Under Armour and Johns Hopkins Medicine are teaming up for better fitness apps

Ask anyone to identify Baltimore’s big anchors, and Under Armour and Johns Hopkins will likely appear in the same sentence.
Now the two are teaming up — brought together by tech.
Under Armour is drawing on expertise from Johns Hopkins Medicine to further develop the fitness apps that the company has been acquiring and launching over the last couple of years.
Through the partnership, Hopkins clinicians will provide guidance in the areas of sleep, fitness, activity, and nutrition to Under Armour for its fitness apps. The company acquired MapMyFitness, Endomondo and MyFitnessPal in 2013 and 2014. It also launched its own app, UA Record, the following year. It was all about putting data behind their apparel.
Now, Hopkins is helping to add scientific evidence.
It’s not a completely new collaboration, as a panel of eight clinicians from Johns Hopkins have been advising Under Armour on “Connected Fitness” since 2015. There were signs that year of a willingness to work together — Johns Hopkins startups pitched Under Armour execs during Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest stop. (For what it’s worth, Case also encouraged the two to work together).
But the first public sign of the collaboration appeared last week in a specific area. It took Tom Brady’s pajamas to get it out in the open.
Under Armour is rolling out Athlete Recovery Sleepwear at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that the New England Patriots quarterback helped develop. The pajamas have bioceramic particles that help athletes recovery while sleeping.

Built on innovation. Come swing by our booth at #CES2017 to see what's next. #IWILL pic.twitter.com/eIWAl1fzgd

— Under Armour (@UnderArmour) January 5, 2017

In addition to the clothes, the company is also adding a sleep recovery feature to UA Record. A team of sleep experts at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center started working with Under Armour last year. The team is providing guidance for the app’s algorithms on quality, patterns, and behaviors. The two sides are also working together on a research study that began last year that will further inform UA’s sleep strategy. Under Armour says the study marks the first time its fitness platform was used in a scientific study.
We’ve heard a lot about the need for the city’s tech community to work together. This is a sign of action from two of the biggest players.