Adam Sedlack: UFC Gyms & Returning To A 3D World

And if you get value out of this show I ask you to do three things, please go to Rive or give us a favorable rating and share this episode on social media or wherever you like to go chat with friends. I'm your host, Eric Malzone, and once again, welcome to the Future of Fitness. Adam Sedlack, welcome to the Future of Fitness.

It's great to be here, Eric. Thanks for having me.

Yeah, it's an absolute pleasure. And, you know, I I think I tracked you down right when the announcement came about that you were now the CEO of the UFC gym. Um I was excited to talk to you about, you know, the timing of you being appointed that position uh is is very uh it's gonna make for some great stories, I think 10 years down the road. But just to give you a perspective on everything that's been going on over the last year and then the future as well, it's it's uh it's it's great to get you on. I'm really glad that we made it happen. The place I always like to start is just your backstory. You know, give us, I know you've been in the industry for 28 years. Um, you've seen some things, uh, you've grown through the ranks, but I'd love to hear it in your own words, man. How how did you get to where you are? How'd you get to be the CEO of UFC?

Yeah, sure. So, you know, like many of us, as you go through college, it's it's difficult to figure out what your place in life's gonna be. And as I was getting through it, you know, I had a desire to be a top-notch athlete, and I realized that my DNA was not going to allow me to get there. And um, you know, the next step, you start like looking at your professional um path. And um, I had no idea what I wanted to do and and what I was going to be great at. But what I did know is I was passionate about fitness. And so uh the summer of I think it was 94, um, I was able to get a job with Family Fitness Center, which later was acquired by 24 Hour Fitness and Mark Mastroff. And I started as a front desk person and became kind of a trainer, instructor, and then became a salesperson, AGM, GM, district manager. Um, and then as the years went on, um, was able to create great relationships with what I would say are iconic people within our fitness business. You know, guys like Mark Mastroff, of course, who needs no introduction, uh, Jim Rowley, uh, Mike Feeney, and and so many others that really brought to the table, you know, a very good understanding of not only the industry that was in you know, 1998, 99, 2000, but also where the industry was going over the next decades. And so through mentorship and leadership, uh, I ended up moving 20 times with 24 Hour Fitness and um really learning different trade areas and different markets and understanding the the game of fitness and and personalities. And then, you know, Mark uh was able to sell 24 hour in 2005, and then soon after in 2007, um exited out of 24 hour. And with his exit, um, you know, I also um exited with Jim and Mike and others, and and Mark and Jim and Mike founded New Evolution Ventures, and it was really to make sure that as fitness continued to innovate itself, that New Evolution Ventures could be on the front end of where fitness was going. And they and they did just that. So through relationships, you know, they acquired many fitness companies and really did a great job creating a foundational base for each one of those companies. And Mark had a very good relationship with Lorenzo Fertita, Athena White, and Mark was a UFC fan all the way back to UFC one. And and you know, Mark called me and said, Hey, we'd like to start a gym concept uh with how the um how the UFC works and see if we can translate that out. And it made it made absolute no sense to me at the time of how um working out in a gym can be connected to getting your ass kicked in an octagon. Um, but Mark had me go study some fight camps and learn about what the UFC was truly about. And after you learn and you shake um ignorance and you start learning and respecting what MMA is and and the miracle work that the UFC did, you soon, you know, I soon found where what Mark and what Mark and Jim and others saw, which was that there was a huge opportunity to focus on social connectivity in fitness and and community and fitness. And and uh and so they uh they brought me on to start UFC Gym and and um I was excited to do it, learned a lot. And we we opened our first club in Concord, and now you fast forward, you know, roughly 10 years later, um, we're uh now developing in 37 countries and and and you know throughout the entire US. And so it's been a very exciting run, and it's been a lot of experiences with a lot of great people um both in our clubs and a lot of great members uh that have have shared experiences uh through this journey that we call UFC Gym.

That's awesome. Adam, when you when you started, when it all started to click for you, like, oh, I get it, right? I understand what this UFC gym concept is. What what was it about the methodology of the training? Like what is the experience? Why is it different than you know, uh, you know, insert gym name here?

Yeah, well, I think the general gym is a template where people go in and you know, the the new popularity now is low-cost fitness, right? Let's just call it the planet fitness effect where it's 10 bucks a month and you go on, you do a treadmill and you do weights, but there's not really a forum to allow you to train to find the best version of yourself, to really push yourself to the limit that you're capable of doing both physically and mentally. And I think there was a huge gap in that market. And I think to a certain degree, boutiques were able to close the gap on that. Uh, in regards to bigger gym fitness, I think UFC Gym was on the forefront of that because you know, listen, we we know that um anybody nowadays can open a gym. The question is, what do you stand for as a gym? What's your core value proposition? How do you continue to bring innovation to it? And then through that, can you make sure that you have like-minded people to create the right type of community? And as as you know, and as I think we know in the industry, the closer that you have your team, the core people that are in the field representing you to the consumer base, the more connected and aligned they are, the more connected and aligned your member base will be. So we we saw the big opportunity in in fitness community, kind of social dynamics and the ability to provide an operating or a value proposition to allow consumers to figure out how to become the best version of themselves.

Yeah, that's great. Having that framework's important and the, you know, the I just call them the access-only gyms, right? The plan of fitness model where you just get access to equipment but not much else. And people kind of go in and out, not a lot of connection between humans. So it is uh and to bring it around something like a brand like UFC too. Was that when you guys were going, was the brand of UFC an advantage, or did it confuse people, or did it even turn some people off? What did you find there?

Yeah, I mean, uh, for the most part, it's it's definitely been an advantage. Certainly, the sport, if you take a look at the sport 10 to 15 years ago, it's in a complete different space today. And we've been able to go along with them with that ride, right? So um now UFC is is mainstream and it's the fastest growing sports in the world. Uh during the pandemic, they were the first sport to come out and start hosting events. Um, and so as it's become more accepted, and I think I think the Ronda Rousey effect, you know, five or six years ago was incredibly impactful. So as it's become very well accepted, it's become uh a major net ambassador and promoter of being able to drive additional membership acquisition. Certainly there's the contingent out there that say, okay, that you know, I don't want to be a fighter, I'm not gonna go join that club. But as people start researching it and understanding it, they come to soon find out that we're not a gym for fighters, although you do have fighters working out in our gym. Uh, we're a gym for mom, for dad, uh, for kids. Uh, and it's it's probably arguably one of the best family/slash community um um entities that you'll see out there, both on the on the company-owned side and the domestic side, so and franchise side. So um I I think that um people you know sometimes don't know what to expect, but then as they do their research, I think we provide them with much more than initially expected.

Yeah, that's great. You know, I work uh with Joel Jameson as well, who's dealt, you know, he's been in the UFC MMA world for quite a long time and understanding the conditioning principles that go into preparing for a fight, um, you know, mentally, physically, the conditioning, the training, this, the skill work, all of that, it's incredibly complex. And I would imagine, you know, once you start to break down methodologies like that for the general population, there's a million things you can offer, right? What is the what is the service offering look like? If I walk into a UFC gym, what am I what what is the menu of things that I'm looking at?

Yeah, it's a great question. And if you just take a step back quickly and you think about a UFC fighter to your point, yeah. The UFC fighter gets ready for a the step in that octagon. You know, 12 weeks out, they bring eight to ten of the best world-class coaches together that include strength and conditioning, that include jujitsu wrestling, boxing, maybe even a shrink, a nutritionalist, um, a recovery specialist. All those people come together and they form an instructor community, a coach community to inspire, to hold the athlete accountable and to motivate them to become the best version of themselves. So when they walk into the octagon on fight night, they have an extreme level of confidence. Well, our brand is no different. You know, our obligation to the consumer is to make sure as somebody walks through our door, we are not going to be a $10 a month experience. We are not going after that customer. We're going after the customer that truly wants to become the best version of who they are in life, no matter what their goal is, whether it's weight loss or whether it's fitness or whether it's performance, uh, feel better about yourself. We want to make sure that we have a parallel process that a UFC athlete has when they prepare for a fight. We think everybody has their own personal fight. And so certainly to help us with that, we need to make sure that the different verticals are in place. And so, you know, recover supplementation is a big one, nutrition is a big one. You know, in my opinion, it's 100% of your results if you want to enhance your results. So we have a full robust uh platform through uh.fit that allows us to provide uh menu food recommendations, supplement recommendations to fill the nutritional gaps. Um, and then certainly you have technology that is becoming a bigger factor than ever before. Um, and so we've been able to work with multiple companies to bring in best in class to really gamify the experience for the consumer. So whether you're at home or whether you're at the gym, you're gonna be able to take that experience with you 24-7, which we think is exciting. And then certainly recovery as well. So recovery is becoming a big piece of where fitness is going. Um, when you think about what I would call the Tom Brady effect, you know, that just would not be possible 30 years ago. But because of the amount of education, time, and focus that Tom puts on his body to make sure that after he puts his body through hell, that he's able to rehab his body through the way that he spends time with uh cryotherapy and compression therapy, massage, and so forth, um, to give his body the best chance to recuperate is going to be a game changer for the industry and certainly UFC gym. And so, you know, those have been the major focus points. But our other you know, core value proposition is just getting classes and community together. So inside a four-wall UFC gym, whether it's a smaller gym or a larger gym, you can find world-class boutique style classes throughout our entire platform. So if you want to take a boxing studio class, we have that. If you want to take kickboxing, we have that. If you want to taki, we have that. Um, if you want to take a performance kind of hit class that we call daily ultimate training, we have that. Cycling, we have that. So there's all these different value propositions within a UFC gym that you can take, you know, multiple offerings all at the same spot. So you don't have to join 10 different clubs. You can get the best of your training experience of a gym by all the equipment we have. You can get the best of your class experience by all the different boutique style classes we have. And then certainly you can get the innovation through all the different types of recovery and technology platforms that we've invested into. So we feel very confident, we feel very holistic as we get through COVID and get ready to really continue to grow the brand in years to come.

Yeah, that's awesome, man. Um, I I want to circle back a little bit later on the technology standpoint because it's always a huge passion of mine and love to hear us your insights on the industry overall. So you you were um, I think right around December or January was when you moved up to CEO, right? Um coming off obviously a very lack of better term, interesting year in 2020. Now you're leading this ship. Walk us through um that period of time, that moment when, hey, when was it a long period of discussions? Was it all of a sudden be like you got the tap on the shoulder? Or how did that how did that come about? And then what were your first initial reactions to taking the ship at such an interesting time?

Well, I mean, I would I would just emphasize the leadership style of Mark Mastroff, who when you look at his history, he's kind of the Jack Welch of the fitness business, right? The guy has been able to, through 24-hour fitness, create this, you know, once iconic platform that when you look at the amount of CEOs, presidents, executives that have come from that company, it's incredible. And and you know, arguably some of the industry's best talent. And so, you know, with Mark style, what he allows you to do is to, you know, go in and and uh broaden your leadership style and drive it the way that you want to drive it. Uh and then he, you know, he's there to provide consult and feedback and perspective and using his experience. But then what he also does is he brings in everybody together from all the different companies to make sure we can leverage each other's expertise. And so uh he manages without ego and he really allows you to drive your style. Um and so from inception, you know, I've always been in the position to be able to run UFC Gym day to day through the key team members that I have around me at the executive level, and then also all the incredible people inside our gyms and our franchise partners around the globe. And so I've already been in that position. I think the the title change, uh, although I'm very appreciative, the job for the most part is the same. And it's just I think a recognition point from Mark to say, hey, you know, you've earned the you've earned the stripes of of having um the three-letter CEO associated with your name, but we believe in you as an organization. Mark uh uh believed in me and and the team that we have working to drive the brand, and and certainly our board did as well. So um I don't know if my job has changed uh so much, but obviously some of the responsibilities have been enhanced uh in the way that you communicate with your board and and some other some other items, but the core part of the job is is still pretty much the same. Nice.

And you know, I was listening to uh another interview you did, like I was telling you before this recording. And you know, you you and UFC Gyms took a fairly aggressive stance through COVID. Um I mean, COVID's still going on. Today's date is April 20th, uh 2021. Um but you decided to push for, right? Um give us your give us your insights on kind of the decisions of how you guys decided to take more aggressive stance within the market during that time. Or if I'm even being accurate in saying that.

Yeah, no, you listen, you're right. You know, when when you go pre-COVID, we certainly had an incredible robust platform of domestic and international franchise partners. And and the majority of those relationships uh remained intact. And we we spent a lot of time making sure that every franchise partner had the room to navigate through the COVID period. And the ones that were most what we saw is the ones that were most engaged not only survived, but they thrived, and we appreciate them. When you look at our company-owned stores, you know, before COVID, we had 13 that we operated, and for the most part, we were just kind of holding the bar on 13 and we were we were driving our our franchise engine. Um, and then when COVID hit, you know, we knew that our brand proposition was going to be great in the market because, you know, we're not a low price gym that relies on 10,000 members enrolling at every club. We're we're more of a premium product, high cost, not I wouldn't say high cost, but a more moderate cost that um um Makes the consumer experience more service-based, but it doesn't have the same amount of crowds. And so we we knew that that with COVID, that space and the ability to have a great value proposition and have multiple modalities within four walls, we think is going to win the game at the end of the day. And so the you know, with with Mark's leadership and the support of our board, they gave me a blank check to say, hey, we want you to go open up a bunch of locations. And so we got to work. And we we literally doubled the size of the company, more than doubled the size of the company, you know, since the beginning of COVID. Um and it's a huge investment. I mean, they though the we we wrote a huge check to be able to support this this growth. Uh, we've been able to bring on some incredible talent in our gyms and in our in our clubs uh across the U.S. As we've you know, we've already seen some uh great results. We've we've opened up in Seattle, Washington, we've opened up a couple in Las Vegas thus far, we've opened a couple in Los Angeles, um on the East Coast, we've we opened a couple more in Miami, um uh Texas, and so forth. And so, so we're um we're really, really uh you know got bullish on the potential of our growth. And you know, because of our relationships with so many landlords around the U.S., we're getting a lot of calls to invite us to take a look at their um locations. And we're we're we're so um excited to have those opportunities to take a look at. And the team that really is doing the the difficult work inside our clubs every single day, um, they're they're ready for the opportunity. So we embraced it and we said, let's go. We doubled the size of the company on the company-owned side uh as we continue to go down the path, both on domestic and international franchising.

Oh, that's great. I mean, that's uh, you know, whenever you look at downturns in the economy, generally those who take an aggressive stance, and I'm speaking in mass generalities here, uh, take some risk, but there's huge payoffs at the end, right? Um, as you come out of it. And when I'm hearing you list some of these words, how do you guys pick markets, right, to to go into for a UFC gym? Is there um kind of a checklist of things that you guys look at? Is there like the ideal market? Is it an A market? Is it a you know B, C minus? What are you guys looking for?

Yeah, I mean, it's all relative, right? You do you do have ABC markets? If you're in in um you know the Midwest in a city that has 80,000 people, you know that you're gonna be in kind of a C B market, but you also are gonna have rent economics reflect that, and you're gonna have labor reflect that. So you can still perform at a very high level, providing the the rent is uh you know makes sense. When you look at A markets like New York and LA and Miami, uh Hawaii, that are all very fitness, high penetration markets, um, you certainly have huge opportunities as well. But you have to expect you know 30% more revenue. You got to also expect 30% more rent. And so, you know, it's all it's all based on the trade area and the market that you're in. And then you take a look at you know what the competition looks like and how they're performing, how they've been doing. Is fitness important in those specific markets? Or do you have an opportunity to really truly bring fitness as a way of life for people that really haven't seen fitness at the level that we're bringing it? And and the way I look at this, um, Eric, is it it's very there's so much potential for everybody, meaning the rules of competition have changed. It used to be company versus company and and trying to outprice and and and outstratize, you know. Now really fitness is about having the right people, and I'm blessed to have a great community of people around me. And then number two is is taking the penetration rate in in the US from 21% and trying to grow that to 50%, with all the competitors also growing. And so we all have that same opportunity to do that. And with our with our diverse products and our diverse value proposition, in my opinion, there's plenty for everybody. And so, you know, the key is as you prioritize your markets, certainly you want to have scale, economies of scale where it's possible. So, you know, meaning we have you know 15, 20 clubs in the LA market, you have economies of scale. We have two clubs in Dallas right now, we don't have those same economies. So maybe over time we're gonna grow that market. We have two clubs in Las Vegas, we have to grow that market. So certainly there's sensitivity to that, but independently, I'm still working on individual clubs and you know, and in markets where we're gonna be new to the market, and we're excited about that opportunity as well.

Yeah, fascinating. So when you when you look at what the fitness industry is going to look like on the other side of this, uh, and you've alluded to it quite a bit, but who do you think are gonna be the big winners? Um, let's say in two years, and who do you think may not be around anymore?

I you know, with without going into names, I think that a lot of companies that are here today will continue to be here a couple of years from now, providing they're focused on the basics and the fundamentals of the business today, and they're not trying to get short-term wins through trying to generate just today's cash flow. Um, and so if as long as they have what works for them pre-COVID and they really have the right team in place, I think any brands can be successful based on hard work, passion, and making sure that they're relevant as we continue to go through the pandemic. I think the companies that are looking at it um short term and that are trying to just create cash flow for today to try to make it to tomorrow are going to be in a more difficult position and a more difficult spot. Um, but that's not just fitness, that's the entire service industry right now, right? It's fitness, it's movie theaters, it's restaurants, it's bars. And at the end of the day, it really boils down to your value proposition. And are you able to extend that via marketing strategies and tactics? And are you able to intersect, you know, in somebody's holistic lifestyle, the ability to become a major part of their life? And so, you know, that's that's what everybody has to deal with on a go-forward basis. So I I think again, I think a lot of the of the good organizations that are are not just trying to solve today, but are solving tomorrow uh will be here. And I think some of them that are looking more short term will have more of a challenge ahead of them.

Yeah, well said. So you're um you're physically in Southern California, is that right? That's correct. So um you guys have experienced some pretty strict lockdown. Uh have you, right? I don't know. Every Southern California is huge, but where you are in particular, how has it been for your experience?

Well, I mean, listen, I have the the ability to watch the globe and how it's been managed. And you know, my person this is subjective to a certain degree, but my personal opinion, I think California was was not run well. Um, and you know, listen, I'll I'm happy to say that uh I don't want to you know dive into the politics of this, but it became it became very political, I think, when you take a look at the way decisions were being made. Um, and so it it it really made no sense. The dots didn't connect together. And when you tried to ask for data from the governmental bodies, they were not able to provide data based on how decisions were made. And so that's what created a high level of frustration where you could walk into a liquor store or a drug store, or you could walk into Costco, uh, but you couldn't be, you know, socially distanced in a gym with wearing masks and making sure a place where already focuses on cleanliness could could open and be an outlet for people to deal with stress and adversity. So um the way that they prioritized decisions uh made no sense. You know, I I remember going to a big mall down here in LA, um, and the mall itself was jammed, it was packed as you looked at the general common areas, and then they would only let seven or eight people in each individual store. And so the the rules on that made absolutely no sense. When you go to when you went to Costco, the Costco was packed, and yet all the stores around Costco were closed. And it just didn't make sense. It didn't connect, the dots didn't connect the right way. There was a way to look at this differently. And listen, I think the first two to four weeks of the pandemic, I I give I give a wild card to anybody because people were trying to figure it out and they were trying to understand the best way to react and deal with it both personally from a health perspective and from a business perspective. But after that, when you had the ability to understand things and gain more science and understand how to open, how to how to make sure you're sensitive and respect people that had you know um conditions that could create challenges, um, you know, there was a much better way to create a pathway where the economy wasn't gonna take such a hit. And right now the economy is being covered up for by the amount of cash that's being printed, but there's gonna be a day of reckoning that we're gonna have to deal with it. And I'm very concerned, you know, to a certain degree, with the way California um is is reacting to it from a financial perspective. I think we have some bills to pay um in the future. And and I think it's gonna be interesting to see how it how it goes forward. But uh yeah, man, it's it's it's definitely been an experience of the past and dealing with the frustrations and trying to mitigate our way through it. Uh, but as we, you know, we now have the light at the end of the tunnel. I think we've now we're now in a place that people understand specifically fitness is always part of the benefit. It fitness was always part of the essential portion of business to keep people moving forward, both psychologically and physically, to deal with the adversities that we have to go through. So I think we're now in a good place, but the last year has been very problematic and you know, more from the political point of view.

Yeah, it does. I mean, I I still have a lot of roots in California. I do find it quite arbitrary with the way rules came down. You know, it just seems like uh I don't know, you can kite surf, but you can't surf. Um, things like that. I'm like, well, this is not who's thinking of these? I want to sit in the room when people are making these decisions or these rules. You know, I just want to understand, I just want to understand.

That's all nothing, nothing really made sense. And there were so many points of contradiction that you can point out. And again, the first couple weeks, four weeks, it's understood because you have to be in a reactionary position. But, you know, we have we vote these politicians, and I don't care if you're Democrat or Republican, right? You vote these politicians and to represent us to make sure we're taken care of, to make sure we can be in a position to prosper and and to make sure that our infrastructure is put together and that business can perform. And and they got in the way of that. And that's not what you want from government. You want government to help and support. And so it was it was very frustrating in California. I'm sure you've seen that that Governor Newsom's, you know, on the on the recall um side of the house right now, and and we'll see what happens, you know, as that comes to uh completion. But um, you know, politics gets in the way, and and I and I and I really blame the the 10% of extremists both on the left and right side. It it seems like you know, those extremists are the ones that are creating chaos um for the rest of us out there that are just trying to live our life and and make sure that we provide a better place for our kids.

Yeah, well said. I mean, there's so many uh I haven't had, I take it back, I have had one. Um I was gonna say any kind of personal or one-on-one interaction with people where we disagree on more than we agree. And most people agree that, hey, let's keep small businesses open. Um, you know, let's protect the people who are most vulnerable, um, but we kind of got to keep this thing moving, right? And that just seems to be the the ground where most people are on. You're right, the 5% on either side tend to be the ones who make the most noise. And, you know, I hope that people understand that you can't just pour $4 trillion into the economy and not expect something on the other end uh when we come out of this. And that that's that's when you touched on that, I 100% agree. It's like, you know, they have these great financial forecasts for the United States this year coming out of the pandemic. Well, like, of course you do. You know, we have interest rates at an all-time low. We have a ton of money that's been thrown into, you know, printed and thrown into the uh the economy. Plus, people have some pent-up cash now and they paid off a little bit of debt. So we are gonna see a surge, but what's gonna happen after that, man? I don't know. Um, history books will have to write that one. Uh here's here's a question I want to get to with you is that, you know, uh this question I've either been asking it, answering it, or listening to someone else answer it. Um the uh home fitness, the connected fitness revolution of 2020 is just unbelievable, right? I mean, we all knew that Peloton was going to do well and tonals and all these things and these at-home workouts. Um and it just blew up. Now, do you see how do you see that interacting with the future of of gym life, right? When people are actually going to a place. What what's your kind of vision moving forward for that? And you mentioned some technology and gamification that um that UFC gyms are are putting into place, but what what's your what how do you see that unfolding moving forward? You know, are people gonna go back to gyms? Are they gonna stay at home? And how are you guys looking to um engage with that that process as it unfolds?

Well, first of all, I think home exercise, you know, those organizations, um obviously the pandemic was one of the best things that could have happened to them because they became extremely relevant as all gyms were closed down. Yeah. And of course, you start seeing surveys, but when you start looking at surveys, you see people that create surveys all have an agenda and they they're trying to push whatever they're representing. Um, the way that I look at it is I'm excited about both fronts, meaning that the home exercise platform, all it has done is slightly modify the narrative to get more people exercising and more people fit. And don't forget, Eric, there's a there's a big word that I'm continuing to talk about, which is the big O word. Um, and that big O word is obesity, and and and you know, as as as gyms were shut down and as winter you know came in front of us, people were stuck in their homes. And so the people that had the financial means were able to stay active within their home. Um so I I think I think home exercise, you know, it was here before the pandemic. It exploded during the pandemic, and it's going to be here after the pandemic, but it will not grow at the same rate that it's growing now. But it's going to really complement somebody's lifestyle on a go-forward basis because most all gyms, including UFC Gym, has enhanced their virtual market to make the journey of the consumer not only be available to them in brick and mortar, but also available to them whether on they're on the road in a hotel or whether they're at home. So there's there's dots that are being connected. And as I talked about earlier, you know, with fitness penetration only at around 20% of the population, man, we got 80% to go. And so if if at-home equipment can increase and enhance uh people at you know 10% more of the population get into fitness, it's only going to be great for the brick and mortar gyms as well. Um, and you know, what I like about um you know having both uh available is listen, if if you love to cycle and Peloton's your thing, it's one modality, go do it and have a great experience. And if you want to cycle in a U of C gym, we can also do that for you. Um if you want to be more around a public environment and have that ability to intersect um the both. But but at our gyms, we have multiple modalities, right? So you don't, yeah, and I and I think the one modality platform is probably not gonna be as prevalent as it was um you know uh pre-pandemic. I think people are gonna look for multiple modalities and multiple kind of boutiques within within four walls. I think that's where it's going. Um, but you know, when you when you look at some of the things that you know UFC Jim had to reinvest in, um I really like what we're doing as well, right? So we're saying, hey, we respect the at home, we want to continue to support you at home. We're gonna we're gonna provide you a platform for that, but we're also working with some different companies. One's called Forte, another one is Myzo, which I'm sure you're familiar with. We're integrating the ability for people to not only work out at a gym but work out at home in a seamless way. But then we're gonna gamify the experience where if you want to work out in Los Angeles at a gym, and you want to compete and challenge a gym in Shanghai, China, or Tokyo, Japan, or um, or Thailand or Singapore or the Philippines or Australia or Moscow, you're going to be able to compete against other UFC gym members around the globe, um, both in-house and at home. And so we're we're very excited about where that platform is going because it does connect brick and mortar in the gym and the exercise that you do at home. And then we're creating a more um, again, holistic vision and journey with that, right? Where people are gonna be able to have um nutritional menu plans, people are gonna be able to have supplementation, you know, all this stuff's gonna be able to be delivered to somebody's home if they want to, if they're more comfortable there, or if they want to take the journey to the gym, they're gonna they're gonna be able to connect the dots together. And what we're seeing is members are coming back. I mean, we day one, you know, we had over 70 to 75 percent of our members come back initially, and then the ones that are staying on freeze typically are waiting for other restrictions to loosen up. So things like kids club and you know, being able to bring on jujitsu and some other more you know direct um parts of our brands, you know, as we start you know introducing those back into the infrastructure, we're seeing most of our members come back, which we're excited about. And I think that's because of the great work that the teams have done in the gyms and the the brand ambassadors that we have there from our member bases. So technology, brick and mortar, they're all gonna work together. I think, I think um at home will continue to um um to be there. Uh I don't think it's gonna have the great the same growth projectory that we saw in 2020, but I think it will be a big piece of the industry, but I think it complements what you find in gyms and facilities, and people still uh need that social interaction, and people need to think and want to be part of something beyond two-dimensional. They want to really have um in-person engagement. And so I think that will never be replaced no matter what you do. And that speaks very highly of making sure that your you know your value propositions in place to properly support that.

Ah, well said. Well said. I agree. All points. So one uh last one, and then I'll uh let you get on with your day here. Um, but the recovery, you touched on that earlier, and you said it's a really exciting time um, you know, for the fitness industry to start engaging and recovering and understanding it better. What's your vision for that? I mean, the recovery is a big topic, right? Um, but I agree. I I think it's finally, you know, I had a coach um, you know, 10 years ago and I asked him, you know, what do you think? Is he a coach internationally all over the world? And I asked him, you know, where do you think we're getting it wrong in the US? And he said, absolutely on recovery. You know, um, we just aren't utilizing it well enough. So give give our audience a little bit of understanding as what do you mean by recovery and what are you excited about?

Yeah, so you know, I view recovery wider than most people do. They most people look at it in a very narrow way, right? I I look at it as you know, we have somebody that's living their life, and they let's just argue that they're 30 pounds overweight, and they know it, they feel it, their blood pressures are going up, they're starting to get older, and they're trying to figure out how to change their life. And so certainly walking into a gym is always going to be step one, and that's a commitment that you're making to say, hey, I want to change my life. But let's face it, in the past, procrastination has been the number one health enemy, right? People just push it off, they're lazy, and even after they commit, they would go a couple times in some cases and not return. And so I think recovery drives accountability and it drives the other aspects of a great uh fitness journey, it brings it all together. So not only do I get my resistance and strength training in, not only do I get my cardio in, and I can do that in multiple modality versions at UFC Gym, right? Whether it be a class or whether it be great machines or or or any type of workout experience that we offer in our facilities. Um but as you start looking at the ability to take that person and say, okay, we trained you at the Gym, and based on how we're training you, we know that you have um gaps in your nutrition to properly grow the lean muscle mass correctly. So now we can identify that. And to me, that's stage one of recovery, which is making sure you're eating, you're hydrating, and you're taking the right type of supplements to put your body in position to go out there and perform the next day. And so that's step one. Step two is to take a look at how we how we've torn the muscle down and how we're we're training the body through core stabilization and making sure we're manipulating all the muscles the right way. And and once you do that, there's recovery time for your muscles. Well, now, you know, we know that doing cryotherapy is like taking a 30-minute ice bath ice bath that you can get accomplished in two minutes, not to mention your ability to sleep better at night and to um just to recover your body in a in a much in a much quicker way. We know that when you do stuff like compression therapy and you do some sort some levels of massage and different components um that are provided, it allows your body to react quicker and to position itself in a better place for the next day for you to come back and do it all over again. And so to me, it's a web. And the web is not just the obvious on recovery, the web is really understanding um how the muscle works, how the body reacts, and how the how the body provides itself nutrients as a cumulative to put that person in the best position to keep on coming back. And our data shows that the members that are that are working out in the different types of classes and the different types of equipment are staying very interested because of the multiple modalities we have in our gym. But when they're intersecting that with nutrition and supplementation and cryotherapy and compression and so forth, that the retention is much higher and the experience and the results are much greater. So that's where we see the opportunity, that's where we think it's going. And UFC Gym is all in on making sure that recovery becomes a big part of the conversation on a go-forward basis.

That's fantastic to hear. Uh man, Adam, this has been really interesting. I mean, your your insights and the way you're managing all this, uh, I applaud the way you're doing it. Uh, it's it's really it's really cool to watch. So if people want to get a hold of you or whatever, where do you send them online?

Well, I'm on every social media platform now. Social media is such a big piece nowadays, right? So I think my Instagram is CEO UFC Jim. Um, I'm on Facebook, I'm on LinkedIn. I love LinkedIn, by the way. I think LinkedIn, for those of the of your audience that are very business minded, I mean, I I think LinkedIn is the Facebook for the business community, and you can learn so much from so many great operators out there. Um, and so you know, I'm on LinkedIn, you know, feel free to reach out to me there. And and uh yeah, I mean, I think listen, we as a fitness community have this unique opportunity as as we see the light at the end of the tunnel with COVID. Um, and we have to take advantage of it and we have to maximize it to better people's lives on a go-forward basis. And so we can do that. And I promise you this if if if the world gets a little bit more fit, any future pandemics uh will be handled in a much different position because we know that people are that are in shape, that are in condition, that weren't obese, were able to deal with the ramifications of getting COVID-19 and get through it. The people that had those those health conditions and and the people that that skewed on the side of obesity had a much more difficult time. And so let's all work together to get people fit, get people active, get their mental psyche correct, and and become the best version of themselves so we can deal with any pandemic on a go-forward basis.

Yeah, right on. Well said, Adam. Well said. Thank you so much for coming on. I know you're a busy guy. You got a lot going on right now. And uh, yeah, it's been a great interview. So, ladies and gentlemen, Adam Sedlack. Thanks, Eric. Talk soon. Hey, wait, don't leave yet. This was your host, Eric Malzone, and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future Affinits. If you did, I'm gonna ask you to do three simple things. It takes under five minutes, and it goes such a long way with really proof for it. Number one, please subscribe to our show wherever you listen to it for iTunes, Spotify, Foxbox, whatever it may be for number two.