Club Solutions Magazine

The American College of Sports Medicine just published its first updated position stand on resistance training since 2009, and the findings challenge some the most widely held assumptions in the fitness industry.

In Episode 13, hosts Rachel Chonko and Luke Carlson break down the ACSM's new paper which synthesized more than 30,000 studies published over the last 15 years. The conclusions are clarifying with direct implications for how health clubs program, communicate and coach.

This Episode Covers:

- What the science actually says drives muscle growth (and what doesn't — including some widely held assumptions about load and frequency).

- Why progressive overload is the single most important variable in any strength training program.

- The case for minimal effective dose: how three exercises, once or twice per week, can produce meaningful results.

- What the safety data says about resistance training for older adults — and why the risk perception doesn't match the evidence.

📚 Access the show notes page for links to the research papers discussed on our website.

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or SoundCloud

📺 Watch on YouTube

👉 Stay ahead of fitness, leadership and research

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Did you know exercise directly improves academic performance?

In Episode 12 of The Research Debrief, hosts Rachel Chonko and Luke Carlson break down a large-scale randomized controlled trial linking gym exercise to academic outcomes in college students, alongside a supporting meta-analysis covering youth from ages 6 to 18.

This Episode Covers:

- How students with free gym access outperformed their peers academically — completing more courses, dropping fewer classes and failing fewer exams — and what drove those results.

- What a supporting meta-analysis found when examining resistance training's impact on children ages 6–18, spanning cognitive function, grades and classroom behavior.

- Why Carlson argues most operators are underestimating the benefits of exercise — and how academic performance represents one of the most underleveraged membership value propositions available.

- Why the research points specifically to structured gym exercise — not general movement — as the key variable, and what that means for the value of a physical facility.

- How clubs with family memberships can reframe their marketing around a benefit most parents have never considered: that consistent gym use may be directly improving their child's academic performance.

📚 Access the show notes page for links to the research papers discussed on our website.

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or SoundCloud

📺 Watch on YouTube

👉 Stay ahead of fitness, leadership and research

Subscribe to the Club Solutions newsletter to receive industry insights, trends and research-driven strategies delivered straight to your inbox: clubsolutionsmagazine.com/newsletter/

Uncertainty is defining today’s business environment — but for leaders who know what to look for, it also presents opportunity.

In this exclusive Q&A, Tara Bayke, economist and senior consultant at ITR Economics, offers a preview of her upcoming keynote at the 2026 Club Solutions Leadership Summit, taking place May 18–20 at The Montage in Park City, Utah.

This conversation is just a glimpse into the insights Summit attendees will gain during her session.

At the event, attendees will walk away with a clear, data-driven framework for navigating what’s ahead — including:

-What’s driving growth — and what risks are building beneath the surface

-How to time key decisions like hiring, expansion and investment

-The economic indicators that directly impact membership, retention and revenue

-Why forecasting is less about what to do — and more about when to do it

As Bayke explains, most businesses don’t struggle with strategy — they struggle with timing. Her keynote will equip attendees with the clarity, confidence and direction to make smarter decisions ahead of the next shifts in the market.

If you’re attending the Summit, this is a first look at the insights you’ll gain in Park City. And if you’re not, you’ll still want to watch — we’ll be sharing a full post-event breakdown of the key takeaways. 

For more information on the Club Solutions Leadership Summit, visit https://peakemediaevents.com/summit

A major paper recently published is challenging one of fitness' most entrenched assumptions and the implications for how clubs communicate the value of exercise are significant.

In Episode 11 of The Research Debrief, hosts Rachel Chonko and Luke Carlson break down new research from Duke University on constrained total energy expenditure and how the body automatically compensates for calories burned during cardio, effectively neutralizing the caloric deficit most members assume they're creating.

This Episode Covers:

- What the constrained total energy expenditure model is and why it challenges decades of conventional thinking about cardio and weight loss.

- How the body automatically offsets calories burned during aerobic exercise — making total daily caloric expenditure largely unchanged regardless of activity level.

- Why combining cardio with caloric restriction, the most common weight loss approach, actually amplifies the compensation effect.

- How resistance training produces the opposite response, increasing caloric expenditure for the remainder of the day.

- Why the fitness industry needs to update how it talks about cardio — and what a more accurate, trust-building message looks like for members.

📚 Access the show notes page for links to the research papers discussed: https://clubsolutionsmagazine.com/2026/03/stop-selling-cardio-as-a-calorie-burner-science-says-youre-wrong/

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or SoundCloud

📺 Watch on YouTube

👉 Stay ahead of fitness, leadership and research

Subscribe to the Club Solutions newsletter to receive industry insights, trends and research-driven strategies delivered straight to your inbox: clubsolutionsmagazine.com/newsletter/

The perfect candidate, the flawless interview, the confident hire — and then, just a few months in, the sinking realization that something went wrong.

Laura Clark, the vice president of Corporate Health Unlimited, joined Club Solutions Magazine editor and podcast host Taylor Gabhart to discuss what she calls "the false positive interview," a hiring phenomenon in which a candidate appears perfect on paper and through the interview process, only to fall short once on the job. After noticing an uptick in turnover at the company — after maintaining a 94% employee retention rate for decades — Clark and her team spent 90 days auditing their review and onboarding system to identify where things were breaking down.

The conversation covers the warning signs operators should watch for, the structural changes Corporate Health Unlimited made to its interview panels and question strategy, and how a more intentional onboarding process can be with the difference between a new hire thriving or walking out the door. For operators struggling with staffing, this episode offers a practical framework for getting hiring right the first time.

A new study puts hard numbers behind a question fitness operators have long debated and the findings make a compelling case for the value of personal training.

In Episode 10 of The Research Debrief, hosts Rachel Chonko and Luke Carlso break down a recently published randomized controlled trial comparing the outcomes of exercising alone, with a training partner and a personal trainer — and what those results mean for clubs looking to grow their personal training programs.

This Episode Explores:

- Why exercising with a personal trainer produces statistically greater gains in strength, lean muscle and fat loss than training alone or with a partner.

- How the "supervision effect" challenges long-held assumptions about what makes personal training valuable beyond just programming.

- How global fitness trend data exposes a U.S. perception gap around the value of personal training — and what may be driving it.

- Why the same workout program yields different results depending on who is in the room — and what that means for how trainers sell their services.

The science now offers a concrete answer to a question operators and trainers face: what exactly does a personal trainer provide that a workout buddy cannot? The answer — more strength, more muscle, less fat — is measurable, transferable and marketable. Clubs that help their training staff lead with that message are better positioned to convert curious members into consistent personal training clients.

📚 Access the show notes page for links to the research papers discussed: https://clubsolutionsmagazine.com/2026/03/combatting-the-false-positive-interview-with-laura-clark-of-corporate-health-unlimited/

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or SoundCloud

📺 Watch right here on YouTube

👉 Stay ahead of fitness, leadership and research

Subscribe to the Club Solutions newsletter to receive industry insights, trends and research-driven strategies delivered straight to your inbox: clubsolutionsmagazine.com/newsletter/

As wearable technology continues to trend in the fitness industry and data overload pushes members to disengage, fitness operators are confronting a harder question: Is more measurement actually driving more motivation — or is it driving people away?

Jay Worthy, the CEO of Myzone, joined Club Solutions Magazine editor and podcast host Taylor Gabhart to discuss the company's pivot from fit-tech to what they call "motech" — motivation technology — and how behavioral science, gamification and community are becoming the new levers for long-term retention. Worthy draws on his background as a former operator and personal trainer to make the case that the industry is solving the wrong problem

Worthy explains how simplifying performance into a single, effort-based metric creates an inclusive, level playing field for every type of mover and why that approach is more relevant than ever as smartwatch adoption accelerates globally. He also talks about the launch of Myzone Go, which removes hardware barriers by allowing members to use any compatible smartwatch to utilize Myzone features.

Listen to the full conversation here.

Millions of Americans are currently taking GLP-1 medications and new research is make the case that resistance training isn't just complementary to the medication. It's essential to it.

In Episode 9 of The Research Debrief, hosts Rachel Chonko and Luke Carlson examine what the latest science says about muscle loss during GLP-1 treatment — and why health clubs are uniquely positioned to serve their members who use the medication.

This Episode Covers:

- How much muscle mass is lost during GLP-1 drug therapy and what clinical trial data reveals about the scope of that loss.

- The two key factors critical to preserving lean muscle during weight reduction — and why one of them falls squarely within the scope of what health clubs provide.

- What the science says about the long-term consequences of stopping GLP-1 therapy, including which outcomes exercise has been shown to mitigate.

- How the profile of a GLP-1 drug user compares to the profile of a typical health club member — and what that overlap means for operators.

- Why physicians prescribing GLP-1 medications are increasingly looking to fitness facilities as partners in patient care, and how clubs can position themselves to meet that demand

GLP-1 drugs are reshaping the healthcare landscape at scale, and the fitness industry has a scientifically validated role to play. Clubs that build programming, messaging and referral relationships around this now will be best positioned to grow their member base and their influence within the healthcare continuum.

📚 Access the show notes page for links to the research papers discussed:

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or SoundCloud

📺 Watch right here on YouTube

👉 Stay ahead of fitness, leadership and research

Subscribe to the Club Solutions newsletter to receive industry insights, trends and research-driven strategies delivered straight to your inbox: clubsolutionsmagazine.com/newsletter/

New research challenges the industry's long-held belief that more volume drives better results, showing shorter, high-effort sessions may deliver better results for trained members.

In Episode 8 of the Research Debrief, hosts Rachel Chonko and Luke Carlson look at a controlled study that examines the effect of doing on set of an exercise to failure or close to failure when strength training. The conversation turns to how strength training can be more time efficient when only doing one set.

This Episode Covers:

- A breakdown of a new randomized controlled trial comparing one set to muscle failure versus one set with reps in reserve

- How proximity to failure impacts muscle hypertrophy, strength, endurance and power

- Why trained individuals saw significant improvements with just two 30-minute sessions per week

- What the findings suggest about reducing volume without sacrificing results

- How time-efficient, high-effort strength training models can reshape club programming and member engagement

Only 28% of the population engages in strength training and lack of time remains one of the largest barriers for people to do so. This research provides operators with a science-backed framework for delivering efficient, effective programming.

📚 Access the show notes page for links to the research papers discussed: https://clubsolutionsmagazine.com/2026/03/one-set-to-failure-rethinking-strength-training-efficiency/

🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or SoundCloud

📺 Watch right here on YouTube

👉 Stay ahead of fitness, leadership and research

Subscribe to the Club Solutions newsletter to receive industry insights, trends and research-driven strategies delivered straight to your inbox: clubsolutionsmagazine.com/newsletter/

Clive Chesser, the CEO of PureGym, shares the evolution of the brand from its start in the UK to its global expansion across Europe, the Middle East and the U.S.

The conversation highlights the brand's success, Chesser's background, global fitness trends and the future of PureGym as it continues to expand.