Bryan Myers - Solidcore & Evolutions Of The Fitness Consumer

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[00:02:20] It's great to have you here. I'm in Sol Corp. I've been in the news mostly positively

[00:02:27] over the last year. A lot of really good things happening. It seems like you're in a really

[00:02:31] good spot to grow this thing. You have a lot of great insights and also,

[00:02:37] of course, you're going to be speaking at the Connected Health and Fitness Summit

[00:02:40] coming up in 2024. We'll get into what that topic is. Just to plug in now,

[00:02:45] if people want to join that conference, it's very intimate. It's very pointed. It's very valuable.

[00:02:54] And of course, you can get a discount with F-O-F-10 if you go to the website as well.

[00:02:58] So, I'll throw that out there. But Brian, man, so much to talk about with you. Let's just

[00:03:02] start with your background. You've been with Sol Corp for five years, right? But you do have

[00:03:08] a vast background. So let's get into that, set the table a little bit and then we'll get

[00:03:11] into all the things we want to discuss today. Absolutely. Again, thanks for having me, Eric.

[00:03:17] Excited to be here. I'm glad to hear that you're only hearing good things out there

[00:03:22] about me in the marketplace. It's an expensive reputation management that I'm doing,

[00:03:27] paying all these people off. But I'm glad that it's working. Good to have you.

[00:03:32] Exactly. Yeah, so different than frankly a lot of people in the fitness industry,

[00:03:38] which I didn't know before I got into this industry, but a lot of people in this industry,

[00:03:42] I would say we're kind of like born and raised in it and started their careers,

[00:03:47] many of them as personal trainers and then worked their way up in the club and then started to

[00:03:51] manage one club and then manage multiple and then have these amazing roles now

[00:03:57] for some of the biggest brands out there in fitness. I did not find my way into fitness

[00:04:03] through that path. I started my career in business, so I graduated with an undergraduate

[00:04:10] degree in business and I immediately went into business strategy consulting at one of the large

[00:04:17] consulting firms and I did that for about five years, had an incredible time. It allowed me to

[00:04:23] really build my toolkit of skills that helped me think through how to solve business problems

[00:04:29] and business challenges and how to go after large business opportunities. I then had a little bit

[00:04:35] of an entrepreneurial itch after doing that for five years and wanted to take that toolkit that

[00:04:39] I had kind of developed at BCG into quote the real world and have my first sort of big boy job.

[00:04:48] And I did that with a brand called Sweetgreen, which here in the United States is now a relatively

[00:04:56] well-known brand in the health and wellness space from a food perspective. But at the time that I

[00:05:01] joined the company was actually a pretty small regional player. And so I joined the team,

[00:05:06] they had just taken their first major round of private equity funding and I got to be a part

[00:05:11] of that leadership team as we grew and scaled that concept from the regional player here in

[00:05:16] the DC metro area to the national brand that it has become. It's now a public company

[00:05:22] and has gone off to be really successful as a brand. I was doing that and frankly having a great

[00:05:29] time and while I was doing it, I had found this workout called Solid Core. The workout,

[00:05:36] frankly I should say it found me because it was a buddy of mine from college who was one of the

[00:05:42] early coaches at Solid Core and he was like you've got to come try this workout. It's

[00:05:47] insane. It's like nothing that you've ever done and at the time I was running a few days a week,

[00:05:52] working out with a personal trainer a time or two a week and then doing some of my own kind

[00:05:57] of gym workouts. So I was pretty physically active. I thought I was in pretty good shape and he kept

[00:06:03] being like you got to come do this workout with me. And so one day I finally was like okay,

[00:06:06] great I'll come do it and I did it and it absolutely humbled me, Eric. I was like

[00:06:12] I cannot believe what I just went through and truth be told it took me a few months before I came back

[00:06:20] because I was just like whatever that was, I don't need it. But once I did come back,

[00:06:27] it became this constant in my life. Like I was traveling a lot when I was at Sweet Green

[00:06:33] and then whenever I would go to a market where there's a Solid Core, I would look for it or

[00:06:37] even if I went to a market where there wasn't Solid Core, I looked for the closest thing

[00:06:40] to it. It became the place that I went where I was when I was stressed, it became the place

[00:06:44] that I went when I wanted time to myself and of course it was a kickass workout.

[00:06:49] And so fast forward a few years after spending time at Sweet Green and helping to grow that

[00:06:53] concept, I got introduced to Anne who was the founder of Solid Core and it was a similar

[00:06:59] story. She had just taken her first round of private equity funding and was looking to grow

[00:07:02] and scale this from being kind of a pretty DC focused brand at the time to being kind of

[00:07:09] a national footprint. And it was this perfect marriage between a skill set that I had and developed

[00:07:14] in a passion of mine, which was the Solid Core workout in the Solid Core community. And five

[00:07:21] and a half years later, I've been here ever since. Awesome man. What was it about the Solid Core

[00:07:27] experience? Like as a consumer, you know, the workout, everything like what was it about it

[00:07:32] that really kind of entrapped you? There are a few things Eric that I would say first and

[00:07:38] foremost and it's, I always say this when I talk about Solid Core and it's frankly sad that in our

[00:07:43] industry that we have to say this sometimes but it's that the workout works. When you go there

[00:07:49] and you show up for 50 minutes, you actually get an amazing workout that's going to transform

[00:07:56] your body and help make you stronger. And so that was thing number one was just that when

[00:08:00] I showed up there over the course of 50 minutes, I knew I was going to walk out of that room

[00:08:05] having gained strength that I didn't have when I walked into it. The second was, as I mentioned,

[00:08:10] you know, I was running sometimes, I was working out at the gym sometimes, I was doing a little

[00:08:15] bit of boutique fitness. And the thing that I loved about Solid Core is that it gave me a really

[00:08:21] well rounded workout. And so we go through, you know, all of the major muscle groups

[00:08:26] of the body. So we're doing upper body, we're doing core, we're doing obliques,

[00:08:29] we're doing lower body, but we're not just working out the muscles that you typically

[00:08:33] work out. So we're not just doing glute and hamstring or sorry, glute and quad focused workouts,

[00:08:39] which is what you get in a lot of other fitness activities. But we're doing things like we're

[00:08:43] working on your inner thighs, those stabilizer muscles that you don't normally work when you're

[00:08:48] doing other workouts, we're actually working out not just your center glutes for working out,

[00:08:52] your outer glutes, those things that help keep you in balance and keep you stable so that it

[00:08:58] prevents injury as you're doing other things. And so I love the well rounded nature of the workout.

[00:09:05] And then lastly is the community, the Solid Core community, I liken it to a brother or sisterhood.

[00:09:10] It's not the community that's like where you go to see and be seen. That's not what our community

[00:09:15] is about. Our community is a collective of people who all have a deep commitment to

[00:09:22] create the strongest version of themselves. And that doesn't just mean when they come

[00:09:26] into a Solid Core studio, it's actually how they live their life in every aspect. And so

[00:09:32] being surrounded by this collective of like minded, really passionate, hardworking people

[00:09:38] always kept me inspired. And so as a consumer, like I said, once I got over kind of the

[00:09:45] the fact that I wasn't great at the workout the first time around, it definitely kept me hooked.

[00:09:50] Right on man, right on. That's great. Great story. And I want to maybe give us an overview

[00:09:55] of the last year. I was doing a little bit of research, a lot has gone on. There's been a lot

[00:09:59] of excitement, a lot of change with Solid Core. So maybe just summarize some of the high points

[00:10:05] of the last year and just so people know this is Q3 2023 that we're recording right now.

[00:10:10] Absolutely. So I will rewind actually a little bit further and say when I came on board five

[00:10:17] and a half years ago, I started as COO and about two and a half years ago our founder

[00:10:21] transitioned out of the business from a day-to-day management perspective and I became the CEO.

[00:10:27] And what we've done over that period has really been what I would really call a transformation

[00:10:35] of the business as we go from where we were to the next level. And so some of the things that

[00:10:42] we've done over the last year, one is we expanded to the West Coast, which was a huge

[00:10:49] untapped market for us, but a market that we knew that if we were going to go, we had to do it right

[00:10:55] because it's a highly competitive fitness market. So we launched in LA, we launched in Seattle,

[00:11:01] and we announced that we are coming to the Bay Area. So that West Coast expansion has been huge.

[00:11:09] The other thing that we did is we crossed the threshold of 100 locations,

[00:11:14] which was a major milestone. When I joined this company five and a half years ago,

[00:11:17] that was actually the milestone that Ann laid out that she wanted to achieve, which was like,

[00:11:21] how do I get this company to 100 locations? And we were able to successfully hit that milestone,

[00:11:27] which was huge for us. So we now operate about 105 locations across 27 states and the District

[00:11:33] of Columbia. And then really, really excitingly, we went through a financial transaction earlier

[00:11:39] this year. So in the spring of 2023, our founder officially fully transitioned. She had already

[00:11:48] transitioned from a leadership perspective, but she financially transitioned the company to

[00:11:52] private equity ownership. And so we are now majority owned by a private equity firm out

[00:11:58] of San Francisco called VMG. And then we have a minority private equity sponsor called Colberg

[00:12:05] Company out of New York. And while, of course, that transaction was a huge moment for our founder

[00:12:12] as a female entrepreneur, there aren't very many people who, one, build a company that can endure

[00:12:18] for 10 years. Two, build a company that can get to the size and scale that solid core has.

[00:12:23] And three, get to that level of financial exit. So it was a major milestone for her

[00:12:28] and frankly what that represented for all female entrepreneurs out there.

[00:12:32] And I would also say it was an incredible moment for our industry. Since COVID, there really hadn't

[00:12:39] been any significant private equity transactions within the boutique fitness space. And the

[00:12:46] reason that that was is because all of the boutique fitness companies were really struggling and

[00:12:52] just trying to pay their bills and trying to keep their doors open and trying to keep staff

[00:12:55] on payroll. So any of the deals that you saw get done were frankly more distressed type deals.

[00:13:02] And the solid core transaction, I think marked a major turning point in our industry where we got

[00:13:08] to be the one to proclaim on behalf of an industry that boutique fitness is back. And it's not just

[00:13:14] about solid core being back, but you're seeing it in all of our peers that the industry has

[00:13:18] really recuperated to and for many of us beyond where we were pre-COVID. So that was an

[00:13:24] incredible, really exciting milestone, not just for the company, but for the industry.

[00:13:28] Yeah. Oh, that's great. That's great. I mean, I'm a huge fan of boutique and just kind of

[00:13:33] kind of sidenote when you look at the macro picture of where boutique is. I mean, a lot of

[00:13:38] different opinions. One opinion is like large health clubs, especially with the consolidation

[00:13:43] phase that we seem to be in now, they're taking boutique experiences under their roof

[00:13:49] and they're trying to recreate them. Now, will they ever be as good as the actual boutique?

[00:13:52] No, probably not, right? They just won't be. But it gives some of those consumers like,

[00:13:56] well, I can do a spinning class there. I can do a glass. I can do a body. It's not going to be as

[00:14:02] high quality maybe as not maybe, it just probably won't be as a solid course than the other ones.

[00:14:08] So what do you think about that particular trend? Is it something that you think is a true and

[00:14:14] B, do you think it's something no worthy as you kind of strategize moving forward?

[00:14:19] It's an important trend that we certainly keep our eye on as a business.

[00:14:24] I tend to agree with you, Eric, in that part of what makes us special is that we do what we do.

[00:14:31] It's all that we do and we do it really, really well. And so the people who are coming to boutique

[00:14:37] who are paying a premium price point to have that experience expect that type of experience.

[00:14:43] They expect the operator to do what they do, focus on what they do and do it really,

[00:14:49] really, really well. And so while the big box players may start to emulate a little bit of what

[00:14:55] some of us in the boutique fitness space are doing, I think they're always going to have that gap

[00:15:00] of being able to really demonstrate that value. And so for the discerning consumer who wants

[00:15:05] that level of experience, I think boutique is always going to be there for them and be the

[00:15:11] option of choice. That being said, I'm also not one of these people that looks around

[00:15:15] at our industry and looks at everyone else like they're the boogeyman that's going to

[00:15:22] ultimately disrupt our business. There are a lot of people who are not physically active at all

[00:15:30] and even more who are physically active but not as physically active as they should be per

[00:15:36] the CDC or that they want to be. And so there are so many consumers out there that represent

[00:15:44] opportunities for all of us. And so as I look at the landscape, I think it's amazing that big box

[00:15:50] shims are doing what they're doing. I think it's also amazing that we're doing what we're doing

[00:15:54] because at the end of the day, we are trying to create a more healthy society and is going to take

[00:16:00] all of us showing up and meeting the consumer where they are in order to be able to do that.

[00:16:04] Yeah. Well said. Well, let's get in, Brian, to some of the topics that you and I had

[00:16:10] talked about earlier. And maybe this coincides with what we just talked about because I'm just

[00:16:16] curious, coming out of the pandemic, boutique was hurting. You guys obviously saw some success.

[00:16:23] I mean, coming out of that huge financial transaction and an exit for the founder,

[00:16:28] what were the qualities of Salicorn that allowed that to happen as opposed to some of the other

[00:16:35] boutique brands in the marketplace? It's a great question. And it's one that I think

[00:16:41] a lot about because it's these qualities that I think ultimately become the competitive advantages

[00:16:51] that this business has that we need to continue to build on. But they honestly, Eric, map back to

[00:16:57] the things that I loved as a consumer. At the end of the day, during the pandemic, across all

[00:17:05] aspects of life, what we observed was what I have sort of myself described as a flight to quality.

[00:17:13] And what I mean by that is if you were going to go do something in the middle of the pandemic,

[00:17:19] it really had to be worth it. Right? And so if you were going to go hang out with friends,

[00:17:25] they really had to be friends that you truly wanted to spend time with. We weren't really doing

[00:17:29] the casual, like, oh, I see you once a year. Let's get drinks. You aren't doing that anymore.

[00:17:35] It was like the people who you really cared about. And I use that as an analogy because it was very

[00:17:40] true for that aspect of our lives socially. But it also was true as we explored products and

[00:17:46] services. And so at the end of the day, people came back to Solidcore because it was a product

[00:17:53] that really works. It was a product that if they were going to spend 50 minutes,

[00:17:58] they were going to spend X dollars doing something, they wanted it to be worth their time. They

[00:18:03] wanted it to be worth their money. And that is the ultimate value proposition is to have

[00:18:08] a product or service that truly needs the consumer need. So that's thing one.

[00:18:13] Thing two, we offer something that other fitness outlets and approaches to working out

[00:18:21] don't necessarily offer. We offer a full body workout in every class that you can get in 50

[00:18:27] minutes, five zero. So it's a highly efficient, really effective workout. And again, we're working

[00:18:35] those muscle groups that you may not work as you're working out by yourself at the gym or

[00:18:39] as you're doing some of the other boutique fitness modalities. And so we create a niche

[00:18:44] for ourselves that serves a very unique purpose. Hey friends, Eric Malzone here. I've had the honor

[00:18:51] of interviewing over 750 professionals across the fitness, health and wellness industries.

[00:18:56] There's one thing I know for sure. Without a doubt, there is a tremendous opportunity to

[00:19:01] leverage a highly valuable and relatively untapped network of independent podcasters

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[00:19:11] consumer trust is low. I've seen the results firsthand and can assure you there's a much

[00:19:15] better way to connect with your target audience and emerge as a thought leader in our industry.

[00:19:20] That's exactly why I've launched a podcast collective, the ultimate solution designed to

[00:19:25] empower executives, founders and thought leaders in the fitness, health and wellness sectors.

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[00:20:09] podcastcollective.io to learn more and contact me directly. That's podcastcollective.io.

[00:20:20] And then of course, there is a community aspect of it, which again, people really,

[00:20:26] really value being connected, having that connection, having that accountability when

[00:20:30] you show up in the studio space, having a coach who knows and says your name throughout

[00:20:34] class, giving that neighbor a high five at the end of class because you're like,

[00:20:38] holy crap, we just made it through that workout. That's really, really special

[00:20:43] for people and was also a reason that people came back. Now on a macro standpoint, so those are

[00:20:48] things that are sort of unique to us and things that we control. On a macro standpoint, I will

[00:20:52] also say two things coming out of the pandemic. One is people looked for workouts that they

[00:20:59] couldn't do at home. And because our workout is done on a customer former that is almost

[00:21:05] 11 feet long, weighs a couple hundred pounds. It's really, really hard to replicate at home.

[00:21:10] Most people frankly don't even have the physical space to have the machine at their house to

[00:21:14] replicate the experience. And so that of course was insulating for us as a business. And then

[00:21:21] two, on the other side of the pandemic, people have recognized that strength training

[00:21:28] and pursuing workouts that are strength based like solid core is, is not only valuable for of

[00:21:35] course building strength today, perhaps physical transformation if that's what you're after,

[00:21:40] but frankly is the most critical thing that you can do or longevity. So when you look at

[00:21:47] all cause mortality and you study the data, what you see is that strength training

[00:21:53] is one of the leading contributors to people living long, healthy productive lives. I think

[00:22:01] people are becoming more and more aware of that and are focused more on that on the other side

[00:22:06] of the pandemic than they were heading into it. Yeah, it is exciting. The pickup and strength

[00:22:11] based training is super exciting to me. It's come up in this conversation, in this podcast

[00:22:18] numerous times in conversations and especially in the female demographic, young female demographic.

[00:22:23] I think that's really cool. My mom, she's 85, she's not a gym goer. She just started doing

[00:22:30] some strength training this week and she's like, I feel, she's like, what? I'm like,

[00:22:36] that's called being a little sore. It's a good thing. She's like, I feel good after work up,

[00:22:42] but now I'm aching. Like yeah, that's part of the process. And so it's never too late,

[00:22:47] I think, which is really cool too. You know one of the things that we want to get into here,

[00:22:53] you mentioned it so it's a nice dovetail, a community, something that you guys have

[00:22:57] really intentionally built at Solacorn. When you're, can't remember if you're speaking

[00:23:01] independently or on a panel, I think connect health and fitness in a panel, building loyalty,

[00:23:07] community and motivation. Those are like a couple big words that can mean a lot of things.

[00:23:12] Right? But let's start with community. What does that mean to you? And I always like to

[00:23:18] kind of reference, because my background was CrossFit. That was my first gym. I was like,

[00:23:22] oh, I'm in CrossFit. And I think if there's one thing, whatever you could, whatever you want

[00:23:26] to say about CrossFit, you can say that really proved out that community is a very,

[00:23:31] very powerful thing, not just for branding, but for actual retention and referrals and

[00:23:39] just building the business. So when you think about community in such a broad term,

[00:23:45] how do you guys intentionally going about building what's critical and doing that well?

[00:23:49] It's a great question. And your right community can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. At

[00:23:54] the heart of what it means to me is a group of people who have a shared set of experiences

[00:24:04] and who use that shared set of experiences to forge deeper interpersonal connection.

[00:24:10] And so to me, that is how I think about community and what we at Solid Core strive to build.

[00:24:18] When you walk into a Solid Core class for the first time, the first person that you're

[00:24:24] going to meet is going to be your coach. They're the person who's going to guide you

[00:24:28] through the entire experience because they're going to stand shoulder to shoulder and share

[00:24:33] that experience with you. They're going to walk you into the room where we do the workout,

[00:24:36] and they're going to introduce you to your neighbors. And a part of that is helping you

[00:24:42] know that you're not in this alone, that the experience that you're about to go through

[00:24:47] as challenging as it may be, as foreign as it may be, if you've never done anything like it,

[00:24:51] you're not doing this alone. You're doing it with other people who are there to inspire,

[00:24:57] who are there to motivate, who are there to encourage you, not compete with you.

[00:25:02] When you're in the actual act of the class, you hear your name because in communities we

[00:25:08] recognize one another. We are not anonymous when we are a part of a community. And so it's

[00:25:14] really important for us to feel like we are seen. And so it's actually a requirement

[00:25:19] that our coaches are trained on that you are required to say every client's name

[00:25:24] on a number of occasions. And it's not just like, great job, Eric. It's like speaking something

[00:25:28] specific to what you are doing. So it's not me just knowing you're in the room, but me actually

[00:25:34] seeing what you were doing and why I should be shouting you out. So there's a name piece,

[00:25:39] and there's a physical touch piece. We also require our coaches to provide

[00:25:44] hands-on correction and hands-on assists. Those hands-on corrections are there, of course,

[00:25:49] to make sure that you are safe and that the movement that you're doing is effective for

[00:25:54] what we're after. But then the hands-on assist, it's the tap on the shoulder when I can tell

[00:26:00] you're getting to the last little bit of your gas tank, but I think you probably have one more

[00:26:05] rep in you and you feel that person next to you tap you on the shoulder to just know

[00:26:09] I'm here with you and you get that extra rep. All of those touch points or the experience

[00:26:14] again drive that community feeling and then you get to the end of it and we give each other

[00:26:20] high-fives. That's something that's very intentional through that experience where, again, not only did

[00:26:26] I feel like we were sharing the experience as we were going through it, but when I got to

[00:26:30] the other side of it, I celebrated you and you celebrated me because we went through

[00:26:35] this shared experience and all of those touch points are very intentionally designed

[00:26:41] through solid course training that we give to all of our coaches to make sure that whether

[00:26:46] you're there for the first time, the hundredth time or the thousandth time that you feel a part

[00:26:51] of a larger collective. I'm a solid core coach myself and I always say to people,

[00:26:56] you might be on the sweatlota alone, which is the loving name that we give to our machine,

[00:27:01] but this is a team sport. You are on that sweatlota alone, but this is a team sport. We

[00:27:06] are all in it together. That's really what community means to me and how we tried to make sure that it

[00:27:12] comes alive at every moment of the solid core experience from the time you step in the door

[00:27:18] to the time you've given that final high-five on your way out.

[00:27:20] Excellent. If you're going to look across the industry and maybe give a shout out to

[00:27:24] other brands and gyms and whatever boutique, whoever, who else do you think does community

[00:27:30] well? It's a great question and there are several folks. If I don't say your name,

[00:27:36] please charge it to my head not to my heart because there are so many who do community really,

[00:27:43] really well. I'm going to throw out some names that may be less known because I feel like some

[00:27:48] of the big brands always get shout outs. I will throw out 305 Fitness. 305 Fitness is

[00:27:54] Dance Cardio Fitness. They're based out of New York. They have both an in-studio offering and a digital

[00:28:01] offering. Sadie, who's the founder and CEO of 305, I think has done an amazing job of building an

[00:28:10] inclusive, vibrant, high energy community that's focused on fitness as fun. Fitness doesn't

[00:28:20] have to be taken as seriously and you see that through again every single touch point. Those are

[00:28:24] the brands that do it the best. The brands that do it the best are the brands where it's not just like,

[00:28:29] oh, community is what happens when I see you in the studio or community is just what happens

[00:28:35] when we have a social event outside but it's actually embedded in all of the touch points

[00:28:38] and Sadie does that incredibly well. The other shout out that I'll give is a

[00:28:43] is a small studio here out of Washington, DC. It's a studio called Cut 7. They are a strength-based

[00:28:54] conditioning workout and again it's one of those places that when you walk in, you immediately

[00:29:00] feel like everyone else wants you to be there. Everyone else is cheering you on both literally

[00:29:06] and figuratively and it feels like being on a sports team where I recognize that you

[00:29:11] need to be on this team because if you're not on this team, we don't get to where we ultimately are

[00:29:16] going and they make you feel that across all of their touch points in studio, on social via email.

[00:29:22] They celebrate their team members, their athletes as they call them, but they've just done an

[00:29:26] incredible job of building community. Those are two again smaller brands that folks may not know

[00:29:31] of but always good to shout out some of those brands and help them get a little bit of

[00:29:36] airtime and some presence out there. Yeah, I always love the shout out.

[00:29:41] Up and coming is what I call it. Up and coming, right? So the other stuff, we touch on community

[00:29:46] pretty thoroughly there and I presume the other two follow along or connected kind of like a Venn

[00:29:52] diagram of some sort, right? Loyalty and motivation. What are key factors that come to

[00:29:59] mind when you hear those two words in reference to Boutique? It's another great question.

[00:30:04] On the motivation front, Eric, I think one thing that we have done because there are a

[00:30:12] number of different things that can motivate people to show up to a workout. You may be motivated by

[00:30:16] the fact that the workout studio or gym that you're going to is the place to see and be seen

[00:30:22] and it says something about who you are and what you value by being there. You may be

[00:30:26] motivated by physical transformation that you are looking for in your body. You may be

[00:30:32] motivated by it's your only 30, 45, 50, 60 minutes, whatever the class length may be

[00:30:38] or workout length may be that you get to yourself. So there are a lot of differing

[00:30:43] sort of approaches to motivation and differing brands and studios have taken

[00:30:52] usually one of those lanes and decided that that's where they ultimately want to play.

[00:30:57] At Solid Core, what we've done to not only build motivation but also to your point,

[00:31:02] connect it to loyalty is we have said that the number one most important person in the room

[00:31:10] is you. It's not the coach. We don't celebrity. Our coaches are instructors.

[00:31:16] We always say our coaches are not literally nor figuratively on a pedestal.

[00:31:21] It's really about you, the individual who walks in and understanding what your motivating factor

[00:31:28] may be and helping you see how or why Solid Core may fit into that journey. So if it's physical

[00:31:34] transformation that you're after, your workout is only one portion of that as we all know

[00:31:39] but helping you understand that this is actually what you get as you go through a Solid Core

[00:31:44] workout. Here are the benefits for those 50 minutes and here are the benefits that you

[00:31:48] get over the next 24 to 36 hours as your muscles repair and rebuild. So if that's what you're after,

[00:31:54] that's great. We often talk about the mental focus that it takes to get through a Solid Core

[00:31:58] workout and how that mental tenacity and that mental toughness not only helps you in the room

[00:32:03] but helps you outside of the room. We all then talk about being selfish with your time and

[00:32:08] using that 50 minutes, not focused on your kids, your spouse, your job, any of those things

[00:32:13] but to really focus on you. So we really try to halo the individual and what they are after

[00:32:17] because at the end of the day that thing which by the way may evolve over the course of a customer's

[00:32:23] lifetime with you not only is going to keep them motivated because it's inherently personal but

[00:32:28] it's also going to keep them loyal as they figure out how Solid Core continues to fit into their

[00:32:32] life over the long term. Yeah, great insights man and you know something because I'm sure

[00:32:37] you think about this all the time but we've seen a lot of evolution over the last three or

[00:32:41] four years of the fitness consumer like you know from to me like the from a macro level like

[00:32:49] five years ago the gym or the health club was the center of everything right. Like that's just

[00:32:55] you want to get healthier and fitter you just go there and then everything happens there that you

[00:32:58] need now it's so different right it's like well you know people work out at home people go to

[00:33:03] boutique maybe you have a health club maybe they go to the sauna maybe blah blah blah right

[00:33:06] there's so many different options that it's kind of the consumer has shifted quite a bit

[00:33:11] you're my like what are some of the more significant characteristics of the modern fitness consumer

[00:33:17] and how do you see those also evolving in the next few years. There are two things that I would say

[00:33:25] on this point one is the underlying motivation which I think is an amazing evolution that we've

[00:33:32] seen post COVID. When you ask people pre-COVID why they are interested in working out you hear things

[00:33:40] like weight loss you hear things like to look better in the mirror you hear things like I have a

[00:33:48] vacation coming up or wedding or what have you it was primarily aesthetic driven and to be fair

[00:33:55] there's absolutely nothing wrong with having aesthetic motivation to working out. I agree

[00:34:00] and I think what's really beautiful about what we are experiencing on the other side of the pandemic

[00:34:05] is that those motivations are broadening to things that are more enduring because at the end

[00:34:11] of the day the wedding will come and go the vacation will come and go the dress that you

[00:34:16] want to fit into or pants that you want to fit into for whatever occasion will come and go

[00:34:20] the things that people are talking about are stress relief mental health longevity

[00:34:27] things that are actually important and endure for much more extended periods of time

[00:34:34] that I think will anchor people in health and wellness for a lifetime as opposed to for a season

[00:34:41] and that is ultimately better for the individual and so I think that's the number one sea change

[00:34:46] that I've seen and the consumer and I hope that that continues as we look ahead. The second

[00:34:54] and we've experienced this certainly in our business is that people who traditionally and

[00:34:59] they're kind of tied actually now that I'm saying it out loud but people who have traditionally not

[00:35:04] seen themselves particularly in boutique fitness all kind of focus on that some of that's kind

[00:35:07] of our area of expertise. People who have traditionally not seen themselves in boutique

[00:35:12] fitness are now finding a home in boutique fitness and I think that's such an incredible

[00:35:20] unlock to communities that traditionally have been underserved. So as an example we are seeing

[00:35:27] way more so our business I should step back and say our business primarily is female oriented

[00:35:34] primarily is young let's call that 25 to 40 years old and what we have started to see on the

[00:35:41] other side of the pandemic is those demographics are shifting we of course still have the young

[00:35:46] female 25 to 40 years old but what you're starting to see are people who are older so you talked a

[00:35:53] little bit about your mom working out a few minutes ago my mother-in-law who was in her 60s

[00:36:00] just hit her 50th solid core class and I do not force her to go she goes off by her own free will

[00:36:07] and she absolutely loves the way that it makes her feel it makes her feel strong it's not

[00:36:14] about fitting into this or doing that it's about feeling strong both mentally and physically so

[00:36:19] we're seeing the age gap broaden we are seeing the gender gap start to change as well as more

[00:36:28] men recognize that going to boutique fitness applaudies inspired workout specifically it

[00:36:36] can not only give you great connection and accountability that helps you get more out

[00:36:40] of your workout but you actually work muscles that you don't work traditionally and other

[00:36:45] sort of forms of working out you work them more consistently and you're able to really just get

[00:36:52] more out of your time when you when you engage in boutique fitness and so we're starting to see

[00:36:57] way more men come into the solid core fold which has been incredible and then the last thing

[00:37:03] that I will say which is a personal passion point of mine as a black man is we are starting to see

[00:37:10] more people of color enter into the boutique sphere and so traditionally boutique fitness

[00:37:16] has been overwhelmingly a white space and it's really really awesome to see other communities

[00:37:25] whether that's people of color whether that's the Asian-American community

[00:37:28] start to really call boutique fitness home and you know fitness should be accessible to all and

[00:37:36] it's one of the key sort of values here at solid core is that we create a space that is representative

[00:37:42] of the communities in which we operate and is highly inclusive so really really awesome to see

[00:37:49] all of that and again I think that will just continue to grow in the years to come right

[00:37:56] you know I you and I talked about it came up in a conversation with Tom Dowd from f45 and their

[00:38:01] fs8 and you know what they're doing vibe as well but Pilates seems to be kind of hot right now man

[00:38:06] like why why like why now been around for a while Pilates has been around for a while it's

[00:38:13] them I feel like I should record you anytime someone says that fitness is a fad I'm like yeah

[00:38:18] why does this go up for a while actually

[00:38:23] so I think there are a few things that are happening right now

[00:38:27] that are fueling this boom in this modality one is that people are recognizing that to

[00:38:38] build strength build transformation mental or physical that the old way of thinking was

[00:38:44] that you had to throw things around or jump up and down and pound your body in that doing

[00:38:52] that was a young person's sport and then once you kind of aged out of it you were kind of

[00:38:58] done working out intensely and I think what Pilates and particularly our sort of style

[00:39:04] of of Pilates which I would call Pilates inspired strength training what we are educating the

[00:39:12] market on is that actually you can build real strength and get real intensity out of your workout

[00:39:18] without it coming at the sacrifice of the sustainability of the method that you're using to work out

[00:39:25] you can actually do this methodology whether you're 18 25 40 or 60 because it's easy on the

[00:39:33] joints if you have injuries everything's done in a slow and controlled fashion that allows you

[00:39:38] to work around those injuries there's modifications galore so whether you're stronger on this part of

[00:39:45] your body but have more strength to gain on this part of your body you can modify and amplify

[00:39:51] to meet your sort of personal needs all in a highly effective and super safe way

[00:39:58] so that's thing number one that I think is driving the the the boom the second thing is

[00:40:03] I think there's just been an under education about this modality it has traditionally been for

[00:40:10] the affluent parts of our society and that's kind of it and everyone else was you know doing

[00:40:17] Tybo or jumping on an exercise bike at the gym or just on a treadmill and I think what we and

[00:40:23] others in our space are starting to do is bring this methodology to the masses because

[00:40:30] when you start to show up on street corners people walk by and like what's that I've never

[00:40:35] even heard of some people have never even heard of Pilates you know they're like what's pilots right

[00:40:39] and I can't blame them that's how I used to think it was pronounced too right like they

[00:40:44] they don't even know that this type of workout exists and so as we are showing up on more

[00:40:50] and more streets and more and more cities across the United States I think this wave of

[00:40:55] awareness is going to continue to accelerate because again most people have no idea that this

[00:41:02] is a way that you can work out yeah it's interesting I that you made me reflect on like a chapter in

[00:41:08] my life was in Santa Barbara California and there is you know Pilates studios right around the

[00:41:12] quarter from my gym all I saw in front of it Ferraris Lambos range of rivers right like

[00:41:19] I'm like I'm doing something wrong right because you know we have Hondas right we have like

[00:41:26] old pickup trucks and but that's across the community right it's diverse yeah I want to

[00:41:31] really get in up to because I know this year you uh came involved in Ursa uh in that role as far

[00:41:38] as like you know advocacy and you live in the DC area so you know you're kind of right in the

[00:41:43] middle of it um you know what's going on with that like especially I think in yeah I'll just

[00:41:48] ask you like what's some updates with those initiatives there? Ursa has been a new sort of

[00:41:55] avenue of exploration for me personally and for Solid Core I would say pre-pandemic I knew of

[00:42:01] Ursa but frankly didn't understand what Ursa could do for our business and I think a lot of

[00:42:09] studio owners gym owners felt and probably today still feel that way however the pandemic

[00:42:19] as it did for a lot of things in life changed my perception of that because what we observed

[00:42:26] during the pandemic as an industry was that we were treated in the same way that movie theaters

[00:42:32] were treated we were treated like recreation we were treated like the extra thing that you go do

[00:42:40] once you've done everything else in life and that is not at all how our consumer views us

[00:42:45] our consumer views us as integral to their life integral to their health and now you see all these

[00:42:51] like retrospective studies that say like oh people who were physically active and got COVID had a much

[00:42:57] higher um rate of survival and had much milder symptoms and all of us in the industry are like

[00:43:05] yeah duh of course if you're in better shape your body's going to handle fighting off whatever

[00:43:11] it is better than someone who's not but that was not how we were looked at in the industry and so

[00:43:16] I was really excited to get involved with Ursa on the other side of the pandemic because I

[00:43:22] in that moment recognize the value of advocacy and at the same time Liz Clark the new president

[00:43:29] of Ursa had come on with a much greater advocacy focus than previous Ursa leadership

[00:43:36] for my understanding and so it's been a really really awesome opportunity to go to Capitol Hill

[00:43:44] to meet with lawmakers and help them understand why our industry matters so that if you know heaven

[00:43:53] forbid there's another COVID we're thought of in a different light but also so that when lawmakers

[00:43:59] are creating other laws and policies whether it's at the federal level or at the state level

[00:44:05] that potentially adversely impact our business or have the opportunity to create laws or policies

[00:44:12] that could positively impact our business that they think about us as they're doing that work

[00:44:18] that they actually ask us as they're starting to do that work so that our input is heard

[00:44:24] and it's been like I said just a phenomenal opportunity to change that perception and I think

[00:44:32] what we're doing is starting to help people understand that exercise physical activity

[00:44:38] truly is healthcare and you know we do a lot of talking about insurance companies and reimbursement

[00:44:48] rates and who should be covered and who shouldn't be covered but the vast majority of that is

[00:44:54] spending on challenges and problems that have already been created because of

[00:44:58] choices that individuals have made about how they're going to live their life

[00:45:01] whereas thinking about physical activity as a preventative measure to prevent us having to

[00:45:08] spend as much on the back end is really the way that lawmakers and policymakers should be

[00:45:14] thinking about this so yeah I've been really honored to be involved and it's been a humbling

[00:45:20] experience to be on Capitol Hill and have the opportunity to speak on behalf of the industry

[00:45:25] and help them really reorient their thinking about us. And how has it been received by

[00:45:29] legislators? Like you know I always think of this example like when you watch like

[00:45:35] you know tech companies talk to legislators and they're just kind of like out of touch right like

[00:45:42] you've seen it before right like they just don't understand what's going on. I mean is it similar

[00:45:48] like are they aware of the fitness industry and the benefits of it? I mean I'm sure ones who

[00:45:54] actively participate in their own fitness are going to be a little bit more aware but

[00:45:58] probably looks a bit some of them aren't. You know so like how's it being received so far?

[00:46:03] I would actually argue Eric it has been received really really well and the reason for that is

[00:46:10] is it's frankly obvious you know it's obvious that if people take better care of their physical

[00:46:16] well-being they can be more productive members of society, they will be less of a burden on our

[00:46:21] healthcare system. There aren't many people who are reasonably willing to argue the

[00:46:27] counterpoint to that. And so that has been a powerful unifier on both sides of the aisle.

[00:46:36] And then I think the other interesting angle to this which is something that frankly wasn't

[00:46:41] on my radar until I went through some education sessions with URSA is that there's a massive

[00:46:47] national security implication of the physical fitness of our country. And so what most people

[00:46:55] don't know is that the army has actually failed to meet their recruiting targets for multiple years

[00:47:03] and not like oh we missed by 5% but like they're off by like 40 or 50%. Like they're off by a

[00:47:10] significant margin. And that is having a lot of people in Washington start to think about

[00:47:18] how do we starting at very young ages really impress upon our society here in the United States

[00:47:26] that physical activity and physical fitness is really important. It's important for their longevity

[00:47:32] but selfishly as a country it's really important for our national security as well.

[00:47:37] And so it's been interesting as we've been on the hill to hear the talking points that

[00:47:42] resonate with different folks in different backgrounds. But again it's one of these topics that has

[00:47:50] truly bipartisan support because again it's very hard to argue that healthier people

[00:47:55] isn't better in some way for this country. Yeah, yeah well you know we do our love we love our

[00:48:01] military here and you know that's that's a that is undeniable in this country. So kind

[00:48:08] of a fun question man I know you and I talked a little bit about technology even we won't

[00:48:12] mention the partnerships that we discussed earlier but you know from I love talking about

[00:48:17] fitness and health technologies here. But what you know when you look at the technology aspect of

[00:48:21] it is there anything that has you particularly excited? You know everyone talks about wearables

[00:48:26] everyone talks about trackers everyone talks about AI everyone talks about all these things

[00:48:30] right? I've talked about them quite a bit. What gets you excited on the technology side?

[00:48:34] I would say that I am most excited about AI and the reason that I'm most excited about

[00:48:39] AI is that I feel like the implications are deep reaching within our industry and so I think there

[00:48:46] are things that AI can to some extent today but certainly will over time be able to do

[00:48:53] that will help gym owners business leaders within the health and fitness space

[00:48:58] operate their businesses more efficiently more profitably etc. I think that will be

[00:49:04] transformational as you think about contract review customer service etc. So I think there's a lot that

[00:49:12] AI will do that will transform kind of the back office of our industry and I think the most

[00:49:18] exciting part even in the face of that is actually how AI has the ability to transform

[00:49:23] the consumer experience and so as we think about things like personalization at mass scale

[00:49:30] in a way that keeps consumers more engaged which of course is great for business but most importantly

[00:49:36] is great for consumers health. I think that will drastically unlock sort of LTV within our industry

[00:49:45] if you can really understand what is motivating Eric to work out what's motivating Brian to

[00:49:50] work out hit either of us with the right message at the right time the right offer at the

[00:49:55] right time the right cross training opportunity at the right time that keeps us excited and engaged

[00:50:02] we as individuals will get to our goals and objectives faster and be able to maintain them for longer

[00:50:08] and then we as business owners will reap the benefits of having consumers who are engaged

[00:50:14] longer spending more but they're doing it because it's something that's actually

[00:50:18] transforming their life so better. So I think AI is going to I mean like it is in most industries

[00:50:24] particularly in ours I think it's going to be transformational right on I love it.

[00:50:28] Brian last question for you a two-part question but what you know in spirit of

[00:50:33] collaboration within the industry how can we help you what do you need to help with right now and

[00:50:37] then where would you like people to go online or how would you like to get in touch with you?

[00:50:42] You should absolutely I'll start in reverse you should absolutely check us out our website

[00:50:46] is www.solidcore.co no m on the .co you can also check us out on instagram at solidcore

[00:50:56] and personally you can follow me I am at be as in Brian my so fly so be my so fly be my so fly

[00:51:05] check me out on instagram I am very active I have some content that I like to think is funny

[00:51:10] so definitely follow me and then in terms of how you all can help me I honestly would just

[00:51:16] say spread the gospel so what I described earlier there are so many people who don't recognize

[00:51:22] that this low and controlled resistance based strength training that's Pilates inspired done on

[00:51:28] a reformer is a way that you can work out and get strength and transformation in your body

[00:51:33] and your mind and find an incredible community to go along with all of that like so many

[00:51:38] people are just not tapped in to that and we would love to see them under the blue lights and

[00:51:43] give them a great experience so if you know anyone who's looking to change up their work

[00:51:48] out routine or incorporate something new in their routine definitely send us send them our way

[00:51:53] right on Brian thank you so much for joining me I know you're a busy guy

[00:51:57] it's great to get an hour of your time this Friday and yeah excited to see you present

[00:52:02] to Connected Health and Fitness and you know once again if people as a media partner it's

[00:52:07] Fof10 I hope I'm getting that right people want to get in and get their discount tickets because

[00:52:11] they are it's not a lot of tickets that they sell so you know get in there early and you can go

[00:52:17] watch brilliant people like Brian talk so really appreciate it ladies and gentlemen Brian Myers

[00:52:23] thanks for having me Eric really appreciate it

[00:52:25] hey wait don't leave yet this is your host Eric Malzone and I hope you enjoyed this episode

[00:52:31] of future of fitness if you did I'm gonna ask you to do three simple things it takes

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[00:53:18] Malzone and this is the future of fitness have a great day