Embrace discomfort, fatigue and gasping for breath. If something is hard, that’s a sign that you should be doing more of it. I used to hate burpees. Now I can do a 100 burpees in under 12 mins. I started doing this when I was time constrained but wanted a decent workout.
Physical fitness is not just about lifting weights or running marathons; it’s about discipline, resilience, and continuous self-improvement. Fitness champions help coach and inspire others to achieve their fitness goals. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Dominic Pritham.
Dominic Pritham is the CEO and Founder of BragHumble, where he’s developing an AI-powered fitness app that uses phone cameras and machine learning to track exercises, provide form feedback, and enable workout sharing. His prior roles include positions at numerous multinational companies where he worked as a Software Engineering Manager and Lead Engineer. The BragHumble app aims to democratize personal training by providing AI-driven form feedback and progress tracking, allowing users to maximize their workout effectiveness, particularly for time-constrained individuals like parents.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
Iwent into engineering because I was always curious about how stuff works. I wanted to learn what it took to build something and have millions of people use it. The thought of some random person using a product that I worked on was very exciting.
I got into embedded software development with startups, stayed close to the hardware working on microcontrollers my first few years. I learned how to develop on restricted memory and what it took to accomplish real time processing.
Then I moved to giant international corporations to work on processors that ran Android and Windows, working on touch screens and camera sensors, interfacing them to cell phones and writing drivers for different vendors. Here I learned about operating systems, multi-threading, interprocess communication (IPC), how to handle high pressure and how to communicate complex technical problems to various stakeholders.
The biggest learning was when I moved to the IoT industry. I was able to combine all my learnings, from real time systems, low memory footprint, multithreading, IPC, operating systems, object oriented languages, communication to build end to end systems, file patents, build tools and manage a team to build and ship state of the art IoT products.
I built my startup, BragHumble, using everything I learned this far. It does real time inference of images to classify the various human poses and store rep and set counts, all without storing any images on device or cloud. Everything is done in real time.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
“Only at the apex of failure, will one find success.”
This is a motto I live by. Apex of failure. Not depths of failure. Failure shouldn’t be looked at as something we cannot come out of. It is a ladder one has to climb. I have always learned the most from my failures.
I was working on a very complicated feature in IoT and after 2 sprints (4 weeks) I was done but had this one lingering bug that I could not solve. I remember thinking about it over weekends but I couldn’t figure out where the issue was. One evening, at work, I was tired of trying to figure this bug out, so I asked a friend to play ping pong just to take a break.
When I got back to my desk, I was looking at my unit test and I narrowed down on a test case that could potentially trigger the bug. I ran a quick test with a modified unit test and I found the bug. Once the bug was found, it was a simple matter of rewriting a few routines and all test cases passed within an hour.
I bring this up as an interesting story from my career because it was this exact moment that gave me the confidence to work on my startup, BragHumble. I had single handedly completed a high priority complex feature end-to-end and it took me 4 weeks, 10 hour days to complete. I realized that as long as I believe and put in the work, I can build ideas into reality.
The lesson is very simple. No matter how difficult you find something, do it to the best of your abilities. Don’t give up, don’t do a subpar job. You will come out of it with something bigger.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- Listen to your inner voice/conscience and not your ego.
- Every now and then, I run into a situation where I am wrong, but my ego wants me to double down. It takes practice and restrain to pump the brakes and reset. When I started in the IoT industry, I had a lot to learn but I was more focused on showcasing what I knew rather than learning what I didn’t, which was a lot.
- Everyone has a perspective. Just because they see things differently it doesn’t mean they are wrong.
- The IoT industry is very agile and scaling up solutions is critical to beating competitors. There was a proposal to take a direction that would require my team to rework some areas that were already developed. I found it to be a waste of time and resources. But the more I looked into it, it became evident that I was short sighted and this proposal made sense beyond our current commitments.
- Share information.
- No one person can accomplish anything on their own. Share insights, findings, results and anything you can with others. Paying it forward helps.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
I am working on helping non-technical founders navigate the world of software development but talking about common software processes such as scrum, UI/UX tools, testing methodologies, what to look for in a technical cofounder, what to look for in a contractor/freelancer, how to define and build an MVP, how to think about scaling up, no code platforms like flutterflow and common cloud platforms like firebase.
When I started working on my startup, BragHumble, I realized I didn’t know much about other non-technical areas like marketing, sales, finance etc. and there are very smart people who aren’t necessarily software developers. I wanted to help my peers close the gap by bringing my skills and experience to a wider audience.
My first official presentation and Q&A panel is scheduled for January 2025 at an Atlanta based pre-accelerator.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview. What inspired you to pursue a career in fitness?
I was going to a group fitness class for years but didn’t see much results. In 2022, I decided to cancel my membership and figure out why I wasn’t where I wanted to be. I also became a dad around this time and didn’t find much in the evenings to hit the gym. To understand what I was missing and wasn’t hitting my goals, I started journaling my workouts, recording timings and reviewing them to realize that I wasn’t maximizing my sets to the best of my ability.
Every time I felt winded, I would slow down or give up on that set. At the end of the workout, I would be happy that I worked out, as if just showing up was all that mattered.
Showing up was only the first step. I had to get the most out of my workouts and time.
For this reason, I built BragHumble which is currently free. It uses your phone camera to count your reps and journal them for you. It also comes with 15 and 30 min workouts for all levels. There are audio cues, some form corrections and demos to help you along the way.
What unique strategies do you use to keep your clients motivated and engaged in their fitness journeys?
BragHumble’s A.I. powered camera based approach of rep counting and form correction helps users maximize their limited time and keeps them engaged. Competing with yourself is empowering and knowing that you finished a workout session by quantifiably giving your best is a wave that you will want to surf everyday.
Not everyone can afford a personal trainer or drive to where their trainer is or even match their trainer’s schedule. BragHumble empowers the user with data they need to make decisions for themselves.
Can you share a particularly memorable success story of a client transformation that you’ve helped achieve?
A mother of a toddler wasn’t able to get back to the gym routine they were used to. Between their work, day care pickups/drop off and taking care of their baby, finding time was a challenge.
After trying different things, they stumbled across my app, BragHumble. It is focused on at-home workouts, so accessibility was easy. All they needed was their cell phone. While initially some of the workouts were challenging, they kept coming back to the app because it stoked the competitor in them.
They kept trying to beat their previous rep counts. Within 3 months they were back in the routine of working out and reaching out to me for new and challenging workouts.
How do you stay updated with the latest fitness trends and incorporate them into your coaching?
BragHumble has the largest number of exercises in the marketplace of A.I. vision based apps, catering to both weight training and bodyweight exercises. One way I keep updated is by training the model with new exercises that can be incorporated into various levels of workouts.
I read, follow athletes and their trainers on their workouts, listen to podcasts, call people and pick their brain on how they train. My sister is a marathon runner and I have friends who do ironman.
Based on your research or experience, can you please share your “5 Things Anyone Can Do To Improve Their Fitness Routine”?
1 . Please quantify your workouts. Even if you don’t want to use BragHumble, journal your workouts somewhere. The reps, the number of sets, the weights, duration of each set, velocity, effort (reps/(duration of set)). Without this data, it’s very hard to pinpoint what is lacking and what is working. It’s like trying training for a marathon without tracking your mile time or trying to buy a house without understanding your current savings and expenses.
2 . Find a time that works for you. For me, it’s the mornings. For some of my users, it’s evening, after the kids have gone to bed. For some of my younger users, it’s mid-day. But definitely figure out what time works for you.
3 . Find something to listen to or think (if you don’t want to listen) while working out. I listen to Conan O’brien’s podcast while running. Yes, you read that correctly. Sometimes I laugh out loud while gasping for breath. I didn’t know that was possible. But my point is, I look forward to that 45 min run and definitely the podcast plays a role.
4 . You don’t need fancy equipment to get into a routine. Get started with what you have or buy a couple of weights and you are good to go. Don’t depend on anyone or any particular place. Now is the best time and get started where you are. At home. If you quantify your workouts, your numbers will tell you if you need to go up in weight and if you need bigger challenges. Until then, keep the barrier to workout minimum.
5 . Embrace discomfort, fatigue and gasping for breath. If something is hard, that’s a sign that you should be doing more of it. I used to hate burpees. Now I can do a 100 burpees in under 12 mins. I started doing this when I was time constrained but wanted a decent workout.
What role do you believe mental health plays in physical fitness, and how do you address this with your clients?
Release of endorphins and serotonin is well documented as benefits of working out. Confidence, increased self esteem and reduced stress are key benefits as well.
Additionally, something that drives me to do my best in the limited time is competing with myself. There is a satisfaction that can’t be bought when you know that you quantifiably gave your best and beat your previous numbers. I believe this feeds the confidence and self esteem benefits.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I invite people to join the 100 club. Do 100 reps of any exercise of your choice. It could be 100 seconds of plank, 100 shoulder taps, 100 squats or 100 burpees. On day 1, you may not meet the goal. Try it again on day 2, 3, 4 and so on. What you will see in your journal entries is progress over time. Maybe not progress every single day. But progress every week or every month. Whatever you can achieve.
This struggle to reach the 100 club is a microcosm of life. Things don’t happen overnight. But stick to it, and numbers don’t lie.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
Download BragHumble from the iOS app store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/braghumble/id1644358864
Follow BragHumble on Uneed: https://www.uneed.best/tool/braghumble?full=true and if you like our product idea and what we stand for, please upvote.
Follow BragHumble on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/braghumble/
Follow BragHumble on Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@braghumble
Our website is: https://braghumble.com/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.
