Fitness + Technology

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O'Rourke welcomes friend and long-time supporter, Chris Stevenson. Chris has lead key roles in the space such as serving as an IHRSA Board Member, owner of Stevenson Fitness, and as the founder of Stevenson Consulting. As an international speaker and strategic business advisor, Chris is considered one of the leading thinkers in all aspects of the health club industry. Listeners will enjoy Chris’s view on the future as he and Bryan discuss the value of automation, the relevance in adopting technology, and keeping the human experience core to any operation.  One Powerful Quote:  16:23: “If at each point, each touch point in the customer journey, you’re able to create an awesome human element and a seamless technology element, you’re going to be successful. You’re going to make people happy.”   4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 3:32: Chris shares his thoughts on the latest adoption trends in the health club space and

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O'Rourke welcomes friend and advocate, Emma Barry. Emma has lead key senior roles including Director of Group Fitness for Equinox and as a founder for group fitness exercise for Les Mills International. As an author, speaker, and advisor, Emma is considered one of the leading thinkers in the personal betterment sector. Listeners will enjoy Emma’s views on the space as she and Bryan discuss implementation, user experience, and the business model behind boutique studios.  If you are interested in Emma Barry’s article publication “Customer Engagement in Boutique Studios” featured in EuropeActive’s Retention Report, you can purchase it here:  https://blackboxpublishers.com/en/publications/customer-engagement-in-boutique-studios/ One Powerful Quote:  4:31: “I think the surge definitely is going to continue and increase because we are living in times of convenience with technology and able to take experiences with us… some of these experiences aren’t the s

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O'Rourke welcomes friend and colleague Hans Muench, principal of Muench Solutions Consulting, live from Amsterdam. Hans has served in a variety of executive roles including the Director of Europe for IHRSA, Chief Development Officer for Elixia Clubs, and currently serves as an advisor for VirtuaGym and Urban Sport Clubs. He is an ambassador for Gym Factory and acts as a consultant for suppliers and club operators. As one of the leading, trusted advisors in the European health club market, listeners will enjoy Hans’s advice as he and Bryan discuss the overall shape of the marketplace and recap VirtuaGym’s FitNation 2019. One Powerful Quote:  4:31: “There is much of a danger [technology] to be too early as too late…You can only really effectively do as much innovation as you can integrate and implement in your organization.” 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 3:26: Hans shares his perspective on the European marketpl

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O'Rourke welcomes friend and colleague Sean Maguire, MD and founder of Legend Club Management Systems. As one of the leading technologists in the fitness facility industry, Sean founded Legend in 2002 as a software solution provider for fitness club operators in the UK. Legend now provides leisure management software and outsourced services to hundreds of fitness facility operators in the public, private, and educational sectors. Listeners will appreciate Sean’s advice as he and Bryan discuss the future of technology and consumer trends in the market along with business philosophies and insights. Legend will be hosting its annual conference October 10th in Birmingham, UK. To learn more, click here. Bryan O’Rourke will keynote the event.  One Powerful Quote:  4:50: The consumer has somehow overtaken us, but certainly, has stepped off our path, and we’re trying to understand where that consumer is going to be. 4-10 Bullet Points (w/timestamps) - Highli

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O'Rourke welcomes longtime friend Rick Mayo, founder and CEO of Alloy Personal Training Center. Initially started in 1992, Rick created Alloy in 2010, a consulting and licensing company as a platform for the Alloy personal training systems, with over 1000 clubs licensed worldwide. Rick shares his thoughts on how to effectively implement technology in the fitness realm, as well as the launch of Alloy's new franchise model. Listeners will appreciate Rick's whip-smart sense of humor and he and Bryan's rapport as they discuss the state of the industry today.  One Powerful Quote:  6:00 In this day and age, you can't ignore [tech]. It's the big disruptor for everyone. You can say what you want about it, but if you talk negatively about it, it's just because you're scared of it.  4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 3:10: Rick shares his journey, from working as a personal trainer to pay his way through college, to growth i

This week, on the Fitness + Technology Podcast, Host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Matt Wright, vice president of personal training and programming at City Fitness in Philadelphia, PA. Matt is a well-known trainer and at the cutting edge of programming, training and technology.  Powerful Quote:  23:03 “I think it’s important that every single member we can direct them towards what’s going to be most accessible to them to build an exercise and healthy lifestyle as a behavior and habits and who they are as a person.”  Key topics discussed: 6:29 Bryan asks Matt’s perspective on what technology brings to the table in terms of the relationship between clubs and trainers, and Matt defines service vs. experience and the role they play in that relationship. 11:22 Brian asks Matt if he sees fitness club orientation shifting from sales to hospitality, and Matt asks Brian how he has viewed fitness club orientation in terms of what fitness professionals are doing from an experience standpoint. 15:00 Matt comments on how he see

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, Bryan welcomes Craig Miller, Chief Digital & Information Officer for Planet Fitness, the largest health club chain in the world, with 13 million members across 1800 clubs. Miller came to Planet Fitness via Sonic Drive-In, and he shares with F+T listeners his wealth of experience in the digital sphere and how data can be used to provide a competitive advantage in the fitness field. One Powerful Quote: 8:00 What I found is that probably 70, 75% of a digital strategy is really very consistent [across industry]. It isn't until the go-to-market or consumer-facing aspect of your business is when it really begins to change. OR 12:35: The foundation of all digital strategies is data. 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 2:45 Guest Craig Miller talks about his first 18 months at Planet Fitness and how he ended up working at the world's largest health club chain. 4:40 Bryan asks Craig to talk about the Planet Fitness brand and its in

On this week's Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O'Rourke welcomes, from beautiful Copenhagen, Denmark, Kenn Gudbergsen, co-founder of TrainAway. TrainAway is a mobile app that provides users, especially travelers, access to gyms directly on their phone. Recently, TrainAway partnered with IHRSA to offer a passport program that provides IHRSA member with a 25% discount and participating clubs while they travel. Listen in as Kenn and Bryan discuss industry trends including the upswing in travelers, especially millennials, who still work out while they travel. One Powerful Quote: 22:22: “It's all about learning. We need to learn from our users, and we need to learn from the gyms. It's the fundamental feedback loop we need to succeed at...being able to learn from your users is so important.” 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 3:05: Kenn gives us a quick rundown of his business philosophy, as fully articulated in a recent article published in LinkedIn, and how this serv

On this week's Fitness + Technology podcast, Bryan joins us direct from the 2019 IHRSA Conference for a member roundtable entitled “Club Technology: Trends, Opportunities & Threats.”  IHRSA is a global community of health and fitness professionals representing 8,000 member clubs in over 70 countries, whose goal is to grow, protect, and promote the health and fitness industry. This year, IHRSA members flocked to San Diego to learn from and network with the best and brightest in the industry, and Bryan, after a brief presentation, takes questions from club owners and operators in the audience, while other participants and audience members chime in with their own experience as club owners and operators.

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, Host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Cory Brightwell, co-founder and CEO of Chuze Fitness, a low cost – high value business model that started in California and has expanded into multiple states. Cory has been in the company for over a decade, and he talks with us about hospitality and the challenges of technology adoption.

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, Host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Dean Giamundo, the national director of sales at Jonas Fitness, Inc., which recently joined the Fitness Industry Technology Council. Dean has a background in the technology industry and at Jonas Fitness he helps teach management and facility owners how to apply technology to the industry.

Host Bryan O'Rourke welcomes the Retention Guru, Dr. Paul Bedford, to the Fitness + Technology Podcast. Dr. Bedford is the leading expert on retention in the world, and they waste no time delving right into Paul's area of expertise. How do gyms and health clubs regard their members, how can they use technology and analytics to customize and enhance member experience, and how can they retain members while maximizing their bottom line? Paul, who is based in London, travels the world sharing his passion and keeping up with breaking industry trends, and we're glad for the opportunity to welcome his wisdom.

On this week's Fitness + Technology Podcast, host Bryan O'Rourke shares a webinar he presented to the International Council on Active Aging: “What are the future trends and current possibilities in technology.” Regular listeners will remember a recent podcast with Colin Milner, founder and CEO of the ICAA. Bryan spends time discussing technological breakthroughs in robotics and artificial intelligence and describes not only how technology is more relevant and beneficial to active agers than most people might realize, but also how these technological developments will provide further business opportunities for entrepreneurs.

This week, on the Fitness + Technology Podcast, Host Bryan O'Rourke welcomes David Minton, founder and director of The Leisure Database Company, purveyors of customer profiles, market data and site analysis for the fitness industry . The pair speak to us from the Grand Majestic Hotel in Bologna, Italy, where they have just spoken on a panel at ForumClub entitled “New consumers, new tools, new businesses” with other industry leaders, and they share their key takeaways from this star-studded panel.

On this week's Fitness + Technology Podcast, Bryan discusses the Fitness Industry Technology Council's 2019 Tech Trend Report. Established in 2008 as a nonprofit membership organization, FIT-C's mission is to promote the responsible and effective adoption of technology in order to enhance user experience and improve business models for operators. Their annual trend report is a great way to keep an eye on the trends that will impact the market for years to come.

On this week's Fitness + Technology Podcast, Bryan welcomes veteran Australian fit-tech entrepreneur Deborah Goldberg to the podcast. Deborah came into the fitness industry ten years ago, with a focus of bringing Zumba to Australia, a nation with one of the world's worst obesity levels. Today, she works with AirFitness, designing tech products specifically for the fitness industry. She also launched Sub A Class, a free app that connects fitness instructors with one another to fill in or cover other instructor absences, as well as Morfis, an app that promotes business for fitness professionals.

This week, Bryan welcomes Australian fitness leader, Justin “JT” Tamsett, Managing Director of Active Management.  Bryan first interviewed JT seven and a half years ago, at the FILEX 2011 Fitness Convention in Sydney, Australia.  Despite the time that has elapsed, the pair find that many of the subjects they discussed then are still relevant today, from exploring ways to modernize the fitness industry, to how exercise can be used to tackle disease head-on, and why JT believes the fitness industry should come together to get people moving.

This week, Bryan welcomes to the podcast Sharad Mohan, co-founder and CEO of fitness company Trainerize. Founded in 2008 as a consumer fitness app, Trainerize has pivoted to become an industry leader in fitness technology, allowing trainers to more easily find clients and provide them with custom meal plans, exercise routines, and much more. With three-hundred thousand active users and more than seventy-five thousand fitness businesses using Trainerize, Mohan shares his thoughts on what it takes to be successful and to truly engage with clients using technology in the fitness industry.

This week, Bryan serves as a panelist at CanFitPro's World Fitness Expo. He is joined by CEOs and other industry leaders to discuss the future of fitness technology. Discussion topics include how technology can be used to improve peoples’ lives and how it can be used to entice people to exercise and embrace wellness. The experts share their insights from decades of work in the field and what they believe the future holds for the industry. Panelists include Bryan O'Rourke, CEO of Vedere Ventures and founder and CEO of Integerus; Paul Bowman, CEO of Wexer Virtual; Mike Leveque, COO of MYZONE; John Ford, CEO of eGym North America; and Len Fridman, co-founder and CEO of WellnessLiving. Steve Groves, CIO & VP at GoodLife Fitness, hosts.

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast we welcome Rasmus Ingerslev, chatting to us from Stockholm, Sweden. He is the Chairman of REPEAT in addition to IHRSA and Executive Vice Chairman of Wexer. Co-founder of the Danish Fitness & Health Organization, Rasmas has been noted as one of Denmark’s top CEOs and has a formidable reputation in the global fitness + tech innovation space. Building on Rasmus’s two decades in fitness entrepreneurship, REPEAT is the next generation of gym club. REPEAT is a urban brand designed with millennials in mind--more like a nightclub than a YMCA. It’s bigger and better than exercise; it’s about lifestyle--that, with world-class technology, seamlessly folds in with customers’ pre- and post-workout lives.