How do you get people to work out? It’s a dilemma that humans have grappled with since the invention of “fitness.”Countless companies have tried to solve this problem — in fact, the modern fitness industry, which is now a trillion-dollar juggernaut, is constructed around this entire premise. Humans need to regularly exercise, but in the digital age of instant gratification, it gets harder and harder every day.Even with all the advanced technology and analytics that we have at our disposal, we’re not exercising enough. Experts estimate that only <a href="https://www.rxresource.org/fitness/exercise-and-fitness-facts-and-statistics.html#:~:text&#61;Less%20than%205%25%20of%20adults,65%2D74%20are%20physically%20active." rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">one in three</a> adults get the recommended amount of physical activity every week.The need for better fitness companies has never been clearer, and the move-to-earn movement is quickly becoming the most promising next iteration of helping us exercise more.<blockquote>To truly understand why move-to-earn is the next evolution of fitness, it helps to start at the beginning.</blockquote><h2 id="header-0">Move-to-survive</h2>Centuries ago, in prehistoric times around 10,000 BC, modern gyms and fancy machines certainly didn’t exist. Yet humans were in far better physical shape than we are today.This is because we moved to survive.<blockquote>Our ability to navigate our natural environment — to climb and jump and run — was crucial to stay alive.</blockquote>We needed to stay fit to hunt animals, stay agile to climb trees and gather food and stay strong to build shelters and construct tools that were key to our survival.Archaeologists and anthropologists who studied our <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/sgr/intro2.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ancestors</a> agree that strenuous physical activity was deeply woven into our daily lives. Physical movement was highly instinctual and driven by necessity, central to our lives and a natural part of our daily routine.<img src="https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*hBjZZYvBty13YitV" /><h2 id="header-1">Move-to-fight</h2>Next, the dawn of the Agricultural Revolution saw society become much more structured. In a farming culture, physical labor remained a central tenet of survival, but movement became much more repetitive and limited.<blockquote>This involved taking care of animals and sowing the land, doing menial chores and harvesting crops — instead of a diversity of movement like running, jumping, crawling, or climbing.</blockquote>Divisions of labor and a secure food source meant that we had a sudden influx of spare time to do as we pleased. While there certainly wasn’t structured exercise routines, early forms of fitness practices may have sprouted up to ensure that village members stayed in battle-ready shape.Move-to-thriveAs technological and agricultural advancements increasingly improved our quality of life, humans found more and more of their time freed up and fewer requirements to exert themselves physically. Instead of a necessity to survive, physical fitness became a coveted signal of virtuosity and civic duty. People moved to thrive.This manifested itself most clearly in ancient Greece, whose citizens believed that physical fitness and mental clarity came hand in hand.<blockquote>Mens sana in corpore sano — healthy mind in healthy body.</blockquote>Indeed, training facilities and coaches were an integral part of ancient Greek society, meant to encourage the pursuit of sporting excellence. The ancient Olympic games, which harken back to as early as 776 BC, featured running, jumping, discus throwing, chariot racing, and more.<img src="https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/0*pR8qPEw1gVqEnCPo" /><h2 id="header-2">Move-to-flex</h2>This laid the groundwork for today’s fitness attitudes. In the modern Instagram era, fitness has become conflated with its visual trappings — a narrow range of unattainable physical ideals.<blockquote>From thousand-dollar spin machines to expensive Equinox gym memberships, fitness has become synonymous with the beautiful, the toned, and the muscled.</blockquote>Often, fitness brands advertise using models that flaunt a picture of “fitness” that simply doesn’t represent the average citizen.It’s no wonder that we’re not getting enough physical exercise. For many people, getting “big” or “toned abs” is simply an unrealistic fitness goal, reserved for the lucky few who fit the modern era’s narrow visual ideal.This is a serious problem — despite what marketers want you to think, the global population who fit today’s “fitness” aesthetic is quite low, and this attitude towards fitness excludes a huge portion of people who often end up giving up on exercise altogether.But the truth is, good fitness has a much wider scope. Two Harvard studies have found that a mere 20 minutes a day of light exercise — like walking — can reduce the risk of heart disease by up to <a href="https://thinkhealth.priorityhealth.com/health-benefits-of-walking-20-minutes-a-day-makes-a-difference/#:~:text&#61;Two%20long%2Dterm%20Harvard%20studies,brisk%20walk%20can%20bring%20you." rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">30%</a>. Add another ten minutes to reach 30 minutes of daily walking, and you’ll see outsized benefits: increased cardiovascular health, better muscle strength and endurance, reduced risk of hypertension and high cholesterol, and more robust mental and emotional health.Unfortunately, most people — who think that working out and physical fitness is equated with toned abs, killer workouts, and strict diets — don’t realize this. Modern fitness attitudes have evolved to favour the fit, creating negative feedback loops for the “unfit” and wreaking havoc on our collective health and fitness.<img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/srd-optimized-uploads/05a4379858db472893c581628cb188a2.png" /><h2 id="header-3">The next evolution of fitness: move-to-earn</h2>It’s clear — the modern fitness industry as it stands simply isn’t doing enough to get people to exercise. Despite the billions of funds driven to startups that build new equipment or construct bigger gyms, a shockingly low number of people are able to keep up a consistent exercise routine.<blockquote>That’s why the move-to-earn movement is so important. By incentivizing movement and paying people to work out, this new generation of fitness startups give people everywhere an instant, clear incentive to get healthy.</blockquote>Losing weight or getting toned is often a payoff that takes weeks to years to take place, but getting paid is an instant perk that almost anyone can get behind.<h2 id="header-4">Move-to-earn meets web3</h2>However, most of the existing web2 startups that pay people to workout haven’t been able to gain much traction.Why? Because it’s difficult to bootstrap the capital and network needed to sustain a robust pay-to-workout economy — which means many models are set up with backwards incentives.For example, HealthyWage is a company that pays users for meeting their weight loss goals. Unfortunately, the company set up their revenue structure so that it <a href="https://theoutline.com/post/8392/weight-loss-wagering-healthywage-dietbet" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">profited when users didn’t meet their goals</a>… it’s not hard to see why this created a clear conflict of interest.But blockchain is injecting the move-to-earn with new life. As Chris Dixon explains, <a href="https://twitter.com/cdixon/status/1444072365822857219" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">token incentives</a> in web3 bootstrap networks, drive supply and demand with unprecedented speed and volume.Instead of levering profit off of users’ fitness goals, companies can take a small fee off transactions, which adds positive incentives to help more people lead a healthier lifestyle. And, in addition, blockchain financial structures help users become invested in the project and have a sense of ownership, which boosts their investment in their own fitness journey.One powerful example of a company that does this successfully is STEPN. STEPN is a move-and-earn app that rewards users for moving outdoors. To earn tokens, users purchase a digital sneaker from its NFT marketplace and walk, run, or jog outdoors.Since launching its coin, STEPN has absolutely exploded in popularity, passing a staggering 1 billion in market cap and exploding over 1,000% in user growth in a matter of weeks. With hundreds of thousands of daily active users, the app is already helping people around the globe develop healthier habits and a daily exercise routine.<h2 id="header-5">What’s next?</h2>This is only the beginning for STEPN. Even with its parabolic growth, the company has massive potential to grow even bigger. When it launches its rental platform, it will be poised to penetrate the web2 fitness market and revolutionize the space — reaching an audience beyond even what the fitness industry currently speaks to.By providing accessibility, inclusivity, and a mission to help millions of people live a healthier lifestyle, STEPN has big plans to usher in the next evolution of fitness.

Fitness 3.0: Why move-to-earn is the next evolution of fitness

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