Brawn is the only dedicated community platform available for powerlifters. Designed for strength athletes and anyone with an interest in strength training, the app enables users to compete and connect with other lifters from around the world.
Formed in 2020, Brawn has been referred to as the ‘Strava for Strength’ given features such as lifter profiles, trophy cabinets, awards, Rep PBs and training logos. Our mission is to educate and motivate people to reach their fitness goals, whilst helping to grow the sport of powerlifting.
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
Before Brawn I had built a successful career in law and technology, having previously headed up a property legal firm on top of businesses within the tech, property and financial services sectors. When I was 30 years old, I started strength training and fell in love with the sport. I loved the community element of it in particular but I thought there was a gap in the market to bring this community together.
My vision was to create a space that would attract lifters of all levels, from different countries to compete and engage with one another, like we see from other platforms such as Peloton or Strava.
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How has Brawn evolved during the pandemic?
It was in fact during the pandemic that I saw the opportunity to accelerate my ideas for the product and really test my vision. First came the beta version, an online forum where I wanted to get feedback from lifters on what they would want from the platform.
The initial plan was to test this out to 200 UK lifters but within 48 hours we gained a waiting list of 1000+ lifters from all over the world – it was at this point I knew we were onto something. Since then we secured investment in the early part of 2021, and in May 2021 we launched the mobile app.
What can we hope to see from Brawn in the future?
We have been working hard behind the scenes at Brawn on a new feature for the app that we’re very excited about. ‘Reflect’ is revolutionising the way that our users can analyse their training videos, by enabling them to upload side-by-side comparisons of their lifts. Gone are the days of having to manually scroll through your phone to find a previous clip; lifters now have the ability to see their progress in real time. We really do see this as a game-changer for our community – both experienced athletes, as well as relative novices starting out in strength training. There’s more to come as we continue to evolve the feature, but the potential here is massive.
What I love about Brawn is the way we can engage with lifters from all over the world. We’ve recently announced our virtual events, where we will host the largest ever powerlifting event through the app. From all over the world lifters can participate, which is fantastic because we’ve seen interest from countries with very little resource such as Bangladesh and El Salvador. Who knows, we might uncover the next powerlifting star!
That aside, it is thought that more than 30 million people participate globally in barbell strength training on a weekly basis. The market opportunities for strength training are huge, and we want to tap into that international audience and help improve people’s experience of lifting, whilst bringing the community together.
