Growth company | Jyväskylä's masters put everything on the line and plan to conquer the world

In young people with start-up entrepreneurs Tapio at Tulenheimo and With Julius Granlund has a clear plan for the future: first we will take over Finland, then Europe and quickly after that the United States.

“The idea is to conquer the world,” says Tulenheimo, who was born in Nurmijärvi.

Tulenheimo and Granlund from Espoo are master's degrees in physical education from the University of Jyväskylä, who have practiced scientific fitness coaching for several years.

In March, they announced a growth company called Aitofit, which practically replaces the fitness coach or personal trainer in the gym using artificial intelligence.

After nine months on the market, the company already has two thousand users.

The goal of World Conquest is to offer individualized and science-based gym training affordable and practically available to everyone.

“This started really well. We have developed the application continuously and grown very quickly,” says Granlund.

In the past, the two worked as trainers for a long time in their own company, GT Performance, which was also a science-based, individualized gym training company.

A professional personal trainer costs a few hundred euros per month, depending on the location. It often includes an initial survey, training instructions and follow-up.

Authentic fit The monthly fee for the smartphone-based application is currently 14.90 euros per month. For example, the application automatically sets the weights, repetitions and number of sets suitable for the trainer to suit the individual.

The average age of the users is between 25 and 45, but there are also older people and even top athletes who are looking for extra power or something new in their training using the application.

“The majority of users are regular exercisers who seek health, muscle growth and toning from the gym, for example. The training data then tells what happens to a person in the gym and how he should train,” says Granlund.

After the survey and initial survey, artificial intelligence prepares a fitness program, monitors development and recovery.

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“Many personal trainers use our app. Artificial intelligence saves them the trouble of manually preparing exercise programs and they don't have to worry about their own workouts.”

The application adjusts the load of the training according to how the person recovers from the training and what makes sense in terms of development.

It is the user's task to practice and record the repetitions he has made.

“It's not always possible to have an expert show you how to work in a gym. It's also not always practical or affordable. The skills of a personal trainer can also vary a lot,” says Tulenheimo.

“We wanted to make exercise science know-how and precise individualization of training easily available. Gym training is long-term work.”

A survey and after the initial survey, the artificial intelligence prepares a fitness program, monitors development and recovery.

If the user recovers well, the application asks to increase the amount of training. If the recovery is slow, the machine tells you to reduce the training.

The user's task is to train and mark the workouts he has done.

“It would be best if a person was there to show you how to work in the gym. It is not always possible or affordable. The skills of a personal trainer can also vary a lot. We wanted to bring sports science expertise to the training. Gym training is long-term work,” says Tulenheimo.

According to Granlund, the application also helps personal trainers in their work.

“Many personal trainers use our app. Artificial intelligence saves them the trouble of manually creating exercise programs and they don't have to worry about their own workouts. At least no one has come to say that we would take away work from them or that we were just a competitor in the industry.”

In the application, you can also find videos on how to do the exercises in the gym. In addition, Tulenheimo and Granlund are available in the chat, through which they give users advice and answer questions if necessary.

“We work on the application every day from morning to night. We have a huge passion. We want to be as close as possible to the customer and know what they want,” says Tulenheimo.

Fire tribe and Granlund were involved in the construction of artificial intelligence algorithms from the beginning.

“Building algorithms is hard work. The goal in product development has been to combine research evidence, our coaching experience and the professionalism of the coders,” says Tulenheimo.

“We didn't tell the coders to make us this kind of app [sovellus]. We have strong detailed experience in scientific coaching, so that there are no situations where the customer gets confused in the gym”, continues Granlund.

Tulenheimo and Granlund use the program they developed in their own training as well.

“At the same time, you can see what can still be developed,” says Granlund.

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“Technologically, we are far ahead of our competitors, and they don't have the same expertise in exercise science.”

The program development took more than two years. At first, we moved forward with study support and savings. The car was also sold.

“Two hundred thousand euros of my own money have gone. We put everything into play,” says Tulenheimo.

Three coders are now responsible for the actual programming. The search also includes market expertise for the company's future operations.

In Finland, at least for the time being, there is no similar development project to Aitofit. In the United States, app-based training has been in use for longer. Of course, there are competitors in the world.

“Technologically, we are far ahead of our competitors, and they do not have the same knowledge of sports science. That's why we want to move quickly into the market of the biggest competitors,” says Tulenheimo.

in Jyväskylä the start-up company based in

Tulenheimo and Granlund have so far progressed with their own funding. They receive contacts in which they are interested in investing money in the company, but the investments have not yet been taken.

“Making contracts would take a lot of time from the development and growth of the application, and we have no problem financing ourselves when we're already making a profit. Of course, all the profit goes to the development of the company,” says Granlund.

A surprising number of contacts have come from medical companies that are interested in rehabilitating their customers using gym training.

“Finland has strong innovative competence in exercise science. Exercise science and technological development can be seen on the training field of the future”, say the entrepreneurs, who, in addition to everything, are finishing their second degree in psychology at the best time.