Escape Your Limits & LIFTS

This is a special episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast in response to the impact that the coronavirus is having on the fitness industry. Both consumer and commercial audiences are searching out gym advice during closures from COVID-19. We hear important advice from Al Noshirvani, founder of Motionsoft, about remodeling your business, ensuring member retention wherever possible, staff and pay issues, and how we can come through these pandemic challenges together. Watch and listen for how to cope with everything during these challenging times, including staff, billing, cash flow, members, marketing and administration. For more information on the Escape Your Limits podcast visit https://escapefitness.com/podcast Watch the full episode on YouTube Al Noshirvani founded Motionsoft – a membership management software and billing company – in 2004. In addition to being a fitness industry software specialist, he’s also a gym owner. Al heads up three health and fitness clubs in the Washington DC Metropolitan area in the high-value low-price space. All of this means that he’s primed to offer the best advice for other gym operators, senior leadership teams and directors in fitness facilities so that we, as an industry, can continue to be the voice of wellness for members, even when the doors to the gym are shut.   Motionsoft is a leading provider of software and financial services for the health, fitness and wellness industry. Motionsoft's award winning club management software and membership management solutions have helped organizations like Equinox Fitness, CRUNCH, The Bay Club Co, US Fitness, the Steve Nash Clubs and thousands of other gyms and fitness facilities around the world.  Since its inception Al has completed five acquisitions and grown Motionsoft to become one of the largest software and full service transaction and accounts receivable software companies in the fitness industry.   Episode highlights - How the coronavirus effect within fitness started out as a pause in business of about two weeks, but has quickly escalated to at least two to three months or longer. What the challenge is of open-ended closure calls from governments around the world, and how it’s hard to plan without a timeline. Why, despite challenges and difficulties, your members will appreciate every bit of help that you can offer during this worldwide threat. What are the practical things to think about immediately to ride out the coronavirus pandemic as effectively as possible? Why your decision whether to bill members or not over the closure period will make a huge difference to other decisions come the time to open. Why it’s vital that you speak to your technology partners to see what business effects can be improved and how these will benefit members regardless of when your gym is opening again. What government benefits are on the way to help the fitness industry and how it may be information overload, but there’s a lot to consider to get us through this. How there are plenty of things you may not have thought about in terms of knock-on effects, what these are, and what you can do about them to survive this period. Why administration excellence is key during the coronavirus closures. What the difference is between short-term challenges and encouraging member loyalty, compared with long-term disruption from COVID-19 and the unavoidable effect on cash flow. How your marketing, messaging and social activity will be the difference between staying strong during closures and being forgotten about as member behaviours change. What your staffing decisions will mean for your future, and why you need to be careful about the wording or organisation of redundancies, lay offs and furlows. What support there is to business in the fitness industry and why you should look out for initiatives such as relief funding, small business loans or deferral opportunities around the world.   Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Al Noshirvani…

As CEO of Gymbox, Marc Diaper knows what it takes to keep evolving and staying ahead of the curve in fitness, whether that’s through stats breakdown, sticking to brand values or simply staying patient. A series of boutiques under one roof, Gymbox plays host to everything from DJs and music created specifically for the brand, or partnerships and tie-ins with icons such as Gymshark or Brazilian jiu-jitsu originating from the Gracie family direct. It’s the fitness space that’s a fully inclusive experience for workouts where anything goes. For more information visit https://escapefitness.com/podcast Watch the full episode on YouTube   Marc Diaper believes in being the hardest worker in the room. He works hard because he’s always hungry for further success. On top of this, his mindset benefits the mindset of his staff because he still knows how to stay humble. Marc’s first job was in a sports shop. His meticulous detail was drilled into him by his boss and accidental mentor. Following a stint at Southampton Football Club, a sports degree at university and a year of travel, Marc came back and gained his qualifications in nutrition and sports therapy. He started in the fitness industry as a fitness instructor and personal trainer for LA Fitness. Through hard work and the right attitude, he was on path to success faster than anyone else. In 2009 he started his own consultancy business, before continuing trend for success when he joined Gymbox as sales director. Six years later he’d risen the ranks through managing director to CEO, where he’s inspiring others in Gymbox, a business that motivates a membership, stimulates a city and inspires an industry. Gymbox is for the ravers, the first timers, the masochists, the street dancers, the gurus, the people who aren’t satisfied with easy; where enough is never enough. Gymbox is not purely a gym. It's the experience that you will want to re-live no matter where, no matter when! Everything Gymbox does, from the designs of gym interiors, to the people hired, and the classes, has to inspire and excite, energise and ignite. Gymbox believes in creating workouts that get raved about and venues that get talked about, so forever and always, anything goes.     Episode highlights - How important disruption is in creating a brand and ensuring you stay in the forefront of people’s minds, especially at the start of a business. Why the whole team, and often customers, can influence your marketing activity and how collaboration is key to progressing in a way that makes sense for every interest. What the demographic difference is to your venture and how that will change depending on the life choices of your customers, especially in boutique markets targeted towards younger generations. How your programming will benefit from regular investment to stay ahead of the curve and give your members the best experiences, from holistic to sadistic. Why all clubs and locations under one brand should be as good as each other, giving any member the same level of quality no matter where they visit. How to grow and build your talent in-house, and protect yourself from competitors that might pay more. How you can maintain your position in the market financially as a mid-premium product when most other alternatives have been wiped out by low-cost operators. Why it’s important to develop and evolve your environment between space for product and room for dwell time or letting members relax. How brand partnerships benefit both parties and are often more useful to generate awareness rather than leads, but why they’re so important in the right circumstances. What benefit defining brand values will bring to your staff and your business direction. You need to live and breathe them. What the values are behind Gymbox – such as “don’t be a dick” – and how these values drive the brand, the staff, performance and progress. What’s next for the future of Gymbox? Find out how the brand is looking to evolve and come into your home, so long as it’s a fully immersive experience.   Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Marc Diaper…

Pete Holman is an inventor and entrepreneur, and the brains behind the Nautilus Glute Drive and the TRX Rip Trainer. But this episode is more than just about innovation. Pete gives us a deep dive into the spiritual, mental and physical influences that benefit short and long term strategies in business to set your intention while still keeping your health and relationships in check. Through Pete’s experience, discover the links between physical goals and business execution, and how mindset is key in both creating innovative products and scaling to a multi-million dollar venture.   Watch the full episode on YouTube    Pete Holman was originally planning to follow in his parents’ footsteps as a psychologist until he was put off by the intensity of what negative behaviour humans are capable of. Instead, he decided to go down the path of physical therapy. Developing a love affair with movement, motivation and mindset, he found his skillset suited to martial arts, quickly becoming US National Taekwondo Champion in addition to studying and training. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a Master’s of Science degree in Physical Therapy in 1997 and went on to work at the renowned Aspen Sports Medicine clinic prior to opening up his own private practice in 2001. His client list has included Fortune 500 business owners from Jones Apparel, Progressive Insurance and Fiji water, as well as Hollywood stars including Ed Bradley and Kevin Costner. Today Pete is a certified strength and conditioning specialist, international presenter, author and fitness product inventor living in Aspen Colorado. Pete Holman is available for speaking engagements and training sessions for instructors, coaches, athletes and staff. He specialises in rehabilitative medicine, core performance and foundational movement assessment. Confidence and cutting edge concepts are born from 30 years of hard earned experience and training.   For more information visit https://www.ph1performance.com/   Episode highlights -  How keeping life varied is both liberating and stressful in its openness of opportunity and many paths to follow. Why having a side-project, whether part of the passion or completely separate, can be incredibly useful to your progression in your original career. The importance of processes, whether in sports, business, relationships or hobbies, and how following them will ensure progress on the road to success. How education in any form is paramount to success, but it doesn’t necessarily have to involve traditional routes of learning. Why you can’t force acceleration and how you have to allow time for education and understanding to take place and implement itself correctly. How inventing a sustainable and effective product often comes from trying to solve a problem, and looking to resolve that issue as efficiently as possible. What challenges come with inventing a new product as an entrepreneur and forging a new relationship with a larger business when it comes to selling the product, rights, and working together for future success. How to handle the financial burn rate when launching new products and coping with every business essential. Why sometimes you have to ignore your ego and back out of a venture if there are parameters that you can’t fulfill. Through failure is how we grow. How your work ethic is imperative to your success, but why you also need to take time for yourself in order to preserve both your physical and mental health. What you can do to link mindset between body and business, for progressing both to the success levels that you intend to hit. Why planning your time out with achievable and audacious goals will ensure that your attention is focused, while allowing you to tick off achievements. A timeline on projects mean that hard work and planning goes from arduous task to almost like ticking items off a shopping/grocery list. How training to compete often ends in injury, even with professional sports such as the NFL. What’s going to happen when the pendulum swings back away from technology, in favour more of community and experiential workout facilities that take you away from distractions at home. What the challenges are of complicated digital products when it comes to educating trainers around the country or internationally, and how you can talk to both newbie and experienced fitpros with the same message.   Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Pete Holman…

OK Boomer… Time to get fit! The Baby Boomers, ageing fitness, over 55s, the grey pound… Call it what you like, there’s a sector of the fitness industry full of people that are underappreciated and underserviced. In this special episode of the Escape Your Limits, live from ukactive’s Sweat 2020, we explore how to grow the industry, grow our engagement and grow old healthily. With so many opportunities within fitness – what are we missing? How can we provide the best fitness experience for us all as we age? Join Joan Murphy of FRAME and Kenny Butler of ukactive in conversation with Matthew Januszek to find out. For more information visit https://escapefitness.com/podcast Watch the full episode on YouTube Joan Murphy is co-founder and CEO of FRAME. Energetic and enthusiastic about all things fitness, she has previously represented her home country of New Zealand in sports such as pole vault and track cycling. Today she’s using a finance and marketing background to understand juggling a business, motivating both staff and class attendees, along with being a mum of two. Kenny Butler is head of health and wellbeing development at ukactive. From a physiotherapist background, he’s improved the wellbeing of individuals, and today is working to better the health of the national by getting more people, more active, more often. FRAME is a studio in London offering fitness, Pilates, yoga, barre and dance classes, plus personal training. In true boutique style, there’s also an activewear shop full of the best from the big brands alongside niche finds, and a cafe where you can order smoothies, juices and healthy food to eat in or take away. You’ll find FRAME in King's Cross, Shoreditch, Victoria, Hammersmith, Fitzrovia and Farringdon. The team at ukactive strives to get more people, more active, more often. Its a long-standing vision to improve the health of the nation through promoting active lifestyles. Working between the fitness industry and government, ukactive provide a supportive, professional and innovative platform for its partners to help the fitness sector thrive.   Episode highlights -  How the marketing needs to change within the fitness industry to accommodate a huge section of the market with the largest percentage of spend – the over 55s. Why it’s more important to focus on independence and mobility than exercise and sport when it comes to customers, members and clients in the ageing fitness sector. What’s changed with perceptions of age, and how the age of 60 is very different now to what it was two decades ago. How boutiques have made fitness accessible for people that didn’t want to do PE, but why we need the same generational shift for older members who want to stay active without necessarily taking on a HIIT class. The pressure that social media puts on both businesses to appeal to their target demographic, but also to anyone else who wants to work out while potentially not falling into that perceived market. How programming is going to be key for ensuring that workouts are at the right level for the audience – especially with ageing members. What issues there are with the career progression of personal trainers, and how we need more older personal trainers to appeal to the baby boomer market. What the global challenge is for healthy ageing as a result of people being inactive. How the effect of long-term conditions can be alleviated by fitness at an older age, taking a lot of pressure off institutions such as the NHS. Why ageing and loss of fitness is often confused, and how being physically, mentally and emotionally active often helps the ageing process.   Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Joan Murphy and Kenny Butler

Sarah Anne Stewart has started a movement of meditation and mindfulness. Empowering clients with the responsibility to change their behaviour, Sarah is holistically bringing self-love, self-worth, and self-confidence to a whole community. Overcoming everything from eating disorders and body shaming to breast implant illness and mental health concerns, this episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast is a lesson in being honest with yourself and open with audiences to share experience for the biggest benefits around the world. Watch the full episode on YouTube Sarah Anne Stewart grew up in a very holistic environment from a young age, long before it was adopted en masse. Despite being around positive affirmations every day and knowing how to eat healthily, a budding modeling career resulted in Sarah developing a series of eating disorders that lasted 10 years that drastically affected her life. During her childhood, Sarah’s father had overcome cancer, in part through adopting a vegan lifestyle. She took inspiration from these memories and experiences to leave the modeling industry and study nutrition. However, the societal and cultural conditioning patterns still remained, causing anxiety and stress. Sarah embraced meditation to learn more about herself and how to overcome her wellbeing conditions through mindfulness. Whether you or your clients and members are searching to end a battle with endless dieting, silence the body shaming, release food anxiety, or to have the body confidence to step into the dream life – Sarah Anne Stewart has been there. She is living proof that things can change for anyone, for the better, and quickly! Sarah is building a community and a movement based on self-love, self-worth, self-confidence and understanding behaviour and triggers to empower anyone for longevity and mental wellbeing. For more information visit https://sarahannestewart.com/   Episode highlights How meditation and not being afraid of your own thoughts will help you heal and better understand yourself. Why many people suffer from issues surrounding self-validation and the need for other people to like you. Ask yourself why you’re holding your own image and abilities in relation to the way that you appear to others. Why we often go into careers that are driven by wounding patterns from our childhood. What’s going to make the difference when it comes to improving your own or clients’ self-love, self-worth, self-confidence. How you can better understand what’s going on in your client’s mind, and why it’s so important to really think about who you want to serve and then genuinely serving them. Why you may never be ready, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start your journey in whatever sector or lifestyle you’re in. Don’t let imposter syndrome stop you from discovering your own story and improving what you do, while you’re doing it. How to undertake your own research and why it’s so important to understanding who you’re talking to with any business or movement venture for sustainable change. Why marketing is short term – shifts in trends and visual approaches will go away, whereas mindset and looking after yourself will change cultures and attitudes portrayed in the media for the long term. What you can do to change behaviour and understand why there’s nobody else who can help you make a change as effectively as yourself. How you can look at your social circle to see what’s influencing the relationships and whether you’re in a place that truly holds integrity with yourself and how you want to live. Why it’s important to listen to your body and its internal wisdom. This is more than just about muscle aches, but also anxiety and understanding how any emotion is your body telling you, more often than not, to rest or to take a step back for better perspective. How ‘closing is caring’ if you’re genuinely passionate and believe that what you’re selling would help someone. Ways that you can service the dreams, desires, fears and frustrations of clients in order to solve their problem and get rid of their struggles. How your past has value and acts as your stories to benefit yourself and others. However, you have to make sure you share those stories at the right time so that you don’t trigger yourself back into the problem. Why being in the room with people you see as so much more developed in their career will bring you inspiration to succeed even more, and saying yes is the only way to pushing yourself into self-worth and self-esteem throughout your life.   Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Sarah Anne Stewart…

Nick Mitchell, founder of Ultimate Performance, shares his journey from a career in law and investment banking to becoming a global leader in personal training. He discusses the importance of building a supportive environment for trainers and emphasizes authenticity in a culture focused on results. Nick tackles the challenges of fat shaming versus acceptance, highlighting the need for health awareness. He also explores the role of technology in personal training and the emotional complexities of managing diverse teams globally.

This episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast is a branding and marketing special, with Amanda McVey of Upgrade Labs in partnership with ukactive and Sweat 2020. Sweat 2020 will reveal business tips and success stories – equally as applicable for start-ups and established brands alike – from entrepreneurs pioneering fitness in urban spaces around the world. Please join us on the 20th February at 85 Brick Lane, London E1 6QR to discover emerging opportunities in the ever-changing and challenging landscape of boutique fitness. For a special member rate on tickets, visit https://www2.ukactive.com/escape-fitness-sweat-2020   What is Sweat 2020? Sweat is an event held in London on the 20th of February attended by hundreds of influential entrepreneurs and operators from the health and fitness sector. If you’ve never been before then it’s a great networking opportunity to discover new ideas and insights from thought leaders initiating the latest fitness trends, business strategies and success stories.   This year, the agenda will be centered around: Reinventing space and the importance of programming Reinvestment, sustainability and growth How to ensure tech can give operators the maximum return PLUS a special panel discussion on the baby boomer market hosted by Matthew Januszek and a select panel of guests, which will be recorded live and released as an episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast at a later date Take advantage of our specially negotiated member rate on tickets at https://www2.ukactive.com/escape-fitness-sweat-2020   Highlights Why it’s important to target individuals on the leading edge in order to forge your own entrepreneurial path in any fitness sector. Seek to be above average and believe there’s another way towards health than tradition. How your marketing message needs to change in order to suit an ageing demographic and appeal to a huge sector of the health and wellbeing What you can do to motivate clients and consumers to take action from your marketing, and how stories can inspire lifestyle change in anyone. Why the baby boomer market needs to be all about efficiency. They understand the benefits of fitness and recovery to longevity, but are busy with family, careers, and other responsibilities that take up time. How you can design programming to give members and clients transformative results through clever use of time that makes any time spent on looking after yourself more effective. What you can do to listen to customers and base marketing messages on exactly what you hear from who’s walking through your door. Why consumer behaviour around purchasing can be more surprising than what you expect when you start out on your business journey. What tech platforms and outlets work for the ageing population interested in fitness, or the time-poor baby boomers that may not traditionally adopt social media and digital opportunities. How campaigns and PR work compare with organic growth in different sectors, and which you should concentrate on for brand awareness or conversions.

Sharran Srivatsaa has gone from fighting with a raccoon in a dumpster for food, to scaling a real estate business for 10x success and billions of dollars. This is the ultimate story of struggling against all odds and overcoming a lot of obstacles. Within this Escape Your Limits interview we break down some of the key business strategies, skills and habits that Sharran’s used in several of his companies. They’re just as relevant to large-scale businesses and start-ups alike, from following a process and goal setting to advice on how to find a mentor and what the best routes to success are for your skills.   Watch the full episode on YouTube    Sharran Srivatsaa arrived in the USA from India with just $100 in his pocket. After a hard struggle, he forged an impressive entrepreneurial career starting several businesses, advising and building multiple companies. Even more importantly, Sharran has grown one company from $300 million to over $3 billion in revenue in fewer than five years. Sharran Srivatsaa is the CEO of Kingston Lane, a push-button technology execution platform for real estate. Sharran is a serial entrepreneur, sought after keynote speaker, and a respected thought-leadership resource for publications such as the Wall Street Journal, SUCCESS magazine, Huffington Post and Forbes. One of the central components of the ‘Kingston Lane Machine’ is lifetime nurture for leads because this allows a consistent cadence of value added communication across channels that warms clients up and, as a result, makes future interactions more joyful and stress-free. Imagine your leads being nurtured for life… and you only talk to them when they are ready and you literally have to do nothing and let the machine handle the cadence of communication.    Episode highlights -  Why many think that scaling any venture is set-up by design, but is often a necessity to discover the best direction for business development. How raising standards can be applicable to anyone in any life set-up, even just from starting your day earlier to raise efficiency. Deciding on your minimum standard and sticking to it is the only option to finding a way to succeed. How you can short circuit the business belief system using a why, how, what framework. What Sharran Srivatsaa’s formula is to 10X a business and why doing fewer things will lead to doing great things. It’s all about the singularity of focus. How to back yourself for a big reward if you’re at the point of putting everything on the line with any company. Why building your sales team is going to be the primary driver in building your business and improving growth rates. Why holding employees accountable will drive each one’s singularity of focus. For example reporting daily on how many appointments you had and how many you have booked. How can you combat a creative approach if you’re not an operator-type entrepreneur, in order to put processes in place for definite growth delivery? Why you need some level of support system in place to put employees in their right position. This will prevent frustration and ensure better productivity through enjoyment of work and fulfillment. How tennis got Sharran out of India and started him on an education journey that started with him having no money, fighting a raccoon for food in a dumpster, to incredible wealth and opportunity, without even being a money motivated person. How to overcome missed opportunities, failure and mistakes through learning as you progress and surrounding yourself with great advisors. Find or build your support system, whether it’s a mentorship, being mentored, or working within a mastermind group. Why you can break any business down into three pieces: traffic, systems and skills, and what these mean to your success. Why understanding your cost per lead is the most important to converting opportunity into revenue, and what “break even cost per lead” will do to improving your growth mindset. How many clients does it take you to get one sale? Then, work out how much you can spend on average to generate leads. Why daily calls may be the answer to progress in your business, as long as you respect the time restraints of when a meeting is booked. What goal setting will do for your life, and how it’s all about being precise and targeted on what you can achieve. Your goals have to change you.   Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Sharran Srivatsaa

This episode of the Escape Your Limits podcast is an inspirational story for athletes, entrepreneurs and the public alike. With a never-say-quit attitude, Amanda McVey, VP of Upgrade Labs, is revealing the secrets of longevity and wellbeing through application of technology and pioneering research. Part of the Bulletproof family, Upgrade Labs at the Beverly Hilton is where you’ll discover the world’s first human upgrade centre, from the birthplace of biohacking and Bulletproof Coffee. Watch the full episode on YouTube. Amanda McVey used to work on Wall Street; she’s always had a start-up mentality and spent a lot of time in the finance space. In addition to her professional life, she was working out a lot of evenings and weekends but was also a dancer. Movement has always been part of her life. She had everything you’re ‘supposed’ to want – great job, great location, big salary – but wasn’t happy. Following an a-ha moment, she pivoted her career and moved to Equinox on minimum wage. She’d realised that happiness isn’t about chasing pay checks. Following long-term experience as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor with Crunch and Equinox, Amanda got into boutique fitness and developed her career to the point of helping build facilities herself. She oversaw the global master trainer team at POUND Rockout Workout – the world's only cardio jam session inspired by drumming. Travelling around expos, Amanda soon realised how much technology was going to influence the future of fitness before discovering Dave Asprey and finding a new hunger for further career progression. Amanda McVey has always been somebody who follows her gut and isn’t afraid to make her own template for her future success, through a fearless application of passion and a need for moving forward. Upgrade Labs is the brainchild of Bulletproof Founder and “father of biohacking”, Dave Asprey. With more than 15 different technologies in two signature locations dedicated to improving mental and physical performance and recovery, Upgrade Labs is the first to offer state-of-the-art biohacking equipment to the public. Facilities include an atmospheric cell trainer, full-body detox massage and lymphatic drainage tech, adaptive resistance machines, cryotherapy, brain training, light therapy techniques and more innovative wellbeing treatments.   Episode highlights - How the general public now has access to the technology that was previously only available to the 1% for improvements in health and wellbeing. Why high-tech ‘earthing’ through pulsed electro magnetic field therapy will give you more energy, remove inflammation and make you feel recovered with every use. How you can supercharge your mitochondria through red light therapy for increased energy and youth restoration. Why you may not even like treatments like cryotherapy, but including them in your routine will bring big benefits for your body. Where biohacking came from, and how it helped Davey Asprey on his own journey before realising he could use a computer hacking approach for his own health benefits, and to pioneer a new sector. Hear the origin story of Bulletproof Coffee. How to remove ‘brain fog’ that comes through poor nutrition and other fatiguing influences. Why starting out with an unconventional business model disrupted a market before it had even been fully established, and how the biggest opportunities arise from passion and understanding of potential. What is biohacking and how it’s a challenge to find specifics that make you better. Why your cells may be incredibly complex, but they’re also very simple when it comes to basic needs of water, oxygen, light and other elements that allow them to thrive. How Upgrade Labs is split into three groups… The future of fitness, with facilities billed as a workout in 60 minutes that can replace a week’s worth of exercise, recovery and beauty, or self-health, brain and cognition therapies. What further progressions can be implemented to pull in data through technologies and use machine learning to offer huge benefits for members with both workout and recovery facilities. How a cold HIIT workout combined with compression will send a signal to your brain through lactic acid build up that initiates the release of multiple hormones to benefit your body. What the challengers are with building a brand that leads the market, and how you need to be educators instead of piggybacking on other trends. How the role of a trainer is going to shift in the future with the onset of recovery technology and new innovative approaches to fitness. What goes on at the Upgrade XP conference and how experts on human biohacking, behaviour and brain activity from around the world come to and educate and learn together.   Join Matthew Januszek in conversation with Amanda McVey…

The third and final part of our CES special from Las Vegas sees Matthew Januszek speaking to three icons bridging the gap between contemporary fitness and the technology of the future.   Hear how thought leader Emma Barry, Emmett Williams of Myzone, and David Shaw of Growth Fitness Design see the years to come. Discover what you’ll be seeing more of, such as clothing sensors and even Bluetooth digestibles that you swallow for recording bodily metrics.   And how will the industry use all this big data collected? We have the key info to lead a happier and healthier life but we don’t know how to implement the knowledge – that’s the difference.   Watch the full episode on YouTube.   Emma Barry is a global fitness authority that consults to the fastest-growing segments in the sector: boutique studios, budget clubs, digital workouts and fit-tech start-ups. A founding member of group fitness programming juggernaut Les Mills International, former Director of Programming for Equinox, Emma has held senior roles in group fitness programming, product development, global training, people and culture.   Emmett Williams is group president and a founding partner in the global wearable technology brand Myzone – a hardware, cloud-ware, and software mix that drives exercise adherence for the end user, and customer engagement metrics for the network partner.   David Shaw has been involved with tech for years, through a military background having worked on infrared, night vision, thermal imagers, computer and laser systems. Today, he’s CXO of Growth Fitness Marketing & Design, a boutique firm specialising in creating the next generation hospitality, multi housing, and corporate fitness center guest workout experience.   Episode highlights -   How everyone gathering so much data is a huge trend, but there are still many key players and consumers alike that don’t really know what to do with it once they have it. Why you need to acknowledge that you’re going to lose audience attention once they leave your facility if you don’t have a digital offering, but the gamble is in not setting budget to keep their attention may mean you lose them forever in the long term. Why behavioural change is so important and how fitness not only has a big share of global wallet for the industry, but how all what so many companies are doing is still not shifting the needle on true health. How technology has changed over the years and how companies are applying it to benefit commercial fitness spaces or the service that operators can offer. The fitness giants that have lead the technological trend at CES, why they’re no longer attending and who has taken their place. Why the sleep and recovery trends are on the rise through wearables and measurement of numerous different metrics. How proper sleep hygiene not only recovers the brain and the body depending on the type of rest, but has been found to be causal to lower health risks such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. What the developments are going to be between traditional fitness and the tech industry, and which sector will be influencing the other in the years to come when it comes to commercial and consumer fitness. How companies and club operators need to follow up their data initiatives of benefiting the consumer/customer, by implementing a regression analysis with other data to correlate information and then predict future behaviour. How wearables and sensors have become smaller, more integrated in clothing, needing less power but still detecting more. Why CES may not be the first thought for gym owners and operators when it comes to show attendance, but how it leads innovation and unveils niches that will trickle down into any aspect of the industry in the years to come. How VR and AR is going to influence the fitness industry, and how the tech even affects perceived exertion during a workout. Why tech companies are concentrating more on the consumer rather than appealing to the trade.