Tom Nikkola | VIGOR Training

Like all hormones, cortisol plays a crucial role in your mental and physical health. Unfortunately, today’s lifestyles lead to severe imbalances in cortisol rhythms, which contribute to body fat gain, cognitive dysfunction, muscle loss, and much more.

Many health and fitness experts vilify cortisol. Some ignore its effects on your health.

In this article, I hope to clarify how it works and what you can do to manage it so you remain healthy, lean, and strong.

What is cortisol?

Practitioners often call cortisol your “stress hormone.” But such a nickname does a disservice to this hormone, which is crucial for your health, and important during times of stress and emergency.

When functioning normally, your adrenal glands secrete cortisol according to a circadian rhythm, which energizes your body during the day and helps it fall asleep at night.

Also, stress stimulates your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, ultimately causing your adrenal glands to secrete cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. This is why cortisol is so often called your stress hormone.

In healthy people, cortisol:

alters the metabolism of carbohydrates, fat, and protein in favor of quick energy

reduces inflammation

increases blood pressure

increases blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglycerides

controls your sleep/wake cycle

increases energy during times of stress

With disease and chronic stress, cortisol becomes destructive.

Stress and your circadian rhythm control cortisol levels more than anything else.

Stress and the HPA Access

Your nervous system functions between two extremes: sympathetic and parasympathetic.

Your sympathetic system, also known as your “fight or flight” system, sounds the alarm when you’re in danger. In addition to releasing cortisol, you also release adrenaline and noradrenaline, which increase alertness, focus, energy, and reflexes.

Your sympathetic nervous system also shuts down anything that isn’t necessary for survival, such as digestion, your immune system, and your ability to sleep.

At the other extreme, your parasympathetic nervous system helps you relax, recover, digest food, sleep, and remain calm. More often than not, when people want to improve their mental health, they look for supplements or essential oils that stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Each person naturally operates at some point between the two extremes. You can probably think of a few friends who seem frantic all of the time and others who you’ve never seen rattled.

Living for too long in either extreme leads to problems.

Cortisol is part of a larger system of stress management. Focusing only on cortisol, if stress is a problem, addresses only one piece of a larger problem. This is why certain supplements like “cortisol blockers” don’t work. They do nothing to impact adrenaline or noradrenaline, which are also secreted during stressful events.

Short-term stress, such as passing a test, an intense strength training session, or dealing with a cyberbully help you grow stronger, provided the stressor stops, and you’re able to rest and recover.

I need to stress this point because our society has grown progressively fearful of “stress,” to the point that a Facebook outage or an off-putting comment becomes a self-induced catastrophe. During such situations, you’re better off with a little suckituptitude so you can more easily handle a similar situation the next time.

Cortisol and Circadian Rhythm

Your hypothalamus and pituitary gland measure cortisol levels in your blood, which vary throughout a 24-hour cycle.

In a healthy person, levels quickly rise for the first 30-45 minutes after waking up, called the cortisol awakening response (CAR). The increased hormone levels help energize you physically and mentally.

As the day progresses, levels fall, reaching a low point as you go to bed.

Your cortisol rhythm is supposed to move in concert with your circadian rhyt...

Like all hormones, cortisol plays a crucial role in your mental and physical health. Unfortunately, today’s lifestyles lead to severe imbalances in cortisol rhythms, which contribute to body fat gain, cognitive dysfunction, muscle loss, and much more.

Many health and fitness experts vilify cortisol. Some ignore its effects on your health.

In this article, I hope to clarify how it works and what you can do to manage it so you remain healthy, lean, and strong.

What is cortisol?

Practitioners often call cortisol your “stress hormone.” But such a nickname does a disservice to this hormone, which is crucial for your health, and important during times of stress and emergency.

When functioning normally, your adrenal glands secrete cortisol according to a circadian rhythm, which energizes your body during the day and helps it fall asleep at night.

Also, stress stimulates your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, ultimately causing your adrenal glands to secrete cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. This is why cortisol is so often called your stress hormone.

In healthy people, cortisol:

alters the metabolism of carbohydrates, fat, and protein in favor of quick energyreduces inflammationincreases blood pressureincreases blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceridescontrols your sleep/wake cycleincreases energy during times of stress

With disease and chronic stress, cortisol becomes destructive.

Stress and your circadian rhythm control cortisol levels more than anything else.

Stress and the HPA Access

Your nervous system functions between two extremes: sympathetic and parasympathetic.

Your sympathetic system, also known as your “fight or flight” system, sounds the alarm when you’re in danger. In addition to releasing cortisol, you also release adrenaline and noradrenaline, which increase alertness, focus, energy, and reflexes.

Your sympathetic nervous system also shuts down anything that isn’t necessary for survival, such as digestion, your immune system, and your ability to sleep.

At the other extreme, your parasympathetic nervous system helps you relax, recover, digest food, sleep, and remain calm. More often than not, when people want to improve their mental health, they look for supplements or essential oils that stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Each person naturally operates at some point between the two extremes. You can probably think of a few friends who seem frantic all of the time and others who you’ve never seen rattled.

Living for too long in either extreme leads to problems.

Cortisol is part of a larger system of stress management. Focusing only on cortisol, if stress is a problem, addresses only one piece of a larger problem. This is why certain supplements like “cortisol blockers” don’t work. They do nothing to impact adrenaline or noradrenaline, which are also secreted during stressful events.

Short-term stress, such as passing a test, an intense strength training session, or dealing with a cyberbully help you grow stronger, provided the stressor stops, and you’re able to rest and recover.

I need to stress this point because our society has grown progressively fearful of “stress,” to the point that a Facebook outage or an off-putting comment becomes a self-induced catastrophe. During such situations, you’re better off with a little suckituptitude so you can more easily handle a similar situation the next time.

Cortisol and Circadian Rhythm

Your hypothalamus and pituitary gland measure cortisol levels in your blood, which vary throughout a 24-hour cycle.

In a healthy person, levels quickly rise for the first 30-45 minutes after waking up, called the cortisol awakening response (CAR). The increased hormone levels help energize you physically and mentally.

As the day progresses, levels fall, reaching a low point as you go to bed.

Your cortisol rhythm is supposed to move in concert with your circadian rhythm.

The health benefits of a vegan diet in adults are highly controversial. In kids, a vegan diet could be catastrophic.

A new research study from Finland shows that a vegan diet creates numerous deficiencies in babies and toddlers.

While I'm not surprised by the findings, I hope that the plant-based diet folks wake up to the long-term risks of such a diet in young and developing human beings.

The Ethics of Vegan Diet Studies on Children

With most nutrition-related research, you take at least two groups of people and put them on different diets, comparing one against another. Sometimes, a control group that does nothing is also included.

In some studies, researchers test nutrition protocols on healthy adults to see if their health improves or gets worse. For example, researchers compared a high-protein diet to an iso-caloric Standard American Diet and found the high-protein diet led to much healthier outcomes.

In other studies, researchers test nutrition protocols to see if they improve health in unhealthy people.

While it's common to put grown adults on varying nutrition protocols, such research is considered unethical in children. The risk to their long-term health is too significant.

Research Study Design

Instead of creating a study where researchers assign people to specific diets, they found people in the Finnish population already following those diets.

The three groups in the study included:

Babies born from women who ate vegan diets throughout their pregnancies, who breastfed for 15-30 months while eating vegan, and then fed their children a vegan diet for at least a year after breastfeeding. 

Same as above while eating a vegetarian diet. 

Same as above while eating an omnivorous diet. 

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Compared to omnivorous children:

Children on the vegan diets had lower vitamin D status even though vitamin D intakes were the same between groupsChildren on the vegan diets had lower protein and essential amino acid intakeChildren on vegan diets consumed almost no EPA, DHA, or cholesterol

On a positive note, the vegan children did have higher folate intakes. 

Why are these nutrient deficiencies so alarming?

Each of the nutrients mentioned above plays a significant role in human growth and development. I highlighted some of the effects of deficiencies below and link to longer-form articles on the nutrients where available.

Note: The quoted sections below come directly from the research study's paper: Vegan diet in young children remodels metabolism and challenges the statuses of essential nutrients.

Vitamin D

Vegan children in our sample had lower status of vitamin D than omnivores despite all vegan families reporting daily use of supplements that reached the daily vitamin D intake recommendations, and the blood samples having been collected during the high peak of seasonal variation in vitamin D status.

Even though the vegan children consumed equivalent amounts of vitamin D as the omnivorous children, their blood levels were lower.

Cholesterol is necessary for vitamin D production, so it's no surprise that their no-cholesterol diets led to lower vitamin D.

The following are health problems associated with low vitamin D levels.

Increased susceptibility to viral infection including the flu and coronaviruses

Increased risk of insulin resistance and diabetes 

Heart disease

Low bone density, fractures, and osteoporosis

The health benefits of a vegan diet in adults are highly controversial. In kids, a vegan diet could be catastrophic.

A new research study from Finland shows that a vegan diet creates numerous deficiencies in babies and toddlers.

While I'm not surprised by the findings, I hope that the plant-based diet folks wake up to the long-term risks of such a diet in young and developing human beings.

The Ethics of Vegan Diet Studies on Children

With most nutrition-related research, you take at least two groups of people and put them on different diets, comparing one against another. Sometimes, a control group that does nothing is also included.

In some studies, researchers test nutrition protocols on healthy adults to see if their health improves or gets worse. For example, researchers compared a high-protein diet to an iso-caloric Standard American Diet and found the high-protein diet led to much healthier outcomes.

In other studies, researchers test nutrition protocols to see if they improve health in unhealthy people.

While it's common to put grown adults on varying nutrition protocols, such research is considered unethical in children. The risk to their long-term health is too significant.

Research Study Design

Instead of creating a study where researchers assign people to specific diets, they found people in the Finnish population already following those diets.

The three groups in the study included:

Babies born from women who ate vegan diets throughout their pregnancies, who breastfed for 15-30 months while eating vegan, and then fed their children a vegan diet for at least a year after breastfeeding. Same as above while eating a vegetarian diet. Same as above while eating an omnivorous diet. 

.ugb-3d1835a-wrapper.ugb-container__wrapper{background-color:#f5f5f5 !important}.ugb-3d1835a-wrapper.ugb-container__wrapper:before{background-color:#f5f5f5 !important}.ugb-3d1835a-content-wrapper > h1,.ugb-3d1835a-content-wrapper > h2,.ugb-3d1835a-content-wrapper > h3,.ugb-3d1835a-content-wrapper > h4,.ugb-3d1835a-content-wrapper > h5,.ugb-3d1835a-content-wrapper > h6{color:#222222}.ugb-3d1835a-content-wrapper > p,.ugb-3d1835a-content-wrapper > ol li,.ugb-3d1835a-content-wrapper > ul li{color:#222222}

Compared to omnivorous children:

Children on the vegan diets had lower vitamin D status even though vitamin D intakes were the same between groupsChildren on the vegan diets had lower protein and essential amino acid intakeChildren on vegan diets consumed almost no EPA, DHA, or cholesterol

On a positive note, the vegan children did have higher folate intakes. 

Why are these nutrient deficiencies so alarming?

Each of the nutrients mentioned above plays a significant role in human growth and development. I highlighted some of the effects of deficiencies below and link to longer-form articles on the nutrients where available.

Note: The quoted sections below come directly from the research study's paper: Vegan diet in young children remodels metabolism and challenges the statuses of essential nutrients.

Vitamin D

Vegan children in our sample had lower status of vitamin D than omnivores despite all vegan families reporting daily use of supplements that reached the daily vitamin D intake recommendations, and the blood samples having been collected during the high peak of seasonal variation in vitamin D status.

Even though the vegan children consumed equivalent amounts of vitamin D as the omnivorous children, their blood levels were lower.

Cholesterol is necessary for vitamin D production, so it's no surprise that their no-cholesterol diets led to lower vitamin D.

The following are health problems associated with low vitamin D levels.

Increased susceptibility to viral infection including the flu and coronavirusesIncreased risk of insulin resistance and diabetes Heart diseaseLow bone density, fractures, and osteoporosis Reduced IQ at ages 4-6 in those who had mothers with low v...

I get asked a lot of questions about weight training. Most questions don't require a full article to answer. So, I decided to publish a "frequently asked questions" post with many of those questions. I hope you find it helpful.

You can also get free access to many training tips in the VIGOR Training Facebook group, under the category "Training Tips."

If you don't see your question answered and you're a Nikkola Newsletter subscriber, email me and I'll answer it for you.

Getting Started

Is weight training and resistance training the same thing?

Yes.

Is weight training better than cardio?

Yes. Though cardio burns calories, it does not build or help you maintain muscle mass or bone density. Resistance training builds muscle, bone density, movement proficiency, range of motion, strength, and power. It also improves cardiovascular function and burns calories.

What exercises are most important when getting started?

Almost every exercise you'll ever do is a version of a select group of movements or a combination of them. These movements are:

Squat

Lift (from the floor)

Pull

Press

Rotate

For example, a lunge is a form of a squat. A power clean begins with a deadlift. A medicine ball slam is a form of a vertical pull.

A beginner-level strength training program should focus on these movements.

In addition to focusing on these foundational movements, I also recommend keeping the rep range relatively low. About 5-12 reps per set. In this way, you can focus on perfect form and push yourself to use more weight each week.

Unfortunately, most people new to strength training use high rep ranges while using lousy technique. Like learning how to swing a golf club or shoot a gun, it's challenging to learn the right technique later if you practice poor technique now. You also significantly increase your risk of injury.

Basic movements. Low rep ranges. As much weight as you can use while maintaining strict form.

Technique & Programs

What type of resistance training is best for fat loss?

It depends. If you're brand new to strength training, lower-volume, heavy resistance training would be more appropriate. This ensures you perform the movements with strict form. Your technique is the most crucial part of your training programs.

If you are experienced with resistance training, I usually recommend the following (assuming you eat a high-protein diet, take your foundational five, and get sufficient, quality sleep):

8-12 weeks of heavy, lower volume strength training, using the big compound movements.

8-12 weeks of heavy, higher-volume hypertrophy training, with 2-4 working sets and 6-20 reps per set. This is what most people think of as muscle-building training.

8-12 weeks of higher-volume, high-intensity strength training using higher reps and short rest periods. This is like the pace of a Crossfit workout without as much of the calisthenics or gymnastics movements.

3-8 weeks of more athletic development training to give your body a break before starting over again.

My VIGOR Strength Athlete and VIGOR Everyday Athlete programming cycle through these training periods, and a few others, each year. When you eat right, you should see a significant improvement in how you look and how your clothes feel.

What equipment should I buy for my home?

While home gym equipment isn't cheap, if you commit to using it over the next few years, it'll probably be on par with the cost of a monthly gym membership. You can usually find used equipment to save some money as well. I recommend the following as a minimal, effective home gym setup:

Squat rack with adjustable safety pins, pull-up bar, and a few other optional attachments. The Hammer Strength HD Elite Multi Rack would be one example.

Adjustable bench

Barbell and Olympic plates (less likely to damage floors)

Dumbbells up to 50 lbs, 75 lbs, or 100 lbs. with appropriate rack(s)

Rubber flooring

I get asked a lot of questions about weight training. Most questions don't require a full article to answer. So, I decided to publish a "frequently asked questions" post with many of those questions. I hope you find it helpful.

You can also get free access to many training tips in the VIGOR Training Facebook group, under the category "Training Tips."

If you don't see your question answered, fill out the form at the bottom of this post and I'll answer it for you.

Getting Started

Is weight training and resistance training the same thing?

Yes.

Is weight training better than cardio?

Yes. Though cardio burns calories, it does not build or help you maintain muscle mass or bone density. Resistance training builds muscle, bone density, movement proficiency, range of motion, strength, and power. It also improves cardiovascular function and burns calories.

What exercises are most important when getting started?

Almost every exercise you'll ever do is a version of a select group of movements or a combination of them. These movements are:

SquatLift (from the floor)PullPressRotate

For example, a lunge is a form of a squat. A power clean begins with a deadlift. A medicine ball slam is a form of a vertical pull.

A beginner-level strength training program should focus on these movements.

In addition to focusing on these foundational movements, I also recommend keeping the rep range relatively low. About 5-12 reps per set. In this way, you can focus on perfect form and push yourself to use more weight each week.

Unfortunately, most people new to strength training use high rep ranges while using lousy technique. Like learning how to swing a golf club or shoot a gun, it's challenging to learn the right technique later if you practice poor technique now. You also significantly increase your risk of injury.

Basic movements. Low rep ranges. As much weight as you can use while maintaining strict form.

Technique & Programs

What type of resistance training is best for fat loss?

It depends. If you're brand new to strength training, lower-volume, heavy resistance training would be more appropriate. This ensures you perform the movements with strict form. Your technique is the most crucial part of your training programs.

If you are experienced with resistance training, I usually recommend the following (assuming you eat a high-protein diet, take your foundational five, and get sufficient, quality sleep):

8-12 weeks of heavy, lower volume strength training, using the big compound movements.8-12 weeks of heavy, higher-volume hypertrophy training, with 2-4 working sets and 6-20 reps per set. This is what most people think of as muscle-building training.8-12 weeks of higher-volume, high-intensity strength training using higher reps and short rest periods. This is like the pace of a Crossfit workout without as much of the calisthenics or gymnastics movements.3-8 weeks of more athletic development training to give your body a break before starting over again.

My VIGOR Strength Athlete and VIGOR Everyday Athlete programming cycle through these training periods, and a few others, each year. When you eat right, you should see a significant improvement in how you look and how your clothes feel.

What equipment should I buy for my home?

While home gym equipment isn't cheap, if you commit to using it over the next few years, it'll probably be on par with the cost of a monthly gym membership. You can usually find used equipment to save some money as well. I recommend the following as a minimal, effective home gym setup:

Squat rack with adjustable safety pins, pull-up bar, and a few other optional attachments. The Hammer Strength HD Elite Multi Rack would be one example.Adjustable benchBarbell and Olympic plates (less likely to damage floors)Dumbbells up to 50 lbs, 75 lbs, or 100 lbs. with appropriate rack(s)Rubber flooring

Should I use a mixed grip or pronated grip when doing deadlifts?

...

A disturbing turn of events took place on my birthday, January 14, 1977. It is one of many examples of the government attempting to influence Americans' decisions with guidance based on opinion and politics rather than scientific evidence.

I’m referring to the publication of the first version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Like the subjects of gun control, social justice, or mass vaccinations, the government’s influence on our dietary choices is based more heavily on opinions and money than real scientific evidence.

After 20 years in health and fitness, I can’t help associating my birthday with George McGovern’s “gift” to Americans: the Dietary Goals for the United States.

The Dietary Goals of 1977

I’ve been less surprised by the government’s misuse of the term “science” than many, as I’ve seen them misuse the term for the past 20 years I’ve been a health and fitness professional.

George McGovern did just that when he pushed through his committee’s report on January 14, 1977.

The report outlined the goals as follows:

Increase carbohydrate consumption to account for 55 to 60 percent of the energy (caloric) intake.

Reduce overall fat consumption from approximately 40 to 30 percent energy intake.

Reduce saturated fat consumption to account for about 10 percent of total energy intake; and balance that with poly-unsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats, which should account for about 10 percent of energy intake.

Reduce cholesterol consumption to about 300 mg. a day.

Reduce sugar consumption by about 40 percent to account for about 15 percent of total energy intake.

Reduce salt consumption by about 50 to 85 percent to approximately 3 grams a day.

Also, the report outlined guidelines for food selection and preparation:

Increase consumption of fruits and vegetables and whole grains.

Decrease consumption of meat and increase consumption of poultry and fish.

Decrease consumption of foods high in fat and partially substitute polyunsaturated fat for saturated fat.

Substitute non-fat milk for whole milk.

Decrease consumption of butterfat, eggs and other high cholesterol foods.

Decrease consumption of sugar and foods high in sugar content.

Decrease consumption of salt and foods high in salt content.

These dietary goals and guidelines formed the basis of the Dietary Guidelines For Americans, the Food Pyramid, and, more recently, My Plate.

Imagine you’re a manufacturer of processed foods. This is like hitting the jackpot! A government-recommended nutrition strategy that minimizes protein (which is expensive and difficult to preserve) and maximizes consumption of carbohydrate-rich foods, which are inexpensive and easy to make in a variety of forms and flavors.

The Politics of Nutritional Science

Over the past 44 years, we’ve continually been told to eat less fat and cholesterol and more carbohydrate-rich foods.

Yet, the evidence for all of these recommendations stems from observational data, or population-based data. Any college freshman could tell you that observational research can never show cause and effect.

Yet, the media and politicians continually use such research to push forward their agendas. They’ve done it with COVID-19, inequality, social justice, gun control, vaccines, education, and more.

The focus on fat began with an observation that in some countries, people eat more saturated fat and have more heart disease, while in some other countries, they eat less fat and suffer less heart disease.

By choosing the right countries to build his case, Ancel Keys from the University of Minnesota showed a correlation between higher saturated fat intakes and heart disease. Keys made his case by cherry-picking the data and publishing his Seven Countries Study.

Gary Taubes, in his book Good Calories, Bad Calories, shredded this pseudo-science. If you want to read nutrition science, I can’t recommend this book enough. As a matter of fact,

A disturbing turn of events took place on my birthday, January 14, 1977. It is one of many examples of the government attempting to influence Americans' decisions with guidance based on opinion and politics rather than scientific evidence.

I’m referring to the publication of the first version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Like the subjects of gun control, social justice, or mass vaccinations, the government’s influence on our dietary choices is based more heavily on opinions and money than real scientific evidence.

After 20 years in health and fitness, I can’t help associating my birthday with George McGovern’s “gift” to Americans: the Dietary Goals for the United States.

The Dietary Goals of 1977

I’ve been less surprised by the government’s misuse of the term “science” than many, as I’ve seen them misuse the term for the past 20 years I’ve been a health and fitness professional.

George McGovern did just that when he pushed through his committee’s report on January 14, 1977.

The report outlined the goals as follows:

Increase carbohydrate consumption to account for 55 to 60 percent of the energy (caloric) intake.Reduce overall fat consumption from approximately 40 to 30 percent energy intake.Reduce saturated fat consumption to account for about 10 percent of total energy intake; and balance that with poly-unsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats, which should account for about 10 percent of energy intake.Reduce cholesterol consumption to about 300 mg. a day.Reduce sugar consumption by about 40 percent to account for about 15 percent of total energy intake.Reduce salt consumption by about 50 to 85 percent to approximately 3 grams a day.

Also, the report outlined guidelines for food selection and preparation:

Increase consumption of fruits and vegetables and whole grains.Decrease consumption of meat and increase consumption of poultry and fish.Decrease consumption of foods high in fat and partially substitute polyunsaturated fat for saturated fat.Substitute non-fat milk for whole milk.Decrease consumption of butterfat, eggs and other high cholesterol foods.Decrease consumption of sugar and foods high in sugar content.Decrease consumption of salt and foods high in salt content.

These dietary goals and guidelines formed the basis of the Dietary Guidelines For Americans, the Food Pyramid, and, more recently, My Plate.

Imagine you’re a manufacturer of processed foods. This is like hitting the jackpot! A government-recommended nutrition strategy that minimizes protein (which is expensive and difficult to preserve) and maximizes consumption of carbohydrate-rich foods, which are inexpensive and easy to make in a variety of forms and flavors.

The Politics of Nutritional Science

Over the past 44 years, we’ve continually been told to eat less fat and cholesterol and more carbohydrate-rich foods.

Yet, the evidence for all of these recommendations stems from observational data, or population-based data. Any college freshman could tell you that observational research can never show cause and effect.

Yet, the media and politicians continually use such research to push forward their agendas. They’ve done it with COVID-19, inequality, social justice, gun control, vaccines, education, and more.

The focus on fat began with an observation that in some countries, people eat more saturated fat and have more heart disease, while in some other countries, they eat less fat and suffer less heart disease.

By choosing the right countries to build his case, Ancel Keys from the University of Minnesota showed a correlation between higher saturated fat intakes and heart disease. Keys made his case by cherry-picking the data and publishing his Seven Countries Study.

Gary Taubes, in his book Good Calories, Bad Calories, shredded this pseudo-science. If you want to read nutrition science, I can’t recommend this book enough. As a matter of fact, I expected every dietitian I hired while I was the Se...

Health clubs and home gym equipment companies have always operated as separate, even competing, businesses. 

In one model, you provide access to space and equipment for your customers. In the other model, you provide equipment for your customer's space.

Unfortunately, no fitness company to date has built a business that offers both. 

I felt this was an opportunity while working at my previous company. I even floated the idea described below by a few people at the time. Today, I feel confident that this is how to capitalize on the current social and economic environment and stand apart from all other membership-based fitness companies.

2020 Was a Wake-Up Call

This past year should be a wake-up call for health club operators around the world. National and local governments could close your business at any time, for as long as they can (un)reasonably justify.

Almost all health clubs lost money. Some closed completely. Thousands of fitness professionals found themselves on unemployment. 

That’s not to say fitness was the only industry rocked by lockdowns. The lockdowns hurt many other businesses as well. Local and state governments are unnecessarily handcuffing some still today.

With fitness, though, there’s a certain irony. To protect yourself from COVID-19 and almost any other disease or infection, you need to be healthy. The best way to get healthy is to follow a well-designed fitness program, which you can do at a gym or health club.

Instead of promoting how to build a strong immune system and get healthy and fit, public health "experts" and politicians have only focused on wearing masks and getting vaccines. That nonsense probably won’t change.

As a result, millions of health club members floundered at home with bands, bodyweight movements, and pastel-colored dumbbells. You can only get results for so long with such a limited amount of equipment.

An opportunity has long-existed for the top health club operators to help people get fit at home like they do in their gyms.

A Better Model: The In-Club At-Home (ICAH) Fitness Business

For simplicity, I called this the In-Club At-Home Fitness Business. For more simplicity, I refer to it as ICAH, where appropriate.

A couple of notes before continuing:

Suppose I pitched this concept as a corporate employee or looking for funding from an investment group. In that case, I'd include a plethora of financial data and other stats as part of an official business plan. However, you only need to use common sense to understand the reality of the current problems, opportunities, and value of merging in-club and in-home fitness.

Though any company with enough funding could build an ICAH fitness business, I believe existing health club operators have a few distinct advantages:

Existing membership, canceled membership, and prospective membership audienceExisting equipment manufacturing relationshipsSales and marketing teams that understand the consumers’ mindsetsA local footprint to begin promoting the new part of their business

The ICAH business model combines:

In-home equipment sales and leasing. For a health club to remain consistent with its exercise/training philosophies when guiding people in-club or at-home, it must provide a means for people to use similar equipment in either location. You can’t tell members that deadlifts and back squats are essential when they have access to the gym, and then tell them lunges and picking up grocery bags is good enough when they train at home.Access to online or app-based training programs. Numerous online training platforms already exist. If a company were to build their own platform, I wouldn’t expect it would be “cutting edge,” so it might be better to merge with an existing platform that allows trainers to work with multiple members and members or clients to get individualized programming or to participate as part of a group or team of people with similar goals.

Health clubs and home gym equipment companies have always operated as separate, even competing, businesses. 

In one model, you provide access to space and equipment for your customers. In the other model, you provide equipment for your customer's space.

Unfortunately, no fitness company to date has built a business that offers both. 

I felt this was an opportunity while working at my previous company. I even floated the idea described below by a few people at the time. Today, I feel confident that this is how to capitalize on the current social and economic environment and stand apart from all other membership-based fitness companies.

2020 Was a Wake-Up Call

This past year should be a wake-up call for health club operators around the world. National and local governments could close your business at any time, for as long as they can (un)reasonably justify.

Almost all health clubs lost money. Some closed completely. Thousands of fitness professionals found themselves on unemployment. 

That’s not to say fitness was the only industry rocked by lockdowns. The lockdowns hurt many other businesses as well. Local and state governments are unnecessarily handcuffing some still today.

With fitness, though, there’s a certain irony. To protect yourself from COVID-19 and almost any other disease or infection, you need to be healthy. The best way to get healthy is to follow a well-designed fitness program, which you can do at a gym or health club.

Instead of promoting how to build a strong immune system and get healthy and fit, public health "experts" and politicians have only focused on wearing masks and getting vaccines. That nonsense probably won’t change.

As a result, millions of health club members floundered at home with bands, bodyweight movements, and pastel-colored dumbbells. You can only get results for so long with such a limited amount of equipment.

An opportunity has long-existed for the top health club operators to help people get fit at home like they do in their gyms.

A Better Model: The In-Club At-Home (ICAH) Fitness Business

For simplicity, I called this the In-Club At-Home Fitness Business. For more simplicity, I refer to it as ICAH, where appropriate.

A couple of notes before continuing:

Suppose I pitched this concept as a corporate employee or looking for funding from an investment group. In that case, I'd include a plethora of financial data and other stats as part of an official business plan. However, you only need to use common sense to understand the reality of the current problems, opportunities, and value of merging in-club and in-home fitness.

Though any company with enough funding could build an ICAH fitness business, I believe existing health club operators have a few distinct advantages:

Existing membership, canceled membership, and prospective membership audienceExisting equipment manufacturing relationshipsSales and marketing teams that understand the consumers’ mindsetsA local footprint to begin promoting the new part of their business

The ICAH business model combines:

In-home equipment sales and leasing. For a health club to remain consistent with its exercise/training philosophies when guiding people in-club or at-home, it must provide a means for people to use similar equipment in either location. You can’t tell members that deadlifts and back squats are essential when they have access to the gym, and then tell them lunges and picking up grocery bags is good enough when they train at home.Access to online or app-based training programs. Numerous online training platforms already exist. If a company were to build their own platform, I wouldn’t expect it would be “cutting edge,” so it might be better to merge with an existing platform that allows trainers to work with multiple members and members or clients to get individualized programming or to participate as part of a group or team of people with similar goals.