Fitness + Technology

For episode 62 we sit down with Co-Founder of Moon Mission Media, Brandi Bergeron.

As a Social Media Practitioner, Digital Business Strategist and Marketing Enthusiast Brandi helps people, businesses and brands develop and promote elevated marketing messages to engage, delight and convert current and future clients.

There are changes in the social world and we need to think about how we adjust. Facebook threw us a curve and Brandi has a new outlook on the process.

Listen in to learn and understand what relates to today's world in the social media and marketing industry. Don't undervalue engagement. Just because you are on social media, are you actually maximizing your time with people and conversations you want your business to be a part of? Engage, connect and listen.

Thanks Brandi for being such a wonderful thought leader, mentor and insightful guest!

For episode 61 we pick the brain of Area General Manager and Director of Sales and Marketing at West Wood Clubs and IHRSA Board Member, Alan Leach.

Alan is a regular speaker and presenter on sales and marketing for top business organizations around the world. Listen and learn how you can invest and make a difference in your members' fitness experiences. Also, learn what good marketing and bad marketing means in our industry. Don't loose hindsight of the original principles behind marketing.

Marketing is not just advertising, it is everything you do.

Thank you Alan for bring such insightful thoughts to our listeners!

For episode 60 we catch up with CEO of Discover Strength, Luke Carlson. We were honored with his time at ChinaFIT and look forward to the future connections with such young talented man.

Listen in as we discuss the Chinese market and the technology implementations Luke uses at Discover Strength.

We thank Luke for his time and appreciate his insights.

On today's episode, we talk IHRSA 2018 and share Bryan K. O'Rourke's presentation from last year's presentation, "Poised for Expansion. The Future of the Fitness Industry."

Listen in as as Bryan discusses key trends that are impacting the industry and laying the ground work for 300% growth in the near future for the industry space. Consumer trends, technology trends, economic trends and globalism and how these things will converge to create a much larger market place then today.

The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) is the fitness industry's only global trade association. IHRSA represents over 10,000 for profit health and fitness facilities and over 650 supplier companies in 71 countries. IHRSA's mission is to grow, protect and promote the health and fitness industry, and to provide its members with benefits that will help them be more successful.

The IHRSA 2018 Convention & Trade Show will be held in San Diego, CA, March 21-14, 2018. You can find out more at https://www.ihrsa.org/

For episode 58 we catch up with CEO of Anytime Fitness, Chuck Runyon. A great discussion around his recent book titled "Love Work" and how to create a high performance culture within the workforce.

As a leader or influencer, we are looking to help shake our culture to make it the best place, work. Go to work happy, leave work gratified.

"You should never have to miss life's most important moments."

Ask yourself, do you know what your employee value proposition is? Learn how to create and implement this value prop by listen to this episode with our dear friend, Chuck Runyon.

For episode 57 we're exploring the dynamic world of sports science at the crossroads of technology with Emmy award-winning writer and the author of "Unplugged," Phil White.

In this podcast we're talking about the connections between mindfulness and technology when it comes to breathing, eating, moving, sleeping, and exercising including the relationship of health club and fitness facilities and devices.

We also learn from Phil about the importance of what he calls having a "white belt mentality" when it comes to both fitness and technology, and why he believes that technology's best use case in fitness is to identify a movement fault that is potentially harmful to a client, know what the correct solution is, and to have the client implement that solution.

For successful coaches and trainers, we uncover why fitness technology must only be a tool in a professional's toolbox to help inform, educate, and increase self-awareness to get a client to a place where they are actually independent and no longer need that technology.

When it comes to sports science being fueled by technology, what are the real game changers and the most important aspects of consciously applied devices and software to truly support and uplift the human inside and outside the club?

The answer to that question and much more takeaways for club owners, operators, and fitness pros in this episode with Phil white.

About The Book: Unplugged: Evolve from Technology to Upgrade Your Fitness, Performance, & Consciousness

In the first quarter of 2016, Americans bought 19.7 million fitness wearables, an increase of 67 percent over the previous year. By 2020, the global market for fitness-focused apps and devices is expected to grow to $30 billion. This means that more than ever, we're looking at our wrists not only to check the time, but also to see how much we've moved, monitor our heart rate, and see how we're stacking up against yesterday's tallies.

As a result of our fitness tech addiction, we've lost awareness of what we're doing, how we're feeling, and what's going on around us. This is bad enough in the gym, but when we get outside, the constant checking of a tiny screen truly wreaks havoc, downgrading what should be a rich experience into yet another task we need to complete to meet our daily goals. And if we fall short, we feel inadequate. There's also the issue of data inaccuracy, with many device makers now admitting that their gadgets provide only estimates. So why do we continue to obsess over data and treat it as gospel truth?

It's time to stop, take a breath, and hit the reset button in a big way. Unplugged provides a blueprint for using technology to meet your health and performance goals in a much smarter way, while reconnecting to your instincts and the natural world. In addition to sharing the performance expertise of Brian Mackenzie and the scientific insight of Dr. Andy Galpin, Unplugged features exclusive stories and advice from elite athletes and world-renowned experts like Laird Hamilton, Tim Ferriss, Kai Lenny, Kelly Starrett, Steven Kotler, Erin Cafaro, Lenny Wiersma, Dr. Frank Merritt, and Brandon Rager.

Phil White is an Emmy-nominated writer who frequently contributes to The Inertia, SUP the Mag and Canoe & Kayak. He is the co-author, with Dr. Kelly Starrett, of the forthcoming books Flight Plan and Waterman 2.0, and is also collaborating on Game Changer with University of Michigan football performance director Dr. Fergus Connolly and Bridging the Gap with Sue Falsone, the first female athletic head trainer in Major League sports. His other books include Whistle Stop, which Larry King said, "I can't put down," and Our Supreme Task, which The Times Literary Supplement called "Illuminating."

As the rewards for winning have increased, it's no surprise that sports team budgets have followed suit. Sure, the athletic program at the University of Texas brought in $161 million last year, but the Longhorns also spent $154 million over the same period. Fifteen other college athletics program also racked up over $100 million in annual expenses. But that's child's play compared to the outgoings at the world's most valuable soccer team, Manchester United, which spent more than $500 million in 2015. The trouble is that all this spending often fails to yield better results. Teams in all sports have tried just about every gimmick to "hack" their way to better performance. But as they've gotten stuck in stats, mired in backroom politics, and diverted by the facilities arms race, many have lost sight of what should've been their primary focus all along: the game itself. In Game Changer, Fergus Connolly shows how to improve performance with evidence-based analysis and athlete-focused training. Through his unprecedented experiences with teams in professional football, basketball, rugby, soccer, Aussie Rules, and Gaelic football, as well as with elite military units, Connolly has discovered how to break down the common elements in all sports to their basic components so that each moment of any game can be better analyzed, whether you're a player or a coach. The lessons of game day then can be used to create valuable learning experiences in training, evaluate the quality of your team's performance, and home in on what's working and what isn't. Game Changer also shows you how to expand training focus from players' physical qualities to also advance athletes technically, tactically, and psychologically. His TTPP Model not only helps players continually progress but also stops treating them like a disposable commodity and instead prioritizes athlete health.

• Why Phil partnered with Coach Fergus Connolly to write Game Changer
• Why when it comes to fitness technology Phil believes that for bio hacking or any "hacks" are only a short-term solution and are not sustainable for a life of health
• Understanding the white belt mentality: being humble in your service and growth in a career
• Training: RPE rate of perceived exertion vs. MEPS or HRV
• Why Phil believes one of the most important coaching aspects for trainers is to stop trying to reduce everything to the physical
• Exploring the Technical, Tactical, Psychological and Physical aspects of Game Changer
• Quantitative vs. Contextual when we view the lens of fitness technology
• The Six Laws of Winning:
  • The Law of Knowledge
  • The law of Human Superiority
  • The Law of Intensity & Quality
  • The Law of Individualization
  • The Law of Preparation
  • The Law of Support
• Actionable steps for club owners, operators, and fitness professionals around technology and members
• The role of emotional intelligence in the age of exponential technology
• Going back to the basics: eating, moving, breathing, sleeping, human connection with specialized training
• Why successful fitness trainers and clubs will encapsulate technology into a wellness ecosystem rather than just being fitness specific
• What Phil beliefs about college athletics that transferred to the fitness industry in both monetary concern and client care
• Parting guidance for owners and operators in 2018

• Emotional intelligence is becoming a more valuable skill set every day in a world of fitness technology and a growing dependency that some coaches may fall into with too much of a focus on the actual device, rather than cuing their client for movement and behavior. Phil believes that with the right amount of mindfulness, fitness pros and coaches can use fitness tech as a tool for cueing, learning, and sensing instead of as a taskmaster that stresses them out.
• Understanding the six laws of winning in the fitness industry and in athletics, when we look at the segment of human superiority, Phil believes that fitness and coaching has always been and will continue to always be a truly shoulder to shoulder personal endeavor. While technology can support behaviors virtually along with concierge coaching, the most important part of your facility's approach for the client entering a relationship with a trainer to be a win is that there must be a focus on human superiority in contrast to technology.
• Phil believes that we all must "major in the majors" in order for health club members and personal training clients to achieve the real transformation their paying for. The law of individualization states that highly effective winners can't be mass-produced in a short training cycle, and in that same regard, no matter where our industry rides the wave of exponential tech in 2018, what's most important is that we always remember the basics of eating, moving, sleeping, breathing, and human connection. These must be uplifted by the tech we use, and in this world of distraction the fitness industry has an incredible responsibility on its shoulders: to give our millions of members worldwide a trusted space to practice those basics and never forget no matter how much technology grows to keep the human as the master rather than the servant.

"It's not enough to have quantitative analysis through a fitness device unless you are putting it into a behavioral and environmental context." - Phil White on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Technology's best use case in fitness is to identify a movement fault that is potentially harmful to a client, know what the correct solution is, and then have the client implement that solution. For best success, you use fitness technology only as a tool in your toolbox to help inform, educate, and increase self-awareness to get your client to a place where they are independent and no longer need that technology." - Phil White on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• Become a Member of FIT-C
• Game Changer Book
• Athlete Unplugged
• Phil White on Facebook
• Phil White books
• Phil White on Twitter
• Unplugged Book
• Sport Illustrated Article: Does Investing in Sports Science Actually Result in More Wins?
• Crossfit
• OURA Ring
• Fitbit
• Coaches Eye
• Andy Galpin
• Brett Jones Fitness
• Cal State Fullerton
• Pavel: Simple & Sinister
• Brain Mackenzie
• SEALFIT Breathwork
• Wim Hof
• Steven Kotler
• Jamie Wheal
• Stealing Fire Book
• The Rise of Superman
• Dom D'agostino
• Precision Nutrition
• Kelly Starrett: Supple Leopard
• Chris Winters: Sleep book

• Bryan O'Rourke and his family of companies including Vedere Ventures, Integerus Advisors, and many more. If you are looking for unmatched guidance, capital, insights or a great speaker or facilitator, Bryan and his partners are the go to resource for your organization. To learn more visit bryankorourke.com
• The Fitness Industry Technology Council, your non-profit resource for reliable technology information supported by forward looking brands who are seeking to drive increased technology adoption in the fitness industry. Make a difference and join FIT-C at fittechcouncil.org today
• Check out Bryan and his partner Robert Dyer's recent book "9 Partnership Principles: A Story of Life Lessons" which is available now on Amazon.com

• Contact the Fitness Industry Technology Council to become a Podcast Sponsor
• Review our various options for Sponsorship
• Send us a Facebook Message

For episode 56, where learning and growing from the CTO of FitMetrix, Josh Lloyd about using technology for the member to win. This is something that we explore quite a bit on the show, but this is a deeper discussion where we are learning from Josh about the strategy and tools that will connect the sometimes disparate technology silos inside and outside the club to help bring them back together.

In this podcast we're talking about not only how to use technology to enhance and uplevel the customer experience but also how to incentivize healthy living through data points collected via gamification and that relationship to smart push notifications sent to members.

FitMetrix was founded in 2013 to solve a need around group training but has now evolved to a more robust platform that does much more by bringing in best practices from outside the fitness industry: FitMetrix has significant technical experience and believes customer service is the most critical path to success.

With technology racing ahead faster than ever before what are the smart data sets that club owners and operators can piece together in a tracking solution designed to increase member retention while giving clients better results?

The answer to that question and much more takeaways for club owners, operators, and fitness pros in this episode with Josh Lloyd.

Josh Lloyd is the co-founder and CTO of FitMetrix, which provides state of the art technology to gyms and health clubs to give members the ability to schedule, train and receive real-time tracking of effort and performance through a facility's website or customizable app.

FitMetrix has partnered with hundreds of gyms across the nation, including Life Time Fitness, Gold's Gym, Cycle Bar, Cooper Institute, US Fitness and more. Prior to co-founding FitMetrix, Josh was the co-founder and visionary of ShopVisible LLC, which provided business owners with smart technology that combined solutions for customer service, back office, inventory, marketing, accounting and IT into one SEO friendly tool. Due to the success of ShopVisible, Josh was ranked as one of Atlanta Business Leaders' Top 25 Entrepreneurs in Atlanta in 2012. Prior to ShopVisible, Josh was the Director of Research and Development for CareMedic Systems Inc., as well as Omega Systems Inc.

Josh has a bachelor's degree in business from Florida Atlantic University and has 20 years of experience in professional software development.

• Why Josh left the automotive industry to retail and now fitness
• How key data from treadmills, ellipticals, rowers, and other cardio pieces can be used to tailor the member experience by tying them into a deeply functional tracking solution
• Why getting the information from the members exercise sessions while in the club is a powerful proactive fitness facilities
• How to use leaderboards to drive member journey in class settings
• How to use smart activity data that ties into the long tail of a member's journey
• How proactive fitness facilities and health clubs are creating an ecosystem that contains brand evangelists
• How a brand can bring value to a member even when they aren't in the 4 walls of the club
• The role of wearables and insurance companies in big health data and how facilities can explore a win-win
• Why Josh believes that this is the most exciting time to be in the fitness industry
• Understanding "Emotional Resistance" – why people do things to sabotage their success in reaching fitness goals
• Why FitMetrix partnered with Perkville to engage more members in 2018
• Actionable steps for club owners, operators, and fitness professionals around technology and members

• The merging of the inside club data and outside club data is more important in 2018 than before. Josh believes that smart aggregate data from treadmills, ellipticals, rowers, and other cardio pieces can be used to tailor the member experience by tying them into a deeply functional tracking solution. By getting the information from the member's exercise sessions while in the club, proactive fitness facilities can now reach more of an emotional context for motivation by delivering detailed and actionable incentives to members.
• Josh speaks to the power of using leaderboards to drive more members to a successful health journey. At the end of the day when the technology is not there, you're self-regulating. When a member's stats are up on a leaderboard at the same time of the people next to them, they are going to push themselves harder, and everyone's going to push themselves harder, which creates a more dynamic class experience that they'll tell their friends about.
• When we view the power of wearables and creating a true ecosystem that is built for the member to win, clubs that partner with insurance companies and medical fitness organizations will now start to rise above their competitors as we look towards 2018 with more tools, technology, and the need for programs that reward people at their deepest needs.

"What we must ask as an industry is what can we be doing outside of just booking a class, outside of what is just happening in the studio, but also what are the other opportunities we can use to engage with the member?" - Josh Lloyd on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"At the end of the day when the technology is not there, you're self-regulating. When you're up on a leaderboard at the same time of the people next you, you're going to push yourself harder, everyone's going to push themselves harder." - Josh Lloyd on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• Josh Lloyd on LinkedIn
• Become a Member of FIT-C
• FitMetrix on the web
• FitMetrix on Twitter
• Fitmetrix on facebook
• Fitmetrix partners
• ABC Financial
• Club Ready
• Emotional Resistance – why people do things to sabotage their success in reaching fitness goals
• Outside Online - The Surprising Ways Your Fitness Data Is Really Being Used
• 054 Sunil Saha: Fitness Loyalty Programs For Revenue & Engagement
• 042 Josh Cherry: The Future of Fitness Gamification
• 049 Michael Wood: Fitness Devices, Data, & Ecosystems
• Josh Lloyd - Developing The Future Of Fitness
• 053 Nir Eyal: Consumer Behavior & Creating Habit Forming Products
• John Hancock Wearables Program - Vitality Points

• Bryan O'Rourke and his family of companies including Vedere Ventures, Integerus Advisors, and many more. If you are looking for unmatched guidance, capital, insights or a great speaker or facilitator, Bryan and his partners are the go to resource for your organization. To learn more visit bryankorourke.com
• The Fitness Industry Technology Council, your non-profit resource for reliable technology information supported by forward looking brands who are seeking to drive increased technology adoption in the fitness industry. Make a difference and join FIT-C at fittechcouncil.org today
• Check out Bryan and his partner Robert Dyer's recent book "9 Partnership Principles: A Story of Life Lessons" which is available now on Amazon.com

• Contact the Fitness Industry Technology Council to become a Podcast Sponsor
• Review our various options for Sponsorship
• Send us a Facebook Message

On episode 055, get ready for a compelling and insightful conversation live from Titleist Performance Institute in San Diego, CA with its Co-Founder Dr. Greg Rose, a pioneer in 3-dimensional biomechanics, strength and conditioning, and expert in fitness technology.

In this podcast we're taking a deep dive into the success of TPI and it's impact on the fitness industry as a whole. If you are a fitness pro or operator that has been curious about using technology, apps, and movement screens to deliver better results to your clients and revenue to the club, you're going to enjoy this thought-provoking show.

Through the past 17 years, Greg has helped thousands of golfers of all skill levels reach peak athletic performance. His cutting edge yet research-based form of functional training combined with golf-specific motor learning drills have made Greg one of golf's top strength and conditioning professionals.

Greg has also been an integral component in the creation of the "Jugamos Todos" program developed by TPI Sports, working in conjunction with the Mexican Ministries of Health and Education, along with the support of the Mexican Football Federation by launching this Physical Education Program deployed across the country's elementary schools to create a sports movement based program, as one of the foundations for thier official FEMEXFUT app-based Youth Pathway.

What new technology can fitness pros and operators begin to harness that support low-cost movement screening, help fight childhood obesity, and deliver more ROI to clubs?

The answer to that question and much more takeaways for club owners, operators, and fitness pros in this episode with Dr. Greg Rose.

Greg is a board certified Doctor of Chiropractic and holds an engineering degree from the University of Maryland. Greg specializes in assessing and treating golfers, 3-dimensional biomechanics, strength and conditioning, manual therapy, rehabilitation, nutritional supplementation and therapeutic exercises. Combining an engineering background with an expertise on the human body, Greg helped pioneer the field of analyzing 3-dimensional motion capture models of the golf swing. That research has helped golf professionals all over the world gain a better understanding of how the body works during the golf swing.

Through the past 17 years, Greg has helped thousands of golfers of all skill levels reach peak athletic performance. His cutting edge yet research-based form of functional training combined with golf-specific motor learning drills have made Greg one of golf's top strength and conditioning professionals.

Greg also helped develop the Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA), a revolutionary movement assessment that helps identify altered motor control and guides medical practitioners on how to treat patients more efficiently. Greg frequently appears on the Golf Channel. The TPI certification seminar series has made Greg one of the most requested speakers in golf health and fitness. He has lectured in over 21 countries and has been featured in many golf and news publications.

• How an early engineering job working on a golf course led him to be one of the first (if not the 1st) specicliazed golf chiropractors in the United States
• What impact Titleist Performance Institute is creating in the fitness, golf, and technology worlds
• How Greg became an early pioneer in 3D Motion Capture technology
• Understanding the major comments and types of 3D Motion Capture:
  • Video
  • Infrared
  • Electromagnetic
  • Inertial sensors
• The power of performing a physical screening under 3D motion capture for athletes and fitness clients
• Why the use of force and pressure tools in motion capture is so beneficial to the coach
• Why Greg believes that nutrition is more powerful than working out
• Understanding the layers of longterm behavior change: the "elephant" in the room
• How sugar is as addicting to the brain as heroin for both adults and children
• Why TPI will be creating a Health & Fitness Certification for the USPTA in 2018
• How TPI is creating positive health impact in Mexico to combat child obesity
• Greg's 3 pillars of success in the fitness industry:
  • Be the best at what you do
  • Get results
  • Create your community
• Why Greg has learned that when it comes to clients having longterm success, look at movement patterns first
• Uncovering the 1-1 vs. group training paradigm: Why people work harder in groups and stay longer
• Actionable takeaways for facilities looking to begin implementing new technologies for fitness staff
• 2018 trends and developments around the industry and globally

• When we understand the next level of results-driven fitness technology, diagnostics are everything. Greg shared in our podcast that screening with the right technology first and programming second will create optimal results and the help to support the best movement patterns. There any many technology apps, devices, and ways to screen an athlete in both golf and general fitness out there, and exercise prescription and periodization should only come after effectively screening the athlete or the client.
• Greg believes that over the next several years we will see a unique way to tailor exercise programs to the client through a kiosk that screens for movement in our big box clubs. With the exponential growth of fitness technology, the screening capability and quality assessment tools will become even less expensive and ubiquitous in the industry which will lead to an increase in personal training packages and member engagement.
• With youth obesity of an all time high, Greg sees technology as one of the causes of the problem and also simultaneously the solution. The specialized app created to help Mexico youth is just a first step on the path to using technology as a powerful tool to move the needle back to health. We are becoming more clear everyday about the fact that in the age of a technology revolution, its really hard to get kids to move, so if we want to win the battle against childhood obesity, we must use smart technology to do so.

"You must realize that when it comes to behavior change pshycology and losing weight, there are two parts of you: the rational and the emotional. Your logical brain understands that you need to lose weight, but your emotional being must also be convinced." - Dr. Greg Rose on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"I think that most wearables are stuck in logic." - Dr. Greg Rose on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"In the age of technology revolution, its really hard to get kids to move, so if we want to win the battle against childhood obesity, we must use smart technology to do so." - Dr. Greg Rose on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• TPI on facebook
• TPI on Twitter
• TPI on Instagram
• TPI on YouTube
• TPI on the web
• Dr. Greg Rose - My TPI
• Dr. Greg Rose on LinkedIn
• 3D Motion Capture Methods
• FTP #049 Michael Wood: Fitness Devices, Data, & Ecosystems
• NASM BCS Course
• Gamification
• Pokemon GO
• HRV: The Mother of All Biomarkers
• MIT Sports Conference
• eSports
• Mexican Football Federation Youth Pathway App
• FMS: Functional Movement Systems
• FIFA Malaria Campaign
• Mexico Youth Soccer

• Bryan O'Rourke and his family of companies including Vedere Ventures, Integerus Advisors, and many more. If you are looking for unmatched guidance, capital, insights or a great speaker or facilitator, Bryan and his partners are the go to resource for your organization. To learn more visit bryankorourke.com
• The Fitness Industry Technology Council, your non-profit resource for reliable technology information supported by forward looking brands who are seeking to drive increased technology adoption in the fitness industry. Make a difference and join FIT-C at fittechcouncil.org today
• Check out Bryan and his partner Robert Dyer's recent book "9 Partnership Principles: A Story of Life Lessons" which is available now on Amazon.com

• Contact the Fitness Industry Technology Council to become a Podcast Sponsor
• Review our various options for Sponsorship
• Send us a Facebook Message

New technologies in the fitness space are helping everyone achieve greater results as digital reward programs are making the gym experience more enjoyable for customers and more profitable for owners. In the past, running a loyalty program was fairly expensive and required a great deal of manual effort. Now there are automated tools available and tailored to the fitness space that allow members to track progress, use points, and interact with the club, all without the need for additional staff to facilitate the process.

This episode is for club owners, operators, and fitness professionals to explore the impact of how digital reward programs can be used to drive engagement, increase spend-per-member, and improve customer retention.

For episode 054 we're joined by Sunil Saha, the Co-Founder and CEO of Perkville, a company offering custom automated loyalty programs in minutes that is revolutionizing how businesses motivate their customers to help them grow.

Sunil also discusses how fitness management systems are investing heavily in their API's and mobile platforms which is opening up the ecosystems for new players to come in and have an incredible impact on engagement and member experience in the health club industry.

With the plethora of technologies at our disposal to increase customer loyalty, how can we use these digital platforms and automated services to enhance the member experience and reduce monthly attrition?

The answer to that question and much more takeaways for club owners, operators, and fitness pros in this episode with Sunil Saha.

Sunil Saha is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pervkille, a company offering custom automated loyalty programs in minutes that is revolutionizing how businesses motivate their customers to help them grow.

Sunil has been working in technology for over 15 years since graduating with a BA in Human Biology from Stanford and enjoys working in teams to build things that the fitness industry needs in the era of exponential technology, including product management, internet services, healthcare, small business marketing, and more.

• The customer loyalty trends that Sunil believes will impact the fitness space in 2018
• How mobile platforms are allowing companies to digitize their loyalty programs
• The ways technology is impacting the member experience in small and large facilities
• How to measure the effectiveness of our customer loyalty programs
• Why larger facilities should focus on driving down their monthly attrition rates
• How facilities can use A/B Testing to increase referrals and optimize landing pages
• Strategies for facilities that sell monthly packages to increase their Repeat Customer Rate
• Striking the right balance on spending enough to keep members engaged without breaking the bank
• How facilities can generate customer loyalty by exceeding their member's expectations
• Why new members need to receive meaningful rewards within 3 to 6 months of joining
• How to create customer advocates who will share their experience on social media and help leverage powerful word-of-mouth advertising
• How to identify the activities and rewards that are compelling for your members
• The split testing techniques that Sunil used at LinkedIn
• How to use rewards to gain information by enticing members to fill out surveys
• Why engagement increases 30-50% when staff members are properly trained to talk about the program
• How Perkville is experimenting with machine learning to identify members who may stop coming to the club
• Additional technologies that are impacting customer loyalty in the fitness verticle
• How to create loyal customers by using tech to respond to member issues

• Exceeding member expectations is a critical piece for any facility who wants to increase customer retention. Sunil recommends implementing loyalty programs shortly after a member joins and allowing them to start seeing rewards within the first 3 to 6 months. This can act as a successful differentiator for your facility and quickly create a loyal and engaged customer. Along with creating this up-front value, it's also necessary to show member's their progress along the way to keep them motivated as they work towards their goals.
• Leadership from the top down regarding loyalty programs through educating staff is paramount. If a loyalty program is going to be successful, it's necessary to share, communicate, and properly disseminate within the club. Sunil has seen a 30-50% increase in engagement when staff members are properly trained to talk about the value of loyalty programs.
• It's important that club's find a good balance between their marketing efforts and their spending. What Perkville helps clubs figure out is how to spend enough to reward and keep members involved without breaking the bank. Facilities must identify the rewards that are compelling enough for their members, while also setting points at the right values on the earning and the redemption side. When the club sets the points at the right values, they increase the chance of having a meaningful and cost-effective program, which at the end of the day means more members seeing their health goals come to fruition.

"Being able to test is key to understanding how your marketing programs are performing." - Sunil Saha on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"If you structure your membership program incorrectly, it will either cost you too much money or fail to have an impact on your business." - Sunil Saha on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Quickly responding to customer feedback is one of the fastest ways you can build customer advocacy." - Sunil Saha on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• Sunil Saha
• Perkville: Rewards and Loyalty
• ABC Financial
• Jonas Fitness
• Mind Body
• Club OS
• InTouch CRM
• Listen360
• Medallia
• MyZone
• FitMetrix
• Linkedin
• Yahoo
• The Peanut Butter Manifesto
• GymSales

• Bryan O'Rourke and his family of companies including Vedere Ventures, Integerus Advisors, and many more. If you are looking for unmatched guidance, capital, insights or a great speaker or facilitator, Bryan and his partners are the go to resource for your organization. To learn more visit bryankorourke.com
• The Fitness Industry Technology Council, your non-profit resource for reliable technology information supported by forward looking brands who are seeking to drive increased technology adoption in the fitness industry. Make a difference and join FIT-C at fittechcouncil.org today
• Check out Bryan and his partner Robert Dyer's recent book "9 Partnership Principles: A Story of Life Lessons" which is available now on Amazon.com

• Contact the Fitness Industry Technology Council to become a Podcast Sponsor
• Review our various options for Sponsorship
• Send us a Facebook Message

For episode 053, we're joined by best selling author, speaker, and behavior change expert Nir Eyal, as he shares the powerful insights and strategies that companies inside and outside the fitness industry use to create engaging products and foster repeat clientele.

Today on the show, we navigate the intersection of psychology, technology, and business, as Nir provides a comprehensive approach for using modern technology to build habit-forming products and how to apply these techniques to the wellness and fitness world.

We dive into the psychological principles that lead to habit change with Eyal's "Hook" model, which involves four main steps: trigger, action, variable reward, and investment. He explains the value of understanding these different stages, and how building around your user's' own internal drivers will help to create an emotionally rewarding experience and keep customers coming back for more.

With all the advances in our modern world, how can club owners and fitness pros combine new technologies and these habit-forming principles to make a profound impact on health, create loyal fans, and increase member retention?

The answer to that question and much more takeaways for club owners, operators, and fitness pros in this episode with Nir Eyal.

Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. The M.I.T. Technology Review dubbed Nir, "The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology."

Nir founded two tech companies since 2003 and has taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. He is the author of the bestselling book, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.In addition to blogging at NirAndFar.com, Nir's writing has been featured in The Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, and Psychology Today.

Nir is also an active investor in habit-forming technologies. Some of his past investments include: Refresh.io (acquired by LinkedIn), Worklife (acquired by Cisco), Eventbrite, Product Hunt, Marco Polo, Presence Learning, 7 Cups, Pana, Kahoot!, Byte Foods, Anchor.fm, and Symphony Commerce. Nir attended The Stanford Graduate School of Business and Emory University.

• Behavior design principles that can build healthy habits into our wellness routine
• The crucial difference between forming habits and developing addictions
• How to maintain our ethics when manipulating the habits and behaviors of the consumer
• How gym's can use tech to create sustainable and healthy behavior change for their members
• The basic tenants of products and services that lead to habit formation
• How facilities can minimize advertising costs by increasing member retention
• Understanding our "present bias" nature how to speed up reward systems
• How to create present moment rewards that hook people into healthy behaviors
• Why simplicity is key for creating sustainable behavior change
• How clubs can use client's biometrics and activity data to create a virtual coaching experience
• How we can leverage "tribe effect" and "social contagion" to steer our actions
• Communication tools that to add accountability and build engaged communities
• How to identify the needs of your target consumer and deliver on your promises
• The "Hook Model", a basic framework of the 4 key stages:
  • Trigger: How does the loop initiate? In the beginning, this may be through external triggers (such as an email, notification, icon badge, etc) but through successive loops, the user eventually creates internal triggers where a particular thought or emotion will send them back to your product.
  • Action: Once the user is aware they need to use your product (through the trigger), what it the simplest action they can perform to get some kind of reward. For example, a Facebook "Like".
  • Variable reward: How are they rewarded for this behavior? This could be social validation (e.g. "my friends approve!"), collection of material resources (e.g. add a photo to a collection) or personal gratification (e.g. inbox zero). The "variable" part is important - rewards should not always be predictable, encouraging users to repeat the cycle.
  • Investment: Finally, the user needs to put something back in to increase the chance of repeating the loop. This could be content (e.g. a book in your Kindle), user entered data (e.g. profile information or linked accounts), reputation (e.g. something to gain a 5 star seller review), or a learned skill (e.g. I'm now really good at this software program). The investment also sets up the trigger to for the next cycle of the loop.

• It's more profitable for clubs to keep their existing members than to acquire new ones. Gym owners must not fall into the mentality that losing customers each year is simply par for the course and that all they have to do is keep advertising to bring in new business. Nir recommends placing a heavy emphasis on using tech that will engage the member and keep them coming back so businesses save on costly advertising and avoid aggressive marketing campaigns.
• Nir reminds us that we have to understand that human behavior is symptomatic of what's known as "present bias." This tendency proves the importance of creating an immediate reward system to hook our customers and bring the gratification from their actions closer to the present moment. Using exciting new tech and social contagion can help create better exercise habits in members by adding more enjoyment to the workout experience.
• With the exciting advances in technology, it's important to develop a truly ethical framework for "hooking" people through psychological manipulation. Some of the technologies we see today drive addiction with little regard for the detrimental impact on the consumer's health, but Nir believes if we keep wellness at the forefront of our product creation and tech implementation we will be successful in building healthy habits to enhance the lives of our consumers.

"Wherever new technologies suddenly make a behavior easier, new possibilities are born ." - Nir Eyal on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"The big problem with humans is that we have a "present-bias" and don't assess the future consequences of our behaviors. We can change our actions by using technologies to bring the rewards closer to the present moment with the long-term goal of getting people to enjoy these behaviors." - Nir Eyal on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"There are only three ways to capture your competition's users' habits. Either make the reward more fulfilling, send users through the hook faster, or cycle through the hook more frequently." - Nir Eyal on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• Amazon: Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
• Kindle: Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
• Audible: Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
• Nir's Blog
• The Hook Model
• The Four by Scott Galloway
• 023 The Truth About Health Clubs & Behavior Change - Jan Middelkamp
• 048 Bryan O'Rourke: The Latest In Betterment Technology 2017
• Google
• Facebook
• Apple
• Amazon
• Alexa
• WhatsApp
• Get Fit Over 40
• Gym Hero Pro
• Fitbit
• Dexcom

• Bryan O'Rourke and his family of companies including Vedere Ventures, Integerus Advisors, and many more. If you are looking for unmatched guidance, capital, insights or a great speaker or facilitator, Bryan and his partners are the go to resource for your organization. To learn more visit bryankorourke.com
• The Fitness Industry Technology Council, your non-profit resource for reliable technology information supported by forward-looking brands who are seeking to drive increased technology adoption in the fitness industry. Make a difference and join FIT-C at fittechcouncil.org today
• Check out Bryan and his partner Robert Dyer's recent book "9 Partnership Principles: A Story of Life Lessons" which is available now on Amazon.com

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