Badal Shah - The Anthos Group

Hey everybody, welcome to the Future of Fitness, a top-rated fitness industry podcast for over two years and running. It is 2021, and I am your host, Eric Malzone. I have the absolute pleasure of talking to entrepreneurs, innovators, and cutting-edge technology experts within the fast-paced industries of fitness, wellness, and health sciences. Stop by futurefitness.co to subscribe and learn more. When you do what you love, running, racing, or simply enjoying the great outdoors, you want to do it for life. Insight Tracker can help. Insight Tracker was founded in 2009 by leading scientists in aging, genetics, and biometrics. Using their patented algorithm, Insight Tracker analyzes your body's data to provide you with a clear picture of what's going on inside you while offering highly personalized, science-backed recommendations for positive diet and lifestyle changes. Okay, time for straight talk. It's time that each single one of us takes responsibility for our own health. Personally, given the results of my Insight Tracker DNA and blood tests, I now have a clear and simple game plan to lower my cholesterol and stave off my family's genetic history of heart disease. The best part is that the plan doesn't include any kind of pharmaceuticals, just personalized nutrition and natural supplementation. Possibly my favorite feature of Insight Tracker is the inner age score, a singular metric that shows me how my biological age compares to my chronological age. They just gamify longevity. It's crazy cool. For a limited time, you can get 25% off the entire Insight Tracker store. Just go to InsightTracker.com forward slash future. But wait, there is more. If you're a coach, trainer, registered dietitian, or any other health and wellness practitioner, you can now leverage Insight Tracker services to help your clients perform better than they ever have. And you can offer them discounts while you earn revenue. InsightTracker Pro is your gateway to offering your clients Insight Tracker, the science-backed, ultra-personalized performance platform trusted by elite athletes and top coaches. Just go to InsightTracker.com forward slash future to get more information and enjoy deep, deep discounts. That is insight tracker.com forward slash future. Kids deserve our best. Period. Full stop. Brand X has dedicated themselves to doing what is best for kids for over two decades. Here's the facts. All major pediatric organizations agree that youth strength and conditioning and fitness programs must be specifically designed for children and coached by those specifically educated in working with children. This seems like a no-brainer. Successful programs come from educated coaches who have all the tools to best serve the youth. Brand X offers unequaled ongoing support through ever-growing relative content delivered monthly, plus the mountains of information leveraging their 20 plus years of experience. As the developers of the original Kids Functional Fitness Program and certification with over 100 state and national record holders and recognize the world's leaders in youth fitness, Brand X not only offers the fully digital, take it-your-own pace, professional youth coaches certification, but has recently added to their suite of custom education products to best serve educators and parents as well. Because kids deserve our best. So whether you are a gym owner, coach, educator, parent, or simply anyone who cares for the future of our children, Brand X is offering a 20% discount on all digital education products for a limited time. Go visit thebrandxmethod.com forward slash future to get your code today. Again, that is the brand XMethod.com forward slash future and claim your code. Bidal Shah, welcome to the future of fitness. Thank you so much for having me, Eric. Yeah, man. I'm I'm thrilled to have you on. I mean, they're going to cover some really interesting advancing areas. I mean, immunity, recovery, longevity, all these things are really exciting topics in the fitness industry. I've saw that you were on a good friend's uh podcast, Vanessa Sebriano's menites, a lot of other different avenues within the fitness industry. And it's going to be a deep dive, man. I'm I'm thrilled to have your expertise here. So I guess the best place to always start, but all is just, man, give us your backstory. How'd you get to be the leader in the Anthos group and all the experience you've had?

So my background is really more in pharmaceuticals and raw materials manufacturing distribution of raw materials that you know for ultimately for products that went into everyday consumables, whether it be drugs, whether it be of some pharmaceutical drugs, or foods or food packaging. And you know, that that started my father's entrepreneur, that kind of uh led my brother and I down similar paths. And ultimately was the impetus to becoming, you know, an entrepreneur in that space, which which led to others. But really, the the you know, having experience in the pharmaceutical space gave me direction in terms of what I wanted to do eventually, which was really focused on clean products. It was focused on wellness, kind of non-pharmaceutical-oriented wellness, where we could help people with specific indications, but do it in a way that was uh less processed, less chemically oriented, something that I wanted for my kids, a future for my kids that I wanted to see that was uh a little cleaner. So that was ultimately what led me to get into the wellness space.

So, you know, the pharmacist I I don't think I've I haven't had anyone on the show who comes from the pharmaceutical industry, surprisingly. But what is it like working in the pharmaceutical industry? I mean, it's you know, this year there's been so many eyes on it due to the vaccines and the race to get it out, you know, and I've talked to a lot of colleagues in Canada, you know, privatized versus public health care and how that affects, you know, the pharmaceuticals industry's decisions and their focuses. But if you could kind of sum up a little bit of your experience in the pharmaceutical industry, what were some of the big takeaways about how it's run differently than other industries?

Well, I think I think the big takeaway for me was more on the on the process and the and the and the chemical the chemicals involved in it. I often have tremendous respect for all of our scientists and researchers that are out doing the work they need to be doing. There's a real important need for pharmaceutical products, of course. However, you know, I did see also some large opportunities for alternatives that did not have some of the intense processing and chemicals that I learned later that you know are more toxic for us than helpful to be, you know, there's a there's a real opportunity there for consumers to solve certain ailments through more plant-based or ingredients. And so I'd say my experience in the industry and that's a chemical industry really um helped me understand and learn what could be substitutes that could still have the similar efficacy to help people. And so that's you know, that's what I took from as far as you know the the the industry in terms of leadership and like I said, the clinic the clinicians involved have tremendous respect. Without them, we wouldn't even be able to, you know, look at other other types of alternative ingredients. So so we're appreciative and grateful for them.

Yeah, you know, I'm I'm overall, I'm really appreciative of the pharmaceutical industry overall. I mean, I know there's obviously just like any industry or profession, wherever you go, there's there's the good and the bad, right? But I mean, our lives are pretty amazing, you know, due to so due to better living through chemistry in so many different ways that people don't appreciate. And they always look at big pharma as kind of this big evil thing. But hey, man, we got vaccines pretty darn fast. And you're remarkable. And you know, it's allowed us to go back to fairly normal lives. What about your personal background, but all I mean you've been, I know you're an athlete. Like, give us some of your your background as far as upright. I mean, I'm curious about living in an entrepreneur household too.

You know, the typical kind of immigrant family, my parents came over from India with not much. And it started as, you know, of course, an entrepreneur journey for them. It becomes a family. So the entire family gets involved when we're of age and able to. So, you know, what I saw from my parents was that intense work ethic. You know, my father always taught me that if you're not in front of the customer, somebody else is, right? So the ability to build relationships and add value to the relationships and be able to work together for solutions was incredibly important. And then the and this to be deeply tied to them. And uh, and then obviously all that tethered with you know incredibly hard work and being able to run around the world to to get it done and take care of your family. So for me, that was that's just the DNA. And yeah, so I it's it's these are lessons that I want to pass on to my kids and make sure you know they always know that no matter what the challenges, it's the hard work behind it that will get it done. I believe in that.

Yeah. You know, it's for people who are listening, what they probably don't know is that I ask, you know, people to fill out a questionnaire before they come on the show. And you know, you filled one out very thoughtfully. I appreciate that. And you know, when I ask people, uh, one of the questions is, you know, what's your definition of success or what does success look like to you? And for you is just having the respect of the way that your kids look at you. And I was like, wow, that's a pretty strong guiding light. That's pretty how long does that something that's you know, how'd you kind of come to that, that personal definition of success? That's that's a curious and insightful one.

You know, I just think that as parents, for everything we do as hard as we work and as as much as we want to contribute and do things in society to help, you know, if we can't help our own kids to the maximum, then you know, we failed somewhere. And so for me, you know, everything I do, I always want to make sure it's genuine and authentic. And and so I can look at them in the eyes and say, listen, you know, we gave it our best shot, and here's why we did it. Here's who we helped, here's you know, where we failed, right? But be as authentic as possible because I know that will ultimately become lessons that they will hold on with them, just like I held on, you know, key key lessons for my parents. And and and and those are the ones I want them to hold on to is how to do work, do it the right way, work hard, and and don't take shortcuts, you know. And I think if they see me doing that, I'll have their respect and they'll always be able to look back one day when I'm gone and say, hey, this is how my father and my mother did it. We're gonna do it the same way.

Right on. Don't take shortcuts, huge lesson. So let's dive into what you do now, the anthos group. Explain to me, because I know you there's a lot under that umbrella, but maybe explain to the listeners what it is and what you guys do.

Yeah, sure. Thanks. Yeah, so we're very excited about the anthos group. We are a wellness company, so uh we really focus on alternative wellness solutions primarily in the sleep pain, anxiety, and immunity space. We look at creating novel formulations that are easily consumable. Under Anthos, we have a private label line where we manufacture for a lot of leading brands. We create unique product formulations for them to take to market. In addition, we have our line called Cyto CX, which is a medical grade line focused on really majority pain, sleep, and anxiety as it relates to leveraging CBD as a functional ingredient. We have studied CBD and we know it intimately. We do have our own hemp cultivation as well, so we're vertically integrated there. And then we have our Title Sport line, which is our sports recovery line, really focused on the fitness enthusiasts and helping them across their entire journey of recovery to make sure they can get back uh and train as often and frequently as possible. So a lot of plant-based science behind those products that we're excited about. That's Title Sport. Within Title Sport, we've now we are now launching Title Armor as well, which is a very unique science-based immunity line that has proven to be highly effective against the world's leading viruses, germs, and bacteria. So we're very excited about that as well.

That's huge, man. And you guys got Connor McGregor, right? How did that how'd you get that partnership?

You know, yeah, Connor, Connor's our partner at the top of Antos. So he's our partner in everything. He's, of course, the face of Titus Sport. Connor and his partner, Audi Atar, and their company, Paradigm Sports Management, they are our partner. So we're really excited about that. They're just incredible partners and really helped us learn and and and grow into that entire sports world, right? In terms of from product formulation, developing the right products for the right types of athletes. And what's important as you look at the recovery journey. So uh, of course, they've been tremendous partners, and we're excited. We've got a big, big fight coming up. Connor's got a big fight July 10th, and we're doing some major activations around the fight in Las Vegas, starting on the 8th, some product launches, as well as, of course, one to be there, our entire Anthos ecosystem to support Connor.

Right on, man. So we have, I mean, there's a couple key ones that I would personally love to hone in on, you know, immunity and recovery probably being the the two biggest ones. Where would you like to start? You pick. I start with recovery. That's fine. Yeah. So tell me about the recovery products. Like what are kind of the key ports? Because, you know, as you and I are discussing, and you know, also I'm involved in Morpheus, which is a recovery management platform. We see that recovery is a big deal now. People are really starting to face, you know, pay a lot of attention, especially here in in North America. I think recovery has been focused on in the Eastern Bloc and China for a long time for their athletes. And now it's kind of, you know, here it's it's making headway and it's becoming a thing for the general population. Um, so let's talk about recovery from a general perspective in the market, and then we kind of, you know, where do you how do you see the evolution of recovery taking place for both, you know, athletes and the general population? And then we can kind of get into the products.

Sure. Well, first of all, I mean, I think we look at, you know, as at Anthos, recovery starts in in the lab, right? So we look at it from a science, from a clinical science perspective, along with a product formulation perspective. You know, we're fortunate to have a great team that has real expertise in these areas. So from a formulation perspective, how do we look at ingredients that could help maximize uh or I should say optimize consumer fitness enthusiast recovery? And from a clinical science perspective, of course, to make sure they're highly efficacious. You know, as we look at recovery in general, of course, there's more and more investment into this world. Why? Because there, well, one, there's more focus on health and wellness, which is a great trend in the US and globally. And two is people want to train more off. There's also more stress people are dealing with. And of course, coming out of the pandemic, or maybe still in the pandemic in some cases, there's a work from home or work out from adoption that has been created. And as that's as people are changing their behaviors, they're spending more on products that help them maximize their mental and well-being. So on the well-being side, that recovery part is really important because they're training more often and potentially harder. And therefore, just a traditional maybe post-workout stretch isn't good enough anymore, right? They need to do more. So they're taking products, whether it be you know, products like ours, like a cryotherapy spray as an example, or even percussion therapy, like the hyperisis of the world, right? So, and then of course, pre-workout drinks and post-workouts and you know, investing more in total recovery so they feel great and are able to maximize performance, especially as you look at some of these connected fitness applications like Peloton. You know, now you're competing with the whole world, right? So, you know, you're trying to get yourself up on the leaderboard, it's a real trend, right? So the more you take care of your body, fitness enthusiasts are starting to really feel like more competitive athletes. And that recovery journey becomes more and more important in that lifecycle.

Yeah, well said. And it's it's now becoming more I mean, it's known, but more accepted in the in the pot in the general population's eye that, you know, it's not necessarily training is a huge part, but it's all about how you recover. That's where the change is made. So how do you but all what what specifically what products do you guys have that are adding to that recovery solution?

So our titled Sport Line is specifically focused on that recovery. So, you know, our hero product is a plant-powered cryotherapy spray. We have multiple SKUs, but we leverage a an active ingredient called BCP beta cary that is proved to be a nature's anti-inflammatory, much the same way CBD is, and that's an active in that product. And it's it's you know, these these products really focus in both immediate pain relief as well as as an anti-inflammatory, right? As a topical that you do not need to rub in, but it kind of auto-absorbs into the into the skin. And so we've seen tremendous uh results with these. We've then taken similar formulation, also put it in a cream just to you know make it more desirable for those that don't want to spray. In addition, we are now formulating a pre-workout. We're actually really excited about that. We've done we've been studying it for the market for about a year, coming out with a very clean pre-workout. It's still an RD, but so far what we see is is pretty interesting.

So when you look at that, the topical, let's start with that one from the title brand. What besides the way someone feels, how are you guys seeing the metric or recovery? How are you guys gauging the improvement, if that makes sense? Like what what are the what are the objective standards that you guys are looking at?

You know, it's it's a it's a really good question. We uh we have these discussions internally every day. We are starting to do studies with certain academic institutions for exactly that to measure sleep, to measure inflammation. But as you know, you know, it's a it's an early industry. So right now it is very, very qualitative, and but from the ingredients as well as a science, we do believe that there can be more data gathered. So we're actually in we're in the middle of a few clinical tri uh clinical studies that will take a few more months, and and that's how we're looking at you know, try truly understanding the data. But as of right now, it's it I mean, just in this industry, it is very active.

Yeah, I mean it's it and that's the industry. I mean, you nailed it, it's it's very young. And it's like, well, how do you actually gauge recovery besides how someone feels, right? And how their training over time adapts. And yeah, and but now we have all the wearable tech, right? So everyone's getting all these different, you know, different metrics on, you know, from a whoop or from a you know, Apple or I think Garmin has their human battery metric now, which kind of shows how your body's recovering. So we're getting all these kind of random metrics thrown at us as consumers, but no one's really explaining what they mean. I think that's uh right.

And it's interesting, I think connected fitness will really help the CPG side, right? At some point they're gonna come together. We're excited about that world, we're excited to be able to measure recovery right now. You know, there's correlation between pain relief and sleep, right? Better sleep, right? But there's not exact uh evidence. And so we're we're we're chasing that.

So what do you guys in the area of sleep? I know that's something you're tackling as well. What are some of the what's your approach and product line for sleep specifically?

So sleep specifically in our Cyto CX line, that's when we've got uh a formulation that's directly recommended for sleep. We work with actually physician practices across the country, and and that's our largest seller to consumers um on that, let's call it a good night product. And that's you know, well that that that is a CBD product, again, no THC, but it's a uh CBD-based uh tincture that actually uh we've seen a lot of good data. And again, similar to what I said earlier, even there, we are in the middle of of conducting a study to get more data around the efficacy. But you know, we've had a lot of you know, over 10,000 consumers with addict regular regular consumers with anecdotal evidence of repeat repeat person behavior and also testimonials and on the on the benefit to that they've had with sleep.

C BD, man, I want to just kind of dive down that rabbit hole for a second because there's a lot, I mean, the variations of the quality of C BD. I mean, I can go to uh, you know, a Walgreens pharmacy, and on the checkout, you'll see some CBD there. And then you can also go to uh, you know, I presume you know where your products are, which is you know, higher end, well tested. How does the consumer know? Like, how how does the consumer know what they're buying is good or what they're buying is not as high quality as they may have hoped?

You're asking some great questions, Eric. I think this is what um to speak very truthfully, we were chasing to say, right? Is there's uh there's a perception problem, there's a credibility problem in CBD. There are some great players, and there's some really not so great players. Uh for us, we we really try to lead through referrals through physicians and clinicians and academic institutions, you know, healthcare institutions, uh because they've tried and done kind of their own tests that make them feel comfortable on our formulations. Uh, we have yet to go mass market with some of our C BD SKUs because of that exact reason. We don't see C B D as you know, this lifestyle brand that should be tied to, you know, beautiful women and and you know going to the club, right? These kinds of things that's not It's about, right? For us, for us, it's really about hey, uh, how can this be an alternative to some of those really powerful pharmaceutical drugs that have created some real problems in society, you know? So I think the answer I'd give is, you know, we try to lead to the right influencers in those people's lives. And those influencers to us are the clinicians, the therapists, you know, the variety the people that they go to for quality of life and and and you know, obviously important medications. Yeah, yeah.

It's it's true, man. I mean, it's it's such a I've had two specific guests on this show where we've you know really taken deep dives into cannabinoid systems and I mean actually I believe both of them are probably in the top 10 as far as the most listened to episodes on this show. I think it was Eric Goodman and Don Moxley. People want to go back and look and and really learn and take a deep dive into it. And there's so much promise there, but it's just so unregulated at this point, you know. And I think what you said is, you know, as long as we're continuing to push the research and giving people the best products possible, it's it's there's a lot of very, very cool stuff that can come from it. But you know, there's a lot of people who don't really know what they're taking. You know, my mom, she's 83, she buys CBD products off the internet, she doesn't even know where it comes from. And I have to really kind of make sure that, you know, um, that she's getting decent stuff. So yeah, it's it's it's very promising. I think people can fully understand that, you know, yes, because it's made from the same plant, you know, it doesn't mean that people who use CBDs are potheads, right? It's actually a very strong scientific reasons to to use the can, you know, the cannabinoid system exists with or without CBD in your body. So that's that's another interesting thing about it as well. So yeah, keep up the you know, finding the good fighting on that one. How about immunity, man? I know you're pretty excited about that. Tell us tell us some of the research that you guys have have found and what you're putting out there for immunity.

Yeah, you know, we're really excited about that. And it's really centered around alkaline. So it's creating an alkaline system in the body, fight off uh viruses. And you know, we've partnered with some of the greatest technologists really on the planet. I know it's a crazy claim, but uh, we spent the last year working with them, understanding it's their science. We've partnered with them to try to bring it to the masses and that too in consumable forms that are non-pharmaceutical, everyday type products. And you know, we're seeing real proofs about overall, it's just now across 300,000 people that have benefited from this. We've seen people who've come in with COVID symptoms benefit from it, influenza, obviously the average cold and things as well. So, you know, what as this world is continues to evolve quickly from this pandemic, we do realize people are going to need non-pharmaceutical, it's called not vaccines for every single thing they see fix, right? And so they're going to need immunity products. We've seen a lot around vitamin D and zinc, and no doubt there's a real benefit there. But again, kind of like CBD, how do you know what you're getting, right? Um in this in this proprietary technology, we our challenge is going to be to educate the masses, right? People don't know about this technology yet, but it is all natural. So we're excited about it. That's our opportunity and our challenge. We're going to be launching it right before the counter fight in July. Yeah, run under our title armor line. And then, you know, it's going to be, you know, now start to get distribution across Asian retailers as well. So there'll be a store near everyone soon, and we're excited about that.

Yeah, man. I mean, so this will be uh this will be released after that fight for sure. What can you tell us about the products and kind of where where is the the I guess the advancement in this stuff? I mean, there's you're right. Like everyone, it's it's a great timing. Everyone is now paying attention to their immunity and their health, which is fantastic for so many reasons, especially for fitness and health coaches and people in the industry. It's like, okay, people are really starting to focus on this. But you're right, you know, it's just like zinc and vitamin D and vitamin C. That's kind of what everyone's been told uh over and over again. Well, where what do you think the common person is missing? What are the gaps that we're not aware of?

You know, it's well, I think really it's it's well, there's there's of course education awareness, right? To understand what actually works. And and then this technology, I think what the common person is missing is, in my opinion, right? Look, I've been traveling the world during COVID. I've had to in a startup, right? I I couldn't stop. And I've been using this technology and uh unfortunately didn't catch anything. I really believe in it. But I think what it is, it's about, you know, the majority of these viruses are held in the mucosal system, right? And they stay there for four or five days before they enter the respiratory system. Here, with this type of product, you know, the host, the virus is not going to attach to anything in the mucosal system because it's a fully alkaline base there. And so I think what's what's it's not necessarily necessarily that the consumer's missing something. I don't think we've seen this. And I know it's a big statement, but I don't think we've seen this yet, or at least as mass consumers, we have it. And now it's time, like I said, our job at Anthos and Title is to take it to the masses. The technology was the technology, I mean, this is going through years and years. So it wasn't just it didn't just start during COVID, right? Sure. It was years and years of science and uh and research, and they needed a partner that could truly bring it out to the masses. And so that's I feel like you know that that weight is on our shoulders to do so because we feel, you know, not only is it a very inexpensive product, once people start using it, they're naturally going to feel the response, right? See, the thing is with immunity products, you can't, you know, it's very difficult to measure it, right? Like even vitamin D and zinc, how do you measure it? Oh, I just never get sick, right? Or how do you measure it? No, it's more of just kind of like the shield. You feel you feel protected. Well, in this kind of product, you know, you're you're really, you're really gonna have the ability to, it's almost like that armor, like we call it, the title armor. And so people can walk around as the reopenings happen. We're excited about that. Get back to the gym, get back out to your friends, you know, we're excited to have them protected with this.

Yeah, that's awesome, man. I'm I'm curious, just from a personal standpoint, I mean, traveling the world during a pandemic, what was that like? Were planes empty? Was it a huge pain in the ass? I mean, even just my wife went down to Brazil to see her family a few months ago, and no one seemed to know what was going on. Like, you know, like what tests do you need here? What happens when you get to the airport there? Like, no one really seemed to know what was going on. How did you navigate those waters for lack of a better term?

It was certainly an interesting time. Airports flights were empty. Actually, they were the cleanest I've ever seen them. That's right. That was nice. But you know, just I look, there were people that would be willing to meet in person, right? But again, you know, with the appropriate respect of the mask and the distance, right? And you know, in our world, well, we, you know, it was important to meet people in person where we could and uh where they'd be open to it. And business had to go on. I think what it was like, look, I think the biggest challenge was, of course, with family, making sure that that they felt protected. The last thing I wanted to do is bring something back to my kid, my wife. Fortunately, I had their support, they knew I had to be on the road. But of course, there's pressures as a father to make sure that you keep everyone safe, you know. And I I was, you know, I was obviously masked and uh and using the using this immunity product, quite frankly. I didn't get vaccinated until you know just recently. So but I think I think what I saw in the world was a needed slowdown across major cities. Of course, we all talk about you know seeing pollution reduction, but I'm talking about just in general, in terms of values and people refocusing what was important, of relationships versus you know, so a tone of kind of less materialism. I saw tones of sustainability and and focusing on the environment. And and that was really, really cool. And I still see that and I feel it. I'm of course a part of it, which has been really exciting to see.

Yeah, that's cool, man. What were some of the countries that you went to out of curiosity during your travel during the last year?

I was uh I was across Europe and then I was in UAE, so in Dubai specifically, on India as well, and then across the Sria, all across the US.

If you had to, just from your experience of you know being there, I'm sure not for extended periods of time, but who do you think out of all the countries would dealt with it the best?

I mean, that's hands down the UAE.

Okay.

Yeah. Couldn't believe how organized they were. Landed there and felt like, yeah, felt safer than I had anywhere else.

Huh. Was that just because of the cleanliness and the organization and everyone knowing what tests you had to have or what what made it? Yeah, I'm super curious on this topic.

Yeah, I mean, exactly what you said. The organization, the cleanliness, also the government get involved in taking care of their people, sending the vaccines to homes, you know, making it easy for people to get vaccinated. So, you know, you saw a theme there where, you know, it was hard to run into people that weren't vaccinated, quite frankly.

Yeah. So not to get too controversial on this topic, but we talked about vaccines. Um, what have you guys have you guys seen? How do I want to word this question? Is I don't want to challenge the efficacy because we don't know yet. But how have you guys seen or have you seen any insights in how the vaccines, um, what they do to people's overall health besides being vaccinated against, you know, this specific virus, has it had any other ill side effects or positive side effects to people's lives? Have you guys seen anything like that?

You know, it's it's a it's a tough but very good question, Eric. And as you can imagine, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of emotion on both sides of this thing. Oh, for sure. Yeah, it's a hot topic. It's a hot topic, and of course, respect both sides. We have not, you know, as a company, have not studied have not studied it so deeply, right? We, of course, from an immunity perspective, do compare what we're seeing with our immunity product versus the vaccine. And in no way would I be one to say, take the vaccine or don't take the vaccine versus using our immunity product, right? It's not about that. I don't do that. Okay. Uh-huh. But um, but of course, you're gonna, I just think the natural, and I'll just speak for myself, the natural opinion is just it's early. There still needs to be more data, just like we talked about CBD. Yeah, you know, there needs to be more data, I believe, and we need to continue to try to look at the data to understand. I mean, I've seen a wide variety of people that have had zero issues, and then I've seen some major side effects with some like real loved ones that I'm really puzzled by, you know. So, but at the same time, we're seeing a reduction in uh in infections, and so it's hard not to say, hey, the data does say that, you know, there's a reduction, it's helping, right? But but we haven't seen uh enough data yet, and I think that's something we want to continue to study too, and even look at it against our immute of technology and say, hey, how can these kind of work you know work together, right? But I think we're years away still from really feeling comfortable with the appropriate amount of data before we can make real larger arguments.

Yeah, it's gonna be interesting, like in whatever five years from now, when we do get all these research and books are written on everything that's happened in 2020, in early 2021. I can't wait to read those books. It's gonna be a uh really sobering experience, I'm sure. You know, I'm one of one of the things I want to ask you about Vidal is just the the industry you're in, right? The wellness supplement industry is highly competitive, man. And in some areas, there's just very, very low barrier to entry, really. What has been, you know, now that you've been working in it for a while now, what's your kind of overall take on the wellness and pharmaceutical industry? Because it's, you know, I guess the supplement industry has been around for a while. The wellness industry is kind of new. What are some of the major takeaways from a high level?

You're absolutely right. Look, it's very competitive, which I think is great. That's it. Ultimately, when things are so competitive, the consumers will eventually get to the best product and price. So it's a good thing. I think we can all learn a uh a lot from each other in terms of what to do and what not to do. And I think there's all there's room for differentiation, you know, and and in kind of owning your niche. So for us, you know, we don't pretend to be people we're not or have products that don't don't address things that we don't know about, right? So, you know, our focus is sleep anxiety, pain, immunity, period. Right. And if it's not in that, we probably don't have the right capability, it's probably gonna be a me too. But what we try is really to focus on putting out novel products that are not me to's, that have shown anecdotal efficacy that we feel comfortable with and then we know will help greater society. And so I think if you if you got a strong mission, you really can't cheat it. Like I said earlier, no shortcuts. Uh and so then you then and and by the way, there could be a great company out there that you know we learn about tomorrow, and you know, we'd be more than willing to partner with on ingredients. And it did, you know, if we can if we are very dedicated to the mission of helping people kind of heal in the world across these major indications, then you've got to be able to do collaboratively, never in isolation. So I'm all for competition and I look at I look at competitors as partners to go help because the consumer at the end of the day is ultimately gonna feel the efficacy and use or not use the product.

Yeah, well said, man. Um last little area that I want to dive into with you is like, you know, if you look at kind of take your company, what you guys are doing in wellness out of it, but what what areas or what other technology within wellness is get you really excited right now?

Well, connected fitness is really exciting to me. I'm a Peloton fan and towards the ecosystem, Tonal, and all those guys, I just love what they're doing and advancing our ability to leverage biometrics and social game or competition, right, with a fitness experiment or experience that is just highly exciting, you know. And so I love that, but I think you mentioned earlier, I think what all of this, you know, the efficacy, you know, from looking at the entire life cycle from you know from general health and wellness to performance and how that all ties together with data and AI, you know. So looking at, you know, someone one day should be able to input every single product that they're using, understand the exact outcomes they could have with this if they, you know, train in this way, right? So, for example, if you've got a blood pressure problem, if you've got you know heart disease in your family, so it becomes a real mechanism for preventative care, right? And to me, I would love to see a world where that ultimately leaves up leads to longevity because we know we're informed and therefore we're using the products that we need and we're living the lifestyle that we need to live based on what the data is showing for our personalized selves. That really interests me, and I think we're gonna get.

Yeah, that's fascinating. There's uh, I mean, one of the sponsors of the show is Insight Tracker, and you know, what they do through DNA and blood and their inner age score, which kind of gives you a overall like longevity score of how you are doing versus your chronological age. It's really it's it's fascinating. I mean, I know they have competitors out there, but what I particularly like what they're doing because it does give you, as they say, like the DNA is the card you were dealt, and your blood tests or your blood reviews are or how you're playing your cards. And you combine that with the right, you know, specific diet to you personally, like what you should be eating, and then the right supplement plan. And you have a really nice, you know, data set and plan, you know, individual plan for longevity. I think it's really exciting, man. I mean, I'm excited about it. I use it. That sounds exciting, right?

Sounds kind of the future of fitness.

Yeah, yeah. Bingo. Nice. Thanks for bringing that in. Madal, this is uh it's been fascinating, man. Is there, you know, for our in, you know, this being an industry podcast, but also a lot of consumers, you know, where would you like to send people? Yeah, where give us a good advantage. Where do you want people to go online?

Sure, thank you. We'd love for you guys to check out www.title t-i-dlsport.com to see our sports recovery line as well as our medical grade line I mentioned, which is cito www.cytocytoc.com. And then come check us out in Vegas. We'll be out there with some live activations July 8th through 10th leading up to the fight. We'd love to host you and have you and make you part of our title ecosystem. Sweet.

Right on. Badal, thank you so much for joining me. I know you're a really busy guy, and uh it's been it's been a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you, Eric. I appreciate it. Ladies and gentlemen, Bidal Shaw. Hey, wait, don't leave yet. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future of Minute. 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. We really appreciate it. Number one, please subscribe to our show wherever you listen to it, iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, whatever it may be. Number two, please leave us a favorable review. Number three, share. Put it on social media, talk about it to your friends, send it in a text message, whatever it may be. Please share this episode because we put a lot of work into it and we want to make sure that as many people are getting value out of it as possible. Lastly, if you'd like to learn more, get in touch with me, simply go to the futureoffitness.co. You can subscribe to our newsletter there, or you can simply get in touch with me as I love to hear from our listeners. So thank you so much. This is Eric Malzone, and this is the future of fitness. Have a great day.