<div><strong>Simar Singh</strong></div><div><br><br>With Instagram and Pintrest feeds flowing with motivational quotes, images of super-fit people doing yoga on the beach against the backdrop of a picturesque sunset and a multitude of gym selfies, getting fit is clearly becoming a priority for many across the world. #DoYouEvenLift? </div><div> </div><div>However, if you’re anything like me, you’re stuck in the perpetually of the cyclic process of staring at these images, promising yourself to get fitter, trying some type of exercise, only to get bored and quit.</div><div> </div><div>When Vishesh Goel, COO and co-founder of FitMeIn narrates the story of the start-up’s genesis in his own experiences as an individual struggling to stay consistently motivated to exercise and stay fit, the similarity to my own situation makes me wallow with shame. </div><div> </div><div>“I went through ten different memberships, kept a gym bag in my car that was barely used,” he says. Eventually, colleague, friend and fellow co-founder, Nidisha Varshney, struck a deal with eight studios in and around Golf Course Road, where their office was located, to let Goel attend a variety of classes and pay on a day to day basis. This formulaic variation was what pulled him out of his ‘gym boredom’ and the idea of FitMeIn was born.</div><div> </div><div>Launched in June this year by Goel, Varshney and Lalit Singh, FitMeIn is an online portal which allows users to take up a monthly multi-studio membership at workout destinations in Delhi-NCR. According to a local research carried out by them, “80 per cent of people dropped out of their gym/fitness classes because of boredom”. </div><div> </div><div>“Offering a wide variety of workout options helps avoid the monotony fitness regime and cuts off the boredom factor,” explains Goel.</div><div> </div><div>The fitness and wellness market, in general, is a growing space with the younger population with rising disposable incomes becoming increasingly comfortable with shelling out money to get fit. According to a 2011 PWC and FICCI report the wellness and fitness industry in India was predicted to touch 100 crores by 2015, making it an area to watch out for.</div><div> </div><div>FitMeIn has taken up many interesting ways of marketing themselves, kickstarting by organising a ‘Yogathon’ around World Yoga Day, which saw over 10,000 participants in 80 to 100 centres offering all kinds of variants like aerial, aqua, pilates and body balance, as well as the ‘Don’t let your friend sit on the couch’ campaign on Friendships Day.</div><div> </div><div>Goel also tells me about ‘A movement for movement’ in which FitMeIn has tied up with the HR wings of companies includingThe Times of India, Mercer, PayTM, Bain and Pepsi, among others, to offer employees ‘FitCoins’ (the virtual currency which can be used to avail classes and facilities around the city) as a way of encouraging healthy lifestyle. “We will also start a program with MakeMyTrip from October 1, which will utilise the office space to offer ‘Happy Hours in Office’-different classes on different days, to their employees”, he adds.</div><div> </div><div>Initially bootstrapped, FitMeIn raised $100,000 from Vikram Upadhayaya lead GreenHouse Ventures (GHV) this month and currently offers 5000+ workout sessions every week with plans to increase the number to over 15,000 sessions per week by the end of this year in major cities across India.</div><div> </div><div>The FitMeIn App was launched on Android on Wednesday (23 September) and its iOS version is expected to be released in a fortnight. </div>
