Fitness + Technology

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Pieter Schuitermaker to the show. Bryan invited Pieter to be a guest on the podcast after meeting him at Virtuagym’s FitNation Event in Amsterdam. Today, Pieter joins Bryan to share his story and thoughts on the industry space as an inspiration to all who live with a disability.  If you’re interested in learning more about IHRSA 2023, please visit: https://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2023-convention One Powerful Quote: 18:57: “Go train for yourself and not for other people.” 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 4:17: Bryan opens the show by asking Pieter how they met and his interest in the fitness space.  11:44: Pieter talks about opening his own business.  14:08: Bryan inquires with Pieter about the particular challenges people with disabilities have going to fitness centers.  16:06: Pieter highlights the technology he is using in his business.  18:30: Pieter shares his pearls of wisdom to the listeners. 

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Mo Iqbal to the show. Mo is the Founder of Sweatworks, a creative technology agency that helps brands create health and fitness technology products to be more accessible to users. Today, Bryan interviews Mo on this subject including blockchain, metaverse, and other pragmatic tech applications.  If you’re interested in learning more about IHRSA 2023, please visit: https://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2023-convention One Powerful Quote: 32:13: “Pick the things that are meaningful to you, and as the leader pick a direction, and go. You will gain a lot more respect from that.” 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 3:13: Bryan opens the show by asking Mo about his background. 8:17: Bryan inquires with Mo about how he thinks people’s view of technology has evolved.  10:39: Bryan and Mo talk about why people migrate to the latest technology.  13:44: Bryan asks Mo about his views on upgrading legacy technology appli

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Bogdan Predusca to the show. Bogdan is the CEO & Co-Founder of Hyperhuman, an AI-powered video production and delivery platform made for the health & fitness industry. Hyperhuman allows companies all over the world to produce and offer smart, on-demand content that boosts customer retention and drives positive, health outcomes. Today, Bryan joins Bogdan in a conversation on some of his insights about content production and his strategy to helping your business.  If you’re interested in attending FIBO 2023, please visit: https://www.fibo.com/de-de.html  If you’re interested in attending IHRSA 2023, please visit: https://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2023-convention  If you’re interested in applying for our innovation awards, please visit: http://www.fittechcouncil.org/fitc-innovation-award-2022 One Powerful Quote: 16:08: “But the why and what should be what do I want to achieve for my customers. What are the health outcomes that I want

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Jason Stowell to the show. Jason is the Senior Director of Business Development at JCC of Greater Buffalo.  Jason has sold over 19,000 fitness agreements over his career making him one of the highest producers in the industry today. With over twenty-six years of experience, Jason now provides professional development, strategic planning, talent management, and expert level sales training throughout the fitness industry. You may also recognize him as the host of the Fitness Business Podcast as well as his "Empowered Sales System" program for fitness professionals. Today, Jason joins Bryan on a conversation on the dynamics of pricing, competition, and technology and how to craft a winning, fitness business strategy.  If you’re interested in applying for our innovation awards, please visit: http://www.fittechcouncil.org/fitc-innovation-award-2022 One Powerful Quote: "The relationships we create should be transformative, not simply trans

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Will Dahlgren to the show. Will is a senior key accountant at InBody, a leader in body composition analysis with innovative technology and devices. Their products are trusted by top research facilities, fitness centers, hospitals, and health centers around the world because of their accuracy, reproducibility, and ease-of-use. Today, Will joins Bryan in a conversation on onboarding, the importance of body composition versus weight loss, and how brands can improve the membership experience. If you are interested in joining FITC, please visit: http://www.fittechcouncil.org/membership-sign-up#join One Powerful Quote: 33:41: “You don’t know what you don’t know." 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 3:35: Bryan opens the show by asking Will to share what InBody does for a member.  6:21: Bryan and Will talk about integrating technology and why this is relevant to the member journey. 10:30: Bryan and Will d

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Ernst De Neef. Ernst is the Co-Founder & CEO of Funxtion, an Amsterdam-based B2B SaaS digital fitness content platform company that empowers gym operators around the world with the ability to personalize and distribute digital fitness experiences to their members at scale. Today, Ernst joins Bryan in a conversation on Funxtion’s operation and his insights on how to help businesses optimize their offerings.  If you are interested in applying for our 2022 Innovation Award, please visit: http://www.fittechcouncil.org/fitc-innovation-award-2022 One Powerful Quote: 10:23: “Problems cannot be solved on the same level of awareness that created them.” 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 4:13: Bryan opens the show by inquiring with Ernst on his theory behind leading fitness technology innovation in the Netherlands.  6:59: Bryan asks Ernst to share why he started Funxtion.  12:25: Bryan and Ernst talk ab

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Steve Maisonet to the show. Steve is the Co-Founder & CEO of MoFit, a fitness tracking and community engagement app that helps gyms and fitness clubs engage, motivate, and ultimately retain their members longer. MoFit provides an engaging, fitness tracking experience that is unique to each gym brand and helps build stronger gym communities. Today, Steve joins Bryan to share his insights for startups as well as discussing other key trends in gamification, personalization, and engagement.  Learn more about Club Industry’s Executive Summit: https://www.clubindustryshow.com Learn more about FitNation 2022 Edition: https://fitnation.co One Powerful Quote: 16:42: “You have to always stay in tune with your members. Understand their current motivations and tap into both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation drivers to keep them coming to sustain their motivation, and this is just an ongoing process that you have to do with your members.” 4-

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes George Liu to the show. George is the Founder & CEO of Gym Pillars, a performance based agency that uses a pay-per-performance model to help small gyms scale profitably. As an avid listener to the podcast, George joins Bryan to share his story and the lessons he’s learned in marketing and helping gym owners scale to profitability. Learn more about FitNation 2022 Edition: https://fitnation.co Learn more about Club Industry's Executive Summit: https://www.clubindustryshow.com  One Powerful Quote: 10:51: “What I learned in the process as far as best practice was that often times marketing and sales is really just being human and caring about the other person that you are connecting with.” 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 3:21: Bryan opens the show by asking George about his background.  6:31: George shares about starting his firm, Gym Pillars. 10:43: Bryan inquires with George what he learned f

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Amie Boring, Director of Marketing Technology at 24 Hour Fitness, Michael Rucker, Chief Digital Officer at Active Wellness, and Jarron Aizen, CEO & Founder of Hapana, to the show. The panel joins Bryan in a conversation on the details of integration platforms as a service and the implications for why they matter to club operators.  To learn more about IHRSA 2022 in Miami, visit the registration page here: https://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2022-request One Powerful Quote: 19:13: “I think one of the burdens of the fitness industry is there is an aversion to variable cost.” 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 4:13: Bryan opens the show by introducing the panel.  5:29: Bryan asks the panel how they are using integration technology in their respective roles. 11:09: Bryan asks the panel how operators can piece together their data platforms as a single source. 14:16: Bryan inquires with the panel about the

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes back Shay Amir, Founder & CEO of Spivi. Spivi is an interactive fitness tracking and streaming platform made for gyms to track performance and motivate members both in-studio and at-home. Spivi’s performance tracking, gamification, and visuals help keep engagement and motivation at the forefront of every workout delivered. Today, Shay joins Bryan in a conversation on gamification, the metaverse, and other buzzwords in advance to Bryan’s upcoming talk.  To learn more about IHRSA 2022 in Miami, visit the registration page here:  https://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2022-request One Powerful Quote: 29:39: “To be part of all of that, you have to accept technology, or you have to accept that technology is going to be part of your business and not just on the managing side of it.”  4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 2:25: Bryan opens up the show by asking Shay his views on gamification. 7:55: Shay comments o

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes good friend, Alister Rollins to the show. Alister is the Founder & CEO of Move Technologies, a firm that provides clients with innovative branded digital products, all of which are designed to better monetize customer bases while keeping members physically active and connected with their brand and community. Today, Alister joins Bryan in an open conversation about digitization, tech trends, hyper-personalization, and entrepreneurship in the industry space.  To learn more about IHRSA 2022 in Miami, visit the registration page here:  https://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2022-request One Powerful Quote: 20:50: “I think trust is such a key word, and all brands need to be so focused on trust, and I believe trust is built of alignment, autonomy, and transparency. I think if you can deliver those three things to the consumer and to your potential future members and members, then you develop trust.”  4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlight

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Monique Nadeau to the show. Monique is the founder of EatLove, a San Francisco based digital health company specializing in personalized nutrition. Prior, Monique was an investment banker, the youngest Managing Director globally at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and did political work including advising on presidential campaigns and for other national leaders, developing moderate, results driven economic policies. Today, Monique joins Bryan in a conversation on EatLove and the intriguing technology behind it for personalizing nutrition.  To learn more about IHRSA 2022 in Miami, visit the registration page here:  https://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2022-request One Powerful Quote: 23:56: “I see the continuation of several of these trends only magnified where personalization is table-stakes.”  4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 3:33: Bryan opens the show by asking Monique why she started EatLove.  5:26: Mon

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Allison Rand to the podcast. Allison is a digital marketing and content executive who has worked with a variety of brands on creative campaign development, content creation and distribution, social media, product development, and design. She is currently the VP of Marketing for YouFit Gyms, and today, Bryan discusses with her the principles of marketing and understanding its practicality in today’s business world.  To learn more about IHRSA 2022 in Miami, visit the registration page here:  https://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2022-request One Powerful Quote: 6:53: “Everything’s changed, but nothing’s changed because, while the mediums have become more sophisticated and the content is allowed to be more sort of casual, we still yearn for community at home and in club. The way we create and the way we publish has completely evolved, but we’re still all looking for the exact same thing.”  4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key top

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke announces the Innovation Award Winners for Most Innovating Fitness Pro, Fitness Facility, and Fitness Supplier! Bryan is joined by the Accenture Team who selected the winners as they discuss each unique candidate and how they demonstrated using new, innovative technology solutions to serve others in unique and better ways. Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud, and security. Accenture offers strategy and consulting, interactive, technology, and operations services and delivers on the promise of technology and human ingenuity. We sincerely thank the Accenture team in helping us in our selection process and award presentations.  To learn more about IHRSA 2022 in Miami, visit the registration page here:  https://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2022-request One Powerful Quote: 8:11: “The purpose of this is to help people think about innovation and be motivated by the stories around these successes tha

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Annette Franz to the show. Annette Franz has 30 years of experience helping companies understand their employees and customers, identifying what drives retention, satisfaction, engagement, the overall experience, and designing customer experience strategies to deliver a better experience for all constituents. She is the Founder & CEO of CX Journey, a global customer experience consulting firm that specializes in laying the groundwork required to establish a CX roadmap and strategy to drive culture transformation efforts. Today, Annette discusses with Bryan about the principles of user and membership experience and how organizations should reorient themselves on this focus.  One Powerful Quote: 20:57: “Just get started. Take the time to really educate yourself on what that means but get started. There are little things you can do that don’t cost a lot of money that you can do to improve the experience.”  4-10 Bullet Points (w/ tim

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Marcel Boots to the show. Marcel is the Digital Fitness & Innovation Director at Basic-Fit, one of the fastest growing European market leaders in fitness with more than 1000 clubs and over 2 million members. Today, Marcel discusses with Bryan about Basic-Fit’s successful operation and how they have automated their business with an omni channel experience that is one of the best in the industry.   One Powerful Quote: 27:03: “Don’t think everything is already known in our industry. You have to look outside as well.” 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics discussed: 2:48: Marcel describes the background of Basic-Fit and where the brand is today.  7:43: Bryan asks Marcel how he at Basic-Fit approached technology, innovation, and the challenges and opportunities that they faced when getting it done.  10:34: Marcel shares about Basic-Fit’s automation platform as a central command center for overseeing their physic

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O'Rourke invites listeners to participate in FIT-C’s 2022 Fitness Technology Innovation Awards. This award will be going to the most innovative and technologically progressive fitness professional, supplier, and facility in response to overcoming and innovating as a result of the pandemic. We encourage our members to apply and nominate those who have demonstrated new solutions to serve their clients in unique and better ways. Winners will receive special awards and recognition for their efforts.   If you are interested in participating, please visit our website at: http://www.fittechcouncil.org/fitc-innovation-award-2021. Self and third party nominations are both accepted. Nominations are due by January 31st.  You can reach out to Bryan at bryankorourke@gmail.com if you have any questions.  Guest Contact Information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryankorourke/ http://www.fittechcouncil.org/ https://www.youtube.com/user/bko61163

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Carrie Kepple Styles to the show. Bryan and Carrie have known each other for over 15 years, most notably working together on the IHRSA Board of Directors. Carrie is part of an elite group of senior leaders, working with clubs all over the world including Gold’s Gym International and Les Mills. Her experience is in club operations where she most recently developed Styles Studios, a new, pioneering fitness brand that offers four boutique studio classes all in one place. Today, Bryan and Carrie have a discussion on technology and what’s happening in club industry.  The IHRSA convention in October: http://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2021-request IHRSA SMART Summit in November: https://www.ihrsa.org/improve-your-club/industry-news/inaugural-ihrsa-smart-summit-heading-to-munich/ Subscribe to the FITC newsletter here: http://www.fittechcouncil.org/contact One Powerful Quote:  34:57: “So I think it’s about being disciplined with your ego like being

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Mark Notton, Senior Director of IM Category Management at Samsung. As the leader of Samsung's mobile product and commercial operations in Europe, Mark’s position is at the forefront of cutting-edge innovation and product strategy. He joins Bryan today in a discussion on this and why Samsung is pursuing these endeavors to better serve their customers.  The IHRSA convention in October: http://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2021-request IHRSA SMART Summit in November: https://www.ihrsa.org/improve-your-club/industry-news/inaugural-ihrsa-smart-summit-heading-to-munich/ Subscribe to the FITC newsletter here: http://www.fittechcouncil.org/contact One Powerful Quote:  22:49: “I think anyone who is working in the fitness and health space has a really important role. That health, the quality of health of many consumers around the world is lower than it use to be…You have a really important role to play in improving that…We are not able to build all the

This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Leon Rudge, Director of Digital Experience at Life Fitness, to the show. Today, Bryan and Leon share their thoughts together on innovation with the challenges and opportunities that encompass them particularly in delivering value and discarding assumptions on what technology means. The IHRSA convention in October: http://hub.ihrsa.org/ihrsa-2021-request IHRSA SMART Summit in November: https://www.ihrsa.org/improve-your-club/industry-news/inaugural-ihrsa-smart-summit-heading-to-munich/ Bryan mentions the upcoming EGYM Series August 17th at 2pm EST on Data: https://egym.zoom.us/webinar/register/3816212736990/WN_3vwlrhDwQ4KpQBE2HZi3Zg Subscribe to the FITC newsletter here: http://www.fittechcouncil.org/contact One Powerful Quote:  8:26: “The one thing we have as a sector over technology is people, places, and equipment, and we’ve got to figure out where that sits in this and how those things play nicely together.” 4-10 Bullet Points (