{"id":7986,"date":"2018-04-09T17:21:32","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T21:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/whoop-the-data-driven-fitness-wearable-lebron-james-michael-phelps-use\/"},"modified":"2018-04-09T17:21:32","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T21:21:32","slug":"whoop-the-data-driven-fitness-wearable-lebron-james-michael-phelps-use","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/whoop-the-data-driven-fitness-wearable-lebron-james-michael-phelps-use\/","title":{"rendered":"WHOOP: The Data-Driven Fitness Wearable Lebron James & Michael Phelps Use"},"content":{"rendered":"

During an era of fitness wearable proliferation, WHOOP has become the favorite for professional athletes in the NFL, MLB, and NBA. In 2017, not only did the MLB approve for players to wear WHOOP during games, but WHOOP also became the official recovery wearable of the NFL Player\u2019s Association.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Some of the highest profile athletes in the world are using WHOOP including both Olympian Michael Phelps and NBA star Lebron James.\u00a0 However, while WHOOP\u2019s main differentiator is its data-driven approach, I wonder if it will have a hard time selling itself to the casual fitness consumer, especially given WHOOP\u2019s $500 price point.<\/p>\n

Professional athletes can\u2019t get enough of the massive amount of data which WHOOP provides its users.\u00a0 Five sensors collect data 100x per second resulting in 100MB of data collected every day per user which the wearable pushes into the cloud for processing.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 To put this amount of data collection into perspective, the Apple Watch\u2019s sensors turn just once per minute.\u00a0 With every data collection, WHOOP measures an athlete\u2019s heart rate, accelerometry, skin conductivity, and temperature.\u00a0 While regular fitness wearables focus on step count, calorie-burn, and heart-rate data \u2013 WHOOP converts all this data into easy to understand metrics for the user.<\/p>\n

The genius behind WHOOP is the simplicity to which is presents the data to the consumer.\u00a0 Via a mobile app, WHOOP breaks down performance in three simple visualized metrics: Strain, Recovery, and Sleep.\u00a0 WHOOP provides a Strain score between 0-21 calculated from the 100MB of data measuring how hard the user has strained their body in the last day.\u00a0 WHOOP\u2019s Sleep Trainer recommends how many hours you should be sleeping according to the amount of strain on your body as well has analyzing your sleep performance, including light, REM, and sleep cycles.\u00a0 WHOOP\u2019s Recovery score (provided each morning) shows a percentage (0%-100%) and a color code (red, yellow, green) which indicates your recovery level for that given day.\u00a0 Recovery scores are determined from advanced biometric stats such as heart rate variability and sleep latency.[3]<\/a> \u00a0Recovery scores translate to recommendations of how hard to push your body in your next workout.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

While the analysis of data in professional sports is becoming more and more important, WHOOP is the first wearable that allows coaches to make training decisions on when and how hard to push their athletes in practice.\u00a0 Understanding the combination of strain and sleep an athlete experiences results in a snapshot of the athlete\u2019s body-preparedness for a given workout.\u00a0 For example, a coach might monitor his teams recovery scores after a cross-country road-trip which included a tough game followed by a long flight and a time change.\u00a0 If the coach sees that the team\u2019s recovery scores are lower than normal, the coach will presumably opt to put the team through a less grueling than normal workout in order to not strain the team\u2019s athletes.\u00a0 Understanding exactly how hard to push the team will result in better in-game performance.<\/p>\n

The one concern I have for WHOOP is whether they can have success marketing this high-end product to the general fitness market.\u00a0 The price point of $500 might push the casual fitness consumer away.\u00a0 The company might consider a WHOOP Lite version for the more casual consumer and market it in a way to live a healthier life.\u00a0 If everything you do \u2013 from that extra 15 minutes of sleep or that one-less alcoholic drink \u2013 is factored into your recovery score, I could see the company creating a cheaper version with a less data intensive offering.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/2017\/08\/30\/nfl-technology-whats-new-2017-season?utm_campaign=themmqb&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> http:\/\/time.com\/4744459\/whoop-strap-fitness-tracker-band\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/features\/2017-06-27\/the-best-gadgets-to-make-you-fit-and-lose-weight<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20171120005149\/en\/WHOOP-Takes-Stress-Season-\u201cThrive-Holidays\u201d-Challenge<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During an era of fitness wearable proliferation, WHOOP has become the favorite for professional athletes in the NFL, MLB, and NBA. Some of the highest profile athletes in the world are using WHOOP including both Olympian Michael Phelps and NBA star Lebron James.\u00a0 However, while WHOOP\u2019s main differentiator is its data-driven approach, I wonder if it will have a hard time selling itself to the casual fitness consumer, especially given WHOOP\u2019s $500 price point.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2517,"featured_media":7987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-7986","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/competing-with-data-challenge\/","yoast_head":"\nWHOOP: The Data-Driven Fitness Wearable Lebron James & Michael Phelps Use - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/whoop-the-data-driven-fitness-wearable-lebron-james-michael-phelps-use\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WHOOP: The Data-Driven Fitness Wearable Lebron James & Michael Phelps Use - Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During an era of fitness wearable proliferation, WHOOP has become the favorite for professional athletes in the NFL, MLB, and NBA. 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