Michael levens

Entrepreneurship student launches new exercise app for professionals

28 August 2013

The article at a glance

PhysPrac, an iPhone and iPad application designed specifically for physical therapists, personal trainers and exercise professionals, has been launched by Michael Levens, …

PhysPrac, an iPhone and iPad application designed specifically for physical therapists, personal trainers and exercise professionals, has been launched by Michael Levens, a current student of Cambridge Judge Business School’s Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship. The aim is to make the process of prescribing and sending exercise programmes for clients more efficient, informative and professional. This in turn helps the professional to motivate their clients and increase adherence to exercise regimes.

Michael, Co-Founder of PhysPrac and Technology Consultant at Macquarie Group, developed the venture while studying for the Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship from September 2012. He said:

The diploma equips you with a broad range of entrepreneurial skills from validating a concept to developing the business model and pitching the idea to understanding how to implement the business model and move it forward. I’m sure the experience has accelerated the progression of my venture and enabled me to launch much faster. Plus the skills I’ve developed will stay with me and facilitate the growth of the business.

Compliance to exercise programmes is a major hurdle for many health and fitness businesses. PhysPrac allows the exercise professional to create, store and send their own exercise programmes for clients while on the move without the need for web-based or desktop software. The result is a professional, bespoke PDF exercise programme sheet branded with name and logo. PhysPrac comes with a database of 55 exercises that is not intended to be a complete source of exercises. It is designed so that it is easy to create, update and customise the individual’s exercise database.

Michael is well-placed to develop such products for the industry. He is an ex-ATP tennis professional and has extensive global experience in software development, creating and running large-scale technology projects for corporates and start-ups. “This is just the beginning,” he says. “We’re already working on the larger platform and a client application with features to further improve communication and compliance to exercise programmes. Our aim is to help healthcare and exercise professionals achieve better results with patients and clients.”

Dr Joanna Mills is Programme Director of the Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship and Deputy Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (CfEL) at Cambridge Judge Business School, which manages and delivers the programme. She said:

Michael has achieved a huge amount in a very short period of time. It’s proof that the structured support and skills development offered by the Cambridge Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship programme does reap rewards for the ambitious entrepreneur. I’m delighted for Michael and wish him and his co-founders every success with the business going forward.