Why We Built umo: Our Vision And Community
Written and reviewed by Scott Mongold, PhD — Co-Founder & CSO (Biomechanics & Neurophysiology, ULB).
Technology 5 min readKey takeaways
- umo was created to address the gap in consumer tools that measure neuromuscular system readiness, which existing heart-rate devices don't capture.
- The platform focuses on neural fatigue and movement intelligence to help athletes understand the brain-muscle connection before training.
- umo aims to prevent the injury cycle caused by training when the nervous system isn't primed, especially after sedentary or stressful days.
A Short Intro
Hello, I'm Andrea, a cofounder of umo. I might be a novice writer compared to my partner, Scott (who wrote the excellent "From Gym Rat to Lab Rat: A Personal Introduction"). Still, I'm eager to communicate our core story and the vision we have for this company. I’ll begin with the fundamental why: the inspiration that drove us to start this difficult, long-term venture.
Umo was born out of a real problem: the tools necessary to track key metrics of our brain and body are mostly confined to labs or research centers.
For decades, we’ve had access to great data on our cardiovascular system through heart-related metrics, and that’s fantastic. Companies like WHOOP, Apple Watch, Fitbit, and others popularized cardiovascular metrics and physical activity tracking. But these metrics tell us very little about our nervous system or muscle function.
Think about it: How often do you try to train right after an exhausting day of work, or when you’re still sore from an intense workout? If you’ve been sitting all day, your system is simply not primed for stress. We push through anyway, often with poor form and a distracted mind. This creates a vicious cycle that leads to injuries, suboptimal gains, and frustration.
The missing piece? Understanding the critical connection between our nervous system and our muscles: the neuromuscular system.
Decoding Our Body's Readiness
We’re building a mobile app that gives us the power to understand our neuromuscular system's readiness. We calculate vital metrics that have been missing to ensure we train correctly.
We’ll start by focusing on two core categories:
Neural Fatigue
Movement Intelligence
This is umo. Our project is dedicated to decoding the complex communication between the brain and muscle, and ultimately using this new information to improve our healthspan so that we live our best life, with the people we care about, for as long as possible.
Join the umo Community
We believe a truly great product needs two things: the product itself, and a great community.
Our app is coming soon, and we're committed to building it based on your feedback, making it as user-centric as possible.
But we want to start building the second part right now, our community. We want to create a community of excited (future) users, ready to redefine movement intelligence. We will plan regular events where we can come together to celebrate the incredible beauty and power of taking care of our neuromuscular health. Stay tuned.
Frequently asked questions
What is umo Health?
umo is a mobile app designed to measure neuromuscular system readiness by tracking neural fatigue and movement intelligence, metrics missing from traditional heart-rate monitors.
Why can't existing fitness trackers measure neuromuscular readiness?
Devices like WHOOP and Apple Watch focus on cardiovascular and activity metrics, but they don't assess nervous system or muscle function, which determine training readiness.
What is the neuromuscular system?
The neuromuscular system is the connection between the nervous system and muscles, governing movement quality and readiness to handle physical stress.
How does neural fatigue affect training?
Neural fatigue from work stress or sitting all day means the nervous system isn't primed for exercise, leading to poor form, injuries, and suboptimal results.