How Zeamo Keeps Your Family’s Fitness Goals in Shape

The best thing about family travel, when done right, is it will get everybody out of their comfort zones and off the couch. While the mind and the senses will no doubt be stimulated, there is also the necessity for everybody to stay active. However, this will vary by individual. One kid may need to be tuned up for his or her school sports team when classes resume. Another may be attached to his or her regular spin, Pilates, cross training or yoga class. There may be an older relative coming along looking to lose or gain weight as normal dining habits may be interrupted. However, the hotel fitness room, even in a 5-star resort, will not necessarily be one-size-fits-all.

Paul O’Reilly-Hyland, CEO, fitness search app Zeamo, says there are also practical reasons for finding the right gym if you are traveling with the family. One of the most essential is the need to de-stress and keep the blood circulating after long stretches of air or car travel. As a father, O’Reilly-Hyland can also relate the challenge of such situations as finding an alternative if a hotel’s fitness facilities fall short of expectations and coming up with an indoor activity (other than shopping and dining) if a last-minute storm rolls in.

Running

“Google does not always work because of the way its search engines optimize brands and genres of clubs in a given market,” O’Reilly-Hyland explained. “Even with the parameters you put into the search engine, advertising and internal issues with search engines mean that clubs that fit your parameters that come up may be too far away, or those closer to your hotel won’t be an exact match. Even if there is a gym near your hotel that is a perfect match, the search engine’s results still may not bring it up, not reflecting what you’re actually looking for.”

In contrast to a Google search, Zeamo (founded in 2017) and its services can be accessed by registering directly and buying a monthly subscription through its website, or applying for a “corporate passport” through HR if your workplace is partnered with Zeamo. The app itself tailors one’s search for fitness clubs and studios to his or her specific needs and those of the other family members. Once the perfect location is found, the user can purchase through his device. Built-in filters help the user zoom in on everything from parking and childcare to what sorts of activities are available and appropriate for the ages of your kids and teens as well as the parents’ health concerns.

“Finding a good family-friendly club is important from the standpoint that it allows parents to be a good role model to show the importance of maintaining a regular routine even when away from home, especially as health issues never take a vacation,” said O’Reilly-Hyland. “By observing the workouts and active things to do, kids can see that fitness is integral to a good way of life. Fitness has become more affordable thanks to the rollouts of larger, more inclusive fitness clubs. Furthermore, things are shifting from the retail economy to the experience economy where more families are going to malls and public places to exercise, eat and be entertained.”

Zeamo addresses the vagueness of the search process by starting with a “library” of more than 25,000 gyms worldwide. Partner gyms, which number more than 500 across 50 U.S. cities with another 100 in Europe, help narrow things down further. After adding basic parameters, the user can apply other filters that will single out gyms and studios with pools, saunas, childcare, massage, physiotherapy and even air conditioning.

Weightlifting

“The app makes it much easier to cherry-pick establishments with pools and activities such as rock climbing, kids’ and teen yoga and other things of interest to kids traveling with their parent,” O’Reilly-Hyland said. “You can also see which clubs will not admit children or teens under 16. Bigger chains and larger independent fitness centers will be more likely to have activities and classes appropriate to kids while smaller, more specialized gyms (such as those focused only on body building) are less likely to allow people under 18 because of insurance issues.”

Fitness center and studio chains in Zeamo’s network include Crunch, Gold’s Gym, Youfit, 24/7, Fit Republic and Charter Fitness.