THE term mob is easily associated with all things disorderly and violent. But not so for San Francisco-based Fitmob, which is entirely dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyles, the sharing economy way.

Hinged on a peer-to-peer philosophy that the key to fitness is people motivating people and harbouring a sense of community, the nine-month-old Fitmob is intent on redefining the age-old workout routine.

In essence, Fitmob is a sharing service that connects suppliers and consumers of fitness training services for exercise activities in convenient public locations, which could even be a nightclub.

“We looked around and realised that there was a movement that people no longer liked the gym. We saw a movement all around the country of people getting organised into communities to get each other in shape,” explained Fitmob CEO Raj Kapoor while on a break from a workout session in the scenic Rincon Park, along Embarcadero Street by San Francisco Bay.

At the other end of the spectrum were a number of underpaid fitness trainers and scores of underused gyms and small studios that were struggling to survive.

“And we thought, how can we weave all of them together into one offering?” Kapoor said, explaining the rationale behind Fitmob, which he co-founded with tech guru and tae kwon do champ Paul Twohey, with fitness expert Tony Horton being the co-creator of the concept.

All these services are integrated into Fitmob’s software, which is accessible via a smartphone application.

For a fee of US$99 per month, Fitmob allows its more than 17,000 subscribers in San Francisco unlimited access to workout sessions in public spaces and to the city’s gyms. For its trainers, they get a chance to earn more than three times they would in a gym.

“The gym pays them $30 an hour and they are at the whim of that gym, which by the way will never give them a promotion as if they become popular and leave that gym, the clients will leave with them,” he said.

“With Fitmob, they make $100 per hour,” he disclosed, noting that Fitmob has 52 trainers with dozens more knocking at its doors.

Like other businesses that operate in the growing sharing economy, Fitmob is rooted firmly on its mobile application platform. The trainers create their classes on the mobile app and are rated via same.

“You create a class and we will promote your brand,” Kapoor said, noting that one of keys to the Fitmob brand is that the sessions hardly “feel like work, but more like a party”.

On the other hand, the mobile app gives clients a platform on which they can communicate with and motivate their peers.

“You can go into your app and find your friends who are going [for a workout], and if your friends are not going, you can use said app to ask them why they aren’t going and remind them that you need to lose weight together,” he explained.

Kapoor is convinced that the Fitmob concept of workout is the way for the future.

“The amount spent on gym membership around the globe is about US$75 billion and this is the only industry that I know where more than half of the customers who buy a membership never use it,” added Kapoor, who has extensive experience in information technology and finds pleasure in investing in businesses that operate within the sharing economy. “But they continue to do it, because it makes them feel better.

“But the gym is not the answer. People are willing to spend, but it’s not working,” he continued. “This is the future of working out. It is the future of fitness.”