BRIDGEATHLETIC
Analytics & Exercise History
The Gist
Background
BridgeAthletic replaces manual spreadsheets with a digital tracking that captures athlete results in real-time.
Problem
Coaches lacked a fast, tablet-friendly way to review athlete history during workouts, often resulting in wasted time or reliance on observations instead of data.
Solution
A tablet-ready experience providing instant access to comprehensive workout history and performance trends, enabling faster, smarter training decisions.
Result
By cutting the task down to ~ 30 seconds, the solution achieved a 10x improvement in speed and returned 4.5–9.5 minutes per athlete back to important coaching activities.
Behind the Design
Role
Lead Product Designer
Responsibilities
UI, UX
Research
VQA
Timeline
7 Months;
Conception to Launch
Team
1 CTO
4 Engineers
1 Designer
Background
Before BridgeAthletic, coaches relied on Excel and printed workouts to design programs and track results, creating slow, manual processes that limited personalized coaching.
BridgeAthletic streamlines this workflow and gives coaches faster, clearer insights into athlete performance.
Problem
Reviewing an athlete’s exercise history during a workout is essential for real-time, data-driven coaching. By comparing current performance to past benchmarks, coaches can adjust intensity on the fly and tailor training to individual needs.
However, BridgeAthletic’s web platform, while robust, lacked dedicated, tablet-optimized access to this history, making it difficult for coaches to view and use data in fast-paced weight-room environments.
Solution
With our comprehensive update, Coaches can view the current workout schedule and exercise history, with clear trend visualizations. This refined interface integrates summaries with session details, allowing coaches to compare current performance against past benchmarks and identify trends quickly.
95
%
Accessing exercise history decreased by 95%
What once took coaches 5–10 minutes now takes about 30 seconds, saving roughly 4.5–9.5 minutes per athlete and freeing up time for real coaching.
01
Foundational Research
Contextual Discovery
What Shadowing Coaches Revealed
To design an effective solution, I first needed to understand when and how coaches accessed exercise history during workouts. I conducted a field study in the weight room, shadowing strength coaches to observe their interactions with athletes and the hurdles they faced retrieving past performance data. Coaches left the weight room often to use their computer or click through multiple pages on their laptop to find information , an inefficiency that slowed decision making.
One coach summarized the challenge:
“When an athlete struggles, I want to check their history, but I have to leave the weight room to do that.”
These observations revealed insights that interviews alone hadn’t surfaced, including how frequently coaches needed instant access to trends and how difficult it was to navigate existing tools with one hand during active sessions. The design opportunity was clear: consolidate essential data and reduce unnecessary steps.
Top Insights from Strength Coaches
Our research uncovered several key pain points that hindered coaches' ability to play, analyze, and collaborate effectively within BridgeAthletic, highlighting critical areas for improvement.
Visibility
Coaches couldn’t see an exercise history in one unified view, limiting their understanding of overall progress.
Efficiency
They were forced to use multiple tools to assess training outcomes, slowing decision-making and reducing workflow efficiency.
Collaboration
The inability to share programs or access real-time updates created version-control issues and hindered smooth coordination.
Early Concept Sketches
To shape the foundation of the design, I created quick sketches that visualized key screens and user flows. These early explorations made it easy to experiment, iterate, and identify what would best support coaches’ real-time needs.
Strength Coach Persona
To ensure the redesigned experience accurately reflected how coaches operate in the weight room, I created a persona that encapsulated their daily routines, pain points, and decision-making processes.
User Stories
After establishing the strength coach persona, I developed user stories to guide and support design development.
As a strength coach,
1
I want results and trends in one view so that I can assess progress and identify patterns quickly.
2
I want up-to-date results on my tablet so that I can make fast, informed changes.
3
I want an optimized tablet experience so that I can work efficiently in the weight room.
User Journey
Building on the persona, I outlined the user's journey to visualize their end-to-end experience and identify key moments of friction
Opportunities for Business
I aligned each design update with core business priorities, including customer growth, improved retention, and stronger data-driven decision making.
Smarter Coaching
Enable real-time access to athlete performance data so coaches can make informed training decisions on the spot.
Data-Driven Decisions
Provide coaches with a progress overview with summaries and detailed workout data, to spot trends and keep athletes engaged.
Tablet Optimization
Optimize navigation for seamless use and better adoption and collaboration in the weight room.
02
Approach
Streamlining Workout Insights
To enhance usability, I structured the information architecture to align with how strength coaches access and interpret athlete data. By organizing content around their primary actions, retrieving exercise history, assessing performance trends, and making real-time adjustments, I streamlined navigation, enabling them to find critical information quickly and efficiently.
Initial Wireframes
With a clear understanding of user needs, I began conceptualizing the design, focusing on intuitive interactions, clean layouts, and a touch-first approach optimized for tablet use in the weight room. I created low-fidelity wireframes and reviewed them regularly with stakeholders, knowing that visualizing ideas often sparks valuable feedback. I carefully evaluated input, using my expertise to distinguish between surface-level requests and deeper usability issues.
Enhancing the User Experience
To enhance the experience, I mapped these user stories into a comprehensive user journey, highlighting how a strength coach navigates the platform to complete essential tasks while identifying pain points and opportunities for refinement.
03
Final Design
Final Design Walkthrough
To support real-time decision-making in the weight room, I designed a cohesive set of three high-impact screens tailored to the coach experience. The first provides a comprehensive view of an athlete’s exercise history, enabling quick review of past performance. The second allows coaches to select the appropriate set type, offering flexibility and control over workout adjustments.
The third screen displays detailed weight and rep information when a set is selected, surfacing the insights needed to make timely, informed training decisions. Together, these screens deliver a streamlined, intuitive experience that enhances coaching efficiency and empowers data-driven action.
04
Measured Impact
Outcome
By consolidating performance data into an accessible layout, reducing taps, and providing organized tabs, we observed a 95% reduction in time spent searching for exercise history. We maintained ongoing communication with coaches, allowing us to validate improvements and gather real-world insight into how the new design impacted their daily workflows.