Saratoga Springs startup offers open gym membership app
Freeplay user Nate Bagley, of South Jordan, stretches his foot to a hold as he boulders Thursday, April 19, 2018, at Momentum Indoor Climbing in Lehi. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Freeplay Founder Aaron Mitchell demonstrates the "check in" screen of his app Thursday, April 19, 2018, at Momentum Indoor Climbing in Lehi. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Freeplay user Nate Bagley, of South Jordan, latches onto a hold as he boulders Thursday, April 19, 2018, at Momentum Indoor Climbing in Lehi. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Freeplay user Nate Bagley, of South Jordan, readies his climbing shoes Thursday, April 19, 2018, at Momentum Indoor Climbing in Lehi. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
Freeplay user Nate Bagley, of South Jordan, boulders Thursday, April 19, 2018, at Momentum Indoor Climbing in Lehi. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald
One Saratoga Springs company is aiming to remind adults how much fun recess used to be.
As kids, most never planned exercise, they just ran outside and played. But very few adults have access to a playground and park right outside their place of work — so they’re forced to schedule their play. And for some, exercise feels less like play and more like work.
Freeplay is a new app-based fitness company hoping to make exercise fun again.
“We like to say it’s like recess for grownups,” said Adam Chavez, Freeplay co-founder.
When users sign up for Freeplay, they get access to about 40 different exercise locations around Utah County. These locations include Crossfit, yoga, climbing, swimming pools, regular fitness gyms, trampoline parks and even batting cages. Freeplayers can use all of these options anytime they choose, just by checking in at the gym through their app.
Nate Bagley and his wife have been avid Freeplayers almost since the app first launched about a year ago. Bagley, who exercises about six days a week, loves being able to rock climb one day, swim the next, do some weight lifting later, and stop in for yoga at another point. He feels the $79 he pays each month is more than worth the price.
“It gives me access to a huge variety of ways to work out for a super reasonable price,” Bagley said last week while hanging out in Lehi’s Momentum Indoor Climbing — one of the many Freeplay locations. “It’s my favorite app on the entire planet. It really is.”
That was Aaron Mitchell’s goal when he hit upon the idea for Freeplay. His parents own a gym in Oregon, and he researched why people frequent the gym less often the longer they’ve been members. He found that many people complained of the monotony and lonesomeness of the regular gym experience.
“Our vision, our mission is to create engaging, fun experiences that, oh, by the way, are exercise,” Mitchell said. “By giving them access to something they want to do, it jump-starts them to get out and do it.”
Mitchell partnered with friends Jacob Turner, Nate White and Chavez to develop Freeplay, and reach out to local gyms for partnerships. The team started with only 20 local partners, but in less than a year, have grown to 80 gyms throughout Utah.
Devin Ashby, general manager of both the Lehi and Sandy Momentum Indoor Climbing locations, said partnering with Freeplay has been good for his business as well. At this point, they’ve had dozens Freeplayers who regularly come in, but they are customers who probably wouldn’t have come otherwise.
“It’s great for them. They wouldn’t normally commit their fitness money to a climbing gym membership. It’s awesome for people to have that option to come climbing, where they didn’t before,” Ashby said.
“The goal is to find activities you can try and enjoy. If you enjoy working out by playing sports, kicking a boxing bag, or something else, you are more likely to keep working out,” White said.
The Freeplay team has been targeting desk job companies and their employees. They all know how sedentary the desk job life can be — before starting Freeplay, they all had cushy desk jobs at local tech companies, which were good for the pocketbook but not so good for the belly.
“We just want to get people more active. We figured we could create something really fun that makes you want to go exercise,” Mitchell said.
