GURO Box
CrossFit Management Ecosystem — Athlete App, Admin Dashboard & Landing Page
Designed three interconnected products for a CrossFit gym in 8 weeks — half the typical timeline — using AI-enhanced workflows. Coaches reclaimed 10+ hours weekly. Member churn dropped 23%.
Role
Lead Product Designer, UX Researcher, AI Workflow Specialist
Timeline
8 weeks — Discovery to Launch
Year
2024
Team
- 2 Developers
- 1 CrossFit Coach (SME)
- 1 Gym Owner
The Problem
Why this mattered.
GURO Box ran on paper sign-in sheets, WhatsApp groups for WOD announcements, and Excel spreadsheets. Coaches spent 2+ hours daily on administration. Athletes had zero visibility into their own progress.
Members absent for 2 weeks showed 100% churn risk within one month — but no system existed to detect or intervene. 91% of athletes wanted tomorrow's WOD visible by 8 PM. Both were solvable with the right architecture.
Starting Baseline
2+ hrs daily admin per coach · 0% digital workout logging · no churn early-warning system
Discovery
What the research revealed.
12 athlete interviews, 6 in-gym observation sessions, 45-member survey, 4 coach interviews, owner workshop, competitive analysis of WODIFY, SugarWOD, and Beyond the Whiteboard
"I want to see my progress, but I don't want to track every detail" — athletes wanted automatic PR detection, not manual logging
91% of athletes wanted tomorrow's WOD visible by 8 PM — scheduling visibility was the single most requested feature
"I need to manage the gym from my phone while coaching" — coaches required mobile-first admin, not desktop-only tools
AI synthesis: 12 interview transcripts analyzed in 2 hours instead of 12 — revealed the 2-week churn signal
Solution
The architecture.
Three interconnected products sharing one design system: athlete web app for progress and WODs, mobile-first admin dashboard for gym management, conversion-optimized landing page.
Athlete web app — daily WODs, one-tap logging, automatic PR detection, community leaderboard
Admin dashboard — mobile-first member management, workout publishing, at-risk member alerts (2-week flag)
"Tonight's Preview" — WOD scheduled publishing, surfaced automatically at 8 PM daily
Landing page — AI-tested 20+ headline variations, winning CTA drove 15 new members in month one
Design Process
Context-appropriate contrast: dark for the athlete app (high-energy), light for admin (8-hour coach workday), bold for the landing page.
V1: Unified dark experience
Applied dark aesthetic across all three products. Rejected — dark admin was too fatiguing for full workdays. Context beats consistency.
V2: Dual-mode athlete dark / admin light (Final)
FinalEach product matched its usage context. Shipped.
Specifications
AI saved 25+ hours: interview synthesis (2 hrs vs. 12), 20+ landing page A/B headline variants (+34% conversion), microcopy generation. 35+ wireframes, 5 usability testing sessions.
Constraints & Solutions
Leaderboard real-time updates conflicted with smooth UX on slow gym WiFi. Solved with optimistic UI — display assumed success, reconciled with server in background.
Outcomes
What moved.
| Metric | Before | After | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coach Admin Time | 2+ hrs/day | 35 min/day | ↓70% |
| Workout Logging Rate | 0% | 78% | ↑78pp |
| Member Churn | Baseline | -23% | ↓23% |
| Class Attendance | Baseline | +12% | ↑12% |
| Landing Conversion | Baseline | +34% | ↑34% |
| Delivery Timeline | 16 wks (estimate) | 8 wks (actual) | ↓50% |
Impact
"I can finally coach instead of doing admin work." — Head Coach. 15 new members attributed to the landing page in month one.