Hydration Over Squats? Fitness Pros Bet on Data-Driven Daily Awareness Tool

A collaboration between fitness industry innovators and tech firms challenges traditional assessments, using metrics like stress and cellular fluid balance to guide workouts

Two fitness industry veterans, Ian O’Dwyer of Feel SOMA and Richard Boyd of Collaborative Fitness — known for industry leading concepts such as PT on the Net and PTA Global — have teamed up to introduce a “global tool” aimed at enhancing wellness, strength and longevity. Their collaboration has enlisted the support of body composition company InBody, app developers Demotu and the International Fitness Academy, based in South East Queensland, Australia.

Boyd noted the importance of the partnerships, stating, “We wanted a body composition company that was forward thinking in terms of hydration, longevity, fluid placement in the body, and Johnny August and team at InBody were an easy choice for us. We needed an app company that was nimble but also understood how to protect our IP, so Evan and Praj at Demotu were an obvious choice while Rhys and Peter at IFA provide the best platform for delivering our content globally.”

O’Dwyer, a respected movement coach with three decades of experience, explained the purpose of the new tool.

“We wanted to create a simple, effective tool for fitness professionals — one that allows them to assess where an individual is at any given moment and use that insight to guide their session for the day. From the warmup, which we call ‘Priming,’ to recommended heart rate zones during the workout itself, and finally to ‘Restoration,’ or post-workout recovery, this tool provides a complete framework.”

Truly Personalized Assessments

Both O’Dwyer and Boyd acknowledge the necessity for personal trainers and coaches to adapt to key factors such as stress, sleep, mood, nutrition and hydration. O’Dwyer emphasized the shift in approach regarding movement assessments, stating, “What we’ve learned over the years is that movement assessments should be guided by the individual, not dictated by the fitness professional.”

He noted that while traditional assessments, such as the National Academy of Sports Medicine’s (NASM) Overhead Squat Assessment, introduced by Dr. Mike Clark in 2007, have been staples in the industry, the new approach aims to foster individual awareness rather than a pass or fail mentality.

“We wanted to relieve fitness professionals of the pressure to analyze gait or predict movement outcomes, making the process more intuitive and accessible,” O’Dwyer further elaborated. 

The new tool incorporates data from InBody to provide trainers with critical insights before engaging clients in various activities. 

“The addition of the InBody data from extra and intra cellular fluid to phase angles and grip strength allows the trainer or coach to identify many important components before going into a training or movement environment,” said Boyd.

Redefining Movement Readiness

Originally designed for personal trainers to use in daily sessions, the tool now also addresses recovery processes.

“If we determine how dehydrated an individual is through our Daily Awareness Tool, we should not be placing them into a sauna and influencing their hydration in a significantly negative way,” Boyd said.

PURE International, based in Hong Kong, is the first to implement this assessment tool. Rey Bolivar, managing director of PURE, said the team was excited to be the first group in the world to use the tool. 

“This will not only serve our current personal training population to position the professional as an authority and incorporate stress, lifestyle, movement and other wellness considerations, but it will also drive our approach to future plans around recovery and longevity,” Bolivar said.

O’Dwyer emphasized the tool’s holistic focus: “Hydration, stress, nutrition, mood, sleep and breath influence movement. By appraising these first, we reduce injury risk. Restrictions from these factors impact performance — the priming phase addresses limitations so clients enter sessions in an optimal state.”

The tool will expand globally, with applications in group classes, Pickleball, Hyrox events and recovery protocols.