Bryan Green - Aktiv Solutions: Exercise Spaces Between Home & Gym

Hey everybody, welcome to the Future of Fitness, a top-rated fitness industry podcast for over three years up and running. I am your host, Eric Malzone, and I have the absolute pleasure of talking to entrepreneurs, innovators, and cutting-edge technology experts within the extremely fast-paced industries of fitness, wellness, and health sciences. Please stop by futurefitness.co to subscribe and learn more. For that, the Workout app is an absolute game of changer. No more promoting top brands without quite stations or dealing with confusing social media link. In just a few clicks, Workout's user-friendly app lets top trainers and coaches tourists, hypervisor, and the fact that more. Let's cover more at workout.com. That's wr.kut.com. All right. We are live. Brian Green, welcome to the future of footness. Thanks for having me, Eric. It's great to be here. It's a pleasure. And you know, I I've been following what you've been doing at Active Solutions for uh really since I've been introduced to the brand, which is about a year or two ago. And I know obviously it's been around much longer than that. And you personally have been around the industry uh for a few minutes as well in a couple different key roles. So uh there's a wealth of information and knowledge to extract from me. And I think the point of view is that uh, you know, Active has taken on the market is is great. I mean, it's you know somewhat fundamental to fitness, but also, you know, making things more accessible for the masses. And I that's that's really important to me as I look at the industry overall. So without you know further ado, let's look into your background, Brian, and and how you got to be the CEO and founder of Active.

Absolutely. Yeah, happy to do so. Uh Eric, if that's a question, I'll go right now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go ahead.

Yeah, no, that's okay. I just the intro was fantastic. But yeah, I mean, really, you know, you sort of hit it on the head. Those are the areas um, at least related to Active that I'm most passionate about, which is really the sort of convergence of of all things, you know, design, experiential in fitness with um really movement-based modalities. And that's really what we do, you know. We, of course, activate spaces, but it really is a uh a passion that begins with design and planning. And so um, yeah, so that's active. I mean, yes, uh, you know, I've probably had too many things on the resume over time. Um, you know, I am uh also the founder of Fitness Design Group, which, you know, has a a bit broader of a perspective in that it's not just simply around the you know the movement-based or functional side, but you know, um both residential, commercial development, anywhere really where fitness can become accessible. And and that's really you know where we spend the majority of our time. So great to be able to be here and chat with you about all these things further.

So you, if if I'm reading this right, and this is just off your LinkedIn resume, you you got into the industry in the 90s, or did it start sooner than that? Oh man, you are dating me now.

Yeah, no. Um back to the 1900s. Yeah. You know, let's just call it the late 90s. How about that? Um, you know, I was really fortunate um while I was, you know, at university. I I thought, you know, I was an athlete and and I was always thinking, well, how could I? I was a business major as well, but I thought, what would be the best way to uh ensure my long-term health and wellness? What could I do to combine you know career and and that and passion? And and I was fortunate to uh find my way into um the specialty fitness category, which is largely, you know, how we, at least in the day, defined really, you know, the the the sale of fitness equipment that was specific to cardio and strength and and the emergence of home gyms and various fitness centers, not general sporting goods, but um that category in specific that was really about gym design. And and that's really where I started. And I started with uh at the time, one of the major, um actually the major uh provider of those solutions, and that was Busybody, and they had over 150 locations or had grown to 150 locations. And um during my time there through store management and other other bottle washing and things of that nature, I got to the point where I was able to um to really grow a uh or really seed a commercial division for them. Um, and that was late, late uh 90s. And and um shortly thereafter I began uh my first company focused uh solely on on the commercial uh design and supply of fitness equipment.

Got it, and that that's fitness design group, right?

Yeah, so fitness design group really was you know conceived to be uh a solution for so many of these environments that you know their core competency was not fitness, right? Um we're talking about categories that have exploded today, such as you know, multifamily housing, certainly hospitality-based fitness facilities, university student rec, corporate wellness, and it was all of those areas where they were really looking for support and resource to you know envelope fitness into these spaces um, you know, to attract their constituencies. So that's a lot of where uh my work has is uh well began and has stayed.

Yeah, interesting. So how did that, Brian, how did that, I guess, uh, you know, get how that put you into active solutions? Like what was do they go hand in hand or is it is it too separating? Like, what's the relationship between this, those two businesses?

Well, I mean, they're obviously complementary and focused on, you know, building solution um for operators and and for in today, you know, really highly appointed residential environments. But I think active, the the impetus for active was that so much of the industry change, specifically in the last 10 years, has created a greater focus, really an accessibility towards movement-based modality. So anything that is dynamic in training, right? Anything that wasn't isn't so closely associated with just the static state of a piece of equipment like uh cardio or a single purpose weight training machine, but you know, all of the fun and varied areas in between, from, you know, pilates to hit training, you name it, boxing, et cetera, et cetera. And really the the art behind that is actually less is more, you know, less equipment and more open space. But that requires a lot of planning and design.

Yeah, I've seen uh, you know, I've seen some gyms go through me remodels over the past few years. And, you know, uh, these aren't like the lack of better term, like the secondary locations that you were talking about, you know, the the multi-unit family, the corporate wellness, but the actual, you know, health clubs and gyms. And I've noticed a trend too. And this I'm not gonna get us too off point, but I'm just curious about it. Like I especially for the one here in in Whitefish, where I live, they they seem they redid the whole thing and made a bunch of like old timers, like we kind of really disgruntled. And there was more lights, right? Like LED lights, um, more features, you know, a lot of things that I honestly see people aren't using a whole lot, but they kind of got rid of more of the, you know, um I guess traditional like functional fitness. Is that a trend going on right now, or is that just just one man's experience here in in Montana?

Well, I don't know, you know, when you say got rid of some of the functional fitness, um, you know, what we see is just a a more general thinning out, maybe a thinning out of what I'd call traditional categories, you know, called, you know, um single purpose, you know, strength training pieces like your chest press or your lap pull, all these all these movements are are incredibly important, but um, each mis machine with a single purpose isn't as efficient as um perhaps tackling it. Um, the benefits of those exercises in an in an open movement path and in a guided way. So I can't speak to you know your local haunt, but I would say that anything that is, you know, opening up the playing field, so to speak, creating um additional space for a wide variety of movements, so long as there's guidance, and that's a big factor because unfortunately most folks don't know exactly what to do with all that freedom when you put them into that space. So that's critical if you're gonna go there. But yeah, I think that I think the concept really is about you know creating not just space for more varied um elements of training, but more user accommodation. You know, we talk a lot on the design side about functional occupancy. That's you know, it's really defined as simultaneous, you know, the the facility's simultaneous ability to accommodate, you know, um guests at any given time. And so you can actually service more folks at the same time with with less stuff if you know how to do it. But can't speak to the LEDs and all the rest of it. That's a preference issue, right? That's that's a branded element and you know, um, one that might work for a certain audience, but not necessarily others.

Yeah, I I think it's just the result of a good salesperson, to be honest with you. But that's that that happens a lot too much. Uh so you know, I want to get into the meat of it here. And, you know, you and I have had uh uh some great conversation conversations prior to this, and um, I've always really enjoyed them. It's very insightful. Uh, you know, you you referred to the spaces between home and gym. So, you know, specifically like work and and living communities and universities and things we've kind of alluded to already. But maybe if you can just help us understand that category a little bit better and how Active Solutions is is serving that space.

Yeah, I mean, I gosh, I I think this is I don't want to be true too dramatic, sort of the holy grail and what I mean by that um statement, right? It's a big statement, but you know, fitness or ability or access to exercise shouldn't be inconvenient. It shouldn't be something we have to go work to go get just to go work out. I, you know, I feel strongly about that. And so, you know, what does that mean? Um, you know, there are so many beautiful health club models and and boutique studio models that add tremendous value and, you know, in my view, are worth the inconvenience of having to get there, you know, having to, you know, making the intention to drive there and to set aside the time and go. Um, but there are a lot of others that fall short. And and even even for those that you know hit the mark, they come at a certain cost and um and and really time uh commitment. So I think we know that meeting people where they work, live, play, et cetera, is is an attractive, you know, offering if if you can provide access to meaningful, you know, um wellness-based modalities, you know, fitness, um, you know, recovery, so many things that, you know, fortunately today there's a greater awareness around the need for, but not necessarily, you know, the best ways to consume those things. Um, we're trying to advocate for our clients in hospitality, certainly multifamily, um, workplace wellness, um, you know, to look at fitness and look at an offering of an amenity, perhaps as you know, an engagement tool, a way to really, you know, keep folks um, you know, on property longer, right? You know, residents, guests, students, right? The goal is to maybe, you know, be their, hopefully their their source of truth, if if if not at least their source of convenience. And um I think we've learned that exercise is just not really optional or shouldn't be optional. So I think it's a big problem to solve, and that's where we're spending a lot of our time.

Yeah, and it's I I like it so much because I mean it's this wide open green space. I mean, traditionally we've always thought about fitness as like, okay, well, it has to be done in the gym. And then the last three years have just absolutely blown that model up, right? Like obviously, gyms had a hard time getting people in because people couldn't really go in. So that's one thing. But then people started to really start, you know, looking at different options from home to outdoors to, you know, um, just more non-traditional, which is awesome. And I think, you know, ultimately what what we always want as an industry is how do we access more people? And, you know, I think you and I have talked about this and I've talked about this numerous times in the other podcast. We could just call it the other 80%, right? The other 80% of our population that just doesn't seem to engage uh consistently with a health and and fitness routine. And in my mind, a lot of that comes down to uh reducing friction, right? Which is what you're talking about here too, is like if I if I can just instead of having to go to another place, I can just go to my place of work, you know, walk 20 feet down the hallway and there's a gym or a sauna or whatever it may be, or at home or in the park, or in the center of of the multifamily uh unit that I live in, you know, that's that's reducing friction significantly. And I I guess what I'm getting at is how how do you see these opportunities in this huge green space, as you know, as you would call it, the the spaces between home and gym, which is just a tremendous amount of territory that we can cover there. Yeah. Um how have you seen the effectiveness of getting to those other 80% and maybe who who's doing it really well?

Yeah, I well that's that I mean, that's a great question. That's really what to me it comes down to. How do you get to that other 80%? You you might argue, and I would, that it's it's larger than 80%. That terminology comes from folks like you and I that are immersed in this, and we we know that number because it's like, oh gosh, most we, you know, the the studies we've looked at or the data is typically, well, there's somewhere about 20% of hard-carrying health club members, right? You know, that that have a that have a membership to some gym. But I I you know, now you'd have to parse that with how many actually use it consistently. You know, you you hear the Planet Fitnesses of the world, which, you know, by all accounts are very successful, but they have a tendency to have a lower um visitation rate by far, you know, on a monthly basis. I think they publish that it's uh it's somewhere between three and four visits on average. And and I think we need more than that, right? So taking nothing away from their offering, which actually, quite frankly, they have tremendous equipment out of Planet Fitness, but you've got to be engaged, you've got to use it. And so that's that's what I'm passionate, um, most passionate about. And you know, back to these spaces where, again, we're already at, you know, whether it's the university facility or you know, the um the multifamily environment. I think what's so unique about those opportunities for those operators is that they have a much tighter or better defined constituency. They already know who, you know, more specifically their audience is. And for instance, if you live at a multifamily apartment community, well, you know, you have something in common with everybody else who lives there. You care about that space, you hope that the amenities are great. You perhaps like to meet the folks that live there, know your neighbors, and um, all of this good stuff. So, in some respects, they they have a true advantage. And the same goes for corporations, hopefully knowing their employees are looking to cater for them further, etc. And so they're sort of already there, they've got the infrastructure in place. Now, back in those late 90s, if you're gonna take me down that path, um, you know, everybody used to, you know, used to joke, every apartment community said we had a state-of-the-art fitness center, right? Um, I think that was an exaggeration for most. You know, most were a multi-station, maybe a couple pieces of cardio and good luck type of thing. Um, not necessarily well planned and and really um by extension, not adding a lot of value. So I don't think that a lot of those residents necessarily felt that they could get a complete workout or even an experience. Uh, I don't think there was much experience at that time in those types of amenitized environments. The same in hospitality, for instance, when you traveled um and they said they had this great gym. Um, I think today that has shifted because what we know about a lot of these um, you know, these modalities, things that you would do in a very large gym or a smaller version, um, the difference is typically more redundancy. It's like, well, we got 100 treadmills, or we got, you know, we got 150 pieces of cardio versus they only have five or six. But, you know, again, it's scale. And so it's not about, you know, there has to be a requisite diversity in the equipment types, the modalities, the zoning, and those are all things that can be accomplished, even in small amenities. But um, but it is about, you know, bigger factors that are driving participation. It is convenience, um, it is cost, it is accessibility, and that's how you get the other 80% or more at least to the door. You know, you get them to the door. Then we can talk about all the fun stuff about how we keep them there. But that that's critical. I think that's the number one problem to solve, and that is a distinct advantage for all of these non-traditional fitness environments um to participate.

Brian, maybe because because I I like to talk in in examples, but could you give us an example of you know something that Active Solutions uh has done as far as the design, and then maybe um, you know, between what you guys do in the design side, the operator, the community, like something that that you really would point to is like this is a great example of people who are getting the job done. Yeah. Uh, do you do you have anything come to mind there?

Several. I mean, I you know, I I think one that's very interesting, and you know, um I'm sort of proud of on both sides of the fence, if you will, the you know, the supply side with our active solutions, you know, product and kit, and then our our work at Fitness Design Group. Um, but I think of Hilton Hotels. So Hilton Hotels, we've been very, very fortunate and proud to partner with them for many years. Um and and I think you know that that's that that's multifaceted. So uh initially, before that we were ever involved or my companies were ever involved in in any sort of supply, we were engaged for the design. And um, interestingly enough, it wasn't for Fitness Center, it was for a concept that they really um had a lot of interest in pursuing, and it was in-room fitness, and it wasn't in-room fitness in the way that many hotel players had previously envisioned this, and this is prior to COVID, of course. Um, you know, there had been several examples of operators who said, Hey, come stay with us. We have a fitness kit. We'll bring you some balls and bands and some things up to your room if you request it at the front desk. Um, there were examples of that. There were, hey, we'll bring in a bike or a treadmill if you want one of those. People have done that from luxury to just full service brands um over time. Hilton set out and they said, hey, we want to actually design a guest room type, a fitness guest room. And so we were really fortunate to be engaged in that endeavor and helped them design a room and a program that they entitled Um Five Feet to Fitness. And that was a that that to this day exists, but that was a very interesting rollout where um actually a global rollout where you know they had envisioned um, you know, a fitness component to the guest experience within room. And that that's interesting because that was based upon guest feedback and and you know, not uh all sorts of different feedback, but uh female travelers, other folks that said, you know what, it's not even necessarily convenient in my view to go down to the fitness center and work out. So I want the accessibility in my room. If I got to do this, I want it here. Now there were female travelers that said, I don't feel comfortable necessarily um going down to the fitness center. Maybe I'm arriving late at night, a business traveler, and you know, could be the only one in there. That could be a concern. That's a deterrent maybe for me actually going and wanting to feel comfortable and exercising. Or maybe I'm traveling with um, you know, other coworkers and such, and you know, I don't want to go put on makeup or work out with my boss or whatever the case is. And so they actually got tremendous amount of feedback on that. So it's just a unique example of, again, a non-traditional area where you know we've been able to design an appropriate um solution, integrate digital content, which obviously is an important factor moving forward, and also create some congruency with fitness center itself, meaning that, you know, they found that um sometimes guests um you know were concerned about how busy some of the fitness centers would be. And in anticipation of that, said, Hey, I'd rather just uh pay a little extra and get my guests, you know, my gym and my room. It's really important to me. And I'm going to do that. And um and they even have programs like Hilton Honors and things where they'd upgrade those uh, you know, those guests for loyal, you know, these loyalty programs and and make that happen. So really proud of that. So I think that's a pretty neat example of where things continue to morph.

And uh that was really cool too, because I remember seeing this actually I think on Actives uh LinkedIn page about a poll that you did, and like 80% of people responded that they would love to have a fitness right in their room versus versus the actual hotel gym, which is fascinating. Uh it makes a lot of sense. And I for one point in time I thought there was gonna be like a tonal unit or a mirror unit in every you know, high up you know, upscale uh hotel, but I I don't know where that's gonna end up now given that it's a Q1 2023. What about corporate wellness, Brian? This is something that I'm um always keen on because I I've I've seen so many uh installations, activations of gyms and corporate wellness centers, and then and and nothing ever happens, right? Um it's just a nice thing that maybe if you're touring a potential employee that they check a box, but no one ever uses it. And how do you make those things successful from your experience from what you've seen, obviously after design and installation? Um, what have people done to make those usable and valuable? Yeah.

Yeah, corporate, corporate is tricky. Um you know, you're you're talking about very different sizes of organizations and uh accommodations, perhaps. So, you know, we're fortunate to work with pretty large operators, the Googles of the World, Facebook, other Apple groups that have, you know, multiple campuses and multiple fitness facilities. And, you know, that that's one way. And those are oftentimes pretty successful because, you know, they're at a scale and size that they've been able to bring in third-party operators, which, you know, really, uh especially in a lot of those progressive environments, are are tremendous because they're not just staffed, but you know, there's guidance, there's there's a commitment to, you know, sort of an integrated solution there where they can help people get on, you know, a fitness journey or stay on one and you know, just get a lot of resource and support. So those are fantastic models. And are, I would argue, some of the most comprehensive models in personal wellness uh that are that are at least affordable for um you know for for the average folks. Um and then there's you know, there's a lot of neat kind of stuff we do that's unsupervised and might be, you know, up-and-coming or mid-sized companies that you know aren't going to be able to be staffed, but have you know embraced digital guidance or other ways to create theme, um, camaraderie amongst employees, because that's really I think the the critical element. If you if you can get and create an opportunity where um you know fellow employees are also getting to know each other better through that, you know, um rooting each other on or you know, creating a sort of uh workout date, if you will, in between um the day. Those are all things that, yes, hopefully, hopefully the employers are saying, you know, this the health and wellness of our um, you know, our employees is going to directly benefit, you know, even selfishly, their own productivity and the way that they're measuring, you know, um, you know, engagement. But but hopefully it's also something where employees are going, you know, I this company, this works for me. You know, this works if I do have to, especially in the current moment that we're in, if I do have to come into the office or I am being required X amount of days, you know, I can really plan my day effectively. I can make this work, I can make this more experiential and I don't have to give up my workout because my commute was so long today and I just didn't have enough time. So lot, lots of facets there, but it is tricky because most corporations are a one-off, you know. Most of them are, you know, you can't really necessarily scale um a model. So we need to go in and you know and and look at something more prescriptive and specific for that environment.

Yeah, interesting. And I mean, it you you've got the opportunity to work with some great brands and uh you know, one of the announcements that I saw over the last few months, I can't remember exactly what it was. Time just goes too fast now, Brian. Uh the uh partnership with exponential fitness. So tell tell us about that. That was that's a big one.

That's something you know we're really excited about and and has just begun to really take off. Um announcement we made um towards the end of last year in partnership with with Exponential. Um, you know, I know I know you're familiar with a lot of the folks there. They've done just a tremendous job with the focus on obviously boutique studio um operation at a global scale across, you know, 10 unique brands. And if we're not careful, they might add another one while we're on the podcast. They just keep growing and they're just you know, so but the reason why the the partnership is uh it's it's you know, we're partnering on the active side with them. The reason why it makes so much sense is because you know, active is really focused obviously on the physical and the physicalization of you know the fitness environment. And that's what we do best, you know, in terms of creating the plan, creating the requisite products and flooring solutions and the environment. And what Exponential clearly is is fantastic with is creating that guided component that I spoke about. You know, I've spoken about several times here and and and you know, to their credit. And I know, you know, Garrett Marshall over there on the you know, their their digital side is just done an absolute tremendous job of digitizing the brands, each of those 10 brands, into what they call their X plus um, you know, platform, which they released, I think, in the middle of COVID or just before COVID. Timing was good, I think, there, or you know, an extension of the of the live experience that they that they obviously offer brick and mortar. So they've created a digital platform where you could um, you know, anybody in the privacy or loan home could enjoy this content over these 10 really authentic brands. And our partnership is is special because we've actually um incorporated that content into our various form factors. You know, we're really known for uh our gym racks, Bays, you know, they're smart, we call it smart rigging, but you know, storage, suspension, and creating a way to integrate that content right where you need it, you know, functionally to perform any number of these modalities that, of course, exponential are uh well known for, from boxing again to, you know, pilates, yoga, um, even dance. It's it's just it's such a great combination. And so we're just rolling these out now. But the feedback, you know, the feedback's been tremendous and it gives us a unique opportunity for those um environments, much of which we've spoken about today, that are these, you know, where fitness is not their core competency. And we can, you know, we can really facilitate the next best thing to live instruction. And make no mistake about it, live instruction, the boutique environment. If you're fortunate enough to be there and get there and can afford it, it's it's the best experience. But but second to that is is this curated, you know, digital experience with all the right equipment and tools that you need to actually follow along and feel like the physical and the virtual have become one.

Yeah, it's okay. Maybe you can unpack that a little bit more too, Brian. Like give us an example. Like, would this be um, you know, you're you're rolling some of these these partnership locations out, would it be like in a in a living community? So I would walk in, you know, to like the uh, you know, whatever's in my living community, a small gym, and then there's a boxing bag, and then there's content delivered right above it. Like, what is what does that actually look like for the consumer?

Yeah, yeah, it really is. It's a it's a commercialized solution. So it's something where, you know, if you walked into, you know, the hotel gym, for instance, and you um, you know, obviously you'd be looking around, you'd see your cardio, you'd see your strength, but hopefully what you'd see is this new sort of space. You know, we we we kind of casually refer to it as a boutique in a box where it's a drop-in solution, right? It's not just equipment, but it's the floor coverings. It's even the wall coverings that are themed with, you know, the exponential branded elements. And and then you'd see, you know, what you know, we call bays, which are just you know areas for the equipment where the um the kiosks that you would interact with with these guided content solutions um present themselves. So you really um can walk into this space, feel like it's been stylized, feel like really um, hopefully, you know, your expectations have been a bit exceeded from what you might have thought you were just walking into um with that hotel gym. And now you're into you know, a really tailored space that feels good. It's got the right flooring material in there for that type, those type of uh modalities, and you can just dial up whatever you want to do. Maybe you want to hit training workout today, but maybe you want to finish that with uh with a recovery um component, or the next day you want to just come in and get yoga, and you know, you're talking about world-class instruction, but you don't have to switch your environment in the environment, basically adapts around your preferences. So pretty cool.

Yeah, that's great. And and Gary Marshall, uh, he knows what he's doing. So uh shout out to that guy. He's a he's been on the show numerous times. Uh I want to get squeeze one more topic in here, too, because I it's really something of interest to me. And I obviously the the pandemic made it grow significantly factor faster than would have on its own, but outdoor fitness. Um that means a lot of things, right? It's a very broad category from you know simply taking a walk outside to engaging in you know public parks um and some of the amenities that may have. But overall, what how how do you look at that category and and what makes you excited about it?

Yeah, um, you know, so much of our work is with private groups, you know, private companies. Um what really makes me excited is about it is that I think it's it's a really important way to create better public access to you know quality adult fitness equipment. You know, I joke a lot about this, but it's not really funny if you think about it. But you know, it'd be a little creepy for adults to be exercising on the kids' playground, right? So we'd have we trying to, you know, but but if you look at a lot of parks and areas, you know, we've all seen some of these things. I think they're, you know, they predate the 90s. I'd say the 70s, where you had these like kind of running courses and you'd stop and you'd just do a little something over there, a little something there. And but most of that infrastructure hasn't held up or is just sort of you know past its time. Um, we we've envisioned, you know, a way that um folks can really, you know, adults can exercise outdoors that, you know, again, is is is around their their interest level or their elements, but it but it defined defining space for it. So I think you know, we have a lot of unique solutions for it, but more generally, you know, there's such an opportunity, again, you know, for all the bad things that COVID has has certainly brought us, it created awareness around other things. And, you know, ironically, that was just getting outside. And um, you know, this is I think a movement that is uh not going away. I think people are not only interested in exercising outdoors, but they're willing to brave the elements a bit further than maybe they thought they could or were used to in the past to you know really achieve the den uh the benefits of being, you know, among nature. And and you know, you just don't need a lot of fancy equipment to do that. You do need, um, whether it's a public facility or a private corporation or a building that you know has a courtyard, you have to create, you do have to create some sort of intention and design around that if you expect people to just know where you know they should exercise, you know. Um that's not always as um obvious as some of these operators might might think. And we've heard a lot of funny stories from clients of ours, especially during COVID, where people just were trying to find anywhere and anything they could exercise with. And uh that wasn't exactly what it was designed for, and that's created other uh unintended consequences. But yeah, I I I think I think access to the outdoors and inviting people and making sure everybody knows it's okay, and here's how to do it is critical moving forward.

Yeah, and maybe you could give us uh I always like examples, but give us an example of someone who's doing outdoor fitness well, um, you know, one of your partners or clientele, because you know, I I think there's so many factors that go into that being successful, right? I think weather, we'll just say that that's pretty obvious one. Um, the type of community, the type of um maybe the you know, uh the local, you know, socioeconomics of an area. What what have you seen has made outdoors fitness successful?

Yeah, I mean, we're seeing a lot of really unique examples. I mean, you know, friends of ours that we intend to collaborate with, but there's a group um called Fit Truck, and you know, they've created a mobile solution where you know they could show up. Uh, in fact, they're they're franchising these things and they're creating other, you know, economic um, you know, constructs around how this can be done. But you know, we're talking about a mobilized solution that has all the equipment you might need, including digital integration, when they open up the flaps on the side of the trucks and and park that someplace and and create an activation. So, you know, that's something, again, people were really even thinking about pre-COVID. And now it's like, well, hey, maybe that's maybe that's a really neat tool. Again, meeting people where they might be. Maybe it's a Saturday morning pulling up to a local park. So that's a great example. Um, we've created uh, you know, we talked about public access, you know, some of the solutions that Active has today are really some pretty neat um space definers and in areas where people can get and get up on bridging or you know, be able to connect uh suspended tools and go to the park and meet with friends and bring their own equipment, you know. So you don't necessarily have the goal is not, you know, especially in the public environment, it's tough. You know, you don't have to solve for everything. You do have to solve for, you know, direction and you know, safe space to perform exercise, but you can create a, you know, you can create something where people, especially today, they're bringing their own content with them, they can bring their own equipment at times and and partake at really low cost. So yeah, we're seeing just um just just just a ton of stuff. And and and then we see it in, we we do see it in um in multifamily as well. Again, you know, if you think about multifamily, if you think about it, even in the large health clubs, we haven't spent a lot of time talking about that today, but many large health clubs have also made you know great strides in converting um adjacent outdoor space as well. I mean, it might have started like a parking lot and and in COVID, it it was one, right? And they just put equipment out there. But today, you know, many operators have leaned into that and said, well, wait a second. You know, we have a lot of members who love being outdoors or want to be, you know, have both. Maybe it is more weather dependent and sort of have put up, you know, canopies or other shelters or put in some floor covering that now, you know, creates an extension of the of the indoor space because, you know, really just from an operational perspective, whether you are in the business of fitness directly or it's an amenity for you, you're not gonna get a lower cost of square, you know, square footage than actually extending outdoors, right? So I think it's a great way to increase your, you know, your your constituency or your user accommodate accommodation and and uh you know, mix it up. So I it's for sure here to stay. There's so many good examples of it. I think we're just beginning. Um, and um, we spent a lot of time planning, planning for outdoor spaces at Active right now.

And it's it's a powerful category. I mean, I you know, just from personal experience too, having been a gym owner, um, you know, we the easiest way for us to add space was going outdoors, and we did, you know, and it was Santa Barbara, California. So obviously, outdoor weather was uh very friendly. But also, you know, I think from the perspective of you know, independents, uh, you know, personal trainers and coaches, or even just independent gyms, outdoor is a great way to build a following. I mean, uh, you look at David Stapleton, what he's done at Bua Fit, which is part of Center of Wellness, um, over in the UK, and you know, a lot of these trainers are doing outdoor fitness and they're being discovered through, you know, David's platform and organize that way too. They can organize their whole business that way.

Right.

But they have a great, they're making it, they're doing a great living. They have this following, and you know, people go into parks or you know, I used to do stuff at the gym, um, you know, just have a big beach workout, and that was a big promotion. And we put our banners up and all kinds of stuff. It's it's a really useful tool once you start getting creative with it. And, you know, you can just hold a lot of people, you can get a lot of attention, and you can have a great experience for people. And that's that's something that you know is really valuable as a as an independent. So yeah, I'm I'm a huge fan of outdoor fitness. I think it's uh it's it's not leveraged nearly enough, in my opinion.

No, but it is the perfect solution for that sort of creator economy and you know, really having having these great fitness professionals, you know, not necessarily have to, you know, build their own their own gym or do whatever, but remain flexible and and and you know, perhaps more nimble and activating outdoor solutions or spaces where they have access to you know bring folks together. Um, I I think it's a whole other element that's incredible. Um and again, I think we're just seeing the emergence of it. But I've seen so much creative stuff. You know, you mentioned Santa Barbara, our corporate offices are in Santa Monica, and you know, you can go down the street and you're you're gonna see all sorts of people working out together or or you know with their trainers and all sorts of stuff. So yeah, yeah, that that's that that's here to stay.

Uh one thing I want to touch on, because you've been in the industry for for a little while. Um, and I I noticed that you you posted something that, you know, it's a great time to be in the fitness industry. And I don't disagree. I I think it is. It's I've been in it for 15 years. I think it's one of the better times to be in the industry. But you know, from your perspective over your career so far, Brian, what why do you think, what do you think makes this time um so special?

Well, you know, again, I think it's the elements of we've been through a moment, you know, I I hate to say, I hate to use the term COVID more than twice in any conversation these days, but I I, you know, we it's so it's affected us so much that, you know, every, you know, it's forced people to rethink, you know, about their priorities, about their health and wellness, and and especially understanding that, you know, probably the one of the greatest defenses they would have against, you know, the next pathogen or what have you. So, you know, I I I prefer to be optimistic. It's been a difficult time in the fitness industry. We've seen great successes and and and great drops, you know, from these connected devices and the Pelotons of the world that, you know, seemed untouchable to now, you know, far more touchable, right? And and you know, we've seen the gyms that you know struggled so immensely because because of the uh the regulations couldn't open their doors or people didn't feel safe, and so many things. So it's not been easy, but I think that the reason why you know I'm so positive about it is because there's more awareness around how important it is to for self-care and for health and wellness. Um, and so I think the demand side for which we're just gonna talk about it from a business perspective, the demand side is is overwhelming. It's immense. You know, um we we have to figure out better ways to you know accommodate and build value in in each and every way, because some people really are going to love and always love going to the gym because that operator has done you know just a tremendous job in terms of creating the experience, creating the constituency, you know, making something sticky, reducing the friction, as you say, um, all those things. And and they should be rewarded for that. And there's gonna be plenty of folks that are gonna want to go do that. And then there's gonna be, you know, everybody in between. Some are gonna continue to do that, but some would like the convenience a couple days a week to, you know, get their cardio in or get whatever it is they think they can maybe do more localized, etc. And so we all need to consume as much of this movement as we possibly can. So I'm bullish on it. And you know, I just try to spend a lot of our time focused on facilitation thereof and and and you know, helping operators um or those that are building home gyms, you know, get what fits them, fits their needs, fits their um audience so that we can make sure that you know people stick with it, right? And we can actually not only get that 20% up to 30% or whatever the case is uh of consistent, continuous activation or participation, and get a lot of the other folks that you know know they need to do something but haven't found their path yet.

Yeah, well said. Well said. And you know, ultimately, I think what we've seen over the past few years is just change, you know, whether we like the reasons that it happened or not. Anytime there's change, there's opportunity. And you know, things get shaken up and people change attitudes and behaviors uh shift. And that that presents, you know, uh opportunities for innovation. And that that's one of the things I've been so keen on over the last few years is I I've just seen so much innovation in our industry from something that, you know, to be honest, was a little stale here and there. So um it's it's a I agree, it's a very exciting time. And um, Brian, the the last question I have for you.

always ask is you know in the spirit of collaboration like what what is act what do you need right now um for your companies like what how would you who would you like to hear from and and what would you like to talk about you know I think for us the lifeblood of of this whole fitness industry is is is really the um you know the teachers the instructors the the people that are making a difference um in you know delivering guidance delivering workouts and so for us I mean we we're constantly you know looking to understand better you know what their needs are what what what is the right environment for them to operate within what are the difference makers that they need what don't they need you know what's not as you said you know um things are modernizing you know what's not serving them further because you know they really are they need to be the trusted source we're creating environment and experience if we're doing it well you know around you know an ethos and and and so I think that that's the opportunity so for us you know we're looking to collaborate and connect with folks like that we'd love to you know we do get a lot of people that reach us and have a vision for building a great new facility or a new way and you know some of them get funded and some of them don't but you know more generally I think that those are the folks that are influencing you know what maybe um the clubs they work for or the unique corporations that they might be engaged with as their trusted source for fitness um you know those those are those are the people that we enjoy working with because we feel that that's that's at least our source of truth and what we wanted to find spaces around because we don't want to just make something pretty we want the efficacy there we want the you know the longstanding results and engagement for anybody who might participate in that way uh or within one of those spaces or at home so yeah that's that's to me the you know the foundation so uh come one come all we we like to we like to partner we like to collaborate and we like to learn awesome and and Brian if people want to get a hold of you or if you'd like them to go somewhere specific online but uh what say you where would you like people to go well you you were joking with me about I have too many uh too many companies we founded what have you but they certainly can find us through uh you know activesolutions.com a k t i v of course active solutions um or our design group you know fitnessdesign group dot com and you know um yeah we uh we're out there and we're we're we're growing and um we're hoping we're making differences with the businesses awesome and and I know you're pretty active on LinkedIn too so people can follow you there.

Brian it's it's been a pleasure man uh you know it's funny how fast time flies in these interviews and it's like I look at the clock I'm like whoa uh I gotta give this guy his his time back. Um but it was an absolute pleasure and I I really appreciate what you guys are doing there at Active and you're you're forming some really strong partnerships and working with a lot of great brands and uh sounds like a really exciting company to be US. So um yeah appreciate your time and ladies and gentlemen Brian Green thank you Eric so it was just a pleasure and uh keep doing the great stuff you're doing here.

I love the diversity of uh your content and um you know really it's it's uh you know proud to proud to join you here today.

Right on. I'll keep doing it people keep listening. Hey wait don't leave yet this is your host Eric Malzone and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future If minutes 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 or iTunes Spotify Cat Box whatever it may be number two please leave us a favorable review. Number three, share put on social media, talk about it to your friends, send it in a text message or whatever it may be, please share this episode because we put a lot of work into it and 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 feature of fitness dot you can subscribe to our newsletter there or you can simply get in touch with me as I'd love to hear from our listeners. So thank you so much. This is Eric Malzone and this is the feature of fitness have a great day