F45 becomes first functional fitness franchise to collaborate with Strava

High-intensity interval training franchise F45 training has become the first health and fitness operator to make its functional/HIIT group workouts available on Strava, the digital community with 125 million members.

Strava has created an F45 Training Club on the app that F45 members can join to connect with fellow members. They can also choose to appear on a global leaderboard, showcasing a ranked list of members.

The Strava app is familiar to outdoor exercisers who require in-depth analysis of their sessions and a social network to share them on. Over 30 activity types can be recorded from a smartphone, GPS watch, or fitness tracker, including runs, cycles, swims, hikes, and even golf.

F45 members can now connect their Lionheart device to their Strava account via the F45 Training app. Workouts will automatically upload to Strava, displaying class type and location. Paired with Lionheart, members can track F45 points. Synced activities will include a photo that can be grouped with other athletes who attend the same class as you if they have also set up their app and enabled Group Activities Privacy Controls.

The integration between F45 Training’s LionHeart app and the Strava app allows members to automatically upload class type, average heart beats per minute, calories and location and can track their progress against others and themselves.

Tom Dowd, F45 Training Chief Executive notes "becoming the first global functional fitness franchise to collaborate with Strava in a unique way deepens the connections our members and Strava users have to their fitness and wellness journeys – all as a global, like-minded community.”

Mateo A Ortega, vice president of connected partnerships at Strava, says the integration reinforces Strava’s dedication to fostering active communities worldwide and enthuses "we're excited to open up new opportunities for athletes to connect, support each other and share their fitness journeys with Strava's global community."

In December 2023, F45 announced the rebrand of the F45 Challenge app to be the official and singular F45 Training app for iOS and Android.

For the first release they prioritised existing F45 members, addressing the most reported pain point of “too many apps”. A home for the F45 Challenge now exists in the new app, integrating all the capability of LionHeart and now with the global rollout of class booking F45 have one app that does it all.