Mumbai: Mumbai City has announced its multi-year partnership with UpUrFit as the Official Pain Relief & Recovery Partner starting from the 2023-24 season. Their innovative solutions are tailored to meet the needs of athletes at all levels, offering effective pain relief and promoting faster recovery times.

As part of this partnership, UpUrFit’s  products will be integrated into the training and recovery routines of our players. Additionally, UpUrFit will offer expert guidance and support to the medical and coaching staff, ensuring that our team benefits from the latest advancements in sports recovery technology.

Indiantelevision.com caught up with UpUrFit co-founders Munish Vig and Vikram Gunjal where they shared more additional insights on this.

Edited excerpts

How did the partnership with Mumbai City FC come about, and what does it mean for UpUrFit to be the Official Pain Relief and Recovery Partner?

UpUrFit’s USP has been its scientifically formulated product portfolio which has been co-created with athletes and experts. As such an early set of collaborators in this mission have been the Sports Physiotherapists community. It was hence very much the Physiotherapy and Medical department of MCFC that we initially connected with more to seek product feedback. The efficacy and relevance of the range left them impressed and the Physio department was the one who pushed for this partnership with the rest falling in place in record time.

Mumbai City FC has been the epitome of continued excellence and have managed to raise the bar on performance in every one of their recent seasons. As the ISL trophy holders they obviously are one of the best in the league! It is hence a huge privilege but also a responsibility for UpUrFit – we have to ensure that our products perform at a high level to match the intensity of MCFC performances and we are confident of that! This partnership will enable sports&fitness enthusiasts to recognize that UpUrFit’s products stand the true test of a champions’ need and hence can be their companion in breaking barriers of pain and discomfort without parallel.

How do you plan to leverage your partnership with Mumbai City FC to enhance and evolve your product offerings

UpUrFit’s products have already been carefully formulated by experts and their development further enhanced by feedback from pro athletes. We ensured that we spent 3 months in our beta products testing, to enable iterations that pro athletes (football teams, running squads et al.) needed of the products and hence we are well poised to further the evolution of the product range basis usage of one of the most intense athletic outfits in India!

Mumbai City FC’s training sessions and games will be an acid test for the usage of our products and we have already passed with flying colors in their initial usage and assessment! MCFC footballers will be frequent users of products to tackle pain and discomfort to enable them to perform at their best and as such their usage and feedback will help us in both modifications to our current products whether in formulation or packaging, as well as enabling us to develop new products which address similar concerns and then democratise those offerings for enthusiasts in due course.

Can you discuss any specific products or technologies that have been particularly successful for your brand?

While it has been initial days and we have been in the market for just around 6+ months, we can clearly see multiple products from our stable being a fit for specific audiences and used cases. The Pain Relief products (Thermo Spray and Cryo Spray) have been universal in their adoption while the war-up and cool down aids (Thermo Gel and Cryo gel) have started making a big dent with pros across sports whether its football, running or bodybuilding.

Our wipes have seen a broader adoption with on-the-go cleansing post sport or activity a key unserved need till now! We have had instances of urgent orders from individuals wanting to rush from an intense game to their spouse’s birthday celebrations, seeking the refuge of cleansing and refreshing of our XXXL Body&Face Wipes and XXL Shampoo Wipes!

This obviously has been led by meaningful innovations and formulations – whether it’s the large towelette sized wipes that cater to a full body cleansing, or completely clean and drug free formulation for our Pain Relief and Recovery products, athletes and enthusiasts have started rewarding us for thinking about them and their needs while establishing UpUrFit!

What role do you see pain relief and recovery products playing in an athlete’s overall performance and well-being?

We can clearly see Indian athletes and sports leagues evolving and gearing up to compete on global stages as the recent Olympics and other sporting events indicate. That said, this brings with it much higher levels of intensity not only during competitions but also during training! This only gives rise to higher incidents of breakdown due to injuries exacerbated by lack of recovery!

We see Pain Relief & Recovery products as developed by UpUrFit as a key component in an athlete’s regimen of staying at her/his sharpest and keeping injury free! Our warm-up and cool-down aids (The Thermo Gel and CryoGel) amplify an athlete’s warm-up and cool down protocols’ output thereby minimising injury risk and maximizing recovery post game or training. That said, injury and pain are a part of every athlete’s life and our Pain Relief range (The Thermo Spray and Cryo Spray) enable a strong first level of defence and relief to both sports induced chronic pains as well as impact led injuries.

Innovation plays a key role during any product development. If yes then how will you incorporate it within this partnership?

As stated above, UpUrFit’s products have been scientifically formulated with key inputs from athletes and experts. Listening to our key users hence to develop better solutions, be it formulations, packaging or completely new innovations is in our DNA. For e.g. our Shampoo Wipes which promote best in Class hair & scalp hygiene on-the-go, were developed after identifying dirt and grime that settles on an athletes or enthusiasts hair and scalp, as a major irritant during their athletic pursuits.

We will keep this spirit of innovation alive and use observation of players and their feedback, not only to enhance our products further but also formulate new solutions. We have a responsibility to keep the ISL trophy champs free of injury, pain and discomfort and will use our resources of product expertise to fulfil their needs.

What are some of the key challenges you faced while establishing UpUrFit in the sports fitness industry?

There was initially disbelief (albeit followed with welcome arms) that a brand would adopt the mission of specifically solving problems for Athletes and Enthusiasts and going beyond the needs of a average household! Sportspeople have been given the short shrift on products development till the recent past -  we see so many brands use existing household formulations and add a “sport” or a “fit” to an existing product to position it in the Sports industry! That said, for UpUrFit once athletes and administrators were convinced of our objectives in enhancing their efforts and specifically creating products for their needs, we were treated as one of their own! This has been as true for our initial partners like the Maharashtra State League Women’s Football team – Young Guns FC as it has been for MCFC!

We are still putting in efforts to reach out to all teams across multiple sports, big and small! While we see high intent, we also realise that resourcing of teams at ground levels is low albeit growing. We would love more corporate entities to step up and promote sports so that these teams where the real talent emerges from are able to equip their athletes better!

How do you envision the future of sports and fitness products evolving, and what trends do you think will shape the industry in the coming years?

We will see more brand accord due respect to athletes and sports enthusiasts by formulating products and designing packaging for their needs rather than repositioning existing solutions! We have already seen the likes of Fast&Up doing this in the re-hydration space and UpUrFit is delivering similar promises for mitigating Sports induced Pain and Discomfort!

The western markets where the sports segments have been developed for years and are a sizable market will also be an indicator. One trend that we foresee is the emergence of key ingredients delivering sports&fitness specific benefits. As an example, Magnesium is already a big hit due to its recovery properties in developed countries and will gradually gain prominence in India. UpUrFit has introduced the 1st Magnesium Sulphate (Epsom Salts) + Menthol BodyWash to deliver relief from Muscle Fatigue & Soreness and more will follow not just from us but other relevant Sports & Fitness brands as well.

We also see other brands like Fast&Up and UpUrFit specifically dedicated to the sports&fitness space becoming big hitters. We are not very far away from seeing Indian equivalents for the likes of an “Art of Sport” – the U.S sports personal care juggernaut. We will also see key sports personalities throw their weight behind such meaningful solutions – Serena Williams “Will Recover” comes to mind as a harbinger of this trend even for India!