SPARKD: Revolutionizing Brain-Body Fitness

In this blog, we interview Anna Milani, the visionary founder and CEO of SPARKD, delving into the inspiration behind the revolutionary brain-body fitness concept, its mission to democratize elite-level training for all, and the role of science and technology in enhancing human performance and longevity. Join us as we explore SPARKD's innovative programs, upcoming initiatives, and the journey of entrepreneurship in Singapore's dynamic fitness landscape.

What inspired SPARKD's founding, and what's its mission?

SPARKD was founded and conceptualised when I came across studies and research that suggested how exercise and movement, especially cognitive motor training are important for brain health. The power of exercise has infinite benefits and one of them is to help with neuroplasticity and hence to slow physical and cognitive decline.

Before SPARKD was conceptualised, brain-body fitness training was only available to elite athtlets, from F1 drivers, tennis players, football, basketball and ice hockey players or in neurorehabilitation and brain health centres. SPARKD’s mission is to offer this training to general population so that we can all feel and train like top athletes, regardless of our physical or cognitive abilities. Physical and cognitive decline starts in our early 30’s and SPARKD’s mission is to enhance brain-body health, performance and longevity across the lifespan.

How does SPARKD use science and technology to enhance human performance and longevity?

SPARKD uses innovative, cutting edge technologies to assess, train and reassess on a regular basis  to enhance brain-body performance. The training is personalised to the individual strengths and weaknesses and it pushes the user beyond its own limits both physically and mentally to be continuously and progressively challenged in order to constantly learn and develop.

Our clients get tested with a physical test and a cognitive validated test that gives them a full report on their cognition across four domains of cognition, attention, memory, visual skills and processing speed and compares them across their peers in their age group.

Our longevity exercise protocols include a holistic approach that targets strength, cardio, balance, stability and cognitive training to enhance performance across lifespan.

Our technologies and training are gamified, fun, progressive, engaging and give you data and results on your performance to engage users to improve and work on their scores on a regular basis. Your cognitive abilities are equally as important as your physical abilities and training them forever should be each and everyone’s responsibility.

What programs does SPARKD offer, and how do they work?

SPARKD offers group classes, team building events and private personal training programs.

Group classes vary each day and work on a variety of physical and cognitive aspects to target all areas of physical and cognition. Mondays are focussed on cardio and memory, Tuesdays focus on strength and visuo-spatial skills, Wednesday on cardio and processing speed and reaction time, Thursday on strength and executive function, while Friday and Saturdays focus on overall brain and body abilities.

The group classes cater for all ability users from beginners to advanced and drills are adjusted to participant’s abilities.

Team building events are very fun, engaging and inclusive to all abilities within teams. They foster team building and team work, while at the same time work on teams performance.

Private personal training is the ultimate offering for the busy professional that wants to get personalised training and wants to work on specific results. Our clients train at our gym but also have the option to continue training physically and mentally through the use of our digital platform when they are unable to come to the gym for work or travel.

How does SPARKD stand out from other fitness programs?

SPARKD is certainly different from all the other current fitness offerings as it covers an area of training that has previously been neglected, our brains! We look after our bodies so well…how can we forget about our brains?

The training that allows cognitive motor training is fun, progressive, personalised and competitive, pushing us over our limits.

What role does technology play in SPARKD's approach?

Technology enhances the training offered at SPARKD, it allows clients to get a personalised experience that gives them objective data to test and measure progress. The technologies enhance the client experience with the gamified drills and dual task exercises.

How does SPARKD stay updated with advancements?

We partner with a number of university and technology fitness and health companies that keep us up to speed with their own research and innovation. We are always taking our customer’s feedback in to improve the product and in our future developments we will make the product even more user friendly, constantly evolving as the market and the space evolves.

How does SPARKD personalize training?

We test our private clients physically and mentally and, with their baseline and their goals, we personalise their training to current abilities, while progressively challenging them to constantly improve.

What are SPARKD's future plans for growth and innovation?

SPARKD is expanding in Singapore and overseas into the corporate market and the senior high end luxury market, to bring the SPARKD experience to a wider audience. We are also looking at high end luxury hotel offerings with our SPARKD BOX, a mini barin-body gym that can be implemented into any existing facility and gym.

What demographic of audience does SPARKD primarily cater to, and how does it tailor its programs accordingly?

SPARKD’s mission is to help brain-bodies across the lifespan, however we are currently focussing predominantly on a population that spreads from mid 30’s to 65 years old. These age group is looking for longevity programs and preventative interventions to perform high as long as possible.  

Some of the struggles you went through as a startup Owner in Singapore and how you overcame them.

When we first launched the concept, nobody was aware of brain body fitness and cognitive motor training. Most people still thought that doing jigsaws, sudoku or training apps was still the best way to stave cognitive decline. The trend is changing and there is more and more awareness on the positive impact of exercise on cognition and even more so of cognitive motor training and clients are way more open in trying new methods.

Education was and still is the best way of attracting clients, that once train with us then refer new clients. Referrals has certainly been the best way for growing our customer base.

Can you discuss any upcoming initiatives or projects that SPARKD is particularly excited about?

SPARKD is currently setting up a mini cognitive gym, a SPARKD BOX within NEXUS International school and we are very excited about this project. We did a pilot project with them in conjunction with a pilot study with 70 kids last year and the results were very encouraging and that’s why NEXUS has decided to adopt our training to allow more students to partecipate in the training.

We have a number of studies with prestigious universities starting in the next few months to validate our training as well as a number of corporate projects that will allow us to roll out our projects across various markets in years to come.

Lastly, what message would SPARKD like to convey to individuals seeking to improve their performance and longevity?

It is never too late to start and it is never too early to start. Training your brain and body would be a lifetime effort and our own responsibility. SPARKD offers you the solution to improve brain body performance but you are the superhero that has to take on your own discovery/explorative journey. Training doesn’t have to be boring…so get Sharp! Get SPARKD!

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