Artificial Intelligence & The Other 23 Hours - Omri Yoffe

It's exactly what happened in, you know, let's take the cosmetics market and the psychological market and uh freelance services over the web market. And you should ask yourself what is the most comfortable and effective service that I can use to give people service beyond just sitting with them in the gym three to four times a week, because you should understand that for most people it will be almost an impossible.

Hey Fitness fans, welcome back to the future fitness podcast and interview series. This is your host, Eric Falzone, and this is episode number 99. Can you believe it? 99. And I get to talk to Amri Yachtis, so he's out of Tel Aviv Israel, and he is one of the founders and developers of V, an online artificial intelligence trainer. That's right. We're getting into AI. So V, um, cleverly is just AI flipped around in a mirror. Um really interesting. He actually sent me one of the units, and uh I've been playing around with it. Um now it's not really trail running season, but I took on a bunch of trail runs, and it's really interesting. And the humanization of the app, right? It's not that robotic voice. It's it's uh and like how it combines with the music I'm listening to or podcasting listening to. It's just fascinating. You know, 10 years ago, who would have thought that this kind of stuff is taking on? And it, you know, it uh they really focus on hearable technology. So that's something that's really interesting about this podcast is that you know, all the monitoring, the heart rate, um, all those things go through the actual hearable device. So all that is getting monitored in your ear, right? Which is to me a way more effective way, uh, an easier way than than wearables traditionally, right? So all this tech is coming together, and we had a really long conversation towards the end. Well, not really long, it's not that long of an interview, but about where it's all going. You know, uh, I think that's a big thought on many people's minds, at least mine. I don't know if everyone thinks like I do, but where is artificial intelligence going, right? The conversation seems to be building uh in momentum. Like, where is this going? Who's developing? Who's gonna have the best AI? What's gonna happen when it goes out? Is it gonna be good? Is it gonna be evil? Whew, man, I I don't know. Uh Omri has an extremely positive view of what can happen uh as artificial intelligence takes control. And this V trainer, uh, what they do is just the beginning. You know, the tech is is still evolving and they're finding ways to apply it to uh everyday Joe and Jane, and uh, it's really cool. So um I'm gonna let you listen to it, come to your own conclusions. Do me a favor, let me know what you think about artificial intelligence. Shoot me an email, uh Eric Malzone at fitnessprofessionalonline.com. Uh and I want to know. Yeah, I really do. I'm curious. I like to have some conversations about it and uh and see what people are out there, what they're doing. And if you know anybody else who's who's deep into this area within the fitness and health and wellness industry, let me know. I would love to interview them and get that content out to you as well. So let's make this a team effort, right? So, with uh that, you know, things like this technology. Uh, when when I talk about the fitness accelerator group and the momentum that we're building with that and what it means for the industry, uh, this is a big part of it. Uh, technology is a very, very big part of it. And it's part incubator as well. So uh the fitness accelerator community is you know, it's for fitness entrepreneurs, um, it's for online coaches, uh, it's for everybody who wants to grow their business faster, especially in the online space or in the tech space. So yeah, it's it's really interesting the conversations and things I'm seeing, the things I'm working on, and the people I'm talking to, from artificial intelligence to hearables and wearables, of course, to uh training esport athletes, which will be in the next episode with Taylor Johnson. Uh all kinds of really cool things that are changing in the industry. And you want to be on top of it because that's where the opportunity is, and that's what the fitness accelerator is all about. So go check it out. It's the fitnessprofessional online.com forward slash fit accelerator. Uh, you can get more information there. So again, fitnessprofessional online.com forward slash fit accelerator. And uh without any further ado, let's get on to it. Episode number 99, the last one in double digits, with Amri Yafe of V Trainer. Omri Yaffe, welcome to the show, man.

Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Yeah, yeah, I'm super excited. And uh, you know, like we were we were talking before, uh, the recording, you know, what you're doing is is so interesting and it's so relative to the fitness profession. And, you know, um many different things are are ripe for disruption when it comes to artificial intelligence and and the introduction thereof. You know, obviously we see the obvious ones of um, you know, truckers within the United States, people see that any kind of low-level service. Um, and I'm sorry that low level isn't what I meant, but things that aren't highly skilled um, you know, seem to be the lowest hanging fruit, but you know, the fitness profession, and I know that's where your specialty is, so you know, I'll ask you to stick to that. Um, but how give us some updates currently, Omri, on like what what are you currently doing and and how is it working within the fitness professional?

Sure. So basically our mission is not to replace humans, but the opposite is to empower them. Uh what we did is we built an AI agent which is a personal trainer called V, which is basically helping people to achieve their uh fitness and wellness goals from losing weight, improving fitness, or doing a mindfulness session in the very near future. Uh and the idea is basically uh number one to give people the ability to have a trainer in their ear and in their phone when they are either at their home or when they have their own constraints, either by traveling or other uh personal or work stuff just to train out of the gym or without a personal trainer. But most important, give other service providers, human service providers, such as personal trainers and other healthcare and gym service providers, to be able to use V as an extension and take their own human flavor and human practices and send V to train the actual users. So if we will be wise enough as an industry to connect between the two, we're basically going to number one, give users a democratized way, a much more cost-effective way to train with a trainer uh uh whenever and wherever they want. And number two, join uh very smart and uh and relevant uh human service providers that have lots of value in in being in the loop instead of just giving it to a pure software service to utilize to look at the information and to retain their users over time.

Wow. Wow. So yeah, you know, it's it the thing that strikes me is that you know, for a lot of fitness professionals, trainers, coaches, um such a small percentage of the overall population actually makes it into our gyms, right? Into our exercise facilities. It's it's a tiny fraction. Most people um are just not anywhere near. And that's where I see, and uh, you know, that's why I want your input on this, that's where I see things like V, what you guys are doing, which you know, um you guys are seem to be way ahead of most, really making an impact. Yeah.

Yeah, that's very correct. And and in order to do so, as you know better than myself as a real professional in the space, this is in order to get people motivated, software and intelligence is not enough. You need to show human flavor and fun, engaging content in order to get people off the couch and not to be bored and to be inspired and triggered to uh to hit their first walk or first 5k or first uh 500 calories they burn. Um and we basically did two main big investments. The first is we make sure that V's voice is human enough. So she's what we call imperfect. So she's not uh a perfect robot that is shooting at you some very accurate prompts. She's using jokes and she's using contextual things that you're doing in real time to show that she truly listens. And obviously, she also gives you the real-time insights you need in order to achieve your workout session. And number two, we have an ability uh that we call past the mic, that we actually launched two weeks ago after one year of uh exploration, which is basically letting V inviting other experts and other trainers into her workout uh to give people this context of the T humans are the ones that are power in her and are you know the ones that are responsible for the things that she actually tells people. So it's a pretty cool mix that we see that the people are really excited about.

Yeah, interesting. So um if you can't, let's get a little bit into the the technology. Um explain it to me like the four-year-old that I am when it comes to technology. Because I think the majority of listeners uh you know yeah, give us give us some you know what you can that we can understand.

So let's start from the end game, not to waste your time with too many details, and then extract from there the three basic components. Okay. The end game is that currently V is the only uh real personalized virtual trainer that is able to understand who you are as a user. So, what are your BMIs, what is the goal that you chose to do, where you are in the world, what is the weather around you, what is the music that you like, and so forth. And then curate for you a personalized voice and music session. In other words, me and you will always go through a different session with V. Even if we both of us are choosing a specific workout that is focused on weight loss, both of us will go to a different voice content and music content that is tailored and predicted to give me the most engaging session I can. So that that's the that's this is pretty much the essence of V. And it's an on-demand service that you can use through a phone or through uh an earphone that you can uh go and Google out there. The just just to make sure you got this one uh before I drill down into the three main components.

Yeah, yeah, I get it. So, you know, let's just say um, you know, I have a training partner and we're gonna go on a trail run, right? Yeah, yeah. Um and we're both using V. Yeah. How are the how are the experiences gonna be similar? How are they gonna be different?

So starting from the own personal names channel ways throughout the session, which is small but very uh very cute, uh then she will relate to your very specific stats from previous sessions to current sessions to future sessions that you want to do. So she will give you a very clear sense of progress in terms of your heart rate zones and your step rate and your average time and your personal goals that you're trying to, personal records that you're trying to break. So you will see that throughout the sessions she is real time and very contextual to your own stats and thresholds. Um, and lastly, based on your user type, on your difficulty level and progress level, she will use specific prompts that will be either more you know related to, for example, if you are a pro and I'm a beginner, for you she will give more of a very straightforward, strict thing just to keep you within your zones and within your stats. And for me, she will educate me about posture, she will educate me about what is the reason for maintaining a good cadence rate, what is a heart rate zone, and so forth.

Interesting, interesting. And it's all done through um, like you said, like an app on the phone, or is it a specific hardware that you're correct?

And and and the way we do it basically based on three uh main tools. The first, V, is basically profiling who you are. She's connecting to your HealthKit or Google Feet, and she's using chatbot to connect to some data points and understand who you are over time, including Strava and others. Number two, she's building you your own fitness journey. Most of it sits in the cloud. Again, without getting into too many details, a very heavy storage system that understands who you are over time without being too heavy on your phone. And then going to the third layer, once you get into your next session, she's stitching a voice and music session to you, and you need to wait between 10 to 20 seconds until she does it, and you have on your phone a ready session to go for.

Interesting. So, you know, when I'm I'm I'm thinking about this, and uh, you know, the starting point I would imagine when you if I if I sign up and I I purchase the service or the product. Is it a service or a product?

So basically we have a uh a service, a free trial and then subscription service on an app, and you can purchase a premium device with hard on card on basically earphone with heart rate and speech recognition on our uh vtrainer.com site, and then you can get a one-year free together with it.

Okay, okay. So if I, you know, I I sign up for the service, I buy the hardware, um, and then I I start maybe a conversation with with V talking about what my goals are. Is that right?

That's exactly right. You're getting into a very quick chat bot, like four to five questions. If you'll need more info, she will ask for it, but then you're good to go right after.

Wow, wow. And then I presume the more you use it, the more V gets to know you, right?

Absolutely. Absolutely. It will take her approximately two hours to get to know you well in terms of effort zone and so forth.

Yeah.

Um and and she will relate to it and she tells you, okay, now that we finished our full calibration, I will be able to more to be more personalized and uh and accurate.

Yeah, interesting. So if I'm let's let's go back to this trail running example because this is just kind of what I do mostly now for exercise. Um so I'm running. V's giving me updates, hey, your heart rates, you know, you know, slow down, your heart rate's too high. Um, you know, I presume all that that's type of stuff's in there. Um can I start asking questions like, hey, V, will you change the music, or can you find me a podcast? Or um what's what's the weather gonna be in the next hour? Like, is that is that the type of yeah?

So you are you're uh on spot, it's still not fully there again. Uh I I cannot share all of the information, but I will be uh honored to uh to be on your podcast in two to three months and talk about it again. But it's absolutely on the very near term rather, then you can expect some very, very, very specific features that you just mentioned related to both music and other audio content, such as news and other stuff, so that you can listen on the service itself.

Yeah, yeah, okay. So, you know, you look at like the current you know voice, you know, the Alexa's um of the world. Yep, yep. Um, you know, it seems like there's two kind of distinctly different entry points into the AI, right? You know, Alexa has it in the home, this is has it, you know, in the fitness realm and and health realm. Um how do these, and this is just my naivety, but how do these things interact? Do they interact, or is that something that you're you're probably, I would imagine, have thought about a thousand times and probably working on, but um yeah, so basically there are we not only that they are not our competitors, the opposite.

They are like they are our critical companions, and I will explain. Exactly like human service providers need to know how to integrate with each other, uh, we will need to know, and already working on it, to uh uh be in harmony with the with the other Voice first applications out there. So let's go 10 years back to understand the best analogy. You remember when you first got an iPhone or a smart uh screen, a touch screen phone, it was very weird for you to understand that there are going to be thousands of apps out there. You basically worked with two to three and you said, you know, I have my BlackBerry or I have my Windows, and you know, I don't see how 1,000 other players can be in the loop. And it's exactly what's happening on the voice first uh world as well. We need to to work and utilize the Alexas and Series and Google assistance of the world for utility and productivity parts. So if you want to ask for your weather, for your music, for your calendar, for translation, and for other parts. And V needs to specialize and to laser focus on being a health and fitness, a vertical using voice to help you. And basically, I want Alexa and Siri to call V. When a user is asking them, get me a personal trainer or serve me a personal trainer, I want V to be one of the first voice first option that Siri can invite into an Apple Walkshow and iPhone experience.

That's so interesting, man. So I'm gonna cut right to the crux of it because I think if I'm a fitness professional, um, I hear I hear uh, you know, I've talked to other people in AI before, and and they're very calming and reassuring that you know this is something that we need we need to work with, right? Um, the the overall thought is it's coming, right? You can't, and it's there's no fighting it, you can like social media, people can bitch about it, right? Everyone's on it, but it's here and it's just part of our lives now. And you need to learn to integrate it with it and and use it to your advantage or not. Um I see a lot of people who are resistant, you know, in the fitness profession. And sure, I think there's always gonna be always gonna be that that need for human connection, right? Uh in the fitness profession, that that eye to eye contact. Absolutely. So you know, if I'm if I'm a fearful, uh if I'm scared as a fitness professional, what this is gonna do, um should I be? And if if so, who in the fitness profession needs to keep an eye out? Because I imagine there's a certain section of the industry that that this will eat into. And I'm sure that's not your intention, it's no one's intention. It's just the way the thing, it's just the way things are, right?

So I think that if I again, first of all, it's the right of every person to do whatever they want. We have no intention to dictate anything. Um from my knowledge and from what I'm seeing out there within this fitness and wellness world, if I were a personal trainer, which is passionate about empowering people to be healthier and happier, which I think this is the core assumption, I would I would basically look for the best technologies that I feel comfortable that can empower and populate and distribute my human practices and my human values, by the way. You know, there it's it's beyond practices, it's it's it's it's it's not less about how what do I believe that will make people most engaged. What do I mean by doing fitness? Is it just uh losing 10 kilograms more or it's about just a more of a balanced, empowered way of living? So if you know if you will focus on which technologies can help you, not replace and you know, and and replicate what you do in a pre-recorded way, but basically help you to take the same practices you do, but attach people uh in a virtual way as well, I think that you have an amazing opportunity, even bigger than you think. Mainly if you're a good trainer, you can reach out to millions of people or to thousands of people, if you will. Um and it's exactly what happened in, you know, let's take the cosmetics market and the psychological market and the freelance services over the web market. And and I can go with examples. I think that those people that identified the power of those digital channels, not only that they weren't replaced, they were able to inspire others to do the same that touched more and more people out there. So you should look for the right partners, I would say. Uh, and I hope that there will be more partners like V. We're not going to be the only in the world. And and you should ask yourself, what is the most comfortable and effective service that I can use to give people service beyond just sitting with them in the gym three to four times a week? Because you should understand that for most people it will be almost an impossible mission.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. Because we don't only get you know as fitness professionals, maybe we get people for four, maybe five hours a week. You know, but all that other time is really when health is is improved upon or hurt, right? I mean, for lack of better terms there, it's you know, it's not what people do in the gym, it's what they do outside of it. And I think this is the advantage of of UV and where where I'm actually I'm I'm extremely optimistic. I think it's it's great. I think the merging, I think this will help merge the fitness medical industries um and really come come together into a more comprehensive way of improving the health of our kid.

Yeah, and we we call it uh the other 23 hours. Basically, imagine that you can either uh train with someone, even one week, uh one hour is a week because not all people can come to gym three to four, but you can first of all see their overall daily activities is beyond the session itself. You can text and communicate with them, and you can ask V to do specific things with them that you can physically can't. You cannot make sure that you're pacing them or helping them achieve their daily goals. And if you see that they didn't, you can also reach out as a human using voice and text to communicate with them. So it's a very interesting relationship between an AI agent that sits with them all day long and you that is getting flags and triggers once you need to, you know, to kick in with your uh uh accountability and and human aspect.

Yeah, yeah, interesting. So, you know, if I'm listening to this and I'm uh you know a forward focused entrepreneurial fitness professional, and I'm like, oh, I see opportunity here, right? Well what's the first step? What can I start doing today? To start being part of it and not resisting it.

So, first of all, we are on our very subjective end, we are now opening a program to work with personal trainers and to basically start piloting what we call past the mic and the type of CRM system, if you will, that is giving trainers the ability to communicate with V. And second, I think that's you know, just go out there. I don't want to give too many names, but I think you will go out there, you will see that there are some okay tools, at least on the management level, so you can manage your users remotely, and then use some trackers together. So we're not the only ones, this is what I'm trying to say. And if people would like, they're more than welcome to uh reach out to our site to vtrainer.com, just send us an email, and we always get back with people with some ideas how to collaborate. And other than that, you can just Google some uh emerging solutions. Uh it's not there yet from what we see out there in the market, but I'm sure that there will be more great players that will help us to uh you know to uh to bring this new uh experience to the market.

Awesome, awesome. So um, Amri, about three years ago I read the book uh Ray Kurzweil's The Singularity is Near. Are you familiar?

Yeah, absolutely. I actually uh I joined the Singularity program and was invited uh with V to uh one of the first Singularity um uh programs uh back in 2012.

So we know it very Yeah, yeah, awesome. So uh for people who don't know, what what is the singularity? That m that book blew my mind, right? It really set me on a course to essentially what what we're doing right now. Um, because I'm so intrigued by it. And I feel like you know it's it's so off the radar for so many people, yet it's so near, right? So what is the singularity?

So basically, singularity is a uh uh singular point uh that is uh based on uh current estimations aimed to approximately 2 uh39, which is a uh intersection or unification point between computers and humans. In other words, currently you see lots of attempts uh to create artificial intelligence tools from software to mechanical engineering and hardware tools that is basically uh trying to replicate human mimics and human practices in a technology in a technological way. Uh it relates obviously to robots uh that you see out there. It relates to specific components, medical and others, that are being replaced in human bodies in order to be to live more and to be more safer or healthier. And it relates to human intelligence that is being replaced or empowered, uh different types of machine and deep learning tools that are as good as humans in terms of taking decisions. You probably saw the the different types of AI uh games that AI are beating humans in chess and other parts and so forth. And basically the singularity point it means that those uh vectors are going to be so advanced and so natural and so accurate to a level that you will look at a machine and it will be fully human. It will be fully human at an extent of how you see humans today, which is pretty concerning in a way, because it it's uh it it buries lots of uh risks and lots of uh uh uncontrolled and unregulated uh risks over there. Uh I I can get into details if you wanna uh Yeah, yeah, man.

Give me all the details.

If we want to get into the bummer phase, but uh uh it's it's basically you know it's it's about safety and the the risk of giving robots the ability to harm humans without even uh intending to do so uh as humans. But uh I believe I'm very optimistic because I think that humans proved in the past that they are able to regulate and control very risky technologies that were created. There will always be evil, there will always be you know political and military stuff that we need to make sure that we can gate. But um this is pretty much the singularity point, and and it will bring a very interesting new era of uh of new creatures that we will need to work with. Um and I'm not getting into my own philosophical view on it because we don't have time and it's less of the topic for today. But on a objective way, this is pretty much the singularity point.

Yeah, yeah, interesting. And it's uh I think about it every day. I'm sure you do too. Um because you know, you you you look at any technology, really anything, um, and it all starts with the military, right? And then eventually trickles down. And uh I think that's the thing is you know what I'm sure you know, I've I've read about uh you know the AI race, you know, it's kind of like the arm race, um, the nuclear race, you know, that that people, you know, the space race, things like that, and and you know, whoever controls the best AI will have the most power, and hopefully that lands in the hands of the right people, right? Yeah. When you look at it, and I I know we we don't want to get too much off the topic of V here, but when you look at it, what's your personal feeling? Are you are you very optimistic? Are you fearful? Are you just kind of waiting? You control it anyway?

It's not that I'm over optimistic, there are huge risks over here, but but I I I am optimistic uh in general because again, I I feel that uh uh we have enough smart, powerful people that are behind those technologies uh and that understand that they care not only about money, at the end of the day, they want them and their families and their you know our uh our uh our air to stay. Uh so I am optimistic and I think that uh people tend to look at it from uh it will take much more time and we have 10-15 years at least to regular things and look at them from uh a sober way. Uh and this feel good, and and and again, our role is just we are laser focused on doing what we do best in a very, very way. Every time we wake up in the morning, uh we remember that we're building technology for humans and not instead of humans. We have a slide, one of our main, if you'll see our 10 slides presentation. So there's a slide called uh made by trainers for trainers. And I think it tells the story of how we see life and how we see the technology that we're creating.

Awesome. So um, from my understanding that, you know, out in Israel, you you guys are really um one of the leaders in in artificial intelligence, you know, in a relatively small population, you know, compared to the United States and all that. Why why is that? What's the background on that? Why did that take place?

Um so uh again, I'm trying to simplify the story here. Basically, Israel is very interesting. Melting pops in, which is uh word for uh an Israeli word for being very blunt, very straightforward, and to override challenges or politeness to get things done. Um and just the culture itself is a very open-minded entrepreneurial one. So this is one thing that if you will visit Tel Aviv and Israel, you will see a very, very, very interesting culture around innovation. Number one. And number two, the fact that all of us are doing national service uh by all means. So every single person needs to go either to the military or to other national services, basically train people to be very mature and equipped with skill sets and specific uh professional services uh skill set, including software and technology. So you're getting young, capable people at the age of a college uh uh fresh uh man in uh in the US after you know a career of three to four years with the real you know, real life challenges and real life failures and so forth. So it's a very those two things I think are the two main catalysts. Uh so the culture itself and the and the journey that the young person is going through till he's uh or she is 21 or 22.

Yeah that's interesting, man. So um, you know, I was I was watching one of your keynote presentations uh before this recording, just you know, to get a feel for all the things that you do. And uh you had mentioned, you know, we've heard about voice, we've heard about wearables, but you mentioned hearables, right? Absolutely. Talk about what that is.

So hearables is pretty much the most exciting phone factor or device uh of the next decade. I'm saying it with a pretty uh high confidence. And the reason I say that is that we have pretty much exhausted, we know what we can extract uh in a good way from a smartphone and from a smartwatch. Apple did a beautiful work in the last few years of showing, showcasing what could be done from the wrist in terms of user interface, notifications, and other parts, uh, but also physiological tracking. But the interesting part that there's an untapped, uh, another location in our body, which is the inner ear, uh, for two reasons. The first is physiology. Uh, this is by far the most uh almost invasive, rich physiological place in our body, much more than the wrist area, which much less motion artifacts as well. So you can extract different parameters such as high heart rate and heart rate variability at a very high accuracy, saturation, core temperature if you're static and not moving, uh, EG, which is brain waves in four different wavelengths, which is a super interesting uh domain. And I can go with a few examples. And second is voice interface, basically the ability to have a hands-free, eyes-free interface with a computer, V or Alexa or other voice agents that you need to work with. And basically, with no need to interfere with the environment, you're getting the interface to yourself and the ability to communicate using voice that in a function and a use case where it has tons of other activities that it we didn't start to utilize. And it enables new types of devices that are not only earphones, which you need to listen to some cool audio, but basically using sensors and other gestures uh that people are going to utilize. And uh, you look at the airports as one out of uh a few other attempts, uh, you're going to see more and more hearables or or smart hearables, as we call them, uh, that is being launched and adding more and more use cases on top of them.

Wow. Wow. And how how is your technology using hearables? How does it relate to V?

So basically, we started from uh focusing on the biosensing part. The first product that we launched was together with Harman Cardone, a very uh successful premium uh audio brand. And what we did is we equipped the device. Uh you can go and Google it at vtrainer.com. Uh you will see heart rate and gyrometer for full posture analysis, uh, ambient temperature, elevation to understand steps and flights, speech recognition at a very high level, and so forth. So we we provided like an overkill hearable device with all of those sensors. Number two, we recently acquired a company called SkyBuds based in New York with an IP that is focused on utilizing context from the ear. So basically using other audio devices as well that can help us to understand what the user is doing now. If they have earphones in their ear or not, so we know that we have captive audience to recommend some workout content, to understand where they are from a GPS perspective and so forth.

Wow. Wow. Oh God, I want to get my hands on one of these things.

So um we'll send you one. Send us your uh address and we'll send you a demo.

Done. Done. Um worries. I'm doing it right now as we're speaking.

Okay, go for it.

Uh Omri, what you know, I'm I'm curious from you and a personal standpoint. You know, how how did you get into this? How is how you know on your day-to-day basis, how is is you know AI or technology involved in your life take? Do you have an Alexa? Do you um do you have a self-driving car? Like what I imagine you're living on a spaceship.

No, I'm not, man. I'm trust me. I'm uh I don't want to disappoint you very far from. Um basically I I'm at least personally, I'm less of a gadget guy. Like I don't like to use technology for the sake of coolness or uh you know technology uh uh just to showcase some cool features. So I usually use technology in areas that can help me to be a you know a more productive, better human being, if you will. Um so I do use voice services on a very, very specific thing, mainly for texting. So if I want to uh send someone text or send a memo uh using voice, it's usually the most um convenient for me. I do not use in-home Alexa or Google Duty privacy. I'm pretty concerned from the fact I know without getting into details, but I'm aware of the some of the things that some of those guys are doing to uh just to record, not for the for a negative level, but they need to record your surroundings, uh voices in order to understand your you know, your state and your what are you trying to say over time and and so forth. So I'm a little bit concerned on the privacy level over there, but I once I will be convinced that there is no privacy issues, I will get a voice agent into home as well.

Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. That's always the current. I I literally once a week I think about buying Alexa. And then um I don't for for that particular reason. You know, because you I mean you just obviously there's you know stories that have come out in the court cases about um you know it recording when people didn't know it was recording, and then can that can that information and recording be used in a testimony in court? Um it's just you know, there's so the issue that seems to be prevalent is that technology is advancing so fast that regulation doesn't have a a snowball chance in hell of absolutely up with it, right?

Absolutely, and it only means that we are humans, we need to be to trigger our common sense and our and to learn about the things that we're using uh in terms of who is gathering our data, what do they do with it, what will I be able to do or not do with it in 15, 20 years from now. So it's it's very crucial as consumers, exactly as you learn to read the warranties or the guidebooks and the stuff that you bought five years ago, same goes for privacy. It's something that before approving your terms and conditions, I won't recommend all of us to uh just to better understand the context behind it.

Yeah. Well, no one reads the privacy statements.

That's correct.

That's correct.

I I've never once read, I just sign off and um I'm sure it's designed to do that exactly. Right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. So, you know, uh 30 years from now, Homri, is it gonna be um is it gonna be a perfect world where we all have a universal income and AI and bots do everything for us, or is it gonna be uh Terminator? What do you think?

I would go for something uh a bit different. I would say that in terms of abundance and convenience, it's going to be an uh over-convenient world. I'm not sure it's a good thing on the uh human level, but on on the functional, beneficial, uh, you know, abundance level, we're going to be in the most uh abundant uh uh uh time of our era. And and basically uh technology and and and computers and and resources are going to provide uh everything we need to be safe and to be healthy uh and to reach on demand, basically everything we're trying to achieve on a material level, but also on the you know the VR world is going to bring some pretty creepy and uh and exciting stuff uh for good and bad.

Yeah.

Um so this is on the abundance level. On the human level, maybe I'm wrong, but I still, you know, I don't see us I I think we're going to have the same human issues, you know, fee confidence and of of just uh you know the passion and uh fears and ambitions and all of those beautiful uh uh imperfect human things are going to stay, and you we're just going to experience them in a in a different theme. But uh we're not going to change as humans. 30 years is not a long time in terms of uh um you know biology-wise, you're not going to uh evolve into a whole new creature. So it's going to be very interesting to see how pretty much the same type of uh um human being we are now is going to deal with uh a super advanced technology, but as we did again, uh in the past, I think humanity showed that we can deal with some uh serious difficulties. So I I do believe that we will face this one as well.

Yeah, well, I admire your confidence, man. I do. Um It's optimism.

I'm not sure it's uh overconfident, but I prefer to be optimistic and it's uh not always good, you know. But it's I I that's the way I uh uh I choose living.

Yeah, you know, it's interesting, and just just a quick side note before I kind of get to some final questions for you. But um I noticed that the more aware, um up-to-date, and uh intelligent people are, there's kind of an underlying sense of anxiety. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense. You know, that's it's uh you know, we're we're faced with um a lot of anxiety, and especially here in the States, a lot of anxiety. And I think a lot of it is due to overall health, right? Yep, um bad nutrition, bad. But I think there's a small, there's a percentage of it that our people are simply just aware that things are changing so darn fast that um you know, maybe you don't feel it in your day-to-day, but you can sense it. And I think uh, you know, that that sometimes in a weird way uh keeps me awake, you know. But I'd I'd rather talk about and think about it than just kind of bury my head in the sand and say, you know, it's gonna be what it's gonna be. Um but maybe that's maybe that's the healthier way. I don't know.

So, you know, first of all, I think we are um, as mentioned, I don't think that we're facing the same. If you'll take go to World War II or other extreme human events, um I can assure you that people went through, I think, I think, bigger difficulties and anxieties. Some of them were more physical, maybe some of them were more you know contained in the specific times. But what I'm trying to say is that it's just different times, and we need to adapt and to find the right the new tools to face those types of new anxieties as you call them. And and with that said, I think that we need to, you know, the mindfulness world and mind training world, and nutrition, as you mentioned, and sleep training, and all of those tools, the battle becomes much more mind and mental related than physical one.

Yeah.

Um, and I think that exactly if you are a good personal trainer, and I know you are, and a wellness and fitness expert overall, I'm sure that you're thinking about and already adding those type of software training parts into other people.

Yep.

Um and this is my warm advice. You know, I see lots of executives and thought leaders and just you know, great people out there that are that understood that without those missing tools, maybe they will have great cardiac activities and they will have good metabolism, but their mind will get them crazy, you know. And so they need to to to invest similar time on that space. I can tell you about myself that I'm not there yet. It's something that is new to me in the last few years, but I'm trying to work on it as well. And that's my two cents to people. Try to try not to, exactly as you say, bury your uh head in the sun and say, wow, the world is going crazy, but try to adapt and find new tools to deal with so much information and so much noise, and to find you know the quiet, focused areas that can allow you to, you know, to relieve this muscle and to train it better.

Yeah, yeah, it's fascinating. And just in my own life, you know, I picked up after I sold my facility last year, you know, I picked up my wife and I have been traveling and mostly in very remote areas and just beautiful aspects of nature. And I think all it takes sometimes is just a disconnected walk in nature. Nature is the most amazing uh television you got. It's better than Netflix. You know? Um and I think that's it could be as simple as just uh going the opposite way every once in a while and just really enjoying the disconnectedness when you can get.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't I don't disagree.

So I'm my final question, I know you kind of alluded to it earlier, but if I'm a finished professional, I'm listening right now. Yeah. Uh what can I do as soon as I'm I'm done listening to this this interview? Like what is the first thing that I should go do to start incorporating?

I think I think that you should you you should you should first most importantly get into the notion that in five years from today the assumption that people will keep going either toward the current way of personal training and or gym is not going to disappear but is going to change. And you need to slightly and thoughtfully ask yourself, and it's a very subjective thing, based on the your practices and based on your audience of clients, how can I add and educate myself and my customers with new tools, very basic ones, that can keep us in touch when they're not with me physically, and then take it from there and you know and test and fail. You know, don't be afraid from testing something, set expectations with your client, get some friends or some family members to do some pilots with them, and try to build on top of it those type of tools. Um and again, we are here to help if it's beyond business, anything that people think that V can help them. Uh, we are more than happy to hear and more than happy to enforce us uh if we can help other trainers to scale or to you know to uh to evolve into this next phase.

Awesome, awesome. So Amin, where where do people find you? Where do people find V?

So uh you can go to V Trainer.com.

Okay.

Uh V It's VI Trainer as trainernospace uh.com. And you can reach me anytime at my personal email. It's o mri at vtrainer.com. Email me anytime, and we will uh find the right people to uh to contact you and uh we can jump on a call and take it from there.

Awesome, man. Yeah, how exciting! I mean, I can't imagine how exciting your world is on a day-to-day basis. And just talking to you, I get I get excited about it. I just want to go awesome. Yeah, I'm gonna go bug my wife right now, be like, I just talked about an hour. She's gonna look at me like come back.

I appreciate it, and we're grateful to have people. People like you are giving us the feel to keep pushing. It's a very uh tough uh mission. It's an uphill battle, but uh it's it's it's it's truly awesome to hear it. And uh we're only studying, as you said. So it's uh we're I'm I'm sure that we're going to speak soon again.

Yeah, awesome. All right, Armor. Thank you coming on, man. It's been an absolute pleasure.

Should think same here. Bye-bye.

Hey fitness fans, don't leave yet. It's your host, Eric Malzone, and I have a quick favor to ask. Actually, three favors. So, number one, if you're a fan of our show, I ask you to do something that takes under three minutes. Go to iTunes, please, and subscribe to our show. Please, please, please. It means so much to us. It's so important. And then give us a favorable review. We would really, really appreciate it. And uh, I can't tell you how much it means and helps us out. So I know it takes two minutes of your day, and uh it means a lot to us. So please do that. Number two, go to our YouTube channel or Fitness Marketing Alliance, and uh please subscribe to our YouTube channel there. Number three, if you like this episode or any of the episodes that we've released, share it on social. That's huge. That's a big deal for us, and when we put a lot of work into these episodes, uh trying to give you great actionable content uh for the fitness industry. So that would mean a lot. And that's it. So we have some big plans coming up for this show. I'll be talking about that in the next couple episodes. But thank you so much for listening. It means so much. And uh if you have any questions, please reach out to me. I'd love to hear from everybody. Eric, E R I C at Fitness MarketingAliance.com