Earlier this month, Under Armour held its first annual Human Performance Summit from the brand’s headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. More than 180 media, athletes, influencers and trainers from all over the globe were invited to take part in this three-day event.
The brand used January 13, the official “quitting day” for new year’s resolutions, as the kickoff for their new global campaign #TheOnlyWayIsThrough, and guests felt the truth of the campaign slogan throughout the summit as UA shuttled them to panels and workouts around the campus.
Under Armour’s newly appointed CEO, Patrik Frisk kicked off the week by sharing his vision for the brand. He noted that UA strives to position itself as a human performance company that works on innovation and sustainability, while the brand’s apps such as My Fitness Pal (which has more than 280 million downloads) and MapMyRun gives them insights into how they can help people achieve their performance goals.
5:30am at UAHQ
The Only Way Is Through
No excuses pic.twitter.com/kWnGpkxblc
— Patrik Frisk (@PatrikFrisk) January 14, 2020
Also present were UA’s superstar athletes: 28-time Olympic medallist Michael Phelps, 82-time World Cup winner and three-time Olympic medallist Lindsey Vonn, Phillies right fielder and NL’s 2015 MVP Bryce Harper and two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 4 x 400m relay Natasha Hastings, who shared their personal stories on getting through hardships.
The summit continued with an all-female Game Changers panel that included middle-distance and steeplechase runner Aisha Praught-Leer, middle and long-distance runner Sharon Lokedi and Shayla Houlihan, Under Armour pro coach in Flagstaff, Arizona, who also talked about the obstacles they’ve encountered as female athletes throughout their careers.
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In addition to hearing top athletes speak, guests learned about UA’s latest and greatest tech and product advancements by visiting the ultra secretive Lighthouse Lab. This January, the brand introduced the UA HOVR™ Machina, their newest running shoe that offers runners high-cushioning in a lightweight package with real-time form coaching. All of UA’s 2020 run suite comes digitally connected, and as of February 1, runners will get personalized guidance in real time to improve not only their performance but manage their risk of injury. Runners can also measure their footstrike, ground contact time, etc., all in order to receive a more in-depth post-run analysis.
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Other notable brand releases include the UA Infinity Bra, which is a one-piece injection-molded padded bra with adjustable straps and fast-drying padding, as well as the UA Meridian Bottoms, highest-rise waistband performance sweat-wicking pants that launch on March 1.
The conference also introduced guests to UA’s Human Performance System, talks on fusionetics (AI technology that helps athletes move better and prevent injury), the psychology of high performance, mindfulness and the impact of food on training. All talks referred back to the theme of the week, #TheOnlyWayIsThrough.
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And finally, no performance summit would be complete without multiple opportunities to work out, led by UA ambassador athletes, which put UA’s brand new gear to the test.
Overall, the first annual Under Armour Human Performance Summit gave guests a look into the brand’s ethos as well as what to watch out for with the onset of their new campaign #TheOnlyWayIsThrough.
