Fitness + Technology

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

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

For Episode 052 we're joined by Simon Hall, Principal Consultant at Fitness Business Experts and the General Manager of MYPT App, to show us the strategies needed to leverage technology and social media for generating leads, creating an engaging community experience, and increasing customer retention.

Even in our fast-paced digital world, we still see a serious lag in the adoption of social strategies and new technologies with many of today's clubs and personal trainers. This failure to take advantage of social platforms and new advancements in the fitness space will cause many facilities to suffer as others begin to offer a more exciting and emotionally engaging experience.

Coming up, Simon breaks down the concept of creating a "Club-Within-A-Club." With the recent success of studio and boutique training centers, he shows how larger gyms can create a similar appeal within their existing facilities by transforming the experience around exercise classes. We talk about how many forward thinking club's now have specific ecosystems for their group training programs through using new technologies, upbeat music, and specialized branding.

These features add a custom feel for the members and fosters a community around these segments of the gym that provide their own unique atmosphere apart from the main facility.

We also talk about the shocking statistics of members who aren't aware their gyms are even on Facebook. Simon explains the importance of having someone to be the technology "Champion" in the club, who takes charge of social media interaction, and leads the digital front for customer retention.

It's one thing to have the technology, but implementing and bringing it to the consumer in a seamless way calls for someone who is tech-savvy, enjoys creating content and posting on social platforms, and has a true passion for building a trusted bridge between their customers and technology.

With the high level of competition and rising consumer expectations in our industry, how can clubs and fitness professionals take advantage of new technologies and social platforms to offer a unique experience, build an engaged community, and increase member retention?

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

From hotel health club receptionist to respected industry consultant, Simon has held key roles: General Manager of Fitness & Marketing for the New Zealand YMCA, Manager of the Australian & New Zealand Fitness Industry Survey, consultant to many leading independent and popular fitness club chains. He was also Chairman / board member of Fitness New Zealand.

As Principle Consultant at Fitness Business Experts, he assisted all types of fitness businesses and operations to manage their business, improving operational efficiency, setting and managing marketing strategy, membership sales processes and training and anything to improve their bottom line.

Simon is also the General Manager of MYPT App, a mobile app development company. MYPT has created a Personal Training management platform for trainers to manage all aspect of their business from lead generation to accounts tools and client management.

Along with his proven insights on fostering a deep connection between clubs and their members, Simon is also revolutionizing how personal trainers manage their business with MYPT App. This incredible lead generation tool is opening the door to hundreds of new potential clients for qualified fitness professionals in their local areas, as well as offering the payment and accounting systems that trouble so many small business owners.

• How MYPT App is helping fitness professionals manage their business and attract new leads
• Simon's volunteer work protecting his local beaches as a Surf Life Saver
• The current digital strategies clubs should implement to increase retention rates
• The power of creating a separate boutique "Club-Within-A-Club" experience inside larger facilities
• Important trends in fitness technology that Simon has noticed over the past 30 years
• How boutique clubs are utilizing new technologies to up-level the customer experience
• Leveraging social media to engage with members, create a community feel, and increase customer retention
• The benefits of sending fitness reports to your members after classes and workouts
• How big-box clubs can implement a uniquely branded, high-engagement group exercise model
• Why the boutique portion of your facility is a good place to begin implementing technology
• The geographical location features of MYPT App that connects clients with qualified local trainers
• Blending technology into the club to keep members motivated, active, and retained
• New combination boutique studios that combine 2 or more offerings such as yoga, spin, boxing, group training, etc.

• Clubs have no choice and now must fully embrace social media as an important tool for customer retention and member engagement. Currently, even though the majority of clubs have Facebook Pages and most their members are on social media, many facilities are failing to leverage these powerful platforms to connect with their customers. Simon recommends simple actions like displaying your social feeds on screens in the lobby and having group trainers casually invite members to engage and tag their gym and workout on social media.
• Many trainers have a difficult time with lead generation and managing the accounting side of their business. If a fitness professional would like to spend more time perfecting their training craft and less time attracting new customers, there are now technologies that can solve this problem. The MYPT App is creating leads by pairing trainers up with local clients in need of their services while also providing calendars, scheduling, reminders, payment processing and so much more.
• Simon shows us the increased potential of fitness technology when combined with a "Champion" in the club who can lead the technology charge. In an era of exponential technology growth, what's most important to fitness professionals and operators is to understand where they are missing opportunities to engage and increase retention by formulating a trusted bridge between their customers and the technology.

"Owners and operators need to place a much higher focus on the two biggest challenges we still face in our industry, customer acquisition and retention." - Simon Hall on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Whether it's for social media or high-end features, clubs need someone to 'Champion' their technology, get people involved, and ensure a smooth integration with members." - Simon Hall on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Clubs who are taking their time to adopt new technologies need to quickly get on board. Consumer expectations are rapidly increasing and businesses who fail to implement new features and foster a community atmosphere though social media will be left behind." - Simon Hall on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• MYPT Website
• MYPT Facebook
• MYPT Instagram
• Simon on LinkedIn
• Simon's Slide Share Presentations
• Fitness Industry Technology Council: Fit-C
• Fitness Business Experts
• Surf Life Saving
• Bru Coffee - Bondi Beach
• YMCA of Sydney
• Australian Fitness Industry Survey Statistics
• Digme Fitness Studios
• Rachel Cosgrove
• Orangetheory Fitness
• Harbour Clubs
• Barry's Bootcamp
• 050 Bryan O'Rourke
• Tim Webster
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• 1Rebel UK
• Flow Athletic
• District Fitness
• Results Fitness

• 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 51 we are joined by Garrett Marshall, Divisional CEO of Fitness On Demand, to discover how digital video programming is helping facilities enhance personalization, take advantage of underutilized space, and provide a greater variety of exercise formats to the consumer.

We're also exploring how to leverage the consumer fitness groundswell in our space. Fitness On Demand™ is a market-leading delivery platform of virtual fitness. Since 2010, their services have allowed facilities around the world to economically deliver premium fitness programs to their users. With programming and services designed to optimize space, streamline operations, and offer unparalleled variety, their services are a perfect addition to fitness facilities, apartment complexes, hotels, and more.

It's been shown that on average, functional training and studio rooms inside of clubs remain vacant 60-70% of the time. These new technologies are allowing facilities to capitalize on this space and provide a new digital experience to their members. Aside from the traditional gym setting, we also see this feature becoming a powerful amenity at resorts, hotels, and health facilities who want to provide their customers with an effective and engaging workout experience 24 hours a day.

With the groundswell of consumer health and fitness awareness on the rise, how can we leverage these cloud hosted technologies to take advantage of underutilized space, reduce operating costs, and provide members with unique and engaging workouts?

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

Garrett Marshall is the Divisional CEO of Fitness On Demand™, a market-leading developer of fitness delivery products for media and programming. Garrett combines a breadth of experience with an industry-specific, laser-focused, career path. Investing himself fully in each opportunity along the way, Garrett has been fortunate to play a role in several successful fitness businesses. His achievements span a variety of employment positions in small and large organizational settings.

In the past, he served as a consultant to the commercial division of Snap Fitness, the Chanhassen, Minnesota-based franchisor of compact, state-of-the-art, 24/7 fitness centers, and as the manager of business development for Fitness on Request, based in North Maple Grove, Minnesota, which also markets video-based group fitness workouts. His first foray into the industry was as a membership sales associate with Life Time Fitness, Inc., a chain of large, full-service clubs based in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

• How on demand fitness programming will apply to the commercial fitness space
• Ways that commercial brands can take advantage of the rising consumer health awareness
• How clubs can utilize technology to minimize the "dead" times in studio and functional training rooms
• The frequency and format preferences that members desire from on-demand fitness training
• Garrett's insights from 15+ years in the fitness & technology space
• His recipe for success when implementing video training into the group exercise setting
• The need for commercial operators to have a digital and mobile strategy
• Fostering connection and the "tribe effect" using digital platforms
• The 28-day on-boarding process that customers receive when implementing Fitness On Demand
• How clubs can reduce costs by using on-demand fitness to replace the live classes and formats they have simply carried over to satiate member demand
• The Fitness On Demand mobile application that gives club members access to their routines and regimens when they can't make it to the gym.
• Knowing when to schedule virtual programming to meet medium-interest times in the day, or when to leave the product open for on-demand to use
• How Fitness On Demand integrates with the Health Kits on Google play and iOS to capture key pieces of vital work out activity when members engage through their mobile application
• Task management systems Garrett recommends for busy professionals
• How Fitness On Demand plugs into non-traditional facilities like resorts and hotels
• Garrett's conviction and purpose that fuels his leadership in the fitness industry
• The top factors that currently appeal to the consumer:
  • Experience, Convenience, Personalization, and Education

• Garrett believes that although it's one of the most engaging amenities, group fitness has also traditionally been one of the largest operating expenses for facilities. To address this issue, Fitness On Demand is uniquely positioned to help the customer add more value with digital video programming by offering added frequency, availability, and a variety of training formats, while at the same time reducing labor costs. Clubs can seek out technologies like Fitness On Demand to offset the expenses of underutilized space and for a digital replacement to live group classes.
• Personalization is one of the top appealing factors we see over and over when researching the behaviors of fitness consumers. In order to personalize products and services, you need to intimately know your target demographic. This requires we understand our customer's behaviors, whether it be a current member or a new prospect. Achieving this comes down to the value of data we collect as club owners and operators, and how we act and execute based on that information.
• In order to effectively integrate and utilize new technologies in the club, there needs to be continuous education for fitness professionals and staff members. It's imperative to take a top-down leadership approach and ensure every level of employee within the club, from management to the trainers and sales staff, knows what the integration of any new technology will achieve, has a complete understanding of why they are doing it, and can easily communicate that to members and new prospects.

"In order to personalize your products and services, you have to intimately know the behaviors and preferences of the target consumer." - Garrett Marshall on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Data collection needs to be at the forefront for all aspects of how the member interacts with the facility." - Garrett Marshall on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"As much as our product is designed to be an on-demand and self-service tool, it's a feature that really requires ongoing implementation; not just installation." - Garrett Marshall on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• Garrett on Linkedin
• Fitness On Demand
• Fitness On Demand Classes
• Fitness On Demand Facebook
• Garrett Marshall: Leveraging the Consumer Fitness Groundswell
• IHRSA Live 2017 - Garrett Marshall
• IDEA World Fitness Convention
• IHRSA
• CES
• 24 Hour Fitness
• Lifetime Fitness
• Wellby®
• Daily Burn
• 039 Shannon Fable: Demystifying Group X With Technology
• Toodledo Productivity App
• Siri

• 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

As we fast-approach the one year anniversary next month for the fitness + technology podcast, today we're guided through some of 2017's most critical insights at the bleeding edge of trends and forecasts in our industry with the president of the Fitness Industry Technology Council, Bryan O'Rourke.

In this special 50th episode, we cover so much ground and discuss the pivotal fitness and wellness devices for the cloud so that our club operators, owners, and trainers can embrace the meaningful technologies and avoid falling behind the competition. We learn from Bryan about his take on the the way our 3 basic models in the commercial fitness space are being disrupted, how technology makes you the CEO of your own health, why more people die today from overeating than from famine, and the social and economic forces at play that have a direct impact on how all of us will do business in fitness in 2018 and beyond.

If you've been listening to the show for a while and have received value from one or many of our expert guests, simply leave us a five star review for the podcast. Your voice helps the show reach more leaders and savvy fitness-tech minded professionals like you find the show, and gives our industry what it needs most right now: the credible, trustable, and tactical information to thrive in this digital era.

Over the past 50 shows, we've made a big focus on simplifying a sometimes cumbersome job of finding the reliable and detailed information about the trends occurring in the industry so your business can make informed technology decisions, and in this powerful conversation, we also uncover with Bryan how the rising level of consumer expectation will impact the need for club owners and operators to both embrace and implement the key technologies that will make a difference.

With legacy technology systems in the United States driving risk aversion and slowing technology adoption in the fitness industry, what can we do as a fitness technology community to close the gap and serve more clients than ever before?

The answer to that question and much more takeaways for club owners, operators, and fitness pros in this episode with Bryan O'Rourke.

Bryan O'Rourke is an experienced CEO, strategist, investor and advisor who helps organizations and professionals realize their full potential and solve their biggest challenges.

With a track record of building teams and growing global brands, his network of associates and partners have served organizations large and small. His present focus is on fitness, wellness, health clubs, technology, innovation, finance, marketing and business development, but his expertise and consultancy extends to a number of disciplines and industries. As an executive and owner in multiple companies he is also President of the non-profit Fitness Industry Technology Council, driving innovation and collaboration the fitness space.

He is considered a leading expert on technology, consumer and business trends and his views have been published in periodicals like the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Inc. Magazine, CBI and many others. IHRSA named him one of 13 to watch in 2013. Bryan has contributed to two significant books on Innovation in the fitness sector. He delivers engaging customized keynotes and strategic working sessions and is a highly sought after speaker and facilitator who has delivered his message at industry conferences and organizational events on four continents.

• How technology makes you the CEOP of your own health
• How to use the tools and resources from the Fitness + Technology show to accelerate your businesses and career
• Bryan's favorite interviews and insights from the past 50+ episodes
• Blending the human aspect with technology to create an all-inclusive health, wellness, and training experience
• How to find reliable and detailed information about the trends occurring in the industry so that businesses can make informed technology decisions
• The gap between what's happening in the marketplace and how business owners are choosing to operate
• The large number of businesses that don't have a reliable resource or means to analyze the data they collect
• Connecting the dots between credible data and creating long-term behaviors changes for club members
• The growth and collaboration we see with medical components and our health and fitness routines
• How the CTA and Wellness Subcommittee are creating important standardizations for tracking and using data
• The technology that may lead to a "dream dashboard" that will include activity and biosignature data
• Why the U.S. is lagging in technological adoption compared to many Asian countries and the protocols that might help close the gap
• How Apple's iOS 11 updates will allow for a more seamless club ecosystem
• The need for club owners to embrace current technologies so they don't fall behind the competition
• How the Fitness Industry Technology Council is supporting and mentoring new businesses and entrepreneurs
• The ways that machine learning and AI may affect the health and fitness industries
• The 3 basic models we see in the commercial fitness space
  • Membership
    • This model is about selling first and lacks a focus and emphasis on the health outcomes of members.
  • Community/Entertainment
    • People connect to their communities in a socialization construct with exercise being the main component. We are seeing this become more present with obstacle course races such as Spartan and Tough Mudder, and engaging group fitness activities such as Zumba.
  • Outcomes
    • This is the smallest piece of what we see in today's marketplace, although Bryan feels it's where we will find the most growth in years to come. People are realizing that with the rising costs of health care and the wellness epidemics we are facing, there is a serious need for a more holistic, proactive, and results-focused approach from their trainers and facilities.

• As the speed of technology increases, it's more important than ever for club owners, operators, and fitness professionals to make it a priority and "bake" into their weekly calendar the job of seeking out reliable and detailed information about the trends affecting our industry. This habit will provide the ability to make informed technology decisions and ensure members and clients receive the user experience the market is demanding. The advancements in tech have created a seamless fitness experience at many leading facilities, and clubs that fail to stay on top of the current trends members want in today's marketplace will surely lead to falling behind the competition.
• To succeed in this new era of the fitness industry, it's imperative that business models include an emphasis and focus on the health outcomes and results of their members - not just new business units. As our population is suffering from more disease and the rising cost of health care becomes unsustainable, people across our nation are now seeing that a proactive and results-oriented program is of extreme importance.
• Bryan believes that in this age of over-information, it's imperative that we don't fall into paralysis by analysis and fail to implement new technology. We are reminded in a previous episode by Marty Weems from Team EXOS that we have to keep pushing forward in this regard. With Bryan's leadership and through this show, you can trust that the Fitness + Technology podcast will continue to seek out the most trustable information you depend on as we move faster towards wellness, fitness, and betterment technologies that are changing the landscape of how you run your fitness business.

"From a recent survey, two-thirds of businesses use digital marketing platforms, and one-third of those companies admit they don't know how to use it." - Bryan O'Rourke on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"In today's modern world, fitness is evolving into the larger space of overall physical and mental betterment." - Bryan O'Rourke on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"The greatest products and services of our fitness space have not been created yet." - Bryan O'Rourke on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Being proactive as the CEO of your own health is really important to both the quality of anyone's life in the long run and in the cost of maintaining your quality of life in a sustainable way. That dynamic is not going to go away, in fact it's going to become even more pronounced." - Bryan O'Rourke on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• 2017 Fitness Technology Council Fitness Tech Trend Report
• Episode 010 Technology & The One Thing That Hasn't Change About Fitness - Robert Dyer
• Episode 023 The Truth About Health Clubs & Behavior Change - Jan Middelkamp
• Episode 007 Behavior Change, Technology, & Fitness - Dr. Michael Mantel
• Episode 026 Fitness Technology & Attrition: What Works Best? - Marty Regan
• Episode 024 Connected Fitness & Beyond - Dan McDonogh, Under Armour
• Episode 037 The Movement For A #PHIT America - Jim Worthington
• Episode 032 Technology Disruption Vs. Adoption - Adam Zeitsiff
• Epidode 043 Technology & Force Multiplied Fitness Training - Team EXOS
• Episode 029 Technology & Medical Fitness - JR Burgess
• Episode 036 Remembering Michael Scott Scudder
• Episode 044 Dave Wright - Fitness Industry Technology Council
• Episode 047 Fitness Industry Technology Council - Steve Groves
• Episode 041 John C. Havens: Artificial Intelligence In The Fitness Industry
• Episode 048 The Latest In Betterment Technology 2017 - Bryan O'Rourke
• Episode 001 Bryan O'Rourke: A New Era of Exponential Technology Part 1
• 002 Bryan O'Rourke: The New Era of Exponential Technology Pt 2
• Spartan Race
• Tough Mudder
• CTA - Health and Fitness Technology Standards
• CES 2018
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
• Sportec Conferece
• "The Leapfrog Effect"
• 17th Annual IHRSA European Congress - London (Oct. 23-26)
• Garmin
• Fitbit
• Siri
• Alexa
• Amazon Echo
• Google Home
• The Apple Watch
• Apple AirPods
• EuropeActive Events

• 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

We're exploring fitness devices, data, and ecosystems that matter with the CEO of Michael Wood Fitness and the CFO of Koko FitClub, Michael Wood. In this podcast, Michael uncovers what he believes is the recipe for success in merging the digital experience with in-person training.

Michael is widely recognized as one the nation's top strength & conditioning experts. Through his leadership, Koko FitClub started as a integrated software company back in 2005. Not long after, they developed a strength training product with the goal of creating a unique turn-key coaching facility where the need for on-site trainers was to be obsolete. They saw moderate success with this new style of automated coaching, and soon realized that a critical component was missing:

Human connection.

When Koko FitClub realized their digital experience needed to be upleveled to provide their members with both the technology and human connection they were looking for, they innovated a unique way to blend their tech with traditional training and semi-private exercise classes. From these pivotal changes, the members had a one-of-a-kind experience of tracking, coaching, and programming that provided a new and exciting way of working out.

Listen in as Michael also speaks to technology and its role in taking a proactive and holistic approach to our wellness and shares the essential nutrition and mindfulness apps that support monitoring to make lasting changes in health behaviors.

This all-encompassing wellness approach that Koko delivers, inside and outside of the club, shows the true value of providing members with a unique blend of digital coaching, in-person training, and the online tools and resources to transform their nutrition and mindset.

But with the almost endless ocean of new technology, apps, devices, and platforms emerging in fitness and wellness, what are the integral parts of the optimal ecosystem in 2018?

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

Michael Wood, CSCS, is widely recognized as one the nation's top strength & conditioning experts. He serves as CEO of Michael Wood Fitness, formerly the Sports Performance Group, founded in 1988. The award-winning fitness-consulting company calls some of the biggest names in the athletic, academic, and entertainment industries their clients. The company has completed more than 35,000 training sessions to date under Michael's guidance. Michael is also the Chief Fitness Officer at Koko FitClub, LLC, which develops interactive software and hardware for the $60B worldwide fitness and wellness industry. Koko FitClub is a national franchise with currently more than 100 locations throughout the United States and Canada.

Michael's honors have included receiving the coveted Boston Magazine "Best of Boston" award and in both 2004 and 2005 Men's Journal named Wood one of the top 100 trainers in the United States. In the December 2004 issue, the magazine also included Michael on their trainer "Dream Team," comprised of the nine best trainers in the U.S. He is also a member of the Fitness Industry Technology Council and works with clients via the Wellness Roundtable. He is also a former member of Power Bar Team Elite. Michael has also raised money for two scholarship funds when he reached the summit of Africa's highest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,340′), in 2008 with Thompson Safaris.

His professional experience includes director of business development and business director at two Velocity Sports Performance franchise locations, and director of strength and conditioning at New England Sports Academy. In addition, he had the great fortune of working as assistant strength and conditioning coach at the University of Connecticut and senior exercise physiologist at the Nutrition, Exercise Physiology and Sarcopenia Laboratory at the USDA-HNRC on Aging at Tufts University. Michael has also consulted for Sage Strategies, LLC, a premier management consulting firm specializing in the health and fitness, as their corporate fitness expert.

• Why the fitness industry has seen the numbers of tech devices rapidly increase and how this affects our space
• How the integration of digital coaching and in-person training provide a unique gym experience at Koko Fitclub
• Why he founded Michael Wood fitness, LLC to address the unique demands of the fitness industry
• The mission, vision, and change he is creating with Michael Wood Fitness
• Michael's proven insights from nearly 30 years at the forefront of fitness and wellness technology
• Why human connection was a critical component in the success of Koko's automated member tech
• Koko's Smart Trainer technology that demonstrates various exercises and 30 minute workouts from celebrity trainers
• The "personal USB stick" that allows every member to track data from their workouts
• Why trainers are a necessity on location to assist members with the digital aspects of the club
• Koko's principles of success that ensure they stay above the national average for weekly visits
• The functional training classes that are attracting the younger clientele
• Why Michael believes integrating fitness and lifestyle data into our programs will drive proactive health
• Understanding the "betterment" technology sector what this means to our fitness space
• Using nutrition tracking to produce a sustainable behavior change
• The top nutrition apps that are helping us to eat better, lose weight, and get healthy
• Koko's online nutrition program and tools that provide a holistic wellness experience
• Why Fitbit and Dexcom are partnering to produce continuous glucose monitors
• Using biomarkers and genetic testing to get a deeper picture of our health
• Delivering the personal attention that brings out the best in member experience
• Koko's 3 pillars of individualized coaching:
  • Foundation
    • How Koko FitClub coaches works closely with members to set goals and outline a realistic plan to get there. They re-establish your body's natural movement patterns and work to build a foundation of fitness in just a few weeks. This is where you'll build a workout habit that "sticks".
  • Concentration
    • To concentrate on goals, instructors safely increase the intensity of the coached workouts, including total-body strength and cardio conditioning. A personalized nutrition plan will help improve energy and fuel greater results from the workout.
  • Transformation
    • Reshape the body from the inside out with a sustainable, coached training program designed to burn fat and build lean muscle for life. With just 2-3 sessions a week on average, members feel stronger and leaner with more energy to take on new challenges.

• Michael reminds us of the incredible potential of fitness technology when combined with dedicated coaching and human connection. In an era of exponential technology growth, what is most important to fitness professionals and operators is to understand their unique and signature type of service that utilizes the best-of-the-best in the tech but also formulates a trusted bridge from a member to a dedicated coach.
• Michael shared that Koko's digital coaching model didn't actually find true success until the physical coach was inside the gym. Whether it's for personal training or facilitating the integration of Koko's technology, the human connection aspect is a highly critical piece of their success.
• It's important to remember that fitness begins from the inside out. While of course exercise is an essential piece to any wellness routine, Michael believes we must now pivot in the fitness industry towards a comprehensive wellness approach with a key focus of mindfulness. He recommends apps like Sugar Rush to help regulate our intake and glucose levels, and Inside Tracker to get a better understanding of our biomarkers. But regardless of whatever device or application used it's the true integration of personality, technology, and human connection that will drive a successful ecosystem.

"In addition to our digital coaching, the in-person trainer is key for helping members learn our technology and get results in a safe, quick, and effective manner." - Michael Wood on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Once we were able to pair our digital experience with a good knowledgeable coach, Koko's success was taken to a new level." - Michael Wood on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"The best exercise program in the world isn't going to change someone if you can't adjust their mindset and behavior." - Michael Wood on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• Michael Wood Fitness
• KoKo FitClub
• Men's Journal
• Velocity Sports Performance
• Khalsa Chiropractic
• 048 Bryan O'Rourke: The Latest In Betterment Technology 2017
• Tufts University
• Headspace
• Welltory
• MyFitnessPal
• Under Armour
• Sugar Rush - Discover Added Sugars in Your Food
• 042 Josh Cherry: The Future of Fitness Gamification
• Fooducate
• Koko Fuel Nutrition
• InsideTracker
• Shapa App
• Thomson Safaris
• Mathews McGarry: What is Heart Rate Variability Training?
• Nudge Coach

• 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 this podcast we explore the deeper impact of the 2017 fitness industry technology trends and beyond in this era of exponential growth with the President of the Fitness Industry Technology Council, Bryan O'Rourke, for a special featured podcast from the FIT-C webinar recorded LIVE just days ago.

With technology becoming not just a thing we use, but something we will become with no boundaries, Bryan reminds us that if we can think it, it can be. Yet even with all the technology that is creating more opportunity in and out of the fitness space than ever before, we also must understand the unforeseen consequences that tech is producing and how we can adapt to transcend the negativity around those changes.

You'll learn why Bryan believes we are in the "knee of the curve" when it comes to rapid adoption and creation of new exponential tech, how this relates to the 4 key driver dynamics of why technology must serve specific purposes for business including omnipresence, personalized service, sustainability, and aesthetic UX design.

Bryan also uncovers how Amazon is using data points, cognition, algorithms, and how this effects a new paradigm of value creation when look at our older paradigms that were less data centric.

From AI coaching, Habit DNA based customized eating plans, ELF mindfulness tech, AI Therapy, Augmented reality and so much more, Bryan spotlights how the fitness industry can leverage these new technologies to deliver higher value business models that support growing our industry, and why he believes we will shift away from the negative consequences of technology to ubiquitous delivery that makes tech more like the air we breathe, more powerful, and more able to impact our fitness business than ever before.

Bryan O'Rourke is an experienced CEO, strategist, investor and advisor who helps organizations and professionals realize their full potential and solve their biggest challenges.

With a track record of building teams and growing global brands, his network of associates and partners have served organizations large and small. His present focus is on fitness, wellness, health clubs, technology, innovation, finance, marketing and business development, but his expertise and consultancy extends to a number of disciplines and industries. As an executive and owner in multiple companies he is also President of the non-profit Fitness Industry Technology Council, driving innovation and collaboration the fitness space.

He is considered a leading expert on technology, consumer and business trends and his views have been published in periodicals like the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Inc. Magazine, CBI and many others. IHRSA named him one of 13 to watch in 2013. Bryan has contributed to two significant books on Innovation in the fitness sector. He delivers engaging customized keynotes and strategic working sessions and is a highly sought after speaker and facilitator who has delivered his message at industry conferences and organizational events on four continents.

• The unintended consequences that arise from technology
• Putting technology into historical context
• Why we are close to the exponential curve of technology adoption exploding at a rapid pace
• The importance of technology being able to serve people wherever and whenever they choose
• Technology's impact & the Old Paradigm vs. the New Paradigm of Value Creation for organizations:
  • Data points and information
  • Cognition and learning
  • Dollars and transactions
  • Users
• How the new age of products and services are more interrelated than ever before
• How businesses are using data collection to increase revenue and improve the user experience
• Exploring the 4 Quadrants of user model context:
  • Omnipresence
  • Personalized service
  • Aesthetic UX design
  • Sustainability
• Technological improvements in the world of nutrition
• Using biofeedback and measuring activity in the brain to help you create a desired state of mind
• The increasing functionality of sensors being built into phones
• How AI is affecting the fitness space
• The augmented reality that's been built in the iPhone 8
• The technology that is detecting medical conditions before they become problemtatic

• Bryan believes that developing Omnipresence will be the key to our success in the digital world. Whatever we do as an industry should have a physical, digital, and hybrid version. To truly lead in the era of exponential technology our products and services need to be available wherever and whenever our customers and communities choose to participate.
• When it comes to services, Bryan's guidance and research shows that technology must be extremely relevant, contextualized, and personalized to the user. The more personalized it is, the more valuable it is.
• It's critical to keep the user experience in mind, especially in such a high touch and intimate setting like the fitness space. The user experience must be beautiful, simplistic, and frictionless. When we look through the lens of technology, we must see it as a tool to apply the four key drivers for all organizations including omnipresence, personalized service delivery wherever and whenever, aesthetic UX design with frictionless use, and lastly sustainability. Bryan reminds us we are at the precipice of a mass adoption at the "knee of the curve" and now is the time to explore how this will transform all the operations both inside and outside of your fitness business.

"We're moving to an evolution of technology being ubiquitous to the point that it's like the air we breathe." - Bryan O'Rourke on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Mindfulness is a rapidly growing area and a counterbalance to how technology has overtaken many of our lives" - Bryan O'Rourke on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Many of the service personnel will soon be robotic. This technology is already here and will become mainstream in the next 5-10 years." - Bryan O'Rourke on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• YouTube Video: The Latest In Fitness Technology
• Bryan O'Rourke - SlideShare
• Bryan's Twitter Account
• 2017 FIT-C Technology Trends Report
• Join FIT-C as a valued member
• Google Results for Bryan O'Rourke
• Club Industry Show - Chicago (Oct. 4-6)
• 17th Annual IHRSA European Congress - London (Oct. 23-26)
• Homo Deus: Yuval Noah Harari
• The Inevitable by: Kevin Kelly
• Life 3.0 by: Max Tegmark
• Trendwatching
• Blue Apron
• Waterlogged
• Shopwell
• Somadome meditation pod
• Motosumo
• Forge
• Nudge
• Vi from LifeBEAM
• Handstand
• Zwift
• iPhone 8 MLB augmented reality
• Kardia
• Senosis
• Digitsole
• Motiv Ring
• Google Home
• x.ai
• Amazon
• Whole Foods
• Pepper AI Robotics
• Wysa
• Habit
• Fitspot
• ZWIFT Cycle

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

With the recent update for Apple's iOS 11, today on the podcast we're learning about what this means to the fitness industry from the Chief Information Officer & Vice President of Good Life Fitness, Steve Groves. If you're like most of us in the fitness space, you've been hearing rumors for months about how Apple has been gearing up to change the landscape of how we do business, take payments, collect activity data and engage our members using GymKit and opening up the bidirectional NFC reading capabilities, along with so much more.

On episode 047, we're exploring this pivotal subject in depth to uncover the real truth behind how club staff, front desk, trainers, and everyone that compliments a member's journey will now shortly be able to serve at a higher level, and save the member valuable time by using this bidirectional NFC for the creation of a truly "seamless experience" that so many in our industry have been asking for.

This iOS update points the needle of progress in the right direction and opens up a future where using the iPhone to gain access to a club and all of its amenities with a simple fingerprint touch through the mobile device, is a reality.

Apple's NFC functions coming to the Apple Watch with watchOS 4, and iOS 11 might also be handling much more than just Apple Pay transactions and Passbook check-ins.

With over 2700 fitness technology companies listed on Angel List, and with the pivotal new updates for iOS 11, how do we get closer to clarity in a fast-expanding space?

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

Steve Groves is the CIO & VP at Goodlife Fitness with over 20 years of success in bridging the logistical and communication gaps between business leaders and their technical teams in order to achieve results. Steve is a industry pro who specializes in collaborating with senior management and company boards to drive the strategic use of technology, both to support employees and to delight customers. Steve is an expert in uncovering "the art of the possible" in terms of using digital technology to personalize the customer experience. He is a creative thinker with an eye towards the technology trends on the horizon and has extensive experience in ICT service management, Internet strategy, digital media strategy, mobile application design, productivity consulting and management of high performance teams.

• How to bridge the logistical and communication gaps between business leaders and their technical teams
• How we can drive the strategic use of tech to support employees and delight customers
• Ways digital technology is helping us personalize the customer experience
• How apple and IOS 11 are affecting the fitness industry
• Steve's journey of rising to CIO of Good Life Fitness
• The beginning stages of the World Wide Web
• Enhancements in communication between workout equipment and the Apple Health Application
• How AI is impacting the fitness space
• Smart Activity Coaching with the Apple Watch
• What we can learn from adjacent industries such as hospitality and retail
• How tracking may revolutionize personal training
• How Bi-directional NFC will create a more seamless user experience
• How Apple and Samsung are mimicking the capabilities of RFID chips within their phones
• Why a large portion of club operators are slow to adopt new technologies
• The need to fail fast and quickly abort projects that aren't working

• Club owners and operators are at the beginning of an exponential increase in data communication with cardio equipment, the Apple Watch, and Apple's Health App as the connectivity of wearables and other fitness and wellness technology open up new API's and data silos beyond the 4 walls of the club.
• When it comes to game-changing advancements in the fitness technology space, it's important to keep a close watch on what Apple is up to in the next 6 months. The new iOS 11 updates are driving more precision accuracy standards to be established for wearables including heart rate information, treadmill speeds, and other activity data sets that will be fed into Apple's HealthKit and used by tech-savvy fitness organizations.
• It's important for all of us in the industry to remain curious regarding the future of technology so we can make the appropriate decisions from a budgeting and directional standpoint. However, Steve reminds us that trying to look too far out over the horizon is irrelevant, as the advancements in AI, robotics, and image technologies make it virtually impossible to predict how tech will transform the world in 10+ years. One thing is for sure, if there is change happening at the intersection of fitness and technology, by listening to this show you'll be connected to the pulse of what matters most for your fitness business.

"I think for many of us, the holy grail of monitoring our health will be automatic tracking of what we ingest." - Steve Groves on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"If I could take everything that I've learned over the past 5 years and apply it to one roll in our company, it would be personal training." - Steve Groves on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

What many of us in the technology space are trying to do is eliminate friction from various transactions that happen within our clubs." - Steve Groves on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

Experimentation comes with failure. For whatever reason, I don't think the culture of our industry is able to tolerate that very well. I'm hoping we start to see more companies that are willing to experiment with different technologies. Even when they fully know certain tech won't work properly or be adopted by their members." - Steve Groves on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"We have to recognize when something isn't working, and be willing to kill a failed project within 30-60 days at the most." - Steve Groves on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

Members look to us as fitness and wellness experts. We can't only focus on the 2-3 hours a week they are using the facility. Organizations need to to think about the time their members spend outside of the gym." - Steve Groves on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• Steve Groves on LInkedIn
• Good Life Fitness on the web
• Good Life Fitness on facebook
• Good Life Fitness on Twitter
• Good Life Fitness on Instagram
• Good Life Fitness Group Training programs
• The new Apple iOS 11
• Bi-directional NFC
• Apple's Gym Kit
• Watch OS 4
• Jay Blahnik, Apple
• LIke The FIT-C Facebook Page
• Fitbit is surging after it announced a big health partnership: Continuous glucose monitoring
• My Fitness Pal
• Runkeeper
• 019 Brian Hayden: The Future of Strength Training
• ResMed S Plus
• 045 Lee Embley: The Evolution of Fitness & Wellness Technology
• iOS 11 could use the iPhone's NFC chip for more than Apple Pay
• Advertisers are furious with Apple for new tracking restrictions in Safari 11
• IHRSA Conference 2018
• How To Keep Innovators Happy? Use The 'Dandelion Principle'

• 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

Today we're learning from Leon Rudge, the Director of Digital Experience at Life Fitness on the 10 steps to implementing a digital fitness strategy. We've had double digits of expert guests provide so much value over the past 40+ shows in this category of digital strategy and tools, but on today's show we're going laser and concise to extract the 10 powerful steps that club owners, operators, and trainers can build from the ground up when they look at the actual technologies in our space that will support growing both the bottom line and the customer journey and experience for members.

Be sure to explore all the different resources and white paper links from Leon in the podcast today and if you've been enjoying the series, leave us a five star review for the podcast; it helps the show reach more intelligent and proactive fitness leaders like you. You can also ask myself, Bryan O'Rourke, Leon, or any of the previous guests who've been on the show a question by simply typing in your question in the review box.

In an industry that seems to be fairly static, and at times even paralyzed by the over information about fitness technology, what are the practical and on-the-ground steps that fitness leadership can take to successfully implement a digital fitness strategy?

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

Leon Rudge is the Director of Digital Experience at Life Fitness. He is part of a global team of digital technology experts who work hard every day to understand how they can bring more clarity, insight and experience to the fitness industry, their customers and their exercisers. Leon Brings over seven years of deep experience in the fitness industry.

• Why leon believes there is so much confusion about digital technology from vendors and operators
• The 10 Steps To Implementing A Digital Fitness Strategy
  • 1. Raise Awareness
  • 2. Create Your Digital Team
  • 3. Asset Discovery
  • 4. Member Centricity
  • 5. Destroy Your Own Business
  • 6. Create Your Vision
  • 7. Create Your Strategy
  • 8. Create Your Digital Core
  • 9. Communicate the Vision
  • 10. Do It Again
• How Leon grew his skills in digital marketing and what that gave him to now serve the fitness industry
• Why Leon believes the fitness industry has become "too static"
• Why Leon sees it's most important in the age of technology to fail fast, learn fast and fix fast as you move forward
• The value of autonomy and giving yoursefl the permission to fail when it comes to driving tech solutions
• How to identify the "quick wins early" in in asset dicovery
• Why the new entrants listen firstand build second
• Why the fitness indsurty has been slow to the omnichannel aspect for retargeting ads across social and Google
• Understadbning Leon's term "Thinking Like An Exerciser"
• Deliniating the custmer journey vs. the customer experience
• The paradigm of owning vs. sharing the value in digital fitness

• Leon shares that digital is a massive revenue generating category but it's important not to get too hung up on this fact in the early months of your journey. You'll need to learn before you can earn. If you put earning first, you will blind yourself to the fact that you're actually just trying to understand how to fundamentally change the way you interact with your members, and they interact with your business. You'll figure the revenue models out soon enough after you've done the deeper work and the ten steps towards implementing a digital fitness strategy.
• In terms of digital health and fitness, Leon sees a confused industry but even worse, he sees a number of companies capitalizing on the confusion. This compounded confusion he sees slowing the adoption of digital tech our space and leaving us vulnerable to disruptive new market entrants. What we must do as an industry is seek clarity about what technologies will serve why we do and how we want to do it. Getting clear on the customer journey and experience before ever selecting a piece of technology will help operators and owners transcend this confusion.
• When it comes to creating a successful and sustainable digital fitness strategy in the club, knowing more about your digital self than you ever have before is an important context. Operators and trainers must to create a culture of being able to fail fast, learn fast, and fix fast to innovate and thrive in the digital world. It's important to remember that it's okay to fail in the digital world, but you've just got to fail quickly. I always encourage operators owners and trainers to start small, then test, measure, and learn to iterate fast.

"We've got some great minds in this business, dedicated people that have worked in the industry for decades, but the members are changing, societies changing, everything's changing and some of the things that we put in place aren't necessarily always going to be right." - Leon Rudge on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"In terms of digital health and fitness, I see a confused industry but even worse, I see a number of companies capitalizing on the confusion. The compounded confusion is slowing the adoption of digital tech our space and leaving us vulnerable to disruptive new market entrants." - Leon Rudge on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• Leon Rudge on Linkedin
• Life Fitness on Facebook
• Life Fitness on Twitter
• LIfe Fitness on Instagram
• Life Fitness on the web
• Life Fitness White Paper
• Robert Dyer's FTP Episode
• Jamie Cole FitConnect FTP Episode
• The Lean Startup Method
• Rapid Application Development
• IHRSA Technology
• IHRSA facebook
• IHRSA Twitter
• IHRSA YouTube

• 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

With the fitness industry poised to further expand its impact and transformation within the wellness industry space, we're growing smarter today from one of the world's most influential minds in the active healthy lifestyle sector, Lee Embley, to discuss the best-of-the-best takeaways from his 40+ years around technology innovation and digital trends.

With his impressive body of work, he is now leading a mission to connect the role of fitness to an even larger ecosystem of wellness, driven by artificial intelligence and big data sets through his up and coming platform Optimal AI Coach.

We know now more than ever that fitness has been and will always be a powerful and integral piece in what is at the core of all club member's goals, which is to be healthy and well in their body, mind, and spirit, so on this podcast we're excited to unpack the nuances of what Lee believes is the "biggest miss" right now in the fitness industry, how human longevity plugs into our standard fitness models, why the ultimate value proposition for wearable technology is wellness and not just fitness, and how Lee's own health journey has inspired him to radically shift his focus in the coming years.

With fitness industry experiencing the most radical transformation in decades, what are the most powerfully distilled concepts that club owners, operators, and fitness professionals must understand when it comes to fitness and wellness technology?

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

Over the past three decades Lee Embley has been innovating and influencing the bleeding edge in the Active Healthy Lifestyle Sector, building brands in retail, connected-tech, digital-media, and financial-services, including the following:

ProWoman Sports USA first all women sporting goods retail brand, merchandising functional design, fashion and leisure wear, early footwear product development with ProWoman Strider the first women lasted track and field running shoe, equipment to the fit-active female market. PWS became the first national sales organization to secure a exclusive distribution with hundreds of colleges and universities with female specific sports programs. Acquired, Tennis Lady Group UK. Lee also developed the First e-Commerce business model "Network Credit Service,"providing credit reports to small business via, major information hubs i.e. CompuServ, Dow Jones Newsnet. NCS provided 500,000 businesses via trade associations and national franchises system achieving a $53MM in second year revenue. (Acquired by TRW New Credit Service)

Mr. Embley founded the NCSB, the first sports, performance, data and evaluation platform. An athletic scouting and evaluation system to enable high school athletes who are not recruited a system to evaluate their athletic skills by professional scouts. Acquired, Pro-Serve, as well as "Radiance Rewards," the first AHL credit cards for health fitness conscious women. His work continued with Leap4Life the first "Wearable Marketplace" designed for the health and fitness consumers to fully experience the motivation of active lifestyle. L4L hacked and mitigated the sustained engagement factor with a unique combination of attributes. The methodology and technology applied data science and social to achieve success. His latest body of work is the "Optimal AI Coach: O.AI.C" an application to enhance fitness and performance through deep learning and integration of lifestyle data via technology. All the data collections are in place, wearable, mobile, retail to create the next generation highly personalized coaching system.

• Why Lee's "S.T.E.E.P. model" is still viable today as the pressures on the human condition are quite profound
• How Lee constructed his business strategies based on this analytical model he adopted while at McKinsey
• How understanding the S.T.E.E.P. analysis will define a way to determine shifts triggered by seminal events in Social, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Political segments.
• How these five pillars are cornerstones of every civilization and how technology can support
• Unpacking what Lee sees as the "Fatal Flaw" in fitness: A lack of sustained engagement for clubs
• The impact of wearables vs. the impact of active healthy lifestyle data: what happens with the new era of AI and how it will change operators everyday tasks
• Exploring pattern recognition via wearables
• Microdata vs. Macrodata: Understanding the data sets of the human ecosystem
• Exploring the trends in women's fitness "from beauty to strength" transition
• The "Big Miss" and why using relevant data sets in fitness is ripe for disruption
• Challenging the paradigm of seeing technology as a threat to the 4 walls to monetizing member's outside of them
• Plugging in human longevity to the standard fitness model through intrinsic motivation
• The Optimal AI Coach: Lee's bleeding edge technology platform that will use accelerated data sets to help shift fitness into wellness
• Understanding "Game Theory" models when contrasted with Self Determination Theory
• Why the ultimate value proposition for wearables will be wellness from the data not just fitness
• How Lee's battle with Stage 4 Cancer has inspired the emotional, physoical,

• Lee reminds us that the need for speed creates new value. "Things" only have value when they are put in motion. Anything standing still is valueless, be it money, inventory, information, an empty hotel room, data, machinery, technology, people.
• Early warning systems are designed to foretell of impending disaster. Those in any industry who ignore the warnings will eventually fail, as seen with the assault on the retail sector which is not a surprise. Lee's strategy is to identify weakness or obsolesce within a sector under siege and define alternative strategies. Always focused on the evolution of the consumer of the product or service enables Lee or any savvy professional to spot an early trend before it grows into a recognizable market.
• With a large focus on collecting data, Lee believes that it's the use of pattern recognition via artificial intelligence that will truly guide the transformation in our fitness industry to serve an even larger ecosystem of wellness. When we look at the wearable tech component, this is the area that is most ripe for disruption. Lee believes that the active lifestyle persona must be taken into consideration including their body, mind, and spiritual capacities in order for technology to serve their deepest needs. With the exponential growth in wearable technology's ability to support these three capacities the future of fitness and wellness technology is both inspiring and promising.

"When it comes to connecting the dots of success for technology, it's distilled down to one term and that is relevance. If there's not relevance, then at the end of the day then there's no sustainability. The real issue is properly determining where each generational segment is focused on the spectrum of the active healthy lifestyle" - Lee Embley on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"Anything standing still is valueless. It doesn't matter whether it's people standing still, money standing still, information standing still. The only way it gets value is when you put it in motion. The reason there are thousands of brands in the graveyard is because they could not accept the fact that the change was upon them." - Lee Embley on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"You have to start with the question 'where am I and my capital at risk?' and then get into some significant valuation. Forecasting the economy does not necessarily mean that your segment of the economy is going to be disrupted." - Lee Embley on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

• Lee Embley on LinkedIn
• LEAP4LIFE on the web
• TechnoGym + AI Developments
• The Big Miss. Change is soft cultural, hard to define...Really!
• "Wearable Gamification", Where The Big Money Is...The Uber Of Fitness
• One "New" Wearable Feature Will Change Everything...
• Cash In On Your Data!
• Wearable Market Long Term Success, Only As Good As The User Experience
• Zoom Media for clubs
• Self Determination Theory
• 010 Robert Dyer: The One Thing That Hasn't Changed About Fitness
• 044 Dave Wright: Fitness Tech, Data Accuracy, & Machine Learning
• 024 Connected Fitness & Beyond - Dan McDonogh, Under Armour

• 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 044 we're excited to bring you one of the most sought after leaders in our space for an important discussion around data collection accuracy and its relationship to the growing demand for AI and machine learning in the fitness industry.

We're talking with our returning guest, Dave Wright, the CEO of MYZONE for his second appearance on the show to explore the impact of collecting fitness data for practical use, the difference between incidental versus concerted activity when we look at fitness consumer activity, where the gaps are in adoption and how our industry can rise to the demand for true omnipresence.

We're also uncovering how MYZONE is proactively educating fitness professionals and leaders on how to take in the right data set, understand it, and use technology to support executing a sustainable health and fitness experience for the new era of our consumers.

With more data sets being delivered than ever before, what are the most important ones and what do fitness leaders, trainers, and operators really get to pay attention to not only for ROI, but to deliver an enhanced customer experience?

The answer to that question and many more takeaways for club operators, owners, and fitness professionals in this episode with Dave Wright.

Dave Wright is the CEO & owner of Creative Fitness Marketing, a global company with offices in the UK, Australia and North America that has served the international fitness community since 1990, specifically helping people be more and stay more physically active.

He is also the CEO and creator of MYZONE® - a cloud based and wearable technology "Physical Activity Heart Rate Monitor & Fitness Tracker," used to monitor and increase exercise adherence. As a health club operator with 10 health clubs, and a board director of the UK's Fitness Industry Association, an international presenter, Dave is featured regularly in international trade magazines.

• Why Dave believes that the wearable accuracy still has room to improve in order to achieve comprehensive functionality through "trustable" accuracy
• Incidental vs. concerted activity: Exploring the different segments of fitness consumer's movement activity
• Understanding the 8 aspects of MYZONE's success for club owners and operators:
  • Products
  • User communication
  • Group display
  • Intuitive reporting
  • Effort points (MEPs)
  • Operator resources
  • Best practices
  • User interface
• Why time sedentary vs. active is one of the top three activity metrics any club owner or operator should be tracking
• The true standards of what really measures physical activity via World Health Organization
• Why Dave believes that the future of fitness technology will align with health insurance industry
• Exercise adherence: what tech-based programs will deliver in 2018
• Artificial Intelligence + Machine Learning: how MYZONE is taking a deeper look into utilizing these technologies to serve the fitness industry
• New developments around wearable tech in our industry
• Education for fitness professionals: MYZONE's educational curriculum in fitness and technology
• Virtual coaching & biometrics remotely monitored by a coaches: how dave sees biometric data being used specifically around coaching
• How MYZONE has integrated Facebook to the customer journey
• Identifying the gaps for improvement and opportunity in regards to fitness data collection
• What data collection methods will be of most service to both the end-user and the coach or fitness professional
• Commonality of technology requests in regards to functionality they are looking for
• What is the deeper technology functionality that will benefit club owners and fitness pros in 2018

• As operators and owners begin to use wearables and data sets more and more via incidental and concerted activity from their fitness consumers, Dave believes the most important thing is attaining trustable data. Your database in order for artificial intelligence or machine learning to be leveraged powerfully must be cleaned and trustable. Once these data sets are verified as being "clean" then you can start plugging in long-term behavior change strategies for the customer's journey.
• For savvy club owners and operators, as well as tech-minded fitness professionals, gathering all the right information about fitness and technology can be challenging at times. In addition to the Fitness + Technology Podcast, Dave suggests partitioning time for dedicated research around fitness tech trends by simply going to the Kickstarter website where you will see the intentions and possibilities around fitness tech in our space. Now is the time to set aside calendar blocks for this research, as staying on top of tech trends will help drive fitness facility and career success as AI and machine learning useage exponentially grow.
• With the rise of demand from all customer segments who want that seamless omnipresence from clubs both at home and inside the 4 walls, Dave sees that we are extremely behind the curve as an industry. He spoke to us about the "frictionless experience," otherwise known as the use of automatic triggers combined with machine learning and AI technology that will deliver seamless interactions required between the customer's exercise, activity, and lifestyle data sets that will change the way we do fitness, forever.

"Meeting the customer where they are is the most important thing in the age of technology. As an industry, currently one defendable position we have is not our bricks and mortar, it's our knowledge and our motivational skills including the ability for the trainer to spot, help, and support their customers personally." - Dave Wright on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"If the data is not accurate then it's very hard to apply any form of machine learning. As operators and owners you might have various records on your database, but if that database is not cleaned and checked to make sure you can run credible data off the backend (with the same applying for any data from biometrics) then you can't yet start looking at behavior trends. Yet, that's the most exciting part of it, where we can start to spark really powerful change with the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning." - Dave Wright on the Fitness + Technology Podcast

"What are the limitations and why is it, as an industry, that for the best part of 50 years that 50% of all the people that join clubs now in January actually leave by November, or even stop exercising for April and May? It fascinates me as a business that it costs seven times more money to get a new member to your club then to keep an existing one, yet so much of the membership campaigns in health clubs around the world are just focused on filling the top end of the bucket, rather than asking how can we stop the flow of members out the back door." - Dave Wright on the Fitness + Technology Podcast #015

• The 2017 FIT-C Fitness Technology Club Survey
• MYZONE website
• MYZONE on Facebook
• MYZONE on Twitter
• MYZONE on Instagram
• Ring: Doorbell company
• Fitbit: It All Hinges on The Watch
• KickStarter Technology + Fitness Segment
• Fitness + Technology Podcast #11 - Tom Cortese, CEO, Peloton
• Press about MYZONE
• Dave in Global Sports Jobs Technology Video
• Stuff Magazine features MYZONE
• At Midtown Athletic Clubs, MYZONE Engages Members
• Companies start implanting microchips into workers' bodies
• HILTON Hotels: Integrating Fitness As A PIllar of the Customer Journey
• MYZONE Signs on as ClubConnect Education Partner
• ROCK health digital health funding in Q1 2016
• Fitbit accuracy questioned in May 2016 (lawsuit)
• How wearable tech will be the heartbeat of the modern gym
• Wearable Technology Awards MYZONE 2016
• Fitness + Technology Podcast #015 - Dave Wright The Current State of Wearables
• Fitness + Technology podcast #001 Bryan O'Rourke: A New Era of Exponential Technology

• 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