by challenges such as a lack of guidance on proper technique, demotivation, and injuries among beginners. (source)
Insight
Beginners quit due to low motivation, injury risk, high cost, and lack of support.
Internal Factors
Unrealistic expectations: Beginners want fast results, lose motivation without progress.
Overtraining and injury: Excessive early training and poor form increase fatigue and injury risk.
Monotonous routines: Repetitive workouts reduce interest and motivation.
External Factors
Inconsistent Schedule: Busy routines and no reminders.
Cost and Access: Expensive membership, gym is far away, no friends.
Lack of Guidance: No trainer or plan, intimidating gym environment.
Problem Statement
People stop exercising because lack of guidance.
Based on insights, people stop exercising due to a lack of guidance or direction when they exercise, which results in high injury rates, demotivation, and also the high cost of hiring a trainer.
Competitive Analysis
To build a guided workout product for beginners, I benchmarked existing solutions in the market, including Gym Tracker by Leap Fitness, Lyfta, and Muscle Monster.
Competitive Positioning
Provide users with alternative exercises targeting the same muscle groups, with or without equipment
App language in bahasa Indonesia as default
Offer lower price 50000 IDR to remove ads
Goal & Metric
Build a beginners friendly fitness guide for Indonesian.
North Star Metric
Active Users Completing Weekly Workouts
Supporting Metric
% onboarding completion rate
% users who complete the first workout
% users who logged after get reminder from notification
7-day retention after first workout
Feature & Prioritization
Prototype
Prototype using Lovable
Setting up UI before prompting
for content
Prompt detail for each page
Put simple logic in promp
The prototype can be accessed here (source)
Launch & GTM Strategy
