Lifestyle

Training Platform Atom Teams up with CrossFit Games OG Marcus Filly

January 31, 2023 by
Photo courtesy of Atom
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The popular at-home fitness and programming platform Atom has evolved quickly since its release in 2021, most recently adding three-time CrossFit Games athlete Marcus Filly’s Functional Bodybuilding training to their list of offerings. 

How they got here: In 2021, RPM Training Co.—known for their state-of-the art at-home gymsreleased Atom, a training platform that allows athletes to configure workouts to meet their needs, or join in on virtual classes led by former Games athlete Pat Barber, and ultimately be a part of their growing worldwide community. 

  • Most recently, because the Atom platform has grown so fast, RPM Training Co. decoupled Atom from their brand, so now Atom is a stand-alone digital fitness platform, its goal being to fill the void in the market between generalized training platforms with little to no customization for a coach, and the expensive and risky endeavor of trying to build your own app. 
  • In this sense, Atom is becoming a place that supports coaches, where a handful of selected top-level coaches, such as Filly, can host their various world-class training programs, from functional fitness, to weightlifting, powerlifting, yoga, endurance, or other sport specific training.
  • “Instead of hosting a thousand creators on a platform with limited ability to support them individually, and lots of overlap between programs, Atom will host just a handful of programs with minimal overlap and provide world-class service,” explained Josh Rogers of RPM Training Co., adding that they’re hoping to add three to five more coaches this year to round out their Atom roster.

What Filly is saying: For Filly, the owner of the Functional Bodybuilding brand (FFB), partnering with Atom was a no-brainer. Not only did it provide him the software solution he had been looking for, but it makes marketing and delivering his program more accessible and easier for his customers to understand.

  • “This partnership is a key step to improving how we deliver FBB and how accessible it is to our customers. We feel strongly that this partnership is going to give us the opportunity to innovate new features and approaches to delivering this program in a seamless way to the people who stand to benefit the most from it,” Filly said. 
  • He added: “Atom as a company is open-minded and they have the resources and people on their team to be agile, allowing us to truly create a one of kind experience for FBB, and to evolve for years to come…The potential we see in this partnership long term is what really made us move forward.”

About FBB: Filly’s FBB program is designed to bridge the gap between functional training and bodybuilding, which have “historically been two communities that are at odds with one another,” he explained.

  • “The CrossFitters used to rag on bicep curls and the bodybuilders love to say how pointless burpees are. But more and more, we see people drawn to both camps and we offer a place where you can thoughtfully incorporate both,” FIlly said.

A second goal of his program is to help his customers see, both the performance and body composition results they want.

  • “So often we hear that people are frustrated that their bodies don’t look like they work out even though they train three to five times per week, and when they do, it is quite hard. Performance and effort in the gym are hard, but when they are not aligned with a thoughtful training program, and a meaningful conversation about nutrition, then people can burn out with uncontrolled intensity and have a hard time making smart choices around their diet,” Filly said. 
  • That’s where his program comes in. “If you are you are not seeing the body changes you had hoped for and it feels like your hard work in the gym doesn’t match what you see in the mirror, and that bothers you, then you’ve got a lot to gain from exploring FBB,” he said, adding that a second group his program caters to are more experience CrossFit athletes who are “burnt out from the high intensity chase” and want to try something new for a while. 

And to those who do decide to embark on his FBB program, Filly said the most important thing is to pay more attention to quality over quantity. 

  • “If you move with great technique and you constantly are working to improve how you move then you will stay in the game longer and more consistently since your body will be resilient and less prone to injury. With more consistency, you will arrive at your goals much faster and for much longer. Honor the concept that bringing 85% effort for 100 days is much better than bringing 100% for 30 days,” he said.

Filly added: “Stick to the plan as it is laid out and don’t try to do more and add too much outside work.”

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