CEO Corner: OxeFit’s Rab Shanableh on the Data & AI Opportunity in Wellness

Shanableh’s OxeFit, which started by making digital strength training machines, has launched an agentic AI product that he believes will revolutionize fitness and wellness

For Rab Shanableh, data is the key to better fitness and wellness outcomes. 

Shanableh is far from alone in this assertion, but he’s one of the executives leading the charge to make his vision a reality. 

In 2019, Shanableh, a longtime tech executive, co-founded OxeFit along with Peter Neuhaus, a mechanical engineer with a robotics background. The Dallas-area company entered the market with AI-powered digital strength training machines, raising over $100 million to date and securing investment from sports scientists, big names in wellness and athletes including Harry Kane and Dak Prescott. 

Now, OxeFit has its sights on leading the AI revolution in fitness and wellness. The company recently launched OxeAI, an agentic AI platform designed to guide people on their wellness journeys. 

Shanableh sat down with Athletech News to discuss why he co-founded OxeFit, how the company’s been able to secure investment from sports stars and why he believes OxeAI represents the future of not only his company, but of the entire fitness and wellness industry. 

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length. 

Athletech News: Can you tell us about your background and why you decided to co-found OxeFit?

Rab Shanableh: I’ve been in the tech industry for 25-plus years, in leading and founding roles in software, hardware and cloud-compute businesses. Disruption was really the driving factor behind all those companies. A lot of companies in the wellness space have what I call  “me too” ideas. 

Peter and I got together about six years ago, and from day one, we knew data had to be the main driver for anything wellness-related, whether you’re a teenager trying to train for a sport or you’re coming back from an orthopedic procedure and are in your recovery journey. We spent a good chunk of time analyzing whether we could get data that gave us those kinds of insights and we couldn’t find anything. So we put OxeFit together to drive the right metrics on the data front to be able to use native AI to help people on their wellness journeys. 

ATN: OxeFit first became known for its digital strength machines, the XS1 and XP1. Why was this the first step in capturing wellness data?

RS: We needed to provide a holistic view into a person’s well-being. Our machines were built as data devices first before they became the ultimate fitness or rehab devices that can be used for strength, cardio, Pilates or all of the above. A fundamental differentiator for us was tracking balance from day one. Balance is front and center to everything you do in training and recovery, and it’s also significant when it comes to injury prediction.

Also, from day one, our devices were built with commercial settings in mind. Sports, health and physical therapy settings have been extremely strong for us. We’re also finding ourselves in fire stations, police departments, resorts and hotels.

ATN: OxeFit recently launched an agentic AI platform. Can you tell us about the launch and what it means for the company moving forward? 

RS: We’ve gotten to enough data mass that we’re now rolling out what we call OxeAI, which is an autopilot for human performance.

OxeAI looks at four major pillars to guide you through a whole wellness journey. The first pillar is activities — this is data around your strength, cardio, hydration, steps, etc. The second pillar is associated with your overall health — your sleep habits, nutrition, diet, mood and overall condition. The third pillar, which I think people tend to ignore, is mindfulness.

The fourth, and probably the most significant pillar, is that we have the ability to use AI to correlate all of these incoming data inputs and tell you what to do next. That really is the key differentiator for OxeAI. It’s not about tracking data — although we do that — it’s about giving you insights and guidance on what to do next. 

ATN: So do you view OxeFit as more of a software company than a hardware company? 

RS: It’s a data play. You can’t get to data without having a base, and that’s why we built our  devices. So whenever people talk about our XP1 and XS1, I always tell them, “Sure, we do fitness, rehab, sports training, longevity and biohacking, but it’s a data device.” 

OxeAI works totally independently of hardware. It can work with our devices, but it can work without them. We capture data from everything, including wearables. Ultimately, OxeAI consolidates all of the data and tells you what to do next to reach your goals faster and safer. 

ATN: OxeFit has received investment from some big names, including athletes such as Harry Kane, Dak Prescott and Dustin Johnson. Why have sports stars been so eager to come on board? 

RS: I want to emphasize that our athletes are shareholders; they weren’t brought in for branding. We have not, and we will not, compensate any of them to be associated with us. We brought them in to make sure our science is solid. Because if I can get the Harry Kanes of the world to adopt our technology, not only on a professional level, but also on a personal level, chances are that we’ve actually built technology that works.

It’s the same thing in sports medicine. Some of the best orthopedic surgeons are shareholders of the company, which is a great validation of our science.

ATN: Following the launch of OxeAI, what are your big goals for OxeFit over the next few years? 

RS: Six years ago, we set out with the goal of making OxeFit into a data-driven approach to wellness. AI happens to be the mechanism for that. If you think about artificial intelligence, data is at the core of it. OxeFit generates millions and millions of proprietary data points, a significant portion of which are already labeled. We’re going to continue to develop very specific user assessments and data-science algorithms, which will serve as additional rich sources of valuable label data. That will help position OxeAI as unique in the agentic AI space in providing personalized wellness advice to address all sorts of user goals and habits. 

We’re also going to continue growing not only our customer base, but different market verticals. But ultimately, it’s about achieving what we set out to. OxeAI will be the autopilot for human performance. I really believe that.