On episode 34 we're taking a 360° look with the VP of Sales for Power Plate, Craig Bradley, at how technology is impacting new training methods in the fitness industry. If you've been curious about whole body vibration training and how this technology along with many others is now changing both the group and one-on-one training experience, you're in the right place.
But were not just talking about the Power Plate on today's show, we're also learning about the impact of new technology in the primary vertical markets, including real direct to consumer, blue-chip clubs, medical, and active aging segments, where Craig explains what he believes the next 24 months hold in both opportunities and growth potential for all fitness professionals.
Craig also presents a handful of controversial ideas around exercise adherence and turns the personal training model upside down, as he shares about a pilot test in one of his former clubs where they gave away personal training, and how it actually earned more revenue for the club than when they charged.
What are the various training methods we're seeing rise up in our space, fueled by new technologies?
The answers to those questions and much more takeaways for club owners, operators, and fitness professionals right here, right now with Craig Bradley.
Craig Bradley is the VP of Sales for Power Plate and Performance Health Systems. As a global business professional capable of blending sales and marketing skills with operational expertise to grow profits, Craig has a reputation for reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction in the fitness industry. With a vast understanding of the global market, Craig has deep expertise in the relationships between fiduciary responsibility and the value of diversity across multiple verticals.
"Make it fun. I think the more you can engage and coach folks in a fun environment, the more adherence you'll see. There is a reason why most of the fitness brands that are more 'party, playful, and fun' in their orientation do extremely well, and that's the area that I would try and encourage operators to explore." - Craig Bradley on the Fitness + Technology Podcast
"I think diet is the big opportunity for fitness operators out there. What people put in their body is obviously more important than what they do with their body, and I see that as a huge opportunity. Obviously there are diet subscriptions and apps now, but if fitness companies can find a solution whereby they offer a diet solution to their subscriber base, this is a massive opportunity." - Craig Bradley on the Fitness + Technology Podcast
For episode 33 we’re learning from the CEO of FitCloudConnect, Brad Weber, and exploring the rapid changes of how all size clubs are reaching consumers through "lifestyle fitness" including delivery of programming 24/7 365, through any mobile device.
Looking back on some of our previous interviews with brands like Wexer, MYZONE, and Under Armour, we know that our space is shifting quickly towards meeting millennial’s and other demographics at their deepest needs which include tablets, mobile phones, and live streaming fitness experiences.
But the larger question that we're taking an honest look at today is around breakage.
How do some big-box clubs that sell essentially more memberships than they can support, knowing full well that members will drop off after EFT payments have been collected for months, continue to operate in this paradigm?
New technology can help to change this paradigm by adding revenue streams built for the club and so that members can begin to see the facility as the hub, the place where they feel at home, and so does their all their activity data.
In this episode, Brad is sharing with us his expertise around using smart cameras and content strategy, similar to the successful model of Peloton, that many clubs are starting to take a serious look at as the attention spans of members shorten, and the need for digital connection increases.
Brad also gives us some great tips on interoperability, how platforms must come together now more than ever, and why he believes that lifestyle fitness and the devices that support it across all verticals within the industry is now a driving force behind the future of sustainable fitness business operations.
How can technology-focused health clubs use lifestyle fitness to engage members inside and outside the club?
Answers to those questions and much more in this episode with Brad Weber.
Brad Weber is the Co-Founder & CEO of FitCloudConnect. He has spent over 15 years in numerous software and SaaS organizations, and has extensive experience in working with all sizes of companies across numerous industries in the U.S. and Canada in researching, designing and deploying enterprise-wide software solutions.
He has been a sought after consultant for many of the world's Fortune 500 companies in areas of enterprise software, and has spent much of his time as a key contributor to building startups in the enterprise and SaaS software industry.
Brad believes that the “fitness lifestyle” experience that has been offered for so many years in our industry is now going through a massive change. To meet the needs of members who travel, who might be intimidated by coming into the club multiple times per week, or who might be a member solely based on class attendance, the delivery of a gym experience to wherever the consumer is 24/7, represents the next level of lifestyle fitness.
Smart cameras and connected fitness are now allowing facilities to truly think "outside the box." By using quantifiable measurements of revenue generation that can be implemented and used across the organization (without having to manage that technology) operators are recognizing that a great fitness tech platform is one that does all the heavy lifting for club.
The reality is that are some people who will never come into a club. With only 16% of the national population having memberships, 84% don’t. Brad reminds us that many people who use the excuses of being too busy, embarrassed, or living too far away simply don’t have to remain true. With lifestyle fitness being delivered to members 24/7, 365, this new technology is about extending the fitness experience to people who need it most, and is helping to address the breakage aspect of big-box clubs who sell more memberships than they can actually support.
"When we looked at the market over two years ago for our strategy, we noticed there was many established players already delivering "celebrity fitness content" into the club. We knew that delivering an in-club experience outside the gym would be an exceptional away for a facility to establish and help build their brand beyond the four walls. We also knew that giving a virtual experience of instructors at the gym through a combination of prerecorded and live streaming experiences would be what members would want." - Brad Weber on the Fitness + Technology Podcast
"The great thing about technology is it gives you deep insights on who your users actually are. Now we can start to understand user behaviors where previously a user would walk in and out of the club. Now we can use smart data to understand all the movements of a person on a virtual system and determine where best to put our resources and invest our time." - Brad Weber on the Fitness + Technology Podcast
With the results now being calculated for the recent Fitness Industry Technology Council's technology usage survey, for episode 032, we're exploring the real answers for club owners around the adoption of new technologies and when to recognize true disruption vs. just a loud media buzz.
If you missed the technology survey, be sure to sign up for the FIT-C mailing list over at www.fitechcouncil.org.
Today's show will help our industry address some important information about health club usage of technology, including how fitness facilities are using AI in retail, what is the real bridge between technology adoption and ROI, and how specific technology can enhance your business to rise above competition.
We're learning from the Chief Information Officer of Gold's Gym, Adam Zeitsiff, to get more clarity around what Adam believes are the 4 most powerful questions to ask when adopting any new piece of tech.
These questions and the information from Adam's interview are a great template for all size clubs, and powerful guide when making decisions that club owners can use to separate their facility from those that frenetically adopt what "seem" to be disruptive technology.
How do smart club owners and operators make the best decisions when experiencing adoption and disruption in our space?
Listen to this insightful conversation with Adam Zeitsiff for the answers.
Adam Zeitsiff is the Chief Information Officer at Gold's Gym. He is a dynamic, entrepreneurial and visionary leader with an expertise in providing a game-changing edge to manage and grow company infrastructure, technology and product development in highly competitive landscapes.
A champion at executing & operating enterprise technology, Adam specializes in leading software and infrastructure solutions within companies for scale, sustainable growth & has years of performance excellence across the US, Canada & European markets.
With an out-of-the-box approach, Adam has a proven entrepreneurial spirit & battle-hardened tenacity through consistently achieving results through the application of both technology and business strategies.
Adam believes there's a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt out there, and a lot of media press around technology disruption, but buzz alone doesn't mean something is truly being disrupted. That means somebody got a press release out there and people picked it up. Operators must take the time to really look at these things, always be talking, and learning to stay in touch with colleagues to see the real difference between adoption and disruption in our space.
For the operators that choose to have a mindset of learning, who look at all the technology changes with a step-by-step process, Adam believes there is a tremendous possibility to have more engaged members than ever before. The big opportunity with disruption is that operators in our industry hold years of experience that some of the technology providers that are trying to disrupt, just don't have. By leveraging new tech and the deep experience of long time clubs, revenue and member satisfaction will rise.
One of the most pivotal questions to ask when adopting new technology is around its positive effect of the member experience. Fitness technology has now created a world without borders; it's not only passed the curve of innovators and early adopters, but also is it now something that will dramatically affect the member experience inside of the club. At the end of the day, you want people to come into your facility and have a great experience, so the technology must disrupt the industry with the sole purpose of improving the member experience within the four walls.
"I don't think a day goes by where I don't hear the term "millennial," and I don't think we as a fitness industry can look at millennials and underestimate how technology will disrupt our industry. Millennials think technology first and brick-and-mortar second. The disruption of millennials, in shifting from using their phones to communicate to now using to purchase goods and services, we must pay attention to these early adopters on the bell curve." - Adam Zeitsiff on the Fitness + Technology Podcast
"There's a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt out there, and there's a lot of media press around technology disruption, but that alone doesn't mean something is being disrupted. That means somebody got a press release out there and people picked up. We as operators need to take the time to really look at these things, always be talking, and learning to stay in touch with our colleagues to see the real difference between adoption and disruption." - Adam Zeitsiff on the Fitness + Technology Podcast
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In episode 31 we take a deeper look at the churn rate and attrition of fitness professionals in the industry. Whether you are a studio, small or big box club, increasing the lifetime value of a fitness professional is more important now than ever as we move quickly in our digital world where touchpoints from fitness professionals are so important to a club.
Understanding that human connection from fitness pros to both clients and members is ultimately the fuel that drives the engine of fitness technology, with these new tech tools entering our world every quarter, what are the platforms that understand the trainer's most important data points and business workflows?
In a landscape of sometimes confusing technology applications, how can the right client, club, and trainer ecosystem support both the streamlining of a workday and a proactive approach towards running a successful and sustainable long term training business?
Today on the show we're answering those questions, and much more with the CEO of One Fit Stop, Jarron Aizen.
Jarron Aizen is an entrepreneur with extensive experience in the computer software and technology industries. Jarron is the founder and CEO of OneFitStop, a SaaS software that streamlines business management and fitness tracking tools into one complete platform for the fitness industry.
Intuitive algorithms sourced from machine learning and AI are beginning to make the next level of both client service and sustainable personal training business thrive. Jarron believes that having the right tech platform to manage a fitness business is important, but what separates the good platforms from the great is not just having the right tool, it's making educated decisions based on a sharpened intuition that is honed from technology that understands what a business needs almost before they do.
Jarron believes that the top CPT certification organizations around the world must start to align how they deploy their teaching courses to simulate real-life scenarios dealing with business acumen, rather than just textbook examples of physiology. To lower industry churn, these CPT certification trainings in physiology must also incorporate simulations of how to manage a technology-focused fitness business.
For trainers to be successful, Jarron believes that defining a business model and payment structures first (before ever working with a client) is just as important as the technology they'll use. Understand that a trainer's business model will adapt over time, but they first need to sit down and actually design it. For long term success, trainers who match up clients with their business model, and ask themselves "is this client right for me?" will support better systems for enjoying their career and less trainer burnout.
"We want to measure ultimately how many fitness professionals in the businesses that use One Fit Stop end up staying longer in the industry. The only real way to really measure that is if we are working with the certification companies and getting them at a grassroots level." - Jarron Aizen on the Fitness + Technology Podcast
"The technology is merely a facilitator of the trust between the trainer and the health club. It's a powerful tool that let's a trainer know that a health club truly cares about them by providing a solution to help them build and manage a successful training business." - Jarron Aizen on the Fitness + Technology Podcast
AFTERSHOKZ has created cutting edge headphones, using bone conduction sound technology perfect for cyclists, fitness professionals, and fitness enthusiasts alike. With an open ear design focused on safety and comfort, AFTERSHOKZ is offering an exclusive bundle with a free gift for the Fitness + Technology audience. Pickup your free gift with purchase by heading over to FITC.AFTERSHOKZ.COM today.