Building a thriving boutique fitness studio is a tough task. Nowhere is that truer than in New York City, where intense competition, high turnover and cost pressures drive many studios out of business in just a few years. 

Noam Tamir, founder of TS Fitness in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has cracked the code on how to find long-lasting success as a boutique fitness owner in the Big Apple. 

A former Crunch Fitness personal trainer, Tamir established TS Fitness (an acronym for “together stronger”) back in 2011, growing it into a mainstay of Manhattan’s boutique fitness scene with around 160 members.

TS Fitness offers one-on-one personal training and group fitness classes, but the core of its business is “semi-private personal training,” small group sessions that combine the individualized attention of personal training with the community-building camaraderie of a typical large group fitness class.

Athletech News spoke with Tamir about his approach to building a fitness business that lasts, the advantages of semi-private training, and why TS Fitness has been able to resonate with clients for over a decade.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length. 

Athletech News: Can you tell us about yourself and why you decided to create TS Fitness?

Noam Tamir: I was born into a family that valued community. We were very close and traveled a lot, staying in hotels and eating at different restaurants, so I grew to admire good service. I also grew up with a very athletic father who was an incredible soccer player. He got me into sports at an early age and didn’t let me quit. I eventually excelled at soccer and was a track runner, which is how I fell in love with weight training. I started weight training when I was about 14 years old in my friend’s basement. Not only did it help me with sports, but it helped me build confidence. 

I thought I was going to go into the hotel business, but once I realized the hospitality business meant working weekends and holidays, I decided to explore fitness. While I was getting my master’s degree at NYU, I became a personal trainer to earn some money between classes. I started part-time at my local Crunch Fitness, working my way up to Personal Training Manager. I did that for about five years, but wanted to go out on my own

I started my own private training business, basically running around all four corners of Manhattan. One day, I thought, ‘There needs to be a smarter way to do this.’ So I decided to open up my own gym down the block from where I originally started my career at Crunch. I had no idea what I was doing (at first) and made tons of mistakes, but I learned from them. That was the start of TS Fitness in 2011. We outgrew our 1,000-square-foot space and in 2015, we expanded into a space that’s roughly about 2,000 square feet. We’ve been here ever since.

ATN: What has allowed TS Fitness to stay competitive in New York City, a notoriously crowded market for boutique fitness?

NT: Community, which is one of our core values. We currently have 160 members, so they’re seeing the same people. Any person who’s willing to share time in that type of intimate setting, which for us is six people or less (in a typical semi-private class) is going to start creating relationships. 

A big part of that community is our team. Our coaches are experts in creating camaraderie. We do an icebreaker at the beginning of each class during warmups. We’re keen on bringing what I like to call “certified good people.” People can come in having all these certifications, but if I sense that you have an ego, or my fitness manager senses that you have an ego or that you’re not a team player, we don’t continue the interview process. We make sure our people are very humble and that they’re team-oriented, that they remember people’s names, shake hands and ask people how they’re doing.

ATN: How does TS Fitness drive community – and also business success – with its semi-private training model?

NT: I came from a one-on-one training background. I always loved community, and I thought to myself, ‘How can I impact more people?’ The answer was group fitness classes. But it’s so fast-paced that you become more like a cheerleader and not a coach. 

Back in 2013, I discovered semi-private training. I trained a few people together, progressing them through a structured workout. It’s an incredible business model because when you train somebody one-on-one, your whole hour is taken up by that one person. If they need to move their session, if they get sick or they stop training with you, you’re losing a huge amount of revenue and the flexibility of your time. 

With this model, as long as you stay above two or three people in a session, you’re going to do great. So I was able to charge less, have people train with me more and control my time while still giving members a custom experience. I feel like it’s a win-win-win. We went from offering five of these semi-private sessions to now offering over 70. 

ATN: What does a typical TS Fitness workout look like?

NT: We have a very structured program that progresses. Progression of exercises is important in creating results. You can’t do the same thing or the body adapts, but if you’re constantly changing the exercises, the member doesn’t learn how to do the fundamental movements properly and they can’t progressively go up in weight. Progressive overload is how the body builds more muscle tone.  

We start with foam rolling to release tension and allow the members to build rapport with other members. Then we go into mobility movements and a dynamic warm-up to get their nervous system, joints and muscles prepped for the workout ahead. We then get into strength training, which is divided into 3 blocks with two exercises each. Typically we do a lower body movement followed by an upper body movement. We then finish with a metabolic circuit that includes the core, cardio and sometimes some arms.  Every month the program changes and the exercises get a little more challenging. This keeps the progress going and helps the members learn new skills.  

ATN: What is the demographic profile of a typical TS Fitness member?

NT:  About 70% of our members are female that range between 30-50 years old. They have a variety of fitness levels; the program is customizable and we start people at different levels if they’re more advanced. We love working with beginners because we can make such a great impact on them and teach them proper ways to lift.

ATN: Looking back on your journey over the last 13 years, what are the biggest challenges in running a successful boutique fitness studio?

NT: One of the biggest challenges is keeping a constant flow of leads coming in and retaining members. It’s challenging because New York City is such a transient place, people will leave after four or five years. Especially when they want a family and need more space, they’ll move to the suburbs. 

You’re also in New York City, which is the most competitive city in the world because of the high concentration of gyms, although you have a huge concentration of people. You’re dealing with very high overhead, you need to pay your staff competitively and advertising is very expensive. You have to be doing Google ads, Facebook ads, referral programs and establishing joint ventures with local businesses. You also have to be running different challenges and offers, every month, if you want to be able to not just survive but thrive. There are a lot of companies out there that are just surviving. I’m completely bootstrapped and I’ve built this up into a seven-figure company. That’s taken time, but we’re doing some good numbers so we’re able to take care of our staff and create a good vision for the future.

The post CEO Corner: How Noam Tamir Built TS Fitness Into an NYC Boutique Fitness Staple appeared first on Athletech News.

Quitting a bad habit cold turkey rarely works. This is especially true with addictive practices like smoking and vaping. 

Habit replacement  – swapping a harmful behavior out for a similar but non-harmful one – is typically a more effective way to get on the right track.

This is the idea behind Füm, a Canadian brand founded in 2018 that features flavored air in place of harmful substances like smoke, vapor or nicotine. With Füm, users take in food-safe air featuring flavors such as Crisp Mint, Orange Vanilla and Maple Pepper instead of inhaling addictive substances.

While Füm itself can’t make marketing claims that its products help people quit smoking and vaping, the company has quickly grown as customers around the country use flavored air to replace nicotine and vapor-containing substances. 

As wellness products continue to gain shelf space in major retailers, and as more people around the globe become educated on the harmful effects of smoking and vaping, Füm could be poised for a breakout. 

Athletech News spoke with Füm co-founder and CEO Braeden Pauls about his vision to create a product that can help one million people quit smoking and vaping, the emergence of the “flavored-air” category, and his goals for Füm as the brand scales.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: Can you tell us a bit about your background and why you decided to co-found Füm?

Braeden Pauls: I studied psychology with the goal of becoming a psychologist, but my personal mission was to empower people to overcome barriers to becoming their optimal selves. I think the greatest tragedy in life for anybody is untapped potential. I’ve experienced it with friends, or different people in my life, where I saw that they had so much potential to achieve incredible things but they tripped themselves up with addictions. 

While I was in college, I met my co-founders for Füm. When we looked at the market, there were a lot of different use cases that we could have focused on as a company. But very early on, we got to see that there was potential to help people quit smoking and vaping. There are a billion smokers in the world; it’s the leading cause of preventable death. 

We thought we brought a really unique perspective since most of the things in the category for quitting smoking vaping were either pharmaceutical or nicotine-based. And some people were using vaping to quit smoking, but then getting addicted to vaping, and we’re starting to see the negative effects of vaping. People clearly enjoy having that hand-to-mouth companion throughout their day and enjoying a certain flavor – that’s become a ritual for a lot of people. We thought, ‘How can we satisfy that human desire without having the negatives of vaping or nicotine?’ That’s where we saw this massive opportunity. 

ATN: What differentiates Füm from other products designed to help people replace the habit of smoking or vaping?

BP: Our key differentiators are that Füm is non-addictive, non-nicotine and non-vapor. This is something you can enjoy without having to worry.

For us, the threshold of how good the product has to be is a lot higher because we’re not addictive, we’re not hitting those dopamine centers with nicotine. So we’ve worked really, really hard to make something that’s functional and delivers great flavor, but also the whole product experience, including something that’s aesthetically pleasing that people want to use. If we’re non-addictive, we’ve got to be sexy.  That’s our approach.

ATN: Is Füm purely a product for people who are looking to quit smoking and vaping, or can it be used by others?

BP: Our number one priority is people who are smoking and vaping. But we also see that there’s a massive opportunity to be that product that people would go to rather than getting into smoking and vaping. 

We want to establish the ‘flavored-air’ category to where people say, ‘Hey, I might want to do something in this general category of smoking and vaping, but I don’t want those negative effects.’ If that can be Füm, that’s a big deal. 

ATN: Is Füm the pioneer of the flavored-air category? How quickly is the category growing? 

BP: We’re definitely the pioneer. And right now we’re the leader in the category, but it’s growing. We’re seeing more and more companies wanting to build flavored-air products. I see this category becoming quite large in the future. 

If you look at the soft-drink market with sodas, for example, you have your Cokes and Pepsis that are full of sugar and caffeine. I think there’s a lot of people in the last 10 years that have realized, ‘I probably shouldn’t be drinking this all the time.’ We’ve seen the rise of the flavored-water category to be that alternative that people can enjoy without the negative effects (of soda). But for smoking and vaping, there isn’t an alternative category. So that’s where we see the flavored-air category going. 

ATN: What has Füm’s growth been like since 2018?

BP: We’ve been growing quite quickly. Over the last three years, we’ve been basically tripling in size as a company every year. We don’t want to share too many numbers publicly at this point, but our run rate is at around $36 million a year. 

ATN: How is Füm working to continue driving growth?

BP: There’s been a lot of different changes at different stages. For example, right now, we’re diversifying our channels. We started out primarily as a Shopify-based brand. We’re now moving into Amazon and moving into retail channels. We’re having really good success in those channels. We’ve already sold in Urban Outfitters, and we’ve had a lot of interest from big retailers including 7-Eleven and Circle K. But right now, we’re mostly working with smaller stores, including a pilot in Austin, Texas. Everything is looking really good.

ATN: How important is it to find independent research that could one day support the ability to make claims about Füm’s effectiveness in helping people quit smoking and vaping?

BP: It’s definitely a big focus for us. Because we have thousands of reviews with people saying, ‘Hey, this is effective for me in quitting smoking or quitting vaping.’ The anecdotal feedback is great, but being able to validate that through other means is important to us.

In our marketing, we currently talk about helping you kick bad habits and create good habits without directly naming the good habit or the bad habit. That’s our approach right now but we’re trying to figure out how we can work within the regulatory environment to be able to actually make those types of claims outright.

ATN: What are your key long-term goals for Füm?

BP: Our mission is to be able to help one million people quit smoking and vaping by 2026. We’ve got two more years until that goal, but right now, we’re on pace for it. We’re going to have to hit that 3x growth goal every year, which is aggressive, but I think we can do it.

In the longer term, we want to create the flavored-air category into something that’s as large as vaping. If we’re able to create a flavored-air category that exceeds the size of vaping, that’s going to displace a ton of people from both the vaping and smoking categories. That’s going to be a massive benefit to humanity in decreasing the amount of people dying needlessly from these products, as well as putting money back in people’s pockets and overall making the world better. 

The post CEO Corner: Füm’s Braeden Pauls on a World Without Smoking & Vaping appeared first on Athletech News.

For Chuze Fitness CEO Cory Brightwell, running an elite consumer-focused business is a lifelong pursuit. 

Having watched his father, Charles Brightwell, grow and scale a successful restaurant chain between 1978 and 1995 along with business partner Ray Barshick, the younger Brightwell got an early appreciation for management and entrepreneurship. 

In 2008, a few years out of college, Brightwell teamed with childhood best friend Nick Barshick, their fathers, and Barshick family member Kris Peterson to create Chuze Fitness.

Chuze has become one of the fastest-growing high-value, low-price (HVLP) gym chains in the United States, currently operating 59 locations in California, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Florida and Georgia. Despite its basic memberships costing only $10 per month, Chuze gyms are filled with state-of-the-art equipment, wellness and recovery amenities, and group exercise offerings. 

Beyond offering expansive physical spaces, Brightwell attributes Chuze’s impressive growth to being hyper-focused on the member experience, namely bringing a high level of “hospitality” to its gyms. 

“The gym industry is not seen as a hospitality industry,” Brightwell says. “That’s on us to fix.”

Brightwell spoke with Athletech News about Chuze’s quest to bring hospitality standards to the fitness industry, the brand’s 15-year expansion journey, and how big-box operators can build a winning fitness experience in the post-COVID environment. 

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: What did you and your partners see in the fitness industry that inspired you to create Chuze Fitness? 

Cory Brightwell: Keep in mind this was over 15 years ago – the industry has come a long way since then – but the experiences we had when we walked into other facilities were pretty consistent, and pretty poor all around. We would walk in and wouldn’t really get welcomed or greeted by the person at the front desk. Nobody was focused on the member experience; everybody was focused on selling the membership and selling personal training. It seemed like a very used-car salesman experience. It really opened our eyes to what we thought was an opportunity. That opportunity was to bring hospitality to the fitness industry.

We committed to being the friendliest and cleanest gym. Those are basic things, but they’re really difficult to execute at a high standard day in and day out. We wanted to be known as the brand that knows its members’ names, that is spotless when members walk in, and where everybody feels welcome. That’s what we committed to back in 2008 when we opened our first location. I think we’ve certainly differentiated ourselves in those two categories, hospitality and cleanliness. 

ATN: What has Chuze’s growth trajectory and evolution been like since its founding in 2008?

CB: In our first four or five years, we grew nicely in San Diego and went over into Tucson, Arizona, and started working our way north in Orange County, California. The first 11 locations were more of the smaller, prototype 15,000 to 20,000 square foot box gyms. It wasn’t until our 12th and 13th locations that we really expanded the footprint to 35,000 to 40,000 square feet. We felt like we could not only continue to differentiate ourselves through our hospitality and our cleanliness, but with our value proposition. We’ve added new amenities like pools, Jacuzzis, steam rooms and saunas, kids clubs, group fitness studios, high intensity interval training studios, infrared yoga studios and recovery studios.

The bigger box really became our growth vehicle for the future. Over the last 15 years, we’ve gone from one location to 59, mostly through organic, new-build clubs, although we have acquired some companies. On average, our growth rate in terms of locations has been about 18% every year and membership has grown around 21% year over year. When you look at revenue, it’s been about a 25% compounded annual growth rate. We’re committed to responsible growth.

ATN: Why does Chuze prefer corporate-owned gyms over franchising?

CB: We actually did establish a franchise arm back in 2011, and we do have two franchise locations. It was a strategy earlier in our existence to help protect our home market. However, we knew that’s not how we wanted to grow, at least for now, and so we’ve been focused on corporate growth.

There are some great franchises out there, but for us, we don’t want to lose control of the standard of execution. I’m not saying we won’t eventually explore that avenue, but for now, we like keeping things in-house so we can ensure from a quality-control standpoint that the experience we’re delivering to our members never slips.

ATN: How big can the Chuze footprint become with corporate-owned gym locations?

CB: It’s really dependent on how well we continue to execute. I would estimate that our goal is to open anywhere from five to 10 locations per year for the next three to five years. So hopefully in five to 10 years, we’re getting close to 100 locations. 

Acquisitions are another factor in our growth. Some of the new builds are less attractive in today’s environment because of construction costs and supply chain delays, so acquisitions are looking more appealing. Fortunately, with the network that we’ve built over the years, we have a lot of great relationships with operators who have 10, 20 or 30 locations that may be looking to retire or hand off to a good operator that’s going to take care of their brand and take care of their employees.

ATN: Speaking of acquisitions, Chuze recently acquired 16 Bailey’s Health & Fitness locations in Florida and Georgia. How did that deal come about?

CB: That really happened because of the relationship I have with David Bailey, the founder of Bailey’s. I’m part of REX Roundtables, which is a group of operators across the country. I’ve known David for almost nine years now, and we’ve done a lot of collaboration and have spent a lot of time at each other’s clubs and in each other’s markets. He and his brothers had been running Bailey’s for 35 years, and I think that after making it through COVID and surviving that, it was an opportunity and time for them to capitalize on the fruits of their labor. 

There was a good fit in terms of culture –  they were running a really healthy business – and it was also a great opportunity to give us a nice footprint on the East Coast.

ATN: Is Chuze looking to expand into any other areas of the country?

CB: We’re constantly looking and exploring new market opportunities. The good news is with the recent acquisitions in El Paso, Texas (Chuze acquired EP Fitness in 2022) and Florida, plus our existing geographic base through California, New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona, we’ve got a lot of white space to grow in our existing geographies. That’s probably where most of our growth in the near term will be focused, with new markets probably coming up in maybe the next three to five years.

ATN: What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for gym chains like Chuze in the post-COVID environment?

CB: The post-COVID world has certainly hit most operators on the operating cost side. Labor costs and minimum-wage inflation are really out of control, so operators are having to get creative on how they deliver a good experience and make things more automated within their facilities. There’s a big opportunity to leverage technology to find ways to mitigate labor costs while hopefully still having a human presence in facilities.

It’s also about finding ways to value-engineer the way we’re building our facilities, since construction costs are inflated from pre-COVID numbers and may not come back down. We want to build our facilities with premium finishes and build them to be bulletproof so they can sustain a lot of use. However, you’ve got to figure out how to do it without breaking the bank. I think the operators that can figure out that equation are going to be successful.

Another big opportunity is building bigger free-weight areas because free-weight equipment is cheaper than cardio equipment. If you’re allocating more square footage to your free weights or your functional training, generally the per-square-foot cost to build that part of the facility out is less than the cardio square footage or even some of the boutique-studio offerings that many operators have. We’re finding creative ways to give our members what they really want, including more access to strength training and free weight training. 

The post CEO Corner: Chuze Fitness, Cory Brightwell Use ‘Hospitality’ To Drive Growth appeared first on Athletech News.

A longtime audio industry executive, Kevin Duffy joined health and fitness company iFIT a little over a year ago with some lofty ambitions. 

“Our vision is to create the world’s most effective fitness platform,” Duffy, who took over as iFIT CEO in October 2022, tells Athletech News. 

To accomplish that goal, Duffy and the iFIT team will lean on the brand’s massive catalog of proprietary fitness content, as well as equipment from iFIT-owned brands including Freemotion Fitness, NordicTrack and ProForm.

Under Duffy’s watch, iFIT also plans to lean further into artificial intelligence. The Utah-based company recently announced the launch of its AI Coach, a tool designed to help iFIT users achieve their fitness goals with personalized and adaptive training.

Athletech News spoke with Duffy about why he joined the fitness industry after a long career in audio, his long-term vision for iFIT and the state of connected fitness post-pandemic. 

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: Can you tell us a bit about your background and why you decided to join iFIT?

Kevin Duffy: I was at a company called Sound United for almost 20 years, serving as the CEO for the last six years. We were the owner of premium and luxury audio brands, like Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio and others. That company was sold in April of 2022. Six months later, in October 2022, I joined iFIT.

I really like being in “passion businesses,” or businesses that are enthusiastic about something. In audio, it was about entertainment, whether music or movies. When this position came up, obviously the passion for health and fitness outcomes is much bigger from a societal perspective.

At the same time, iFIT has some material assets that I thought were interesting. First, of course, the brands. NordicTrack is a very powerful brand that’s been built over decades. Freemotion, which is our brand used for the commercial channel, provides some diversity, along with ProForm, and then we have iFIT, which sits over the top of everything; a lot of capital has gone into developing iFIT content. And we’re backed by L Catterton, which is a prestigious investor in all consumer products, but particularly in fitness. 

Lastly, this is an industry that’s in transition, so it’s a transformative opportunity. I’m not a big fan of just sitting still, so for me, all of these things together were exciting. 

ATN: How does iFIT stand out from its competitors, whether in the fitness content space or equipment?

KD: On the digital fitness side, our content is unique and so compelling; it’s what we call “destination fitness.” You can walk along the Cliffs of Moher with an Olympian in Ireland – I did that workout recently, which is why I’m using it as an example. It’s pretty cool when you get on a treadmill, you’re running with an Olympian and you’re going to do intervals. She’s like, “Okay, let’s go,” and when she says that, the incline moves on its own; it’s called SmartAdjust. That’s really motivating – it makes me want to run farther than I would on my own. We have content across every geography, all seven continents, and we were nominated for an Emmy for our Mount Everest climb. You can even run with penguins in Antarctica. There’s pretty much nothing you can’t do.

On the hardware side, I come from a business where we made a lot of hardware. It takes a long time, years and years of reps, to get good at making hardware. The fact that NordicTrack has been doing it for 40 years makes it highly differentiated, as well as Freemotion. We will continue to modernize our hardware, but it’s already a big asset. Our Dual Cable Cross product is prevalent in every gym. Our treadmill is definitely the best treadmill in gyms.

ATN: How does iFIT balance the fitness content side of its business with the equipment side? 

KD: From my perspective, if you’re on our equipment, great, if you’re not on our equipment, great, people just need to keep working out. That’s the mission. However, I do think iFIT in the gyms is compelling. iFIT today runs on Matrix equipment as an example, which is a partner of ours. There’s no reason it couldn’t run on everybody’s hardware. I think that’s a very logical possibility. 

Our hardware products need to be able to stand on their own, but they should also leverage our content and iFIT software. 

ATN: What’s your vision for the future of iFIT?

KD: Our vision is to create the world’s most effective fitness platform. That word “effective,” to me, is really important. There’s been so much talk in general about improving health, but from my perspective, we haven’t as an industry improved health outcomes enough. I want to make that more of a reality as I look to the future of our company, and I think we’re at a unique moment in time where technologies such as AI are making that more possible. 

ATN: How are you working to turn that vision into a reality?

KD: There’s a huge opportunity to personalize and create more habit formation. Personalization is so important because everybody’s fitness journey is totally different. Some people want to run a 10k, some a marathon, some want to lose five pounds, and some just want to be able to lift their grandchildren. 

We’re launching our AI Coach, which personalizes content and habit formation. Creating habits is a very personal experience. I joke sometimes that I just need someone to say to me, “Kevin, you committed to this and you didn’t do it. Why not?” But I bet we’d lose hundreds of thousands of subscribers if we did that with other people because people are motivated in different ways. Some people are motivated by community, some are motivated by achievement and goals. Some people just need a little push, like the AI Coach waking them up and telling them at 6:30am, “You committed to work out at 7:00am, here’s your workout. Are you ready to roll?” 

ATN: Given the recent turmoil in the market, how confident are you in the future of connected fitness?

KD: I think we’re in transition. We had this growth pre-COVID, and COVID exacerbated that growth rate to a non-sustainable level for basically everybody in connected fitness. Then we came back to reality post-COVID as gyms opened, which created a lot of turmoil. A lot of inventory was bought during the COVID period, so that’s all working itself through. A lot of that work got done in 2023. Our company is well positioned, having worked through that, although I think the industry still has some ways to go to work through it all.

But if you look out a few years, the future of connected fitness is undeniable. People’s workout routines have become more fluid. It’s hard to believe this won’t be a materially bigger part of the world three to five years from now than it is today. Which is another reason why I came to iFIT.  

The post CEO Corner: iFIT’s Kevin Duffy on the ‘World’s Most Effective’ Fitness Platform appeared first on Athletech News.

Ginger Ressler co-founded Fabletics in 2013 with her husband Don Ressler and Adam Goldenberg, with the brand soon after adding actress Kate Hudson. A Southern California Native and former Division 1 track athlete, Ressler began the brand with the vision of creating affordable but high-quality activewear.

Over the last decade, Fabletics has taken the activewear space by storm, with its innovative VIP membership program and wide variety of apparel and accessories.

In addition to Hudson, the brand has notably collaborated with celebrities including Kevin Hart and Khloé Kardashian, making it a household name in the activewear space.

Athletech News spoke with Ressler about her experience in co-founding Fabletics and how the company has stayed relevant and continued to innovate in the activewear space over the last ten-plus years.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: What gap did you see in the market that prompted you to co-found Fabletics? 

Ginger Ressler: At the onset of the brand, I had a very personal connection to what we were creating with Fabletics. As a Division 1 track and field athlete, fitness has always played a huge role in my life, as well as juggling my role as a mom of four. I take my workouts seriously, but having fun is most important – in and out of the gym. I wanted to bridge this “fun first” thought process and creativity to create high-quality items at an affordable price point. I knew this brand would resonate with others, and help people feel empowered to look and feel their best. 

ATN: What differentiates Fabletics from its competitors in a crowded market like activewear? 

GR: One of the things that sets Fabletics apart is the versatility of the products we make – I can go from a workout to school pickup, to a meeting, or go run errands – while feeling confident in the same outfit. These products simply work for my lifestyle, and I knew I wouldn’t be alone in that thinking.  

But when you’re one of many, I think it’s important to have multiple differentiators that help set you apart from the crowd. At Fabletics, we have many reasons as to why we have a loyal member base. First, we’re the largest digitally native activewear brand in the marketplace. Secondly, our unique, flexible and innovative VIP membership model allows us to build a deeper relationship with our core consumer. And, most importantly, it’s always been our mission to create fashionable, high-performance active lifestyle products that are accessible – made for every body shape – at an attainable price point. 

ATN: What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a company and how have you overcome them? 

GR: No matter who you are and where you’re at in the journey of your brand, challenges come and go. At Fabletics, we listen to our members and believe success comes by 1) creating a huge variety of products that are technical, stylish and comfortable, 2) continuing to push the boundaries by offering accessible sizes and price points, and 3) collaborating with people who we value to showcase our brand, like Kevin Hart and Khloé Kardashian, for example. 

After ten years, Fabletics continues to create an amazing product that stands out amongst competitors. We’ve always prided ourselves on our ability to listen to what consumers are asking for – body diversity and accessibility continue to be at the top of that list. As we strive to create unique products that stand out, we push ourselves to create new, stylish, and purposeful products and expand categories, like launching Fabletics Scrubs in 2022. 

ATN: How important has expansion into new areas been for Fabletics over the past few years, such as adding menswear and the launch of Fabletics FIT? 

GR: You’re hitting the nail right on the head – expansion and diversification have really helped drive growth for Fabletics since the brand’s inception. Throughout the years, our expansion into new categories, like Scrubs, Men’s, Lounge, Sleep, Any-Wear, and Swim, has allowed Fabletics to become more than your average traditional activewear brand. With a broader offering comes a broader reach – the ability to engage with an entirely new customer that perhaps we didn’t appeal to before.

Simultaneously, as we’ve expanded into these new categories, we’ve also aligned ourselves with incredible ambassadors – like Kevin Hart, and Khloé Kardashian – who have helped establish brands, curate thoughtful collections, and provide input into new designs and styles. Our curated collections created with well-known celebrities have been successful because we’ve taken the time and effort to align ourselves with people who share the same passion we do for fashion and fun.

With every new partnership, we aim to raise the bar. Our two-part Edit collection with Khloé Kardashian in fall 2022 was one of our most successful to date. Her authenticity, keen eye for style, and genuine and passionate fanbase heightened attention to this incredible collection. We aim to recreate that success time and time again.

ATN: What’s next for Fabletics? 

GR: 2024 marks Fabletics’ 10-year anniversary – a momentous milestone. To celebrate, we’re kicking off the year with a special archive curation for our Luxe360 Collection, a quarterly release of elevated, high-fashion and high-performance items that are designed to make you feel your best while keeping movement in mind. This anniversary-themed capsule is a nod to some of the brand’s most legendary pieces of all time – taking you through a decade of style.

As the year goes on, we’re looking forward to launching additional collaborations with some well-known celebrity partners, rolling out some exciting brand partnerships, relaunching certain categories, continuing to build on our retail presence and experience, and striving to always develop the best products possible for our members. 

The post CEO Corner: Ginger Ressler on Fabletics’ Activewear Rise appeared first on Athletech News.

Few executives have a deeper personal connection to the brand they founded than Dan Freed, who went from high school dropout to Yale graduate thanks in large part to the power of nootropics, a category of supplements touted for their abilities to improve cognitive functions like attention, memory and creativity. 

Freed established Thesis in 2017 to bring the benefits of nootropics to the masses. Thesis takes a personalized approach to nootropics; users take a detailed online quiz to receive a personal product blend optimized for their unique characteristics. 

Over the last six-plus years, Thesis has come a long way from its humble beginnings operating out of Freed’s apartment; in May, the company raised $13.5 million in funding rounds that included participation from former NBA star Kevin Love. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, a popular functional medicine practitioner, currently serves as a scientific advisor to Thesis. 

Athletech News spoke with Freed about his incredible journey from high school dropout to CEO, the power of nootropics, and his plans for Thesis following its recent funding round. 

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: Can you tell us about your background and how you were introduced to nootropics?

Dan Freed: I have severe ADHD, so for as long as I can remember I’ve struggled with functioning in structured environments. I was expelled from preschool when I was four, and I was formally diagnosed (with ADHD) when I was six. I continued to struggle in school – I was constantly in the principal’s office, getting suspended and dealing with behavioral issues. When I was 16, I dropped out of high school and went to work in fast food. It was a really difficult time in my life. 

I ended up getting a lucky break and became a chef. I loved cooking – the type of focus needed to be successful in a kitchen is completely different than a classroom. ADHD is like a superpower. I spent my 20s traveling around the world and cooking, being fortunate enough to work in a Michelin three-star restaurant in France. By my late 20s, I started to burn out. I wanted to do something different with my life but I didn’t have a high school diploma, so my options were really limited.  

I decided to go back to school. I had a crazy ambitious goal to get an MBA, so I got a GMAT study guide, and it felt like I was back in 10th grade. I would read a page five times but couldn’t understand it and couldn’t sit down long enough to take practice tests. I heard about nootropics on a study forum, and I went out and bought everything I could find. I would take different ingredients and study. Most of them did nothing, but a couple of them worked. When I figured out how to combine it into a winning formula, the results were life-changing. I ended up scoring in the 99th percentile on the GMAT, which opened up so much opportunity in my life. I did my MBA at INSEAD, and from there, I was offered a partial scholarship to do another Master’s degree at Yale, where I got to study some of the science behind nootropics and really indulge my intellectual curiosity. 

Because nootropics were so impactful for me, I became an evangelist. This was around 10 years ago. I was the crazy guy at dinner parties that wouldn’t shut up about nootropics.

ATN: How did you go from nootropics evangelist to founding Thesis?

DF: I had this realization that the ingredients that worked for me didn’t work for everyone, because I was literally giving them out to people. I started selling (nootropic blends) out of my apartment to friends and friends of friends and before I knew it, it just kind of took off.

The name we initially launched with “Placebo Proof.” It was structured like a four-way crossover clinical trial, and there were actual placebos in the box. We tested more than 100 different ingredients, tons of different dosages, and we started to see very clearly that certain formulas, for certain use cases, with certain ingredients and certain dosages, worked the best. After more than 2,500 people went through that Placebo Proof product, we adjusted it and created (something) very similar to what Thesis is today. We incorporated Thesis in 2017.  (In 2023), we did more than 50 million capsules. 

ATN: How does Thesis personalize nootropics for customers?

DF: We’re still constantly beta testing, it’s really a data-driven approach. Our core hypothesis was to structure something similar to a clinical trial, but with a lot fewer controls, so you’re not going into a doctor, you’re not giving blood tests, you’re giving subjective data on how you feel, but we increase sample sizes by orders of magnitude. At this point, we have millions of people who’ve gone through our quiz, which has been there from the beginning. Hundreds of thousands of people have left individual reviews on formulations throughout the lifetime of the company, from Placebo Proof all the way to what Thesis is today. We use this data to constantly optimize. 

Stasis is our newest product line to launch, and it came directly from our customers. We saw that there were people purchasing Thesis, but they were on stimulants like Adderall; Thesis isn’t meant to be taken alongside powerful medications like that. Those customers were talking about jitters, (energy) crashes, trouble sleeping. So we formulated a new product line specifically meant to be taken alongside stimulants, including things like caffeine, to mitigate short-term side effects and long-term damage caused by oxidative stress.

ATN: The nootropics movement is still in its infancy. How do you view nootropics within the larger supplement industry?

DF: I look at us as a new, emerging category of supplements as classified by the FDA. If you look at new categories within the broad supplement industry, the closest thing I would compare nootropics to is probiotics. Five years ago, the concept of ingesting good bacteria to improve gut health was absurd, almost nobody had heard of it. Now you walk into Whole Foods and there’s an entire section of probiotics, prebiotics, all of that. I think nootropics as a category within the broader supplement category is at this inflection point where probiotics were five years ago.

ATN: How has Thesis grown and evolved following the recent $13.5 million funding rounds? 

DF: (Funding) has forced this level of ruthless prioritization and capital efficiency. Not too long ago, the entire company was in my apartment. We now have the capital to invest in longer-term initiatives like content and community, which are on our roadmap. We’ve also spent a lot of time hiring. The last several months have been about filling out the executive team, because we were bootstrapped for so long. We’ve done a great job of recruiting some of the best talent in the world, and I’m really proud of that. We also have product launches planned for 2024. 

ATN: Looking ahead, what are your main short and long-term goals for Thesis?

DF: Short term, it’s just continuing to build out this data-driven approach to personalization and to get more people to the right formula faster. That’s a really complex challenge, especially when you have both Thesis and Stasis. 

Long term, I keep going back to when I was diagnosed at six, and I remember what it felt like when I thought there was something wrong with me, and I couldn’t understand why other people could just sit down and do their homework and I couldn’t. I remember how much pain it caused me throughout my childhood and into adulthood. I’m just as intelligent now as I was when I dropped out of high school. The key difference is my ability to focus. And it’s not only nootropics, it’s nootropics with behavioral interventions, that made the difference. But I just keep thinking about how many people aren’t living up to their potential, about how many people could do what I’ve done if they just have the same options. That’s our core mission.

The post CEO Corner: Thesis’ Dan Freed Is Leading the Nootropics Movement appeared first on Athletech News.

Dr. Biquan Luo, PhD, founded LumosTech and created the brand’s flagship Lumos Sleep Mask in 2016 as a way to combat jetlag. As a student, Dr. Luo traveled frequently between her hometown in Asia and the U.S., and wanted a way to improve her sleep while on the move. Eight years later, the Lumos Sleep Mask is now used by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun and athletes including Josh Kerr, an Olympic Bronze Medalist and 2023 World Champion in the 1500-meter run.

Kerr told Athletech News he’s been using the Lumos Mask to stay fresh and while traveling to and from races overseas, although he also uses the mask during domestic travel.

“I often race overseas, and the mask has become an integral part of my travel process,” Kerr said. “For a trip from the U.S. to Europe, I typically use the jet lag module starting the day prior to travel, and for 1-2 days after I arrive. When I travel back to the States, the mask allows me to resume training at a high level with very little lag.”

Athletech News spoke with Dr. Luo, who serves as CEO of Lumos, about her journey in founding the brand and how Lumos’ sleep technology can be used by professional athletes and everyday health and wellness enthusiasts alike.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: Can you tell us about your background and what inspired you to create Lumos?

Dr. Biquan Luo: As a bioscientist trained at the University of Southern California and Stanford, I was always passionate about bringing science into everyday life. My journey of founding Lumos began with a personal struggle—jet lag. While at Stanford, I met Dr. Jamie Zeitzer, a renowned scientist known for understanding how the human body’s natural clock affects sleep. I was an international student frequently traveling between the United States and my hometown in Asia. From this research, I immediately saw the potential ending of jet lag. So Lumos was born as a perfect science-based solution to a problem that I personally care greatly about.

ATN: What’s Lumos’ biggest differentiator is in the saturated sleep tech market?

BL: Lumos stands out in the world of sleep tech through three key differentiators: Firstly, we offer active solutions that actively assist users struggling with poor sleep, rather than just monitoring. Secondly, our passive solutions require minimal changes in user behavior, making them easy to adopt seamlessly into daily routines. Most importantly, our entire approach is deeply grounded in scientific research. With positive data from multiple IRB-approved human-subject studies, we’re on a mission to create evidence-based solutions that empower everyone to pursue their dreams and aspirations without compromising their sleep.

ATN: Can Lumos’ sleep tech be extended to everyday people looking to improve their health and wellness?

BL: The technology behind Lumos offers tailored solutions to people who have poor sleep due to the body’s natural circadian clock, the natural rhythm that determines when we sleep and wake up, being out of sync. The number of people being affected is surprisingly high. In fact, one in three people experience poor sleep due to the desynchronization of their body clock, meaning that they are not sleeping at the optimal time when their bodies are naturally most inclined to sleep. The most commonly known examples are jet lag and night shift. More commonplace yet often overlooked are struggles with falling asleep, waking up feeling groggy or enjoying late nights on weekends and facing challenges returning to the 9-5 routine come Monday. Through resynchronizing the body’s circadian clock, improvements can be expected in these sleep-related issues.

ATN: How has the Lumos Mask evolved over the years?

BL: Lumos started as a product for jet lag and later broadened its scope to encompass various sleep challenges, such as night shifts, difficulty waking up, or experiencing grogginess upon awakening. Currently, we offer multiple modules tailored to different sleep schedules, including our latest addition designed to aid the transition between daylight saving time and standard time.

ATN: Could Lumos look to expand beyond sleep?

BL: Circadian rhythm impacts more than just sleep, and we plan to leverage our expertise to impact a variety of processes. The body’s internal circadian clock influences hormone production, metabolism, physical strength, perceived exertion, cognitive acuity and more. Lumos’ goal is to connect tools and programs to positively impact varied processes including sleep, nutrition and training. We can provide the user with a comprehensive toolkit of tailored solutions to optimize their performance and overall well-being.

The post CEO Corner: Lumos’ Dr. Biquan Luo Aims To Change Lives With Sleep Tech appeared first on Athletech News.

Courtney Claghorn founded Sugared + Bronzed when she was just 23, frustrated by the lack of affordable spray tanning services available in Santa Monica. Today, the company is the nation’s largest sugaring hair removal and sunless airbrush spray tan destination, with locations in California, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

With the harmful effects of sun tanning being taken more seriously than ever by consumers, Sugared + Bronzed offers spray tans with all-natural ingredients. Its sugaring services are similarly made with just sugar, lemon, and water, and are less abrasive than waxing.

Athletech News spoke with Claghorn about her inspiration for founding the company, and why (and where) Sugared + Bronzed is expanding so rapidly. 

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: What gap did you see in the market that prompted you to create Sugared + Bronzed?

Courtney Claghorn: We’re often asked, “How long have you had your business?” Well, we’re not one of those startups that happened overnight. I was 23. I founded it with my then-boyfriend, now husband. I was broke and always got spray tans. Back in college, in Boulder (Colorado), it was $30 for a spray tan, something I could afford. When I moved to Santa Monica for my first job in 2010, the prices skyrocketed to $75. This was in 2010. Imagine factoring in inflation post-COVID. I’d come home and complain to my boyfriend about it. We saw that as the gap in the marketplace. My boyfriend suggested, “You can probably learn how to do this.” I wasn’t skilled in makeup or hair, but he believed I could figure it out. That’s how the idea of starting a business with a nice experience at a reasonable price point began. One thing led to another, and he convinced me that we should each put in $500. That’s how it started, and I was really scared because I had just saved my first $500. By early 2011, I quit my job, started looking for our first store, and moved in, after very basic construction, by Memorial Day of 2011.

ATN: Was price point your major differentiator when you started marketing your business and growing it?

CC: Certainly, the price point was crucial, especially in digital advertising. But our number one source of new clients six months into the business, and still currently, is referrals. So, we knew that the price might intrigue someone but then it had to be the experience. We really wanted it to be a place where people felt comfortable, like they were hanging out with their girlfriends. Our clientele is 90 percent female. We wanted to create a place where you didn’t feel uncomfortable getting naked and where someone could chat with you and make you forget about what was going on.

In the early years, it was only tanning. Sugaring came a bit later, but it really followed the same concept. We asked ourselves, “How do we make this something where people are looking forward to it?”

ATN: Why did you add sugaring to your services?

CC: It was really multifactorial. In our first spot, we rented out the back of a store to someone who did sugaring and we just felt like there was a lot of synergy there. People were also coming into my apartment telling me that they were getting sugared or waxed right beforehand. I thought, that’s funny they’re basically getting naked at one place, getting dressed and coming back. Spray tanning also has a little bit more seasonality while sugaring is more consistent. The appointment times are the same, so for the client, it made so much sense that it just felt like a win-win. On top of that, it even made the real estate hunt a little bit easier, since we didn’t have to find such small places anymore. 

ATN: What are the biggest challenges you’re facing right now as a company and how are you overcoming them?

CC: Real estate. It’s finding the right neighborhood. We want to find properties that are very accessible to consumers and visible in the street, but are not an insane rent deal where we have to raise our prices to do construction. We have the most amazing design and development team but there are always unforeseen construction and city permitting issues. These things are always out of our control; as much as we want to hit a certain number of openings, we have to give ourselves some grace.

With the industry, it’s a lot about education, particularly with sugaring. There are a lot of areas that really haven’t experienced sugaring. The education is also around making sure you come in with your hair the right length, because if you shaved 10 days ago and you come in, it will not be an ideal length. It’s really about getting that information to consumers the best we can. We also have a high standard for our employees and want to ensure that people who had an experience with someone who casually learned sugaring is not going to have the same experience with our employees. It’s hard to encourage someone who had a bad experience to try it again as we enter new markets. 

ATN: How do you approach customer service in such a client-focused business?

CC: We’ve always used bigger brands and what we love from them. So it was always Nordstrom with customer experience. Our VP of Operations has come from 13 years at Nordstrom, which is just such a great, serendipitous fit. We really try to go above and beyond and really focus our training on putting the client first. If they come in and they don’t have the right amount of hair growth, we take that as our fault. We always take the blame and then try to facilitate what’s easiest for them. The experience has to be really tailored to that person, what their schedule looks like and what they’re willing to do, and that can be tough. It can be tough if someone comes in with a sunburn and they want to spray tan. That’s the one time we absolutely can’t spray tan because it will start peeling.

ATN: As you look to expand, how do you select new Sugared + Bronzed locations?

CC: In current markets, it’s a little bit easier. Using our client data is key. That’s why we just like when people come in, we ask what zip code they’re coming from. We care about if they’re making a long trek so we can serve them closer to their home or place of work. We also look at e-commerce data in certain cities. We use Buxton, a real estate data platform, which is really helpful in terms of understanding the demographics of cities and density.

But gut instinct is a big part of it. Numbers can look perfect on a piece of paper, but sometimes a location doesn’t feel right. We also always listen to our clients, through sending out surveys or Instagram contests. We have Houston coming up as our next newest market and then Miami will follow that, so we’re working on construction in those cities next. What will follow that is really still a big internal debate right now.

The post CEO Corner: How Courtney Claghorn Grew Sugared + Bronzed Into a Winner appeared first on Athletech News.

Created in 2013 by Katia Pryce, dance workout concept DanceBody has been growing and thriving for a decade, with a global streaming presence, physical studios in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and a summer residency in The Hamptons.

At its core, DanceBody remains dedicated to providing an effective and enjoyable workout that evolves alongside its tight-knit community. The brand’s edge lies in its methodology, ensuring consistency across classes and choreography. Its emphasis on community, whether in-studio or through streaming, also plays a pivotal role, underscored by innovations like two-way cameras and chat features that break down barriers between at-home and in-studio clients. The brand also tackles misconceptions surrounding pregnancy and fitness, with a commitment to educating and supporting pregnant clients through tailored pre- and post-natal modifications.

Athletech News spoke with Pryce, who serves as DanceBody’s CEO, to learn more about her background, the DanceBody brand and her future plans for the fitness company.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: Can you tell us about your background and your inspiration for founding DanceBody?

Katia Pryce: DanceBody started very organically. As a professional dancer, I was searching for a balanced workout that combined challenging cardio with functional strength training, while also maintaining the long, lean lines of a dancer’s body. It was a tall order. Whenever I was dancing, I noticed my body looked and felt very different from my typical gym workouts. It became clear to me that dance, when paired with functional strength training, was the secret to athletic strength and the aesthetic result I was searching for. I soon discovered that others wanted that same result. I started training clients one-on-one, and that soon turned into sold-out classes.

I officially launched DanceBody in 2013, and now, 10 years later, we have streaming clients globally and studios in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and a summer residency in The Hamptons. From concept to launch, DanceBody has always been about an effective and fun workout that continues to evolve with a tight-knit community. 

ATN: What differentiates DanceBody from its competitors in the dance fitness space?

KP: Dance workouts stand out because they are fun while also being wildly effective for your overall health. Not to mention, it’s a workout for both your body and brain. What differentiates DanceBody is the methodology behind the movement. From our classes to our choreography, everything is carefully crafted so that it can be replicated – as opposed to relying on a singular trainer’s POV. Wherever you go to class, you will experience the same moves. Our choreographed dances change out every three months so that our clients get a chance to truly practice, perfect and perform the movement. This produces the best results.

Additionally, we have several classes that are “non-dancer” friendly, like Sculpt and DanceHIIT, that offer a foundational level of cardiovascular and muscle strength, without any fancy footwork. I’ve also created proprietary equipment for our classes that you won’t find anywhere else, such as the hexagon-shaped HexMat and HexWeight. With each side numbered one through six, no matter if you’re taking a sold-out class or at-home via DanceBody LIVE, you know exactly how to move.

ATN: How do you cultivate community in a hybrid fitness environment?

KP: Community is at the heart of everything we do at DanceBody. And that’s easier to cultivate in-person than digitally, which is why we made a huge effort to enhance our streaming experience. I launched our streaming service in 2016, well ahead of the at-home fitness boom. However, everything changed when COVID hit. All of a sudden, we understood that DanceBody is so much more than getting a great sweat, it’s about people connecting with each other daily – no matter what’s going on. That had a huge impact on our community. Plus, my co-founder, Courtnay (Mariani), and I showed up to teach every single day of the pandemic, and that spoke louder than any words. Our clients were relying on us to show up. Now, we have features such as two-way cameras, the ability to chat to trainers before and after class, and the access to build workout “crews” to stay accountable. This functionality has broken down the wall between at-home and studio clients, making our community even more inclusive. 

ATN: What drives the hiring process at DanceBody?

KP: At DanceBody, we have a saying, “Nice people dancing to good music.” That can only happen with exceptional people leading the way. In addition to a trainer’s ability to dance, move and train, we look very closely at their EQ, Emotional Intelligence. The DanceBody classes demand so much that you really need a friendly face, encouraging you forward. Dance is a new modality of movement for most people, therefore it can feel super intimidating. Our trainers must have a unique ability to nurture new clients along – and that kind of thing you can’t teach. A lot of people talk about community, but we really celebrate ours by spending so much time and attention on our teachers.

ATN: Why do so many misconceptions remain about pregnancy and fitness, and what can those in the industry do better?

KP: Sadly, even today, so many parts of a woman’s health journey are misunderstood. Built on decades of fear, secrecy, and myth – even many women don’t fully understand what their bodies are capable of during an amazing time like pregnancy. I felt it was important for me to share my pregnancy journey openly to show how consistent activity can help relieve aches and pains, boost your mood, enhance sleep, and decrease anxiety and depression.

Of course, every pregnancy is very different and unique. However, movement shouldn’t stop the moment you become pregnant – it’s not as if you turn into some fragile thing. A woman’s body is built for pregnancy, and the fitness industry should embrace and celebrate this more in their classes – as opposed to being afraid of it. It’s a disservice to make a pregnant woman feel “scared” or “less than” during a workout, and trainers in the industry need to be well-versed in pre and postnatal modifications. During my pregnancy, I filmed 30-plus videos for our pre and postnatal category on DanceBody LIVE so that both mom and baby can feel great through every trimester.

ATN: What can we expect to see next from DanceBody?

KP: The landscape of fitness has changed so much in the last few years, however, much of it still remains the same: people want to move TOGETHER. And now, post-pandemic, that sentiment is stronger than ever. In light of that, we’ve been building more in-person experiences to bridge the virtual to in-person gap, such as our annual DanceBody Retreat in Mexico.

Additionally, as our clients continue to evolve, we are evolving with them. In the last year, we’ve launched several new low- and no-impact classes such as Sculpt +, Hip Hop Hits and Strength & Stability. Last, connecting with synergistic media partners, such as Alo Moves, has been a great way for us to spread the DanceBody program.

The post CEO Corner: DanceBody’s Katia Pryce on the Power of Dance Fitness appeared first on Athletech News.

Christian Toetzke’s mission is ambitious but rather simple: create a global, mass-participation event where gym-goers can compete against each other in the same way as marathon runners, triathletes and cyclists.

He calls it the “marathon of fitness.” 

Leveraging the expertise he gained over a decades-long career staging mass-participation endurance events like triathlons, marathons and cycling races, Toetzke created Hyrox in 2017 after seeing a gap in the market for a similar type of race for gym-goers. 

Since staging its first “fitness race” in 2018, the Germany-baseed Hyrox has grown into a worldwide brand. It currently hosts events in upwards of 60 cities around the world, drawing nearly 200,000 fitness enthusiasts eager to test themselves in feats of endurance and functional strength.

Hyrox races are typically held indoors in large exhibition halls, and feature eight cycles of one-kilometer runs, each of which is broken up by a functional workout where participants perform movements like sled pushes, farmer’s carries and sandbag lunges. Similar to a marathon, every Hyrox race is the same and is performed for time, so participants can compete against themselves and others across the world. 

Toetzke, founder and CEO of Hyrox, spoke with Athletech News about what inspired him to create the fitness race, his plans to host events in virtually every big city around the world, and how the brand is helping gyms train Hyrox participants.

Athletech News: Can you tell us about your career in mass-participation events and why you decided to create Hyrox?

Christian Toetzke: I’ve created mass-participation endurance events – marathons, triathlons, cycling – all across the world, including some very big ones. I sold my previous company (Upsolut Sports AG) to a French media giant (Lagardere Sports, whose endurance division was eventually acquired by Ironman Group), and switched over to the corporate side for a bit as part of that agreement. That was a multi-billion dollar company, and I was responsible for all the events they acquired, which came to include not only mass-participation events but also golf tournaments, tennis tournaments, soccer friendly games, etc. It was a truly global operation, and I learned a lot about putting on events in different parts of the world. 

But in my heart, I was always more of an entrepreneur. So I left the corporate world and started to develop the idea for a fitness event based on my background in mass-participation endurance events. I’ve always loved the basic idea that you create something like a marathon event where you bring the best athletes in the world together with very average people who do the same thing, on the same course, on the same day. But with endurance events, you never really train your upper body or your muscular endurance. I thought there was a big gap in the market – you see around two hundred million people going into gyms every day, but there was no competition that was really based on what most of the people are doing in the gym. Drawing from my time staging all sorts of mass-participation events, I put everything together, took the best out of every concept and created something new, which was Hyrox. We staged our first event in 2018.

ATN: What separates Hyrox from not just marathons and triathlons, but fitness-focused events like CrossFit or Tough Mudder?

CT: Hyrox is based on what people do in the gym – we’re using sets and things like dumbbells, sandbags and med balls. So it’s fundamentally different to triathlons or obstacle-course racing, where you don’t need to train in the gym. CrossFit is the only existing sport that’s based on gym equipment, but it’s fundamentally different (from Hyrox) because CrossFit is not a mass-presentation event. Its main events are where the top athletes in the world come together to do stuff no one else can do, like handstand walks or muscle-ups.  Our workouts are all based on natural movements that anyone can do. If you’ve never pushed a sled in your life, for example, you can push it. You might not be very fast, but you can’t really do something fundamentally wrong. You definitely can’t snatch a barbell if you’ve never done it before, since it’s an unnatural movement. Using natural movements creates a foundation for a true mass-participation event.

Another key part is that Hyrox is based on time, like marathon running. Finishing a Hyrox race in a world-record time of 54 minutes is one of the hardest things in the world, and very complex to train for it. If you want to finish it in two hours and 30 minutes, it’s a different game and easier to do, though it’s still hard. That keeps people motivated and in the game.

ATN: What’s Hyrox’s growth trajectory been like since staging its first event five years ago?

CT: We are growing very, very fast, and it’s important to remember, we started 2018 and there was this “little” incident – COVID – which stopped us for basically two years. We run mass-participation indoor events, which couldn’t have been worse during the pandemic. So in reality we’re in season four, not season six. Since the pandemic ended globally, we’ve restarted and have been growing all over Europe, the U.S. and most of Asia – we launched in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Next year, we’re growing to China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Elsewhere, we’ll have our first events in Mexico and South Africa. So there’s only India and South America left. 

ATN: Why has Hyrox caught on with fitness enthusiasts from different parts of the world?

CT: The beautiful thing is that fitness seems to be a very global language. When you walk into a gym in China, it looks basically the same as when you walk into a gym in New York, Madrid or Stockholm. People train in pretty much the same way, with the same equipment. And we have amazing events already in 60 major cities across the world, so you can travel to a lot of very attractive cities to do Hyrox and enjoy a weekend-long trip, which is also what has made marathon events so effective. But we’re indoors, so you know the weather is always the same, and you don’t need to worry about rain or cold or heat.

ATN: Hyrox stages events in cities across the U.S., including a special upcoming race in New York City in June 2024. How important is the American market to Hyrox’s global expansion plans?

CT: We started in the U.S. in 2019 with New York, Miami and Chicago, but then we had to stop because of the pandemic. Since we restarted, we’ve been nearly doubling our (participation) numbers every year. We think New York will be our first sold-out event (in the U.S.). New York was always our strongest market, but last year we staged the event in the Meadowlands (New Jersey). Now we’ll really be in Manhattan, at Pier 76, a new venue on Hudson River Park with amazing views of the skyline. This will be our first indoor-outdoor event. Participants will run outside, but the workouts are covered in tented areas. We’re expecting between 4,000 and 5,000 people, which will be a new milestone for us in the U.S. (some of Hyrox’s European events draw over 10,000 participants).

New York is important for us because in America, we need to show people this is a next-level, major event. We want to be the New York City Marathon of fitness. After New York, we will really have arrived in the U.S. market, which is still the most competitive, the biggest sports market in the world.

ATN: Hyrox has a booming affiliate gym program. Why is partnering with gyms and fitness studios important for the brand?

CT: We want to provide a service to gyms to make it as easy as possible for them to integrate attractive, athletic Hyrox group class training into their programming. We’re hoping over the next few months to launch a website that provides affiliate gyms with education on how they can use Hyrox group-class training to win new members or retain current members by motivating them. That’s a big game-changer for us. Every day, we’ll be posting a new group class training workout. The coach can click on a video and view a description where we explain in full detail why we’re doing that training on that day. It includes a full rundown for a 60-minute class, with warm-up and every movement – you can even click on the movements to learn more about them. There’s a filter system as well, so if a gym doesn’t have skiers or other equipment, it will only show workouts where you don’t need that equipment. We’ll be doing this for thousands of gyms around the world. 

ATN: How big can Hyrox become in terms of the number of events staged and total race participants?

CT: We’ve even surprised ourselves because at the moment we are almost doubling our (participation) numbers every year. This season we will have 175,000 to 180,000 athletes doing our events. Our game plans to grow to 150 to 170 events in the 150 to 170 most attractive cities in the world. We believe we will have a million people actively participating in our events every year. That number will be significantly higher if you count people training Hyrox-style in gyms.

I also think there will be a growing community of other fitness-racing events popping up that follow our same logic, but that are done by other organizers. We want to deliver the gold standard of fitness racing events, similar to what marathons are for running. If you think about New York, you have 100 races a year but there’s only one New York City Marathon. Our job is to produce the New York City Marathon of fitness. 

The post CEO Corner: Hyrox’s Christian Toetzke on the ‘Marathon of Fitness’ appeared first on Athletech News.

The fitness industry is very much in the early stages of its encounter with artificial intelligence, but some brands are already working on innovative and potentially paradigm-shifting workout products.

Moawia Eldeeb, co-founder and CEO of smart home gym company Tempo, is harnessing the power of AI to transform the way people strength train. A computer science major at Columbia University and a former personal trainer, Eldeeb co-founded Tempo in 2015 to democratize access to high-quality personal training through AI. 

With the Tempo system, users get access to a set of smart weights – dumbbells and a barbell – that are tracked by AI-powered sensors. The sensors track the way your body moves during exercises, allowing Tempo to deliver real-time feedback on form. The company also uses AI and biometric data to create personalized daily workout plans, among other features.

Tempo has become one of the hottest brands in the home gym space, raising $220 million in a Series C round in 2021 to help it scale and create new products. 

Athletech News spoke with Eldeeb about what separates Tempo from other smart home gym brands, how the company uses AI to personalize strength training, and what could be coming next for the brand. 

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: You have an inspiring story. Can you tell us about your background and why you decided to create Tempo?

Moawia Eldeeb: Our mission at Tempo has always been to make personal training and fitness more accessible, and the impact personal training had on my life when I was younger is a big inspiration for that. I was born in Egypt and moved to New York City when I was in third grade. My family became homeless when I was in middle school, and the trainers at my local YMCA agreed to train me if I focused on school. It was with their help that I excelled academically and fully understood the impact fitness could have on someone. 

I ended up attending Columbia to study computer science, and also secured a job as a personal trainer while I was in school. During my time at Columbia, I met Josh Augustin, and together we co-founded Tempo. I realized that one-on-one, personalized training and guidance was unattainable for most people, and sought to fill that gap by combining AI and weightlifting to create the only at-home fitness solution with a built-in personal trainer.

ATN: What separates Tempo from its competitors in the smart home gym space, particularly those focused on strength training?

ME: With other connected fitness and smart home tech, users put in a lot of effort but struggle to see actual results. It’s only when you combine AI, biometry and the human connection that people will see the consistency and results they’ve been seeking, and that’s what Tempo does.

Beyond a “smart” piece of gym equipment with a screen, what makes training so effective is getting highly personalized guidance before, during and after. Tempo offers this by leveraging biometric data to create a daily workout experience completely tailored to you. Tempo then responds to your real-time performance to provide feedback that maximizes your time on the mat and to suggest the right recovery for your body to reach your goals. 

As a personal trainer, Tempo takes it one step further by counting reps, tracking speed and providing personalized weight-lifting recommendations. With the mix of human-led training and AI technology, Tempo makes progress and efficiency more attainable than any of its competitors.

ATN: What’s been the biggest challenge in scaling Tempo over the last several years?

MW: One of the biggest challenges has been adapting to the major lifestyle shift that came from moving through the COVID era to today. We haven’t seen a complete bounce-back to the pre-pandemic days, and I don’t think we’ll fully return to that way of living. Many people now have hybrid or fully remote workplaces and are enjoying greater flexibility in their schedules. Because of that, we’ll continue to evolve Tempo so we can provide you with a training experience that offers flexibility, convenience and ease – regardless of your lifestyle.

ATN: Tempo recently released a series of new features to make workouts even more personalized and adaptable. How far along is Tempo on its mission to build the world’s best personal trainer?

ME: I firmly believe that with Tempo, you’ll get the world’s best training experience available today. We know that streaming great workout content is simply not enough to help people to see progress. Results are what get people hooked on fitness and ultimately improving their overall health and longevity, so we set out to build an entirely new way of working out, with training plans that could guarantee faster results by focusing your training on target areas over the course of a 4-week period. Tempo now brings together real-time biometric data, AI, fitness science and human-led training to deliver adaptable training plans, a “Readiness Score,” and the most effective workout for you that day. What you get with Tempo is a training experience that is truly customized and responsive to you in real-time. 

But that doesn’t mean our work stops here. Down the line, I envision Tempo being integrated into your daily life. This means building Tempo into the most effective fitness and health companion that’s as individualized as one-on-one personal training, but far more convenient and affordable.

ATN: Is Tempo in competition with brick-and-mortar gyms and studios or can it be complementary?

ME: It’s absolutely complementary. Strength is at the core of all performance-based activities as well as everyday life, which makes Tempo’s strength training ideal for any fitness journey. While Tempo brings personal training into your home, we don’t identify as a home gym company; we’re a fitness company. 

Our products have evolved to go with our members – whether that’s to the gym or while traveling. With the Tempo Core and app, strength training is now in the palm of your hand with the powerful portable device. Wherever you are, Tempo brings personalized training to you to help you meet your goals, while adapting to your needs.

ATN: Will AI ever replace personal trainers?

ME: AI is driving this efficiency and can help support your fitness goals. But I don’t see it replacing personal training. AI alone can’t provide the human connection that people need when it comes to motivation, accountability and coaching. When you bring the two together – humans plus AI – that’s when you’ll see the consistency and results people are after.

ATN: What could we see next from Tempo in terms of innovation and new features?

ME: In the short term, we’re continuing to tweak and improve the training experience, making it as seamless and powerful for you as possible. We want to take out all the guessing and planning on our end, so all you need to do is show up and put your effort into the workout – not figuring out what you should do or what equipment you need. 

We’re working on using AI for more sophisticated movement tracking and training-plan creation based on your sleep scores and heart rate variability to tell you how ready you are to work out that day. We also know that body composition scanning is more beneficial for your fitness journey than a number on the scale, so we’re looking into integrating our in-app body scanning feature directly into a customized training plan for you.

We’re also looking at incorporating more health data such as nutrition, metabolism and beyond to build an even more comprehensive and customized health experience. 

The post CEO Corner: Tempo’s Moawia Eldeeb Is Changing Fitness With AI appeared first on Athletech News.

As the fitness and wellness industry continues to churn out a variety of modalities for those at all different physical levels, one company is building lifelong fans of movement through gymnastics, music and imagination: The Little Gym International.

Part of Unleashed Brands, a youth-focused company that includes Urban Air Adventure Park, Snapology, Class 101, Premier Martial Arts and XP league, The Little Gym offers enrichment and physical development centers for children ages four months through age 12.

Business is bustling for the high-energy brand, with The Little Gym recently partnering with investors to acquire seven existing gyms in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee to expand its footprint and develop additional gyms over the next few years.

The first Little Gym was introduced in 1976 by Robin Wes, an educator, and by 1992, The Little Gym International formed to franchise the concept. It’s since grown to nearly 400 locations in over 31 countries.

Nancy Bigley joined The Little Gym International after Unleashed Brands acquired the youth enrichment business in 2021 and was selected to lead The Little Gym through the transition and into its next growth phase. It was an organic move for Bigley — the idea of one platform consisting of the best children’s enrichment brands was something she says she knew she had to be part of.  

Bigley, CEO and president of The Little Gym, spoke to Athletech News about being a significant part of the development of children’s lives, combating the loneliness that comes with being in a top leadership position and managing stress.

Athletech News: What was your journey like to get to this point?

Nancy Bigley:  I’ve been in franchising for the last 30 years in various executive roles and have worked at some amazing brands. I was honored to launch my own franchise brand back in 2011 as the co-founder and CEO and successfully sold it in 2018 to my largest competitor. I stayed on the team as the company COO and ultimately their CEO after we acquired two additional companies. I am privileged to now be a part of Unleashed Brands, where I have an amazing opportunity to have an impact on the foundational development of children’s lives by leading two great brands, The Little Gym International and Snapology.

ATN: What is your greatest strength?

NB: Perseverance. I’m not a quitter, and I will continue to think, collaborate, and try options until I find the best solution to solve a problem or reach a goal. I’m a natural collaborator and decision-maker, both traits that help me move through large workloads.

ATN: What motivates you?

NB: Success. I am motivated when we accomplish goals we have set for the brand or a project. I am motivated when I see a member of my team grow in their leadership when they take risks to stretch their decision-making and accomplish their goals. I get motivated when my franchisee’s businesses are growing and they tell me how proud they are of what they have accomplished. I’m also motivated when something doesn’t go so well, but I am able to collaborate with coworkers, other departments and/or franchisees to find a solution. Coming together during tough times to find a viable solution makes me feel empowered and accomplished.

ATN: What are some of your daily habits?

NB: I’m a very routine-minded person, and I like structure. I wake up at 4:25 a.m. every morning so I can get my workout in before I start my day. That means I need to be in bed by 9:30 p.m. to get enough sleep to recharge. I also have a routine of making my to-do list in my planner before I end the day. This allows me to jump right into work after my workout and get some wins on my list immediately, which is a great way to start the day. It also allows me to knock out projects and reduces the risk of missing critical deadlines. Finally, I’m an avid reader, so I set goals to read every week. Sometimes, it’s a business book that inspires me; sometimes, it’s a book that helps me work on myself; and sometimes, it’s just a trashy, fun book to take my mind off business and work. I typically have 3-4 books I’m reading at the same time.

ATN: What is your greatest accomplishment?

NB: Starting, growing and successfully selling my business was my greatest accomplishment to date. Starting a franchise company from the ground up takes a lot of hard work, determination, risk-taking and skill. It tested my leadership and business skills many times over, but I’m proud of the team I built, the brand I created and the opportunities I was able to provide others. I learned so much and came out on the other side as a much stronger, more compassionate, and humble leader.

ATN: What would be the title of your biography?

NB: “Conversations With My Younger Self.” I think at times, we are our own worst critics and can often be our own worst enemy. Launching a business and running companies requires tremendous courage, strength, and the need to drive for more all the time. This can easily leave us feeling that we are not doing enough and need to accomplish more.

I’ve often said being in a top leadership position can be very lonely. It’s our job to stay calm and be stoic for our team and customers, but who is there to be that for us? So, sometimes I pause and think back on what I was doing five, 10, 20 or 30 years ago and imagine what advice my younger self would give me. Usually, my younger self says, “Give yourself a break. Look at all the challenges you have made it through. Look at how many goals you’ve crushed. Look at how much you have grown as a leader. Now, take a breath, give yourself a break and enjoy life a little bit more.” I’d love to explore all that I’ve learned along the way that has made me a better person and leader that my younger self would be proud of.

ATN: Where do you accomplish your best work?

NB: I’ve been a remote worker for the last twenty years before it was a thing. I’m super disciplined, so it has always worked great for me and allowed me to get really focused. However, I do need in-person face time with my teammates, and being able to pop into someone’s office and talk out a problem and solution makes me feel accomplished. Either way, I work best with my two to three monitors, keyboard and mouse. I have multiple full offices set up wherever I am, as that’s when I feel the most productive. Working just on my laptop for too long can frustrate me.

ATN: How do you manage stress?

NB: My morning workouts help a lot. Getting solid sleep and eating healthy helps, too. Ultimately, following my task list discipline is key. It helps get the stress of, “What am I forgetting?” out of my head as I know everything is on my to-do list. I’ve also just worked really hard at not letting people rile me up. No matter the problem, I take a deep breath, link in with whomever I need to, and solve the problem as quickly as possible. All of this keeps me in pretty good balance. When all that fails, red wine helps A LOT.

ATN: What was your first job?

NB: Well, my first paycheck job was at a local ice cream store when I turned 14 and a half. That was the earliest I could legally work. I couldn’t wait to start. I’ve always been very independent. Prior to that, I was an entrepreneur at heart, looking for any way I could to earn and save money. Picking weeds in the neighborhood, cleaning neighbors’ houses, babysitting, lemonade stands, selling tickets to neighbor kids to play my board games, and my favorite at age 5: cutting flowers out of my neighbor’s yards and then trying to resell those same flowers to those neighbors. The last venture didn’t last long.

The post CEO Corner: Nancy Bigley of The Little Gym Has Big Ambitions appeared first on Athletech News.

When Shaun Grove first started with Club Pilates back in 2015, Pilates itself was still a relatively niche exercise modality with limited brand awareness. Xponential Fitness, meanwhile, didn’t even exist.

Fast forward to 2023, and Club Pilates has become one of the most recognized brands in fitness while its parent company Xponential has a burgeoning portfolio of ten boutique brands, with over 2,850 studios across the globe.

Grove has been key to that success, serving as president of Club Pilates between 2015 and 2021, overseeing a period of massive growth for Xponential’s top brand. In March 2021, Grove became president of Rumble Boxing after Xponential acquired the brand, where he was tasked with positioning the boxing concept for early franchise growth.

That move has paid off, as Rumble Boxing had over 65 studios open and 375 franchise licenses signed as of Q2 2023, quite an impressive feat in just two years of franchising.

Grove spoke with Athletech News about his early days at Club Pilates, his close relationship with Xponential founder and CEO Anthony Geisler, and how he’s been able to grow Rumble Boxing into another fitness mega-franchise.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length

Athletech News: Can you tell us about your background in fitness franchising and how you wound up at Xponential?

Shaun Grove: I was a franchise law attorney for many years, and then I met Anthony Geisler, and I became in-house counsel for LA Boxing, which he owned. I then became a franchisee of LA Boxing, opening a location in Long Beach, California, which became the best new store of the year, prompting me to buy several more territories. In that process, we were acquired by UFC Gym, and I became General Counsel at UFC Gym, which I did for another two years or so as I developed my other franchise locations. Eventually, I had four UFC gyms, so I stopped working at the corporate office to focus full-time on operating those as a multi-unit franchisee.

When Anthony left UFC Gym, he and I remained in contact, and he asked me to help him with the due diligence of a new company called Club Pilates. He and I both saw the same great opportunities, and I agreed to partner with him and come on board as president of Club Pilates in 2015. We ran Club Pilates for two years before selling it to a private equity group in 2017. At that time, we decided to create Xponential Fitness with the idea of creating the boutique fitness universe we have today. So I’ve been around since the very beginning of Club Pilates and Xponential. Anthony and I have been together for around 15 years at this point, really joined at the hip.

ATN: What convinced you to take the leap and join Anthony Geisler at Club Pilates back in 2015?

SG: Pilates at that time was a foreign concept to me. It had been around for a while, but nobody had really figured out the distribution model for it, so it was kind of tucked away in these mom-and-pop locations. I thought the space was ripe since it was a great concept that a lot of people seemed to like, but there just wasn’t much public awareness. Anthony and I knew franchising really well and we had some great vendor contacts from the past. Initially, he and I just thought it was going to be a fun project. But to our pleasant surprise, we’ve been running full-sprint since 2015.

ATN: You ran Club Pilates quite successfully from 2015 to 2021. Why did you leave to become Rumble Boxing president in 2021?

SG: It was really a natural transition given my background with LA Boxing and UFC Gym, combined with how well we did with Club Pilates as the first Xponential brand that we launched. We knew Rumble had a cult-like following in New York and a lot of excitement around the brand, so we envisioned that it would have the same growth trajectory we saw with Club Pilates, which it absolutely has. We also developed some really great people at Club Pilates along the way, so I felt it was time for Mike Gray to step in as president and make Club Pilates his own moving forward. 

ATN: What are the main factors behind Rumble’s impressive franchise growth since Xponential acquired the brand in 2021?

SG: It’s the (Xponential) system we have in place, combined with the organic interest for Rumble that’s out there in the market. The founders did a really good job at positioning the original studios – we call those the signature locations – before we started franchising and turning it into the boutique model we have today. They placed their flagship Rumble studio in New York City and then moved to areas like LA, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Chicago. Since the brand was well known in major markets, people who travel to those areas already knew about it, so when we started franchising it, the organic interest was really high. I’d say the organic interest in Rumble was higher than any other brand we’ve had at Xponential. We’ve had a lot of loyal, organic followers who wanted to become franchise partners with us, as well as interest from more traditional business people who want a semi-absentee model.

In terms of Xponential, we have such a tried and tested system today, from franchise sales all the way through to development, which we started with Club Pilates and have brought to all of our other brands. Our franchise sales and marketing teams have done a great job, and the Rumble product speaks for itself.

ATN: How fast is Rumble opening new studios?

SG: It depends on the month, but we’re typically opening around five or more every month. In addition to our 65-plus studios currently open, we have around 45 in presale that will be opening very soon. We’re expecting to be at the 100 studio mark very soon, if not by the end of this year, definitely in Q1 of 2024.

ATN: Rumble also has a growing international presence. How does the brand approach opening studios outside of North America?

SG:  A lot of our international development is multi-unit. We operate those as master franchise relationships, where our international partners basically become “us” in that country, as opposed to Xponential operating those units or supporting them with a more hands-on approach as we would with our domestic franchises. Internationally, it’s more about licensing and finding great partners. Lately, a lot of our international partners have been interested in opening up a handful of our brands, like Club Pilates, StretchLab, CycleBar and Rumble. We have that type of arrangement in places like Australia, Mexico, Kuwait and Japan. 

Overall, we’ve been working hard at developing our international base, and we should have 30 or more studios open globally by Q1 or Q2 of 2024. 

ATN: Strength training is booming right now. What’s consumer demand like for boxing-style workouts?

SG: Demand on the boxing side has always been strong, especially with the way we do it here at Rumble. It’s not so boxing-focused, I really call it “boxing-inspired.” It’s a great cardio workout that’s created around a boxing theme, if you will. We break the class up, so half of the class is spent on the boxing bags and then the other half takes place on the benches where we do strength and conditioning, and you switch every three rounds. So you’re getting a combination of that traditional high-intensity, great cardio boxing workout, and then you’re taking off your gloves and you’re doing strength and conditioning with dumbbells and functional bodyweight movements. For us, the strength training craze has only helped. It’s almost like you’re getting two for one. 

ATN: What are the biggest opportunities and challenges facing boutique fitness brands today?

SG: There are so many options available to consumers today in the boutique fitness market, which is an opportunity and a challenge at the same time. It’s important to keep your concept relevant and exciting, because since there’s so much optionality, when the workout gets stale and members start to get bored, you’re going to lose them very quickly. It’s critically important to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the studio so that you can course-correct where needed and generate some intensity or excitement, or get back to what initially got a member to want to come in and try your concept.

The post CEO Corner: Shaun Grove on Growing Club Pilates, Rumble Boxing appeared first on Athletech News.

Practice Better offers a platform for health and wellness professionals to manage a range of services including scheduling appointments, managing billing and payments, and providing telehealth and messaging.

The platform was co-founded in 2016 by Nathalie Garcia, who created Practice Better to solve her own challenge of building a client-centric nutrition practice sustainably. Since its founding, Practice Better has evolved into a comprehensive practice management software solution for health and wellness practitioners, with over 10,000 customers in over 70 countries.

In April, the company secured a $27 million growth investment led by Five Elms Capital. The next month, Practice Better hired Kim Walsh, a former global vice president at HubSpot, as its CEO to lead the company into its next phase of growth.

Athletech News spoke with Walsh about her new role, Practice Better’s strategic priorities and goals, and her thoughts on the health and wellness industry.

Athletech News: What are your biggest priorities since taking over as Practice Better CEO?

Kim Walsh: I really want to focus on building out the Practice Better team in order to become a world-class place to work and top employer of choice. Most of this starts with recruiting and hiring A+ talent who are deeply aligned with our mission to empower health and wellness professionals to help millions of clients live better lives, and our vision to become the all-in-one platform and community of choice for health and wellness professionals looking to learn how to start and scale their businesses to have a greater impact on their clients. This starts with a strong team that has the ability and drive to double down on product integrations and further our market differentiation strategy. 

ATN: What differentiates Practice Better from similar platforms?

KW: Practice Better is an all-in-one practice management platform. However, unlike our competitors, we aren’t just a platform for the practitioner. We focus on empowering accountability, communication and collaboration between the health and wellness professional and their client. Our reasoning for this is rooted in our mission to empower health and wellness professionals to help millions of clients live better lives. Practice Better is focused on ensuring clients are seeing results and giving health and wellness professionals the time back in their day to focus on what they love to do: serve their clients and see a positive outcome. 

ATN: What are the biggest challenges facing the health and wellness industry? 

KW: The biggest challenge facing the industry today is that it’s fragmented. There are a lot of tools out there that offer solutions to a number of different challenges. But having too many options can overcomplicate the process. This is why Practice Better is so focused on being the all-in-one platform and community of choice for health and wellness professionals. We’re doing this by prioritizing product development, recruiting the best employees and going after this emerging health and wellness market with the speed that customers are asking us for. 

ATN:  What are your short- and long-term goals for Practice Better?

KW: As mentioned, my short-term goal for the business is to really focus on building out the Practice Better team so we are positioned to not only meet our objectives but exceed them. As for long term, my goal is to continue building a company and community that will stay true to our mission and serve both the health and wellness practitioners and their clients. Our goal as a company is to offer wellness practitioners a clear pathway toward building a great business and ensuring a positive outcome in their clients’ lives. 

The post CEO Corner: Kim Walsh of Practice Better on Fixing Fragmentation in Health & Wellness appeared first on Athletech News.

Endel, a generative music app that creates personalized sound environments to match user activities, is on a mission to help users relax, focus and sleep. The app reacts to the time of day, weather, user heart rate and location to create unique compositions. Powered by neuroscience, Endel conducted a survey that demonstrated users’ 7x increase in focus and 3.6x decrease in stress with regular use.

To learn more about Endel’s unique approach to sound environments, Athletech News spoke with Oleg Stavitsky, CEO and co-founder at Endel, about why the company has been so successful, what’s in store for the functional sound market and how to improve one’s sleep quality.

Athletech News: Tell us a bit about your background and what led you to create Endel.

Oleg Stavitsky: It’s not just my background we have to talk about. Endel has six co-founders and I’m one of them. We’ve collectively worked for over 10 years together, and before Endel we had built another company that was called Bubl, which was a digital art app for kids. That company was acquired here in Germany by Fox & Sheep, which at the time was one of the biggest kids app publishers and developers in the world. So we all moved to Berlin, and when Fox & Sheep themselves got acquired by Haba, which is a German toy-manufacturing company, we all left and almost immediately transitioned to start Endel.

The six of us are almost like a family. We call ourselves an artistic collective. Sound always played a very important role in everything that we do, and back in 2017 when we were thinking about what we were going to work on next we just saw this emerging functional sound space taking off. Apple at the time just released their Airpods, so it was clear that the smart speaker revolution was there and sound was becoming increasingly more mobile. It wasn’t just music – all of those functional sound playlists had been growing – so we felt like there was a product to be built. This category needed a proper product and thus Endel was born.

ATN: Why is Endel’s approach to sleep health unique?

OS: For two reasons. Number one, because this proprietary, patented, scientifically validated technology that we’ve built generates sleep soundscapes personalized to you. No one else in the market is doing something like this. We built our soundscapes in consultation with world-leading sleep scientists. For example, Dr. Roy Raymann, who designed Apple’s bedtime functionality, helped us design Endel sleep soundscape.

Number two, unlike everybody else, we’re thinking about sleeping phases, because you can’t just say “sleep health.” When you say sleep, you need to think about a wind-down phase, which begins before you’re even in bed. This is when your parasympathetic nervous system in theory should be activated. That means your blood pressure goes down, your muscles relax and your body prepares itself for a sleep session. Then the so-called sleep onset phase is when you’re in bed, but not asleep yet. The quality of that phase is determined by how quickly you fall asleep. In the sleep phase itself, the quality is determined by how many times you wake up throughout the night. Obviously, the less the better.

So, our approach is unique because we’re firmly rooted in neuroscience and because we create our soundscapes using generative AI. These two things combined make our soundscapes unlike anything else on the market.

ATN: What gap is Endel filling in the market?

OS: When we talk about the market, I talk about the functional sound market, which is this vast ocean of content. That largely consists of white noise soundscapes or playlists with white noise or dishwasher sounds or fan sounds. There’s just a lot of, I don’t want to say junk, but there’s a lot of content that can’t be qualified as music. Yet, it’s there. People listen to it, and then someone collects royalties on that.

We believe there’s a gap, in the sense that there’s no artist-driven, scientifically engineered sleep content in the functional sound space. So this is the gap that we’re filling because we’re building our sleep soundscapes not only in collaboration with world-class sleep scientists, but we’re also building them in collaboration with some of the biggest artists on the planet, like Grimes and James Blake. We have collaborated with both of them.

The future that we’re imagining is that more and more of your favorite music artists are going to start releasing their sleep soundscapes in collaboration with Endel. Very soon you’ll be able to fall asleep to many of your favorite artists.

ATN: If you had to give three tips for better sleep, what would they be?

OS: Number one, no blue light, or ideally no computers and no gadgets, at least one hour before bedtime. Number two is temperature. You want your bedroom to be cool because your body actually needs to lower its temperature in order to fall asleep.

Number three, use Endel. Because in reality, you can’t always do the first two tips for various reasons.

ATN: Can you explain the importance of functional music?

OS: I think the importance of functional music kind of explains itself because sound is very powerful and it’s the easiest way to control your environment. The fact that functional music as a market is rapidly growing is just a testament to the power of sound and the power of music. A lot of people have recognized that, and they are turning to sound to help them feel better or feel different. They’re self-medicating with sound. People are using sound to help them fall asleep. They’re using sound to help them concentrate, to help them overcome panic attacks and anxiety or to help them meditate.

Functional music in general is extremely important and as a category, it’s only going to grow. Today we estimate it to be 10 billion streams a month across all platforms and DSPs, which is roughly 5% of all music listened to. I think this category is on track to be 10% if not more, of all music listened to on the planet.

ATN: What are Endel’s goals, both short- and long-term?

OS: Endel has two goals. Number one, we’re building Endel into the platform for functional sound, and that means that we see ourselves as the Spotify of functional audio. That is a long-term goal. In order to get there we want to power the traditional music industry. We want to help music artists expand into this category by using our technology.

Short-term, we want to use our technology to turn your favorite music into functional soundscapes so that you can fall asleep, relax and focus with a scientifically engineered soundscape version of your favorite music. That in turn is going to pave the way for Endel to become the platform for functional sound.

The post CEO Corner: Endel’s Oleg Stavitsky on the Power of Functional Sound appeared first on Athletech News.

SLT (Strengthen – Lengthen – Tone) combines cardio, strength training, and challenging elements of Pilates. Founded by Amanda Freeman in 2011, SLT is a self-proclaimed “all-in-one workout” that aims to be smart, efficient, and effective. While SLT’s original class included just the Megaformer, a patented exercise machine that offers a total-body workout with lower impact on one’s joints, its newest class format combines the Megaformer with treadmill intervals. Athletech News (ATN) spoke with Freeman, who is also the CEO, and Lynsey Price, the Director of Training and Development, about the company’s ups and downs and why it’s more successful than ever.

ATN: What was your inspiration for founding SLT? 

Amanda Freeman: Prior to SLT, I had co-founded a business called Vital Juice. Vital Juice was an email newsletter company that delivered the latest in fitness, nutrition, beauty and wellness to the inboxes of well-conscious women.  While doing that, I became immersed in the emerging world of wellness.  One of the trends that was just getting started at the time was the idea of boutique fitness.  Studios dedicated to offering the best version of one workout all day long, was new and captivating.  And while I loved the idea of them, I didn’t actually like the workouts that the existing studios in NYC delivered to clients (Primarily spin, barre and yoga studios).  I wanted the “Pilates body”, but with the experience of a spin studio (instructor-lead, musically driven, group dynamic).  At the time, it didn’t exist.  I found an incredible piece of fitness equipment called the Megaformer on a visit to LA and was immediately hooked.  I knew I had to bring the machine and the amazing workout that can be done on it to NYC and beyond and the rest is history. 

ATN: How have your goals for SLT evolved throughout the years?

Amanda Freeman: The goals for SLT have remained somewhat consistent throughout the 12 years we’ve been in business.  We remain focused on delivering the most efficient, effective and sustainable results-focused workout possible.  While we continue to improve the workout, the studio experience and our customer service on a daily basis, the workout itself is tried and true and the results speak for themselves.  

ATN: What has been your biggest challenge with SLT?

Amanda Freeman: I’d say it’s a tie between managing through the pandemic and the overall oversight of the SLTeam through the life of the business.  Surviving the dark days of COVID was a harrowing experience.  The uncertainty and unchartered territory surrounding the pandemic was very difficult to navigate as the CEO of a fitness company that was largely-based in NYC where our studios were mandated shut for a full year.  I had to make some heart-wrenching decisions, lead through the unknown, continuously pivot, and rebuild a team that was battered and bruised.  

Another (more continuous and less acute) challenge through the years has been building the SLTeam and managing them through the ups and downs up the business.  From recruiting instructors to a brand-new concept no one had ever heard of to the integration of teams during an acquisition to a layoff of 96% of our staff and then trying to bring them all back gradually as different markets were able to reopen…it’s been a wild ride.

ATN: What has been your biggest success story with SLT?

Amanda Freeman: Thankfully, I’d say that surviving COVID is probably our biggest success story.  Prior to the pandemic, SLT was a thriving and growing business and then one day it all came to a halt.  The minute we had to close all 26 of our studios for an indefinite time, it became clear that we were not well positioned for the pandemic.  When the entire fitness industry quickly pivoted to virtual fitness, we couldn’t.  We had a workout that had to be done in person on the Megaformer.  On top of that, all of our studios were located in “blue states” where the regulations were the strictest for the longest amount of time.  Not parting with cash and drumming up creative ways to bring in more cash were the keys to our survival.  Renegotiating leases was how I spent the majority of my time.  

However, once we were allowed to reopen our studios, we were in one of the best possible positions in the industry.  We had a workout that no one was able to replicate at home and as a result, clients came right back as soon as they could.  We also saw a broader behavior shift away from some of the more high-impact workouts.  Clients were now flocking to low impact (yet high intensity and results-driven) workouts like SLT.  Overall, our studios are doing even better post-pandemic.  

ATN: What makes SLT unique in comparison to competitors?

Amanda Freeman: Over the 12 years we’ve been in business, the boutique fitness industry has evolved a great deal and our competitive set has changed.  In the early days, our differentiation was that we offered a high-intensity version of Pilates that no one had ever tried before.   We offered an efficient, effective, high-intensity, low-impact workout that got people the results they were actually seeking out. Clients worked muscles they’d never worked before, and felt sore in ways they had never imagined.  Now that the “Betterformer” workout is more commonplace and well known, we pride ourselves on being the smartest option out there.  Our instructors go through best-in-class training to offer the most hands on, customizable, sustainable version of the high-intensity Pilates workout.

ATN: Where do you think the industry is headed in the next several years? 

Amanda Freeman: I believe that the fitness industry is going to continue to move towards workouts with longevity.  Clients are getting smarter about their workouts and avoiding those that are more likely to cause injury and wear and tear on their body.  They want to engage in exercise that is sustainable that will help them stay fit as they age.  They are also gravitating towards more time efficient workouts.  The hour-long workout is giving way to the 30-minute workout.  Lastly, the world of recovery and self-care will continue to evolve and thrive in the near future with more social wellness spaces offering everything from assisted stretching to cold plunges to saunas.

Lynsey Price, Director of Training and Development at SLT

ATN: What makes SLT a unique workout?

Lynsey Price: SLT is unique because it is a total body low-impact/high-intensity workout that is accessible to fitness enthusiasts of all levels. SLT’s low-impact nature makes it safe and healthy for your joints, while still promoting muscular endurance by leveraging time spent under tension. Not only do our instructors create the most intelligent class programming on the market in our category, but they also create an experience that is tailored to the specific needs of each client. All of SLT’s instructors all go through rigorous training that equips them with the appropriate progressions and regressions for all exercises in our vocabulary. At SLT, we aim to strike the perfect balance of accessible and challenging in all of our class offerings.

ATN: What do you think the ideal mix of in-person and digital workouts is for most of your clients?

Lynsey Price: When it comes to SLT, our clients crave the in-person class experience above all else. Our workout is unique and is best experienced in-person, in our studios, and on a Megaformer. We have our own online On-Demand platform that provides clients with access to Megaformer, Microformer, and Floor content. Should clients have a Megaformer or a Microformer in their own homes, they can get the closest experience to our studio class environment from the comfort of their own homes. Our Floor content uses props such as sliders, bands, and weights in order to “mimic” Megaformer exercises.  As a supplement to SLT, our clients do enjoy participating in other online workouts such as indoor cycling/treadmill, dance fitness, sculpt workouts, strength training, and other low impact work. A lot of our clients mix-in SLT On-Demand and other online offerings 2-3 times a week.

ATN: How do you change up your instructing technique but keep the core aspects of SLT consistent? 

Lynsey Price: Over time, SLT has evolved by creating more of an emphasis on the psychological aspect of teaching this method. All of our instructors are trained to use positively-framed, immediately action-oriented language that aims to lessen the cognitive overload that clients can often experience in a Megaformer class setting. Not only that, it creates a positive environment for our clients! When it comes to programming, the vocabulary of Megaformer exercises is constantly growing. We’re committed to expanding our movement vocabulary as an inspiration to our instructors, and in an effort to “keep it fresh” for our clients.

The post CEO Corner: SLT’s Amanda Freeman & Lynsey Price on Why the Company is Doing Better Than Ever appeared first on Athletech News.

Jennifer Cohen has accomplished a lot in her life because she dared to chase her dreams. The Habits and Hustle podcaster, primarily known as the CEO for her health and wellness pedigree, took her personal trainer beginnings to eventually fashion a business empire, which kicked off with No Gym Required. No Gym Required grew from a brand idea into her first book of the same name, giving readers easy-to-follow ways on how to lead healthy lives. From there, Cohen entered the show business, wrote two more books, developed and sold an app to Weight Watchers, created a podcast, and even presented a viral TEDx Talk. At the time of publishing, Cohen’s TEDx Talk has close to 5 million views.

For CEO Corner, Jennifer Cohen tells Athletech News (ATN) that while her background is in health and fitness, she has “always been a true entrepreneur at heart.” And in light of her revelation, the “Strong is the New Skinny” author’s newest book titled “Bigger, Better, Bolder: Live the Life You Want, Not the Life You Get,” is rather a celebration of the trials and triumphs that come with life experience. “It’s been a lot of tenacity and a lot of failure and being resilient,” she admits, mulling over the course of her career journey… and life.  

Cohen’s dedication to helping others see greatness in themselves is apparent in the tireless work she’s done to serve others, whether through her training pursuits, her Entrepreneur podcast with past celebrity guests such as Matthew McConaughey, Chelsea Handler, and Tony Robbins, or, now, within the pages of “Bigger, Better, Bolder.” Before her schedule gets even busier with the release of her highly-anticipated motivational manual, we caught up with the impressive thought-leader as she shares her own life lessons, daily habits, and thoughts of the future for ATN’s very own CEO Corner column.

ATN: Tell us about your background.

Jennifer Cohen: My background is in health and fitness and I started off as a trainer for different record labels and training people to get ready for different videos and tours. Then I developed my first brand called No Gym Required. My first book was called “No Gym Required,” where I gave people simple solutions to be more healthy and fit and take care of themselves. I developed a shoe company within that, which was a weighted shoe called the NGR Fit Shoe. That was the first company I sold. From there I evolved and kept on growing in the health and fitness space.

I wrote another book called “Strong is the New Skinny,” and I wrote another book called “Badass Body Goals.” From all of that, I also founded an app called Hot 5. I sold it to Weight Watchers; it got acquired in 2016. My background is really centered around being an entrepreneur within the health and fitness space. One thing led to another [which] led to another. Now I have a podcast called Habits & Hustle where I talk about habits, tips and tricks and I talk to the most successful people in the world about what they have done and what they do to be as productive and on point as possible. I [also] did a Ted Talk about going after what you want and I have this book [“Bigger, Better, Bolder”] out. 

ATN: What was your journey like getting to this specific point in your career right now? 

Jennifer Cohen: It’s been one of those things where it’s taken a lot of trial and error until I get a win and build off of little wins all the time. From my mistakes, I’ve learned the most [about] what not to do — Trying everything. Not saying no. Being super tenacious, which means not letting failure deter me from getting up and trying again. I think a lot of times people don’t want to put the work in to get the results. I say all the time don’t be upset [by] the results you did not get for the work you didn’t do. A lot of times people don’t understand that it’s not about the person who’s technically the most talented or the most shrewd or intelligent, but it’s the person [who] puts in the hours, the time, and work, and is OK with constant trial and practice.  

ATN: Please tell us about your current company and how either your role or the company came to fruition.

Jennifer Cohen: Because I’ve exited two different health companies I got hired a lot as an advisor to a lot of different health brands and wellness brands — Hyperice, True Niagen, blk. water. I started my own company called Suprema, which is an umbrella company where I help emerging companies develop their brand and grow them into a place through nontraditional marketing. If I’m super passionate about a brand and I think that they have a leg up on something, they’re unique and they have the ability to disrupt, I will help them with nontraditional marketing initiatives and branding and strategic partnerships to really grow and build.

ATN: Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

Jennifer Cohen: I don’t even know where I see myself in 20 days, [much less] 20 years. I don’t like to plan that far in advance. That’s not my style. My style is really to pivot and to be nimble.  

My whole philosophy is [to] have a direction, not a destination. If you have a direction, you’ll go in the right direction, but you never know where you’re going to land. So, I don’t know where I would be in 20 days. As long as I keep on putting in the effort and working toward something I’m passionate about, I never know where it leads me.  

ATN: What charities are important to you? What does philanthropy mean to you?

Jennifer Cohen: I started my own breast cancer charity with my best girlfriend seven years ago, called Babes for Boobs. We auction off the most eligible bachelors in Los Angeles for money and all the money we raise we give to breast cancer.  

We started our own 501(c)3 called Good Human [Foundation] and have now expanded on the whole idea of Babes for Boobs for breast cancer. It kind of got halted with COVID because it’s a massive event we do every year, we get tons of press, we get tons of celebrities and we have an auctioneer come on and auction off these men for $10,000 a dinner date, $5000, $20,000 a dinner date. We had to stop with COVID and we haven’t done an event in a couple years. But we are preparing again.  

The other idea is that we are now going to be giving all sorts of different women’s health issues. But, breast cancer was the most precious [issue] to me because it runs in my family and I’ve had a lot of people in my life have it.   

ATN: What are some of your daily habits?

Jennifer Cohen: I call them non-negotiables. There’s no question I have to do them. My morning routine is very important to me, but just as important as my morning routine is my nightly routine. I work out every morning. It’s a non-negotiable. I need to sweat. Minimum 30 minutes a day. It’s through fitness and exercise that[‘s] given me the discipline to run my businesses. It taught me goal-setting, discipline, [and that] small wins lead to big change. So, exercise, number one.  

Number two, I make sure I drink a lot of water. Because I don’t like water, I set up a routine [for] all day so I drink enough. [For example,] I’m not allowed to get out of bed and go wherever until I drink two glasses of water.  

Another big one [non-negotiable] is I call my mom every day. I have a lot of other little ones. I have kids too. I make sure I spend my mornings with them. No matter how busy I am, no matter how many things I have going on, I make my kids breakfast every morning and I make them their lunch and I get them off to camp or school. I don’t check my emails or don’t do any real, true work until I get my workout done. But when I start, I make sure that the first thing I do is get the hardest, most annoying things out of the way first. I don’t want to be thinking about all those things that are going to be weighing on my head. Knock out the hardest thing first.  

And I make my bed every single morning.  

ATN: What decision would you take back and do differently?

Jennifer Cohen: That’s a good question and the truth of the matter is I can’t answer that because life is…it’s like “Sliding Doors.” If you do one thing different, the whole trajectory of your life changes. So, if I would have not done one thing, I wouldn’t have met so-and-so, that would have led me to so-and-so, that would have led me to so-and-so… right? I like my life. I’ve had a lot of ups and I’ve had a lot of downs. But I’d rather pick the beast I know than the beast I don’t have.  

ATN: What would be the title of your biography?

Jennifer Cohen: The book is called “Bigger, Better, Bolder,” and it’s about being bolder in your life, to chase the life you want, not the life you get. [The] entire premise of my entire life and philosophy is to go after what you really want and don’t settle for good enough in your life. That’s what I do.

The post CEO Corner: Jennifer Cohen Gets Bigger, Better and Bolder with Brand New Book appeared first on Athletech News.

Boxraw, a UK-based high-end gear and apparel brand, partnered with MGM and “Creed III” on a new collection, which launched March 2nd. The collection reflects Boxraw’s innovative spin on a historic sport, which comes to life in the blockbuster film. “Creed III” is Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut, and features Boxraw gear.

Based in Coventry, England, Ben Amanna founded Boxraw to merge his passion for boxing with his business acumen. Amanna spoke to Athletech News (ATN) about what excites him most about Boxraw’s partnership with “Creed,” and why boxing is increasing in popularity.

ATN: What excites you most about the partnership between Boxraw and MGM/”Creed III”?

BA: The ability to showcase our brand and its performance and values on the world stage is something that really excites me. We’re known in boxing but this gives us the opportunity to transcend the sport while also showcasing our innovation. This is a huge expansion moment for Boxraw. 

ATN: What sets Bowraw apart from other boxing apparel and gear brands?

BA: Boxing began as a passion of mine. I learned and took up the sport as a way to defend myself growing up against bullies. As a result, I gained a passion for the sport that I’ve poured into the brand and because of that, I believe we are the best. Our products are made with a genuine intent to add value to boxers and we innovate at every opportunity. I feel like the brands in boxing have gotten comfortable with tradition while failing to innovate and create newness. 

ATN: Why do you think boxing is increasing in popularity?

BA: Consumers are always looking for new ways to get fit and gain strength. And as such I think people are starting to recognize that boxing has so many benefits outside of the obvious. From boxing for self-defense, to boxing to keep fit, or boxing to clear your mind- boxing is for everybody. The surge in YouTube boxing has also brought a lot more awareness to the sport and helped reduce the barriers to entry and expanded its audience. 

ATN: Anything else you want to share about the brand or partnership?

BA: Boxraw is growing and we are thrilled that we could expand our product offering and reach leveraging an entertainment vehicle that celebrates boxing as a sport. The authentic partnership speaks to Boxraw’s values and the commitment to the sport and lifestyle. We love to push everyone into the ring! 

Boxraw’s limited-edition collection is available now on Boxraw’s website. Items within the collection include pieces for both men and women like the Creed Sanchez Windbreaker Jacket ($110 USD) and the Creed Wilde 2-in-1 Shorts ($80 USD). Boxing enthusiasts will also have the opportunity to buy two first-of-its kind, patent-pending boxing gloves, the “Gurõbu Training Gloves” and the “Kenka Fight Gloves.” The apparel line ranges from $60-$110 USD and the gloves begin at $500 USD.

The post CEO Corner: Ben Amanna on Boxraw’s Knockout Collaboration with ‘Creed III’ appeared first on Athletech News.

Supergut empowers people to regain control of their health from the inside-out using their patented line of shakes, bars, and fiber mix to promote a healthier gut microbiome. Marc Washington, the Founder & CEO of Supergut, is on a mission to improve the body’s natural ability to manage blood sugar, satisfy hunger, strengthen immunity, and more. Athletech spoke with Washington about his inspiration for founding the company, his advice for entrepreneurs, and his future plans for Supergut.

ATN: What inspired you to get started?

MW: My entrepreneurial journey started later than most entrepreneurs. I’ve been more of an executive throughout my career. But the space of health and wellness has been a large part of my pathway. It’s my own personal passion and something that I just love. I’m really inspired by helping other people live healthier. But I’ve always done that previously in larger organizations, typically as the right hand to the entrepreneur, helping them scale their business and their visions at scale.

I was taking notes over time and working with very successful entrepreneurs. There’s a lot that I learned along the way. And I discovered many things I would do differently.

It all came together a couple of years ago when stepping back kind of career-wise—thinking of what I want to do, what I want my impact to be in the world. I had this head-meets-heart moment where I had both the things I had done over time and the desire to do something differently. I felt there was a large unmet need in the marketplace.

My motivation also comes from a personal story: my sister was my motivation for starting a company as an entrepreneur. Her name was Monica and she lived with multiple metabolic diseases: diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. She tragically passed away far too young. It’s something that really shook me to my core, and amplified this fire that had been building in me to do something about it, to make a mark and to help people. I said to myself, if not me, then who, if not now, then when?

So, three-and-a-half years ago, when I started this company, I had the aspiration of really impacting health in a science-based way. I also wanted to do so in an accessible way, to make it really easy for people to live healthier.

ATN: Can you expand on the scientific process of developing products?

MW: I think about our business as: on one axis, science-based efficacy, and the other, accessibility, so taste and convenience.

The sweet spot is maximizing the combination of those two. My very first hire was a PhD food scientist that worked for me at a company that I used to be President/COO of called Beachbody.

We really dove into the research. And in particular, the angle and the aspect that we have honed in on is around the gut microbiome. It’s a leading topic and many people are becoming more and more familiar with the fact that your gut really is your control center for health. It was an awakening to see just how profound the science of the gut microbiome is, and how much we know now about the gut that we didn’t know before, and also how we know that there are ways or things that we can do to work with your gut, to modulate it, to point you in a healthier direction.

We poured through hundreds of clinical research studies and really honed in on a unique class of nutrients empowered by a class of fibers called resistant starch that are actually naturally available but just very, very limited in the Western diet. It helps modulate your gut and actually drives health outcomes like better blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity, curbing cravings and managing weight and a plethora of other health benefits, as well.

That’s what led us down this path of formulating our own proprietary blend that includes resistant starch and other prebiotic fibers and then formulating that into tasty food products.

We’ve since gone on and taken it to the next level and built on the science. So not just taking the existing evidence, but actually have gone out, which is also very rare, and conducted a gold-standard clinical trial on our products.

So, we’re actually not just working on the existing body of science, but we are contributing to that body of science, as well, through our own primary clinical study.

ATN: What are your short- and long-term goals?

MW: Recently, we just went through product expansion, as we want to help people transform their health through food as a functional food company that can create different products that work for different people in different use cases.

So, we expanded from shakes into other formats, including bars, which is the same concept, the same kind of resistance starch fiber blend, but in a bar format, and they’re delicious. We also offer that same proprietary fiber mix as a standalone powder as well, which is unflavored and unsweetened. We want to give people different flexibility and convenience to get these nutrients into their diet in a consistent basis. We obviously have more plans in the works about kinds of additional product expansion.

In addition to providing products, our aspiration is to provide content, as well, that can help close some of the information gap about gut health. We are investing pretty heavily in a content engine to produce and put out a lot of educational, informative, and engaging content to help close some of the education gap around gut health. Even if you never knew about gut health, you’re interested in your metabolism, aren’t you? You’re interested in energy and immunity, right?

We think that is doing a benefit for society overall, raising awareness and hopefully by doing so, it also raises awareness and consideration for Supergut, as one of the solutions to help kind of tap into that science of gut health.

ATN: What motivates you?

MW: My North Star is impacting health results. Our culture feeds on actually delivering the promise and hearing about customers telling us that we have helped them make a change in their health for the better. This entrepreneurship game is not easy. But then I’ll go into our community because we have a really vibrant and thriving, you know, Supergut community, and I’ll read some of the posts saying: ‘I used to have you know, significant digestive issues and now I’m much more regular,’ or ‘I used to have to take diabetes drugs and my doctors actually allowed me to get off them because I’m in control now. That re-energizes me. I’m ready to attack the day when I see that. So yeah, I fundamentally care about people getting healthier.

Even as a businessman, a lot of people will start with financial metrics. Those are incredibly important and I pay a lot of attention to them as well, but I lead with results. And I believe that if we consistently can deliver people results at scale, then our revenue and our earnings and everything else will follow as a result.

ATN: Do you have any advice for other entrepreneurs?

MW: Make sure that whatever you’re doing, don’t take the hammer-looking-for-a-nail approach. Start from the end consumer—what problem are you solving? Then, figure out kind of what it is that you are doing or can create that can solve a problem that needs to be solved in the world, versus the other way around. Next, this entrepreneurship game is not for everybody. I’d say, before jumping in: hold on, take a beat, take a breath, and make sure that it’s something you’re willing to invest in because it’s a true investment, not just of years, but of your mindset. The last thing I’ll say is to make sure it’s something you truly fundamentally care about.

When you’re doing something that you really don’t care about, if you’re just selling a widget and you know, that next wall that comes in front of you, you might not have the energy, enthusiasm to climb that wall as much as if it were something you truly fundamentally cared about, right?

When you believe that the world needs what you’re creating and you really care about getting it out there, that gives you the energy to actually climb the walls and get back up again when you get punched. It gives you a chance at making your entrepreneurial ventures successful.

The post CEO Corner: Marc Washington’s Supergut Takes a Science-Based Approach to Gut Health appeared first on Athletech News.

Wouldn’t life seem much easier truly understanding the data from your Fitbit, WHOOP, or any other fitness tracker? Well, Own It founder Justin Roethlingshoefer has given us a way to do just that in order to live healthier and well-informed with his digital platform. Athletes from the University of Miami’s football program implemented Roethlingshoefer’s Own It to turn results from their fitness trackers into having better results with their on-field performances, and non-athletes can do the same in order to improve exercise routines, recovery, and sleeping habits. 

As the visionary of his ‘8 Controllables’ system and best-selling author, Roethlingshoefer took his own experience of “feeling the frustration of not getting the answers for my health” along with his childhood dream of being an NHL hockey player and strength coaching background (NCAA, NHL, AHL) to develop a platform of health empowerment and knowledge. This became Own It. Since its creation, Roethlingshoefer’s purpose to impact others became reality and as he tells Athletech News, the potential in doing so “is what provides me that maximal motivation every single day.”

“Every decision I made was for a reason. It was meant to teach me something, and everything happened exactly as it was supposed to,” he adds. 

Keep reading this latest edition of CEO Corner to uncover Roethlingshoefer’s origin story from NHL hopeful to Own It founder and motivational entrepreneur. 

Athletech News (ATN): Tell us about your background.

Justin Roethlingshoefer: I grew up in Canada and my life’s goal was to be a hockey player and play in the NHL. At 13 years old I was playing with 16 year olds and for the first time [in my life I] wasn’t standing out.  My father said something to me that changed my mindset forever. He said, “Son, talent will get you noticed, but consistency will get you paid”. From that moment on, I was on a quest to become the most consistent version of me and that meant leaning into what I could control —  sleep, nutrition, fitness, environment, mindset, hydration, and stress management. 

I began reading medical journals, studies, white papers, nutrition books, [while] sleeping and training with heart rate monitors, brain sensors, and pulse oximeters at the age of 13. I became my number one research and test dummy. [Eventually], I was able to play junior hockey in Canada, play for a national championship, secure a hockey scholarship to the NCAA, and become a practice player in the AHL for a brief stint. This also spurred my educational career, receiving an undergraduate degree in Exercise Science and Nutrition, a Masters degree in Human Development with a concentration in Sport Performance, and post graduate work in HRV, Sleep and Recovery Science.  

As I retired as a player and got into the coaching world I began to see a couple things. One- I still treated myself like a high performing athlete. Two- working with the best athletes in the world at the NCAA and NHL level (I was a performance coach and director for the next 15 years for two NCAA institutions and three different AHL and NHL hockey teams), it became apparent that what worked for one athlete did not work for the other. The other thing I noticed was that even though I had a great amount of knowledge from school, there was a large gap in being able to apply in real life, one being me [and] two, being my athletes. So I went off script. I began to take data, personalized testing, and bloodwork to figure out each person’s blueprint to create action steps that created real change. The athletes saw improvement in resiliency, energy, and recovery times; I saw changes in health (bloating, headaches, and fatigue) that every doctor told me was “normal” and to just deal with it (only to find out that if I had not made a change, [this] would have led to colon cancer by the age of 30).  

After a 15 year career doing this for the best athletes in the world, I wanted to make these same strategies and systems available to people who want to find answers and improve their physical/mental being, but don’t know how to do it. [I] take this holistic and complete solution only accessible behind the walls of professional sport to now being available to the entrepreneur, executive, and general public [in order] to curate their personalized high performance lifestyle. 

ATN: Please tell us about your current company and how either your role or the company (if you are a founder) came to fruition.

Justin Roethlingshoefer: Like most things, OWN IT became what it is out of need. During my two seasons in the NHL, I began to feel really restless. I wanted more and wanted to impact more people. I had the mind of an entrepreneur but was in a structured team setting that shunned and punished that type of thinking, so I call my time in the NHL as my ultimate failure, success without fulfillment.  

I had the luxury of seeing Magic Johnson speak — he talked about his last contract with the Lakers [and how] he got the emails and phone numbers of the season ticket holders with floor seats. He took each one for lunch over the course of that year, with the intention of creating relationships and finding business mentors. It ended up earning him 20 business partners he still has today. So, it inspired me to do the same, see where I was as a blessing. I met with 65 different business leaders on our road trips last year learning more than I could have ever done reading books, but also what I found was when they learned what I do and how I do it from a health optimization space, they asked if I could help them. [I] wound up with 50 clients, but more importantly, a realization that there is a need for access to this in the business and everyday world.  

There is a disconnect and hunger for a different approach. Performance can not be realized until health is optimized. This led to the formation of OWN IT. 

ATN: What was your journey like to get to this point?

Justin Roethlingshoefer: The journey [in] leaving the NHL to becoming an entrepreneur was not easy for me.  I had to overcome a whole lot of imposter syndrome, thinking I was trying to do something that I was not qualified to do [and] build a business, as I was not a businessman. The best decision I made was get[ting] a mentor. This person changed my life and helped to continue to keep me on track and be aware. One of those people I hired, the other I engaged with as much as possible: Ed Mylett [and] Sharran Srivatsaa. They helped me to overcome a lot of those beliefs and continue to trust my vision, mission and purpose.  

The other thing that began to manifest was my wife, who was a VP at Christian Louboutin. [She] began to have a desire to take her skills and talents [in order to] have a bigger impact. We were blessed that six months into OWN IT, she was able to take over the CEO role, build a team, and establish a foundation that would make OWN IT a leader in the wellness industry, but [also] create a new category in coaching: truly personalized health optimization that not only provides information, but a team of high qualified docs, nutritionists, strength coaches, sport scientists [and] naturopaths to walk with you and guide your journey.

ATN: Where do you accomplish your best work?

Justin Roethlingshoefer: My best work happens in my office. It has been set up so that it is bright, has space for me to move and stretch but also runs at 68 degrees. I love to be cool, almost on the verge of cold. 

When I need to ideate and create vision I go [to] one of three places: the steam room or sauna, I workout, or float in the lake or bay.  Water and sunlight get me into my flow space and allow for certain neural pathways to become hyper-focused. It is where I do my best thinking, ideating and creating.  

ATN: Talk about your failures? What have you learned from them?

Justin Roethlingshoefer: The first large one was chasing things. Titles. Money. Worldly things. I tried to climb the mountain of success as quickly as I could, and the moment I arrived I was left with [the question], “Is this it?” [I felt] this level of disappointment because I still felt empty inside. The external achievements were just things and did not actually satisfy my need to serve and be in alignment with what my true purpose was. It was serving my ego more than serving people outwardly.  

The second is more operations focused and it came from a desire to serve everyone. If you don’t have a focus, you serve nobody. So, making sure that as a team we have a diligent focus and are disciplined not to deviate from it, so we resonate with the target audience, is key.   

Thirdly, [going] back to a business I started, I did not have the skillset or awareness of what it meant to delegate. [I had] a phenomenal business that was very successful, a six-figure company for only eight weeks of work, but because I was unable to delegate and felt I needed to run it all, it led to my burning out and creating an environment that could be seen as stressful

I [learned three things]: One, I needed to be aligned with my core values, and knowing that being committed to something larger than myself and the process is what creates fulfillment. The journey is the gift, not the destination. Two, if you try to speak to everyone or you try to be for everyone, you will speak or be for no one. Focus is freedom. Three, being willing to put your ego down allows true potential to be revealed. One person’s problem is another person’s purpose, so identify your problem and then seek the person. 

ATN: What charities are important to you? What does philanthropy mean to you?

Justin Roethlingshoefer: Underground Railroad and Operation Christmas Child.  Anytime you can impact children is amazing. They can’t make decisions for themselves and are sometimes at the mercy of their circumstances. So being able to play a small role in improving those, knowing our youth, what humanity will one day rely upon, is a worthwhile endeavor.  

ATN: What makes you stressed? How do you manage stress?

Justin Roethlingshoefer: This is something I have been working on for a long time. Stress is something we manifest. It is all worldly. Being able to trust the plan that is laid out for our lives helps us to alleviate stress, and stress manifests negativity in our bodies. This doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen and it doesn’t mean I don’t get stressed. But the awareness of this allows me to come back to a centered point.  

I have a very diligent meditation and breathwork practice. I do [the] morning with my sauna or redlight, but also leave a 10 minute gap every three hours of work so I can walk around, clear my mind and re-center. 

ATN: What would be the title of your biography?

Justin Roethlingshoefer: “One More Time.” How to get back up one more time when the world knocks you down millions.

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