Industry Education Episodes

After 20 years serving as a Fortune 500 executive in various public companies, Joe Burton founded Whil, the leading enterprise digital solution for training mindfulness, stress resilience, well being, sleep and performance. "I didn't build this company to flip it, I built it to help people . . . What if someone found out I was meditating? That wouldn't go down well with a Board back then!" he states. "Fast forward 10 years . . . mindfulness is now in the conversation." Whil has deals with CVS, M...

"Most people back their way into the insurance business . . . but I got into it on purpose," jokes Lester Morales, Founder of Next Impact. Lester's family was one of the 67% of bankruptcies caused by healthcare expenses. "We were a normal, middle class, family. We were there. This shouldn't have happened. It's absolutely a broken system and I played at the highest levels," he continues. In this wide ranging discussion on the "misalignment of incentives" that pervades the industry, Lester talks a...

"A lot of people . . . just look for a platform. We say, pause a second, think about what's your content strategy and what you're trying to achieve . . . Once you're set on content, the platform and tools are just the delivery mechanism," states Mike Hanson, Managing Partner of Endorphinz. Mike & Ann Marie discuss the push toward omni channel marketing (now more important than ever), thoughts fitness pros should consider before they go into video, the relationship between the studio and the inst...

ReWire is a full neuro-performance solution that's not just for professional athletes, but definitely for amateurs as well . . .a hardware/software combo that allows you to workout while layering on additional mental load," states Co-Founder, Sun Sachs. Along with his fellow Co-Founder (and Scientific Advisor) Walter Staiano, this next generation technology is currently seeing impressive results with Division 2 and 3 Italian soccer players, Olympic badminton athletes from the Danish Olympic team...

"It's not about the Men's Health, 'be jacked' model as much anymore . . . it's more about community, it's more about the social hour. . .but doing it in a healthy way . . . it's the accountability and engagement that's going to last long term," says Anthony Vennare, Co-Founder of Fitt Insider when asked about how fitness has evolved. A former Marine, Anthony returned to Pittsburgh, opened a gym, and with his brother launched Made in Pittsburgh, a portal for local, health and fitness lifestyle ev...

"Ours is truly a unique, and patented system . . . and that's really been our main selling point," says Founder Floery Mahoney. After rebranding the DaVinci Board (which began 6 years ago) into Board30 Global, Floery's group now has 6 studios open, another 10 coming, and are launching the mini-board in Korea with ActiveTV. Floery chats about her pivot into the boutique studio model, selling as a licensee versus a franchise, gives insight into the sales cycle for launching new products and servic...

"SoulCycle really helped me own my voice. . . it allowed me to connect people that would have never met each other," says Jaidus Mondesir who also calls himself the "Non-Influencer." As a formally trained actor, dancer, and singer--after a 9 month lead role in a Las Vegas show--he started with SoulCycle and has touched the lives of thousands ever since--including HALO Talks host & Integrity Square Founder Pete Moore! Jadius offers valuable thoughts into their training process, the delicate balan...

"We have many hats, but not all hats fit!" states Tamika Harden when discussing entrepreneurship and starting out on your own. Tamika is an industry veteran with over 15 years experience. She has held nearly every position at all levels of club management. After catching COVID, Tamika chats about how she pivoted into digital, the critical importance fitness played in her recovery, thoughts on competing with online streaming channels, the benefits of starting a business under someone else's roof,...

They say truth is stranger than fiction, and Noa Shaw's incredible come back story certainly illustrates that. Noa grew up in NYC in the 70's, got involved with drugs, drug dealing, and eventually became a user himself. He ended up in rehab 13 times, survived 3 suicide attempts, contracts on his life, and more. "I was a crazy person. I don't know why I'm still here!" he says. After staying sober for 15 years, he slipped, spiraled again, recovered and became a rehab counselor . . . but his health...

Brian was one of the first employees at Tough Mudder after graduating law school. Since then, his rather unique background eventually led to his starting Anckor. "I did what was expected of me but. . .after my wife and I experienced a few miscarriages . . . I didn't know how to tell my friends I wasn't ok." His time based, body weight workout focuses on not just the physical, but the mental, emotional, and social elements. He calls it a "mindful, social workout" and--not surprisingly--it's been ...

"How do we make the gyms useful for building health in the de-conditioned population? It's a hard problem to solve, and that's what the majority of our resources are aimed at . . . we want everybody--but especially beginners--to succeed at exercise," states John Ford, CEO of eGym USA. A long time industry veteran, John started Virtual Active which was later sold to NetPulse, the company responsible for the mobile apps behind Planet Fitness, 24 Hour, and hundreds of others. This comprehensive dis...

"I think Kobe turned his profession from what it was into a purpose. It's one of the reasons why people gravitated towards him . . . and I think it's also one of the reasons why his loss hit us so hard. He was there with a bigger point . . . and I think it was a wake up call for all of us," states industry veteran William Maloney. Will's new company, Health Capital, helps people build a "health portfolio." Listen now to this wide ranging discussion on Will's extensive background with athletes of...

Rick Richey has been in the HALO sector since 2002. As the Owner of the Independent Training Spot, he's since gone on to start ReCOVER in 2018, the first facility of its kind in NYC dedicated strictly to recovery using modalities like air compression, CVAC, hydromassage, NuCalm, full spectrum infrared sauna and more. Rick discusses the challenges (and advantages!) of not being first to market, lessons learned from advertising in health clubs and how that carries over to ReCOVER, the importance o...

"The strength coach is the ultimate fall guy in professional sports. It's almost like the more players are paid, the less accountable they became for their own behaviors. It's just sort of something that comes with it, but it makes you better!" laughs Coach Dana Cavalea, author of Habits of a Champion. As a performance coach with the NY Yankees from 2002-2014, Coach discusses his rather fortuitous entry into the field, to coaching elite athletes, challenges of working with management & players, ...

"The fitness industry is notorious for having terrible retention rates. New leads are the lifeblood of any business," states Patrick Cundiff of Loud Rumor. Having worked with over 2,000 fitness studios in the past 5 years, their agency is well positioned to know what works and what doesn't. This discussion focuses on why it's necessary to consider pivoting part of your business online, retargeting, lead capture, continuing to provide value as facilities start to reopen, why it's important to kee...

"Everybody moves and everybody wears socks! It's what we call the movement cycle. . . and there's an entry point for everyone and that's a great opportunity," states Jared Verteramo, President of Lasso Gear. Lasso is a highly unique, patented sock in the "hybrid sports with medical benefits" space. This wide ranging discussion covers how to compete with other, huge companies in your space, dealing with excess inventory, how to stay lean and deal with downstream demand, plans for scaling in the f...

"You can get great experience working with other companies, but you always have to have something bubbling . . . if you want to create your own thing. You have to be ready to take the risk," states Isaac Calpito on how his super popular workout, Torch'd, got started. Isaac came to NYC the day after high school graduation, lived on his friend's floor while auditioning, and eventually ended up on Broadway for 10 years doing 8 shows a week. It was there that Torch'd began. Isaac has over 20,000 pe...

As the Managing Director and Founder of Exaltare Capital, Omar's group was one of the first inside the Planet Fitness network. He was able to "see around the corner" and jump in very early. With his background in consulting and private equity (he worked on the highly successful 24 Hour deal among many others) he states, "I enjoyed being close to the portfolio companies and really wanted to be more hands on." In this wide ranging discussion, Omar shares his position on private equity, what being ...

"The level of conviction has to be high enough even if it seems to be insane by everybody," states Alex Plonsker of SplitGym, referring to how crazy it can be as an entrepreneur. In essence, SplitGym is becoming a, "StubHub for the fitness industry. People can sell unused classes or days for cashback and more or less creating a secondary market." SplitGym is fully integrated with MindBody, so it's a seamless transaction on the consumer side. Alex has rolled out in New York and is now on the hunt...

"Two of the most important elements in the golf swing are your glute strength and hip mobility," states Trillium Rose. Trillium is recognized as a Top 50 Teacher by Golf Digest and the LPGA and honored as the 2017 Middle Atlantic PGA "Teacher of the Year." Trillium dives into the latest in golf tech, training and education. Her area of expertise is in helping golfers develop their skills as quickly as possible and help them practice efficiently. She is a graduate of Teachers College, Columbia Un...

"Just move! It doesn't have to be about how many sets, reps, and time. There is no magic pill. We are the magic pill!" states entrepreneur Joana Meneses. Founder of BodyRoots, Joana has been in the HALO sector since 1999. She dove into Pilates head first just as it was gaining in popularity and quickly became one of the top Stott Pilates Master Trainers in the early days, travelling all over the world training trainers. On her return, she began (and ran) the highly regarded Pilates program at th...

"Kids who exercise up to an hour a day will do up to 40% better on tests in school," states Lee Spieker a 30+ year industry veteran. Lee has done it all! From everything to working for Weider in the early days, to selling Universal equipment (remember those?) to owning health clubs, to producing the well known Buns of Steel workouts, and eventually starting Railyard Fitness as well as the non-profit, 1houraday. This wide ranging discussion focuses on the critical importance of fitness for childr...

"We need to accommodate people who have low ability levels, while also not limiting what we offer to those who have high performance abilities," states Mike Donnelly, Director of Fitness for Greco Fitness. With plans to be the largest boutique facility in Canada, Jenna York, Director of Operations and Mike chat about Greco's quick rise, Greco's strong reputation in the market, working with investors, their impressive roll out to a paid, digital revenue stream, maintaining quality control around ...

"We can control our efforts in life, we cannot control the outcomes," states Dan Millman, a former world champion athlete, gymnastics coach, martial arts instructor, and college professor--has authored 17 books published in 29 languages. His best-known, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, was adapted to film in 2006 starring Nick Nolte. Dan was way ahead of the curve when, in the 1970's, he had his first business called "Rent-A-Coach." He has seen the HALO sector evolve over 20+ years and in this wide ...