Fit and Fine, Fuzzy Socks, Staying Up 🧦

Globally, 1.3 billion to 1.85 billion people are estimated to be living with at least one disability, according to a recent white paper from the Perkins School for the Blind. There are many barriers that prevent them from exercising, but lack of will is rarely one of these. 

Most people don’t find it accessible to workout at gyms. And exercise videos with extremely fit/muscly people doing a 100 crunches is rarely motivating or plausible.  

Exercise should be inclusive for all, regardless of physical challenges.

It's this unwavering belief that led Ali Jawad, a prominent British Paralympic powerlifting champion, to start Accessercise, a fitness app designed to empower individuals with disabilities who aspire to engage in physical activity.

How does it work?

• In its onboarding process, Accessercise asks users about their disabilities, such as a missing upper or lower limb, their current level of exercise, and whether they need somebody to assist them.
• Each disability is specifically` supported. If you have one leg, you’ll only see videos of exercises that are scientifically proven to be safe and helpful. The videos will be demonstrated by somebody with the same type of disability. 

The app doesn’t come with pre-built routines. Instead, users can pick and choose from the existing videos to build their own training plans, and adjust the difficulty levels. To help users stick to their training, Accessercise also includes social features such as group discussions, sharing and liking comments. 

Accessercise is also focusing on pushing this idea to gyms and fitness clubs. The startup plans to add a map of gyms and fitness facilities around the world with details of their accessibility levels. They want to use this as a push for more gyms to take special needs into account. 🏋️‍♀️

The app uses a freemium model, and its subscription is priced at £11.99 for one month ($14.61), going down to £5.41 a month ($6.64) with a 12-month plan.

In 2023, it hasn't experienced daily gains or losses exceeding 10%, a stark contrast to the chaotic 2022 and 2021 when it swung outside this range 9 and 11 times, respectively. Despite ongoing crackdowns on major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase, Bitcoin's price has risen by over 60% this year.

However, the broader enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency sector seems to have waned, with venture capital funding for crypto-related companies and projects hitting a three-year low.

'tis the most wonderful time of the year that retailers eagerly await! But, hold your reindeer, it's a bit of an economic rollercoaster in the good ol' U.S. of A with those rising interest rates, pesky inflation, and signs of tighter purse strings. 

How will this affect our holiday shopping spirit? Not much at all!

According to some nifty Shopify-Gallup surveys, it's looking quite jolly, with nearly three in four shoppers (that's a whopping 74%) planning to shell out the same amount or even more on holiday gifts this year compared to the last one. 

That’s like an early gift for the millions of businesses getting ready for their grandest sales extravaganza of the year. 

And guess what? Some folks are feeling so festive that they've already kicked off their holiday shopping adventures. 41% of these holiday aficionados plan to dive into the gift-buying fray before the end of October to get a head start on all the merry madness.

So, as we trade in our beach towels for fuzzy socks, let's take a peek at the shopping trends for September! 🍂🎁

📲 iGen - 87% of US teenagers own an iPhone according to a new survey.