Posted in: FB Team / Announcements

Our Year in Review

Hello Fitness Blender Family! With 2024 right around the corner, we’ve been reflecting on everything 2023 had in store for us. We had a very full year that threw us unexpected challenges, as well as opportunities to be flexible and learn. By the end of the year, we will have released 324 new full-length workout videos by certified personal trainers and doctors of physical therapy — that’s over 180 hours of new workouts! As well as 8 unique new workout programs and challenges, 8 new follow-along trainers series, 220 short videos full of wellness education, exercise form reviews, and modifications, 21 new meditations, 3 new mental wellness programs by a licensed mental health therapist, as well as lots of exciting new features on our website. It has been a very busy year!

The biggest challenge this year was the loss of one of our earliest team members. Our four-legged best friend, Loki, passed away late this summer after a battle with cancer. Loki was just out of frame or at our feet for every video we ever filmed and edited, every program we created, and every business meeting. Although we miss him, he’ll always be a part of Fitness Blender’s team. For all of you who have furry trainers at home, please give them lots of love from us.

It’s hard to follow sad news, but 2023 has also been full of positivity. We are absolutely thrilled that over 13 years in, we are still building on the types of content that we’re able to offer, the different populations we’re able to serve, and all the learning that we get to do along the way, with you. We also couldn’t be more grateful for or proud of the team of people that we get to work with — in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

Although the team behind the scenes may not be very visible, much of their work is front and center. We’ve launched a lot of exciting, helpful new features and functionality to the website this year, including the all-new beta workout calendar, which helps you visualize the variance in your workout length, difficulty, and muscle focus over the course of a month or year, the ability to customize your programs and challenges, and so much more. Just three people are behind all this awesome work! Brandon, Bryan, and Josh make up our technology and design team and help us stay tuned in to your feedback and requests, keep our technology up-to-date, and make sure your user experience, privacy, and security on-site are always a top priority. Help us say thank you for all their hard work.

If you follow us on social media, you’ll know that we have started producing some really cool short content like exercise form reviews and progressions for advanced exercises. Nicole P (our "behind-the-scenes Nicole," as opposed to trainer Nicole!) does our social media, and she’s also instrumental in helping with our overall content strategy and user feedback. That means we’ve heard you loud and clear: short-form videos will be coming to the website soon, too! We also have new weekly roundups that are a convenient way to see what’s coming up in the future. Thanks, Nicole P, for helping us share our new content and getting the word out about what we’ve been up to this year.

We do our best to create a seamless experience for you, but sometimes we all need a little extra help. Please join us in giving a special thanks to Krista, who works hard to provide excellent customer service. As always, you can reach out in the community for help from other members, too. For those of you who are always there to support your fellow members, thank you!

We are learning, though, that there are some frustrating things that are beyond our control. We have continued to struggle with ads in our free videos, outside of our own streaming platform (FB Plus is ad-free). On platforms outside of ours, the trend has been toward more ads, with less control of both frequency and placement by content creators. For over 10 years, we carefully placed minimal ad spaces during water breaks to not interrupt the workout. Although we no longer have complete control over ads in our free content, an FB Plus membership or Plus Pass is an option that offers access to all of our workouts, programs, and website — fully ads-free (for the cost of 1-2 cups of coffee per month).

There is some behind-the-scenes work that isn’t front and center at all, so we want to call it out here. Tim helps us with the day-to-day business operations, but also works with the whole team to drive the business forward through partnerships, working with other businesses and healthcare organizations to bring Fitness Blender to employees and customers, as well as working with our service providers to keep our costs low so we can pass those savings on to you. Mix in financial and legal efforts, and we have a lot to thank Tim for helping us manage.

The other half of our team you all already know and get to work out, stretch, or unwind with every day. They have developed some awesome new types of content this year, like shorter workout challenges, single-trainer series, and of course new short-form videos that supplement our 1300+ full-length workout videos. Huge thank you to Aly, Amanda, Brian, Erica, Kayla, Marina, Nicole, and Tasha for continuing to create a wide range of workouts and to Haley for meditations and mindfulness. We truly appreciate how each of you brings your own professional approach and personality to your videos and are super excited to have you as a part of our team.

But without a doubt, the biggest thank you needs to go to all of you. The fitness industry always takes a hit when the economy slows down, but you have stayed with us and continued to provide your time and input to help us keep improving. Every time you visit, share our workouts with friends, complete a workout, or give us direct feedback, we’re able to learn and provide you with even more features and content we hope you’ll love. The best way we can thank you is to make using Fitness Blender even easier. So rather than raising our prices like so many other products and services right now, we’ll be launching our annual sale starting tomorrow (11/13). Mark your calendars and keep an eye out in the community for more details!

That’s it for now, but let’s keep the conversation going:

Behind the Scenes Team and Content Creators, what were you most proud of or excited about over the past year?

Fitness Blender Family, what is your favorite thing about FB in 2023 and what are you personally most proud of or excited about achieving in the past year?

Thank you again for being here, for being a part of this! Fitness Blender is possible because of you. 

Sincerely,

Kelli and Daniel