Fit knowts is the Startup Bringing to You Golden Health Tips from Bestselling Books in One Platform

Fit knowts is like CliffsNotes for health and fitness books. The company finds the golden nuggets of wisdom buried deep within health and fitness books so that you can learn from the best, in less time.

During the summer of 2015, Tessa Thomas was between jobs and had some time to catch up on reading that she had wanted to do for some time as a certified personal trainer. After reading a few books she asked other friends, allied health and fitness professionals and wellness enthusiasts, if they had read the books as well and no one had, they all said that they didn’t have time.

The problem is that books, particularly non-fiction books, tend to be long, and most people just don’t have the time to read them to find the few golden nuggets of wisdom that could really affect their training and lives, so people resort to the more easily digestible information available online which can be of very low quality. Low quality information is not actionable, high quality information is. There are of course numerous knowledgeable and outstanding health and fitness professionals with an online presence, however, it can be difficult to find them in the ocean of low quality information.

We had a chat with the startup’s founder, Tessa Thomas, about the company and the problem it is tackling including what the future looks like. Catch our chat below;

ABOUT FIT KNOWTS

Q. Tell us about fit knowts and why the company was founded.

Fit knowts is a book summary service dedicated to health and fitness. The company was founded to help trainers, coaches, athletes and wellness enthusiasts stay on top of great research contained in awesome health and fitness books, instead of having to rely on low-quality headlines and misinformation. We do our best to get to the core principles that will really make a difference in performance.

MISCONCEPTIONS

Q. What are some misconceptions about the industry? There seems to be a lot of contradicting information out there.

Some misconceptions about the industry are:

1. That there is universal consensus on information that is presented

• The truth: The health and fitness industry is relatively young compared to many others. Prior to the mid-twentieth century, it was not that common for people, apart from professional athletes, to engage in regular, programmed, health and fitness activities, or workouts. People did not typically workout just for the sake of being healthy and active, and there would have been very few coaches or trainers to help those outside of tennis and golf clubs. When compared with today, the industry is in a completely different place, it has grown significantly, and now, more than ever, there is a growing public and national interest in maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle. Now, compared to 40 years ago, there are also thousands of health and fitness professionals to help. However, the growing interest in health and fitness, in concert with the rise of the Internet, has created an ocean of health and fitness information available online; unfortunately a significant amount of it is unreliable and inaccurate, and it is in this ocean that the majority of people are searching for tactics to help them with their health and fitness goals. Consumers are bombarded by bite-sized, pithy wisdom that is very misleading, difficult to absorb, and often not actionable. Web-based health and fitness information has become a nuisance. We are still learning and doing our best, that’s why it’s important to stay on top of research that is being done and to pay attention to the wisdom of experts in the space (such as authors featured in our library) who base their positions on well-founded information and experience.

MISTAKES MADE IN THE INDUSTRY

Q. What are some mistakes that professionals in your industry make? How does your service help?

In a growing industry, successful health and fitness businesses and professionals are those who are grounded in their understanding of the principles and fundamentals of exercise science, wellness, nutrition, and sport-specific skills, they do not invest in fads or the latest quick fixes.

A significant challenge that the health and fitness industry is currently dealing with is that while there are many very knowledgeable and experienced professionals in the industry, the barrier for entry is low, and therefore, there are also numerous inexperienced trainers, coaches, and instructors within the industry.

This has become a challenge for professionals as well as consumers — opinions and directives are often contradictory, or confusing, it is a very “noisy” industry. Professionals can often get bogged down by this noise and begin to tune out completely or, do the opposite, and try to keep up with all of the trends.

Fit knowts provides an easy continuous learning opportunity for health and fitness professionals to stay up to date with high-quality, well-founded health and fitness information, effectively removing the noise. One thing is for sure, in this industry professionals need to be continuous learners.

SUCCESS STORIES

Q. Do you have any success stories that you would like to share?

The only success story I have at the moment is my own: In reading these books (30 in the past year) and creating the summaries, which I’ll admit are what I reference now when I need to find the high-quality information I’m looking for, I have become a better trainer — much more confident in my ability to help my clients achieve their goals — and I’m actually in the best shape of my life now as well, and it all started with trying to find the golden nuggets of wisdom written by the experts in these great books.

E-LEARNING IN THE HEALTH SECTOR

Q. Tell us more about eLearning as it relates to the health industry.

The e-learning industry was limited to educational institutions in its earliest days, however, more and more individuals and businesses have recognized the benefits that e-learning provides. With tuition costs on the rise, higher education has become increasingly cost prohibitive, individuals have sought and found new ways to learn the skills and knowledge that they need to succeed in the workplace or for their own personal growth.

Online options for the health and fitness industry will continue to expand. It is predicted that as the quantity of information increases, the quality of information will become a crucial factor for effective use. It is predicted that long-form, high-quality content will continue to be of value for those who truly want to learn, however, it is also predicted that the productivity and life-hacking trends will also continue to rise as more and more systems become automated.

Books contain a wealth of knowledge and can hold tremendous value for coaches, trainers, athletes and wellness enthusiasts. High-quality, well-researched books solve, and will continue to solve the information quality problem in many ways, but reading stacks of books on specific topics is and will continue to be very time consuming.

The unique value proposition of fit knowts is the use and delivery of high-quality health and fitness information; this is a valuable strategy in a time where information has become a commodity.

FIT KNOWTS GROWTH PLANS

Q. Tell us about fit knowts growth plans.

The target customers of fit knowts are eager to learn, but are short on time; seek out information, but are overwhelmed by the quantity of it; often make small gains, but want sustainable results for themselves and for their clients.

The approximately 700,000 employees of the health and fitness industry in Canada and the US are currently the target market for fit knowts, however, I deeply believe that fit knowts can definitely provide value to wellness enthusiasts and those outside of the health and fitness industry, that is the broader market that we seek to grow into in time. Since we just launched we are focused on finding early users, getting to know them and doing our best to bring them as much value as we can.

In terms of the growth of the library itself, it is planned to continue to add books to the library each month, eventually amassing a library of hundreds of high-quality titles covering our variety of collections.

INTERESTING STORIES

Q. Do you have a few any other interesting stories or insights to share?

A few interesting stories are:

• I read all the books, wrote all the summaries and recorded the audio over the course of the past year.
• I am looking into ideas for what the next addition to our collections might be and an Active Aging collection might be on the horizon for fit knowts subscribers, it seems to be a category of increasing interest.
• We offer plans for teams, smaller gyms or studios with a group of trainers who can benefit from fit knowts can opt-in to a corporate rate.

For more interviews like this check out our Pressfarm growth blog.