Future of Fitness

Eric Malzone
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Fitness
  • Updated Weekly

We are putting a shoulder into the fitness industry and pushing it forward into the modern digital age. Eric Malzone, a 14-year industry veteran, entrepreneur, advisor, and coach, interviews the brightest movers and shakers in the fitness and health industries. Interviewing some of the industry's top executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders, topics will vary covering cutting edge technology, entrepreneurship, hot industry trends, and so much more. If you're in or around the industry, this is how you keep your edge sharp.

  1. 2 days ago

    Dr. Tania Elliott - What If Fitness IS the New Primary Care? And What If That's a Good Thing?

    In this episode of Future of Fitness, host Eric Malzone sits down with Dr. Tania Elliott—board-certified physician, three-time Chief Medical Officer, and a leading voice in healthcare innovation—to break down the collision course between the fitness industry and the future of preventative health. Dr. Elliott doesn't hold back: she calls out the fitness world for being too intense or too dainty, challenges the gatekeeping role of primary care, and paints a vivid picture of what the health club of the future should really look like. From the over-reliance on protocols and biohacking to the untapped power of community, nutrition, and strength training for women, this conversation is a bold, no-BS look at how fitness can evolve from a destination into a way of life. If you're ready to rethink everything you know about health, wellness, and the role of gyms in healthcare, this one's for you. 📌 Key Takeaways: 🏋️‍♀️ Fitness as the Top of the Healthcare Funnel – Gyms and wellness communities are the ideal entry point for prevention, engagement, and longevity—not traditional primary care. 🩺 Primary Care is Broken – It's a gatekeeping loss leader. The future is direct-to-consumer labs, telehealth, and real-time biomarker feedback without the waiting room. 🧠 Doctors as Advocates, Not Gatekeepers – Health information is no longer locked behind MD degrees. Physicians need to meet patients where they are and embrace patient-led research. 🔬 Stop Over-Protocolizing Everything – Not every trend needs a study. Use common sense, evolutionary context, and ancient practices like Ayurveda to guide wellness decisions. 🍽️ Food is Fuel—But Not Just Protein Powder – Whole foods, seasonal eating, and regenerative farming matter more than supplements. The fitness industry should teach cooking, not just sell shakes. 💪 Women's Strength Training is Non-Negotiable – Women need hardcore strength work too—not just Pilates and pink dumbbells. Programs must account for female biomechanics and hormonal cycles. 🏠 Health Should Be a Way of Life, Not a Destination – From "fart walks" after meals to lawn mowing parties, movement should blend into everyday life with community and joy at the center. 📱 Social Media is the New Health Classroom – With 60M+ monthly views, Dr. Elliott proves that bite-sized, educational content is the most scalable way to drive real behavior change. 🤖 AI is Democratizing Health Information – 230M weekly ChatGPT health queries show people are hungry for answers. The opportunity: use AI responsibly, not as a replacement, but as a starting point. 🚀 Be Bold About the Future – The fitness industry should stop apologizing for not being "healthcare" and instead design the care model of tomorrow—with community, labs, referrals, and real connection points.

    45 min

  2. 18 June

    Juliet Starrett & Alex Alimanestianu - Quarterly Reports: The GLP-1 Tipping Point, CrossFit Finds Its CEO, Garmin's Quiet Takeover of Fitness

    In this quarterly industry roundtable, Eric Malzone, Juliet Starrett, and Alex Alimanestianu dive deep into the fitness sector's biggest earnings reports and emerging trends. Lifetime Fitness continues its premium brand strategy with impressive revenue growth while strategically shedding lower-tier memberships, but Planet Fitness faces headwinds with declining membership growth and a paused price increase. The team dissects Xponential's mounting troubles as the company burns through cash amid a New York AG settlement, while Garmin's fitness segment absolutely crushes it with 42% revenue growth. CrossFit's future looks brighter with Bruce Edwards returning as CEO—an affiliate owner who actually understands the community. The conversation heats up around retatrutide's bariatric-level weight loss outcomes and what GLP-1s mean for the fitness industry's identity, plus Peter Attia's meta-analysis proving two weekly resistance training sessions deliver 77% of maximal gains. From Peloton's Pilates pivot to Aescape's robotic massage collapse, this episode covers the strategic shifts, financial realities, and cultural transformations reshaping fitness in 2026. 🎯 Key Takeaways: 📈 Lifetime Fitness – Premium strategy working: revenue up 12%, average revenue per member at $930. Shedding low-tier medical memberships while raising prices, but can they keep growing without membership expansion? 🔻 Planet Fitness – Rough quarter: membership growth down 30% YoY, full‑year guidance cut. January marketing missed the mark, and their $5 black card price hike got paused. Competition heating up in the South. 🔥 Xponential – Dumpster fire status: same‑store sales negative two quarters straight, $523M debt vs. $21.5M cash. New York AG settlement for misleading franchisees. Strategic review likely means selling Club Pilates. 📊 Garmin – Absolute powerhouse: fitness segment up 42% revenue, 103% operating income. Natural Cycles integration for female athletes. A GPS company dominating wearables with $4.3B cash on hand—IPO market take note. 🚴 Peloton – First revenue growth since 2024 ($663M, up 1%). Free cash flow positive at $151M. Acquired $8K Pilates reformer company Scope, but membership declines persist. Cost‑cutting worked—now can they grow? 🏋️ CrossFit – Bruce Edwards returns as CEO (former affiliate owner, COO 2013‑2019, Planet Fitness franchise operator). Sale to Berkshire Partners is off. Games strategy and HyROX relationship are key early questions. 💊 Retatrutide – The new weight loss king: 70‑pound average loss (30% body weight) in trials. Fitness industry must pivot from "weight loss" to "health and strength" positioning. GLP‑1s are here to stay. 💪 Peter Attia Meta‑Analysis – Two resistance sessions/week delivers 77% of max strength gains. Behavioral barriers > programmatic barriers. Simple, consistent training beats perfect programming every time. 🤖 Aescape – Robotic massage startup with $157M raised goes insolvent. First‑mover disadvantage. Product was good, execution was costly. AI wellness is coming but distribution matters. 📱 Strava + AI – Claude integration and AI workout summaries are early days but coming fast. Personalized recommendations and trend analytics will reshape how we engage with fitness data.

    1hr 11min

  3. 13 June

    David Magida - The Gym Operator's Guide to HYROX: Structure, Culture, and Revenue

    What does it actually take to build a thriving HYROX program inside your gym — and turn it into a serious revenue engine? In this episode of Future of Fitness, host Eric Malzone sits down with David Magida, Global Head of Training at HYROX, to unpack everything gym owners and operators need to know about getting into the fastest-growing fitness sport in the world. David shares how he went from running a boutique gym in DC — nearly losing it all during COVID — to overseeing a global affiliate network of nearly 16,000 gyms. From the electric energy of a 40,000-athlete HYROX event in London, to the step-by-step framework for launching a HYROX program (whether you're crawling, walking, or sprinting), David breaks down the real business case: premium add-on memberships, ads that outperform at 3-to-1, 50% of gym revenue tied to HYROX, and a community so tight your members become your best salespeople. If you're a gym owner sitting on the fence about HYROX, this is the episode that will get you off it. 🏟️ HYROX events are exploding — from 40,000 athletes at the London EMEA Championships to 50,000 participants at the NYC event, the sport's growth shows zero signs of slowing 🏋️ Crawl, walk, run your way in — you don't need to drop $150K on equipment on day one; start with one class per week and build from there 🔥 Authenticity is everything — your coaches and head trainers need to actually race and train in HYROX; members will see right through a program with no real passion behind it 📐 Four class types to know — Foundational, Engine, Power, and Complete make up the full HYROX training methodology, each targeting a different fitness pillar 💰 The money is very real — David's HYROX program now accounts for ~50% of his gym's total revenue, and coaches he's mentored have hit $100K in six months 📣 HYROX ads convert at 3x — paid ads for HYROX programming dramatically outperform other gym program ads because people are actively searching for race training 🤝 Community = retention — HYROX athletes form tight-knit cohorts, plan group runs, share race results, and become your most powerful referral source 🛠️ Equipment investment pays off — Center's free gym layout and floor plan design service (developed in partnership with HYROX) removes a major barrier and replaces what used to cost $40K in architect fees 📈 Nearly 16,000 global affiliates and climbing — the affiliate program has scaled from basic PDF workouts to a full tech-enabled training ecosystem since David joined in late 2023 🎯 Every race keeps members locked in — once an athlete signs up for another race, you've secured them for another 6 months of consistent training and membership revenue OUR SPONSORS: 🔗 Perfect Gym: https://www.perfectgym.com/en  🔗 EGYM: https://egym.com/

    50 min

  4. 8 June

    Erik Jivmark - Sleep Cycle: 85 Million Downloads, 15 Years of Data, Zero Wearables

    In this episode of The Future of Fitness, host Eric Malzone sits down with Erik Jivmark, CEO of Sleep Cycle, to discuss how passive tracking technology is transforming the health and wellness industry. For 15 years, Sleep Cycle has been quietly analyzing a millennium of sleep every single night, leveraging audio and advanced machine learning algorithms to map sleep stages with the same precision as leading wearable hardware. Now, the company is democratizing this massive data layer by opening up its seamless Sleep SDK to developers, health apps, and IoT providers worldwide. Erik shares the brand's incredible origin story—from an iPhone taped to a bed to a global network tracking millions of nights—and pulls back the curtain on their upcoming FDA-regulated clinical validation study aimed at diagnosing sleep apnea risk with just a single night of phone-based audio tracking. Whether you are building an AI health coach, looking to scale passive monitoring, or eager to understand why sleep is the ultimate foundational layer of longevity, this conversation explores how the future of public health belongs to frictionless, hardware-free technology.   🎧 Episode Takeaways: 📱 Frictionless Tracking: Discover how Sleep Cycle bypasses data fatigue and heavy hardware costs by turning any smartphone into a highly precise, passive health sensor.   🫁 Revolutionizing Sleep Apnea Detection: A deep dive into their upcoming FDA submission for a software-only tool capable of screening sleep apnea risk in a single night.   🔓 The Open Sleep SDK: Learn how innovators, telemedicine providers, and even smart-home companies are integrating Sleep Cycle's 15 years of machine learning data into their own apps within weeks.   📊 Fueling the Future of AI Health: Why shallow AI coaching fails without long-term behavioral data, and how a live global network of breathing and coughing signals provides the ultimate context for clinical innovation.   🤝 The Collaborators-Win Mindset: Why Sleep Cycle is looking beyond its own consumer app to place its powerful diagnostics everywhere consumers already live, run, and track their fitness.   OUR SPONSORS: 🔗 Perfect Gym: https://www.perfectgym.com/en 🔗 EGYM: https://egym.com/

    48 min

  5. 3 June

    Eric Casaburi - From Serotonin Centers to 108,000 Gyms: Solving Longevity's Distribution Problem

    Eric Casaburi — founder of Serotonin Centers and former builder of Retro Fitness — is back to break down one of the most exciting business models emerging at the intersection of fitness and longevity medicine. In this episode, Eric walks us through the creation of SLIM Gym (Serotonin Light Impact Model), a turnkey longevity clinic concept that plugs directly into existing gym and fitness studio spaces (think 200–500 square feet of unused office or childcare rooms). It delivers hormone replacement therapy, medical weight loss, GLP-1 protocols, peptide therapy, IV therapy, and comprehensive lab work to gym members—without the gym owner ever touching a medical compliance headache. Eric shares the real data behind why active gym members on longevity protocols retain at dramatically higher rates, why GLP-1s may actually be a "gateway drug" into fitness culture, how Serotonin handles HIPAA compliance and nurse practitioner training through a robust internal LMS, and why he believes the next major wave in the fitness industry isn't a new piece of equipment — it's the full integration of preventative health and performance medicine on the gym floor. Key Takeaways:  🏋️ The SLIM Gym Model: Serotonin's new in-gym concept occupies 200–500 sq ft of dead space inside existing fitness facilities, bringing longevity medicine directly to gym members with zero medical liability for the gym operator. 💉 The Perfect Longevity Patient: Gym members already committed to health are more compliant with protocols, generate more referrals, and get better outcomes than the general population. 📉 Fixing the Gym Attrition Crisis: The average gym loses ~60% of its members annually. Putting members on hormone or weight loss protocols within their first few weeks dramatically improves retention by delivering fast, visible results. 🩺 Real Longevity Medicine vs. Trends: It's not just a cryo chair or cold plunge. True longevity medicine inside a gym means blood labs, InBody scans, HRT, GLP-1s, peptides, IV therapy, and NAD—all tied together through data and medical oversight. 🧬 GLP-1s as a Fitness Gateway: Weight loss medications can actually drive more people into gyms by removing the psychological barrier of body shame that keeps many would-be members from ever walking through the door. 🏦 The Business Case for Gym Owners: Serotonin pays the gym a use fee and invests in member marketing. However, the real ROI is the annualized retention impact, not just the monthly rent check. 🤝 A True Partnership Model: Unlike online-only telehealth affiliates, SLIM Gym staff are physically embedded in the gym, trained on fitness culture, and integrated seamlessly with trainers and sales teams. 👩‍⚕️ Building and Training Clinical Staff: Serotonin has developed a full LMS with 200+ courses, weekly recorded medical lunch-and-learns, and AI-assisted training tools, getting a new location operational in as little as 60 days. 💊 Playing Within the Bounds: Serotonin only works with FDA-cleared Category 1 peptides and keeps all HIPAA compliance, medical intake, and clinical oversight inside its own four walls—keeping the gym operator completely insulated. 🌐 Longevity Brands and M&A: Eric's parent company, Longevity Brands, is actively exploring acquisitions in the med spa and longevity space, positioning for the same consolidation wave that reshaped fitness 20 years ago.   OUR SPONSORS: 🔗 Perfect Gym: https://www.perfectgym.com/en 🔗 EGYM: https://egym.com/

    46 min

  6. 29 May

    Karl Foster - Why Most AI Projects Fail: Sport Alliance's Head of AI on Change Management vs Technology

    In this episode of The Future of Fitness, host Eric Malzone sits down with Karl Foster, Head of Artificial Intelligence at Sport Alliance, to bridge the massive gap between AI marketing hype and operational reality in the fitness sector. Drawing from his unique trajectory from personal trainer to CTO and global AI leader, Foster reveals how Sport Alliance's native CRM and ERP integrations—Perfect AI and Magic AI—are redefining the member journey. He outlines the critical distinction between passive chatbots and proactive, agentic AI ecosystems that capture time-sensitive data to drive engagement, boost sales conversions, and optimize retention. Foster also shares a comprehensive blueprint for gym operators on navigating the "build vs. buy" tech dilemma and mastering the critical 70% people-and-process shift needed to successfully cultivate a data-ready organization. Key Takeaways 👤 The Tech-Forward PT Journey: How Karl Foster transitioned from a hands-on personal trainer to leading cutting-edge, global artificial intelligence initiatives for over 12,000 gyms at Sport Alliance. 🤖 Reactive vs. Proactive AI: The shift from passive chat systems to proactive "agentic AI" ecosystems that autonomously trigger context-rich, time-sensitive member outreach. 📊 Data-Aware vs. Data-Ready: Why gym operators must move past fragmented "Frankenstein" tech stacks to centralize a single source of clean, actionable truth. 🎯 The Psychology of Engagement: Real-world case studies demonstrating how automated, personalized outreach to dormant gym members can successfully extend customer lifetime value. 🛠️ The Build vs. Buy Dilemma: Why 95% of fitness operators should license existing reputable vendor software rather than sinking massive overhead into building custom AI infrastructure from scratch. 👥 The 70/20/10 Rule for Scaling: Why 70% of AI deployment success hinges entirely on human culture, executive sponsorship, and staff adoption, rather than the underlying algorithm. 🔮 The Future of Gym Operations: A balanced vision for 2030 where AI completely automates back-end logistics while fiercely protecting and enhancing the social, human core of the fitness experience. OUR SPONSOR: 🔗 Perfect Gym: https://www.perfectgym.com/en

    47 min

  7. 27 May

    Eric Cressey - 110 MPH Fastballs, Youth Specialization, and Cutting Through YouTube Garbage

    In this episode, Eric Malzone catches up with Eric Cressey, high-performance sports specialist and Director of Player Health and Performance for the New York Yankees. The two take a deep dive into the evolving world of sports performance, touching on the ongoing crisis of youth sports specialization and what it takes to actually build sustainable velocity without blowing out young arms. Cressey shares how his team leverages advanced sports science and biometric data to drive precise interventions, while also keeping a critical eye on the over-saturation of the mental performance market and the over-hyped trends in recovery technology. Finally, he introduces his new video database app, CSP Amplify, built to deliver curated, high-quality movement mechanics directly to coaches and athletes without the typical internet fluff. ⚾ Episode Takeaways: 🛑 The Danger of Early Specialization: Why the rush to specialized youth sports is driving injury rates up and long-term athletic motivation down. 📊 Data-Driven Interventions: How to use advanced technology, like biomechanics labs and force plates, to evaluate movement efficiency rather than just testing metrics. 🧠 Navigating Mental Performance: Sifting through a saturated market to find authentic, impactful mental skills coaching. 🧘 Real Recovery vs. Hype: Evaluating the genuine benefits of saunas and sleep optimization against overused trends like daily cold plunges. 📱 CSP Amplify App: Streamlining athlete development by replacing messy spreadsheets with a highly curated, expert video database. OUR SPONSOR: 🔗 Perfect Gym: https://www.perfectgym.com/en

    54 min

  8. 19 May

    Edward Hertzman - Why Are the Most Successful Companies Hiding? Athletech CEO on Repositioning the Industry

    Eddie Hertzman, founder of Athletech News and creator of the Athletech Innovation Summit, pulls no punches in this conversation about what's holding the fitness industry back — and what it's going to take to finally move it forward. From the frustrating silence of successful fitness executives who refuse to show up at industry events, to the critical gap between how this industry sees itself and how consumers and investors see it, Eddie breaks down why fitness still hasn't gotten its "got milk moment." He and Eric dig into the second year of the Athletech Innovation Summit, what makes it genuinely different from every other fitness conference, and why bringing in voices from hospitality, media, luxury brands, and Wall Street is the only way this industry levels up. Eddie also shares what's new at Athletech News — including a members-only executive circle and a renewed commitment to building content that actually helps operators run better businesses in the age of AI. What You'll Take Away: 🏆 Industry credibility starts at the top — Why the most successful fitness executives staying quiet is actively hurting the industry's reputation with investors and consumers 🪞 The perception gap is real — Consumers don't fully trust the fitness industry yet, and the first step to fixing it is being honest enough to admit it 🏨 Hospitality is the blueprint — What Michelin-star restaurants and luxury hotels know about customer service that most gyms are completely missing 🎤 Don't let someone else tell your story — Whether you're a boutique operator or a billion-dollar brand, staying invisible is a business strategy that will eventually cost you 🤝 Collaboration over competition — Why Eddie actively supports competing events and what the fitness industry can learn from how other sectors build associations and go to Washington together 🏙️ Why New York matters for fitness business — The Athletech Innovation Summit's case for bringing the industry east, where capital, real estate, and serious deal-making actually live 📊 ROI isn't always a click — The deeper case for brand-building, media presence, and industry events in a world where AI is now pulling from the content you did or didn't publish 🤖 AI is changing B2B media — Why the fitness media outlets that survive will be the ones with human intelligence, opinions, and access that no algorithm can replicate 🎯 Segmented content is the future — How Athletech News is building specific resources for boutique owners, franchise operators, personal trainers, and more — because not all fitness businesses have the same problems 🔑 The Executive Circle — Eddie's new invite-only networking community designed for off-the-record, high-level conversations between fitness industry leaders who are ready to actually collaborate OUR SPONSOR: 🔗 Perfect Gym: https://www.perfectgym.com/en

    54 min
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About

We are putting a shoulder into the fitness industry and pushing it forward into the modern digital age. Eric Malzone, a 14-year industry veteran, entrepreneur, advisor, and coach, interviews the brightest movers and shakers in the fitness and health industries. Interviewing some of the industry's top executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and thought leaders, topics will vary covering cutting edge technology, entrepreneurship, hot industry trends, and so much more. If you're in or around the industry, this is how you keep your edge sharp.

Information

  • Creator
    Eric Malzone
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    557
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Future of Fitness

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