Blokki is strengthening its scientific expertise by starting cooperation with sports scientist and doctoral researcher Ville Isola. Isola will continue as an advisor to Blokki, especially on strength training and nutrition-related topics.
Isola is known in the worlds of fitness and strength training as well as for educating coaches. He has a strong background in strength training, body composition, and nutrition, and he has trained professionals in the field internationally as well. He serves as chair of the coaching committee of the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation (IFBB) and as executive director of Suomen Fitnessurheilu ry. In addition to his master’s degree in sports science, Isola is currently working on his doctoral dissertation, further deepening his research-based approach to coaching.
The cooperation also has a personal background for Blokki. Blokki CEO Janne Hautala and Isola have known each other since their university years in the master’s programme in coaching and testing science at the University of Jyväskylä.
"From the beginning, it has been important to us that Blokki is not just technically advanced coaching software. We want the coaching thinking behind it to be as strongly based as possible on researched knowledge and the best available expertise. Ville brings us know-how and perspective especially in strength and nutrition that we want to use both in product development and in content for coaches," Hautala says.
— Janne Hautala
The cooperation will be visible in practice through the development of Blokki’s strength and nutrition features. Isola will contribute expertise, for example, to the principles on which programming and nutrition-related solutions are built in the software.
"AI is fundamentally changing the work of personal trainers and coaches. Today’s coach needs tools based on researched knowledge that support individual coaching and better decision-making. Blokki answers exactly this need, and I want to be involved in building it into an international frontrunner in strength, nutrition, and body composition coaching," Isola says.
— Ville Isola
Science must not remain just marketing talk
At the same time, the cooperation strengthens one of Blokki’s key goals: combining coaching science, the expertise of experienced coaches, and AI in a way that helps coaches deliver higher-quality and more individualized coaching more efficiently. The same principle has guided Blokki’s development more broadly. For example, when the application’s HYROX target profile was built, development did not start by asking AI first; instead, it began with reviewing the latest research on the sport and building the analysis that later taught AI how the information should be used in coaching.
"Scientific grounding must not remain just a marketing message for us. It has to show in how the software thinks, what kinds of suggestions it makes to the coach, and what those suggestions are based on. With Ville, we can strengthen that especially on the strength and nutrition side," Hautala says.
The cooperation is part of Blokki’s broader goal of building coaching software where AI does not replace a coach’s expertise, but instead brings researched knowledge and data more effectively into the coach’s daily decision-making. The idea captures the philosophy of Blokki: the app is not a ready-made coaching programme or an AI coach, but a coach’s working partner that handles the time-consuming background work so the coach can focus on what shapes the client experience.
More information:
Janne Hautala, CEO, Blokki AI Oy
Blokki is a Finnish company developing AI solutions for the exercise and coaching sector, offering AI-powered coaching and wellbeing software for personal trainers, coaches, and business clients.