Jay Worthy - MyZone & The Future of Motivational Technology

Hey friends, welcome to the Future of Fitness, a top-rated fitness and wellness industry podcast for over five years and running. I'm your host, Eric Malzone, and I have the honor of talking to entrepreneurs, innovators, and cutting-edge technology experts within the extremely fast-paced industries of fitness, wellness, and health sciences. If you like the show, we'd love it if you took three minutes of your day to leave us a nice supporter review wherever you consume your podcast. If you're interested in staying up to date with the Future of Fitness, go to future of fitness.co to subscribe and get weekly summaries dropped into your inbox. Now on to the show. One theme keeps coming up: the right technology can make or break your business. That's why I'm thrilled to introduce our new presenting sponsor, Perfect Gym. Perfect Gym isn't just another gym management system. They are part of the Support Alliance Group, Europe's leading fitness software company that has officially entered the US market. Now, I've seen this movie before, but here's the difference. They've opened up a U.S. headquarters in Boston because they understand that the American market deserves dedicated, localized support. After digging into the platform, one benefit especially stood out. They are simplifying the nightmare that keeps business owners up at night migrations. These guys were able to migrate one mega client with more than 250 locations in six different countries in just 20 days between two payment runs, no disrupting operations, no member loss, one seamless operation that simply works. Now, if you have ever switched platforms, you know how terrifying that process can be and how truly impressive that feed is. At a high level, here's their secret sauce. They give the power back to the operator. Instead of forcing you into their closed ecosystem, their Perfect Gym Marketplace connects with over 120 integration partners. So want to use your own app, your prefer payment processor, FlashPass for booking, no big problem. Whether you're running a single studio or managing a multi-location enterprise, Perfect Gym was built from the ground up for multi-club operations. They've invested a ton into this platform, and now they're bringing that European engineering excellence to America. The migration experts have arrived. Check out perfectjam.com where enterprise level sophistication meets operator freedom. Today's episode of the Future of Fitness is brought to you by Flex, the only HSA FSA payment infrastructure built specifically for leading fitness and wellness brands. I have been so impressed with the Flex team and their vision to Transform Help People Pay for Fitness. They built a platform that makes HSA and FSA spending 15 minutes, unlocking a new revenue stream for brands and giving consumers easier access to products and services that keep them healthy. Here's why Fitz matters. Flex helps fitness brands increase average order value by up to 50% and boost checkout conversion by 30%. That is not just incremental growth, that is transformational revenue powered by consumer dollars that are already set aside for health and wellness. What excites me the most is that Flex is changing the game for the entire industry. They're bridging the gap between healthcare and fitness by making it simple for consumers to spend their pre-tax dollars on the products and services that help them feel and perform their best. Flex works with fitness leaders like iFit, Johnson Fitness, Tempo, and Allo Moves. Honestly, this is a no-brainer, and I rarely say that. If you want to see how Flex can drive growth for your fitness brand, visit with Flex.com. That is with Flex.com. Now onto the show. All right, we are live. Jay Worthy, welcome to the future of fitness, man. Thanks, Eric. It's great to be here, man. It's it's a pleasure. Look at your background. You you there's a lot of experience that we're gonna leverage here today uh with you. You said 25 years, I mean, life fitness operator, there's a lot. I'll let you tell that story. But um, you know, most importantly, I'm really excited to get an update on my zone. Like I was telling you prior, I had uh Emmett Williams on in 2020, which feels like a you know, that was pre-pandemic. That was like a whole different world, that was a different lifetime ago, right? That's right. So there's a lot to talk about. I know you you guys have a big uh announcement coming up. Yeah, really excited to cover that. And uh something that caught my eye, which we were just talking about pre-recording, is the term motivational technology. I was just saying, I saw that in some of your posts. I was like, ooh, tell me more. So um Jay, man, it's it's a pleasure to have you. Let's start with this. Give us a little of your background, there's a lot of it, and then we'll uh we'll get into all the cool stuff with my zone.

Yeah, like you say, I'm I guess I'm more than two and a half decades now in the in the global fitness industry, which is uh evidenced by the white beard for those that are watching this on YouTube. I guess I started fresh out of university. I did a Bachelor of Science degree working as a fitness instructor for free in an LA Fitness Club, actually, not the LA Fitness from the US, but the the the other version from the UK back in the very late 90s. And I was working for free just so that I could get my free gym membership with my Bachelor of Science degree long before those kind of fitness qualifications really came about, training people ironically how to use life fitness equipment, and then about 18 years later I became the president and CEO of Life Fitness and helped exit Life Fitness from Brunswick. So it was fortunate to have a really you know stellar first half of my career. And then I've been doing bits and pieces, a little bit of consultancy, and I uh I did some consultation stuff with MyZone about 18 months ago, and I've been a big, big fan of MyZone for more than six years. I I love the product, I'm uh I'm a MyZone junkie, I'm a Hall of Famer, I'm uh I'm well and truly bitten by the MyZone bug, and when I had the opportunity to work with the team, I was just really intrigued by the future of the organization in a space that's become so busy and so fast moving. You know, 13, 14 years ago when MyZone was first you know concepted, if you like, by by Dave Wright and the team, the world looks so different, the industry looks so different, like you said, pre-COVID, it was like several movies ago now. Um so just the opportunity really to take the reins of an unbelievable organization like MyZone and help steer it through a really interesting time in the industry was was too big an opportunity to say no to.

What is it that you love as a consumer? What do you love about MyZone?

I think it's it's a great question, and actually I asked myself that when I came in because what you do when you land as a CEO in a new organization is you try to listen a lot, right? So you try to speak to a bunch of stakeholders, to staff, to customers, to investors, anybody who'll share their thoughts. And and what you what you're trying to do is kind of distill down the business into the core part so you understand the recipe and what makes it tick. And so I was curious as I was looking at my zone and asking myself the same questions that I was asking everybody else, and a common theme emerges, and I feel it strongly myself, which is it's the game. The game is the bit that really inspired me. I mean, I'm somebody who's got a strong background in strength and conditioning and physiology, right? So in principle, you could argue I maybe don't need my zone, but actually the exact opposite is true. It's what's kept me consistent. And prior to that, I would have, you know, periods where I would be working out really well and not so well. It's kind of the worst kept secret or the dirtiest secret in the industry, isn't it? We all work in the global health and fitness industry, and then sometimes we're the least healthy people in the world, you know, don't always don't always uh practice what we preach. And so I was one of those executives. I was not sleeping well, working long hours, grinding hard, not necessarily working out as consistently as I could, not working out to a goal. And then along came My Zone, and I suddenly had a I had a goal, right? I had to get my MEPs every month. It was simple. It didn't matter whether I had a busy schedule, whether I was traveling, I knew I had to get those 1300 MEPs. And for those people that don't know MyZone, I think it's pretty well known across the industry. But for those that don't know, we take uh heart rate data and we convert it into a proprietary point system we call MyZone Effort Points, MEPS for short, and we correlated those MEPs to the World Health Organization guidelines for physical activity. So, in essence, you need 1,300 a month to level up. And you know, that I think is the genius of MyZone is once you're on the game, you don't want to miss. Because if you miss, you drop back down the ladder again. And so it's what's kept me consistent for for more than six years. In fact, coming up on seven years now with MyZone, and I think it's true of so many consumers that I've spoken to over the last year and a half.

Yeah. It's it's funny the little things that motivate us. You know, I uh I have an aura. We'll talk about all the consumer data and the flood of you know, just the exhaustion I think that a lot of people have with how much data it's getting flown at them. But uh I didn't think I would be someone who pays attention to my steps all the time. Honestly. Like I was like, yeah, I was like, you know, it's like the activity score becomes really important to me. And you know, I almost it almost becomes a problem, Jay. Like I I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do, this is you know, probably more of a therapy session than I'm um doing with you now, but it's like I look at my phone, I open my aura, right, and I see like, okay, how did I sleep? What was my recovery? How's my HRV? I love all that data. But then it's it's kind of like a it's not, I don't think it's healthy sometimes that that's like the first thing I check. And I think I don't think I'm alone. I think there's a lot of people who get really obsessed with their data, and maybe there's just too much of it. So I don't know if there's even a question in here. I'm just kind of discussing what my experience is. But uh, you know, when you look at all of because you mentioned, you know, you had you know ultrahuman or uh you've you've you've tested a lot of different things. Like how is my zone from a consumer perspective different than all of that? How does it kind of cut through all that noise?

Well, I love the question. I love the open therapy session as well, because I'm like the um thank you. I'm like the the classic wearable junkie. I've had them all over the years. Every single one you can think of, you're probably the same. I've got a drawer full of them in the house, right? I do. I do.

It's it's actually in my other office.

Right, exactly. And it's full. It's full. I mean, it's kind of interesting. It's a bit like a um, you know, a museum of all of all of the wearables over the industry's progression. And it's really fascinating to see. What I think is is interesting is I always got excited about a wearable. I would use it for a while, and then eventually I would get tuned in to the point that I kind of knew what it was going to tell me. It's a bit like when Fitbit came out and we were all told we had to do 10,000 steps. Once you've worn a Fitbit for about three or four months, you kind of knew whether you'd had a 10,000 step day or not. You didn't need the device to tell you because you you had a sense by that point of habitually what drove it and what didn't. And so when you had a sedentary day, you're like, I know I'm gonna be under today, or if you were super active, you knew. So the value was diminishing over time. And I think that's true of so many wearables. Is at some point you just you just kind of get to the point where like, okay, I know I've got a green recovery, or I know I've got a yellow recovery, or you know, I had alcohol last night, so I know it's gonna tell me I'm red, you know, my HRV is gonna be low. So I think it's I think it's really, really interesting because I think ultimately every wearable right now is starting to fall foul of the same thing. And and and what you mentioned is you're absolutely not alone. So when I came into MyZone, we did the the biggest research we've ever done in our history. We've been trading for more than 14 years, and we went out to thousands of consumers, some Myzoners and some non-Mizoners, some users of other wearables, some people who don't ever use wearables, and we just asked them a bunch of questions and we just listened, right? And some of them we went even deeper and we did some ethnographic stuff with them where we followed them for a few days and we tried to see and really dig underneath the skin of, you know, in terms of the the ecology of how they use stuff and how they interact with data around their day. It's fascinating, absolutely fascinating. We can't go into the detail right now because it would take us forever. But the headlines are really interesting, and and I think what's real, which you mentioned, is that people were just overwhelmed. There's just too much data, and so you kind of get this now what so what kind of mentality is like, okay, I've got all of this stuff, but what do I do with it? What how does it change my behaviors? And I think for a lot of wearable users it doesn't, and that's why in the wearable space there's still quite a high degree of attrition. People will try something, and then it will end up in their in their draw. So, you know, really, really long answer, but but getting to the kind of the the punchline, how's my zone different? Well, when we got that research, we sat down as an executive team and we said, What are we gonna do? The the industry has moved on so much. So lots of people were telling us, Oh man, Jay, you know, if you want to stay in the game, you guys need HRV, you need, you know, oxygen, you need skin temperature, you need a recovery and exercise preparedness. And we started listening to that and saying, Wow, okay, geez, we better really take take heed of that and start thinking, and we're talking to our manufacturer and we're exploring lots of different avenues of where we could go with sensor technology, and then we're looking at the data and we're looking at the research, and we're saying, hold on, like does the world really need another one of these brands doing this stuff? And you know, it's like the race to the smallest sensor, the race to the the next best piece of data that you can have, or is what the world really needs more motivation, more support in sticking out the habit and creating kind of long-lasting habitual change. So, as a as a leadership team, we started talking about well, if the industry is zagging, perhaps we should zig. And so, from a MyZone perspective, we're zigging. That's what we're doing. We're different because we like to talk about MoTec, which is our way of talking about motivation technology. And so, you know, we recently did a relaunch event where we talked a lot about what MyZone really stands for, and it's not just a few execs sitting in a room going, Hey, we're going to change the business. It's it's actually come from our users, it's come from people like you and me who've been using the product for a long time, actually telling the organization, well, this is why my zone matters to me. And so I think what makes my zone different is we're much more focused on helping people create long-lasting habitual change. And we can leverage data to do that, but the overwhelming bombarding of data is not the key. It's bringing everything back to a single metric, the MEPS, and it just helping them get on their journey and stay committed when life's ups and downs are thrown at them.

Here's the uh here's the trillion dollar question, Jay, is what keeps people motivated to exercise and stay with it. Like I think anybody who's been in this industry more than 30 minutes is like, that's that's the question. How do we keep people going? In ourselves, right? Yeah, I mean, you and I were talking about like we we all need motivation, even if we've been doing this for a very long time. I know you're a very active person, you do jujitsu, you do a lot of different things, right? Um so yeah, like how do we how do we keep the you know quote unquote average consumer engaged?

Yeah, I mean, well, first of all, it it it's hard to kind of really generalize, right? And average out because what you realize when you dig into this stuff is there's so many use cases, there's so many different kinds of personas that everybody has a different kind of entry point and starting point and maybe needs. But some of the common trends that we've heard a lot from our research that we see a lot in MyZoners is some people really like the game, they like the competitive element of it. Tom Davies, who's our global marketing director, it's like an in-joke. He's like three months ahead of me in my zone status, and it's irritating me because I can never catch him. And he loves to he loves to hold that over me. But equally, I'm always saying to him, hey, be careful, you only need to slip up for one month, and I'm I'm I'm on your heels.

Yeah, all you need to do is go on vacation.

Yeah, right? So if you're super competitive, my zone is there for you, right? And so I think that's great. And we're actually working quite hard right now on kind of new elements to the games and new new elements to the competition that can really leverage that. If you're a really competitive person, then then we have that. For some people, it's the social, right? And so we've talked already. I've been in this industry for a long time. I've seen lots of organizations talk about social and community building and fitness. I actually don't think many companies do a very good job of it, and I think that Myzone can do a lot better, but we've actually built communities. So clubs that have Myzone in have got these little mini communities of MEPAs, right? These MyZoners that are just, you know, they if they don't click in with their red belt on, the work it's almost like the workout didn't happen, right? And so we have a real track record of building these micro communities within club chains. And so for those people that want that social connection, that ability to connect with others, my zone's got that as well. And so I think there's a really strong, having been an operator before, I think there's a really strong angle there, which is you know, if you've got a club with a thousand members, two thousand, five thousand members, how do you create that stickiness between them and the brand? I think the secret answer, the ingredient is you create that stickiness between each of them, not them and the brand. And that in turn creates a stickiness with the with the brand, with the club. And then beyond that, I think for me, I think the MEPs are just incredibly powerful because it's simple. And as we just talked about a little while ago, I I just think in a in a world that's becoming increasingly data heavy, I think there's power in a single currency, a single unifying metric that allows me to go do jits and and have some roles, and you go to play golf and somebody else to go play, you know, football or whatever. And we're just getting maps. So it doesn't really matter what we're doing, we're all on the same journey. And I think that's really powerful. And then the final thing I think that's that's really important, and I've learned this over my my career in these kind of leadership roles, is people do their best work when they know where they're going, they understand the direction of travel, they understand the journey and the map, and they they tend to do their worst work. And I've you know, I've had some success with this and I've had some some you know poor results when I've not got this right in in leadership roles. But if you're not really clear on where the organization is going or what the goal is, then people tend to get lost and they become directionalists. And I think the same thing is true of behavior change. I think if if people want to get active and live a healthier life and stay that way, they need to know where they are and how they're progressing. And that's where I think we've done a really nice job with the the status levels, and and we've recently done a relaunch of that whole kind of visualization to really bring it out and allow people to celebrate how far they've come on the journey, reflect back on that, and then also see okay, what's the next rung on the ladder that I can get to?

That's a you know, maybe that's a really good point, and maybe we should take a step back because I haven't experienced my zoo in a very long time. Like, what is the current consumer experience? Like they they join a gym, they get the hardware, they sign up for an app, is it take the wearable you know, data in that they already have. Like, yeah, give give us an update. What does it all look like right now?

Yeah, so we started out making heart rate wearables, right? That's that's at the same time we did that. The the business created MEPS and it had an app experience to go with it. The app experience has evolved so much. Our predominant model is we we promote our product and our MoTec through gym partners. So we partner with gym operators rather than just trying to do it all ourselves, direct-to-consumer. We do have some direct-to-consumer business, but the majority of our business is partnering with gym operators, and so in that regard, there's different models, but for the most part, when a consumer goes into a club that is a My Zone club and they join, they're given the opportunity to buy a device. And we have a range of devices, and we have our ECG chest belt, used to be called MZ3, we relaunched it recently, it's now called My Zone Max, and that is a you know pure play heart rate device on the chest. It is a really, really, really strong product. It's got strong reputation for reliability, an insane battery life that lasts months and months and months, which in in the age of modern consumer tech is is really really really powerful. Max is 50% smaller than MZ3 was, it's 25% lighter than the previous model. So we've really kind of worked hard to make that more comfortable. Um, we also have uh Switch, and Switch is a dual product, so it also has both ECG and PPG. PPG being the technology that is used on the wrists and on the biceps to create a heart rate uh reading, and so depending on where you use it, hence the name Switch, you can get the best uh the best there. We also have a product called MySome1. My Zone One used to be called MZ1. It's uh an entry-level product that's really perfect for boutique studios. And so if the use case is, hey, I run a boutique studio and I want to have 20 belts and I want people to be able to put a belt on, have a great experience in the club, see their heart rate on a screen, but I don't really need them to be able to use that device when they're walking or running or anywhere else, then My Zone 1 is perfect for that. And then I think actually most excitingly of all, two years ago we launched a product called MZ Open. And in November of this year, at the start of November, we launched a product called My Zone Go, which is our reinvention of MZ Open. And the simplest way to describe that, Eric, is it's uh it's our smartwatch play, but it's our kind of platform agnostic play. So our view is.

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I mean, there are 220 million Apple Watch wearers in the world. And the growth rate on Apple Watch sales is double double-digit KGA. So there's 220 million people around the world already wearing Apple Watches, and that's growing double digits. There are 25 to 35 million Samsung Galaxy Watch users selling at a rate of about 5 million watches a quarter based on the data that we've seen. And then think about all the other Android watches that are out there, so non-Samsung branded Android watches, we estimate that that total pool is somewhere close to about 500 users. And those people, some of them are members of health clubs, but some of them are not. Some of them are members of HVLP clubs, some of them are not. And so if you think about, you said something to me which I love about helping the industry kind of go where the puck's going to be. You know, this is a case of rising tide raises all ships. There are millions and millions and millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of people out there who are not currently working out in clubs around the world in our industry, but they might have a smartwatch on their wrist. That smartwatch has PPG. That PPG can create a heart rate reading. We take that heart rate reading, we turn it into maps, and they're in the game. Once they're in the game, we can help signpost them to clubs, we can help grow the industry. And so we are super excited about MyZone Go because we think it's the lowest friction way to bring people into our amazing industry.

So as a consumer, do you need MySone hardware? Or can you have you know like a Garmin or an Apple? Like what do you actually require from MyZone?

We're not can we're not connected with Garmin right now, but we are you essentially if you have an Apple Watch, any kind of Android smartwatch, so a Samsung would be a good example, but there are obviously tons of other brands out there doing Android operating system smartwatches or a MySone device, then you can you know you can join the Myzone ecosystem and and benefit from our MoTEC and get into the game. And that for me is probably the most exciting element of MyZone Go is that it's just completely removed the friction. So historically, you had to buy a MyZone device, and of course, you know, we believe MyZone devices are great, and we think that Macs and Switch are really powerful tools to help people create lasting habits, create lasting lifestyle change, and drive their longevity. But the important thing is if they require those things, then we've created a barrier. And so MyZone Go is all about removing the friction. And so it's as simple as going into one of our partner clubs, seeing a QR code on the screen or on a on a you know a poster or on a sales asset in the club, scanning it, creating an account, and you're off to the races. You go do a workout and you've caught your first MEPs. And you know, I would say you've you've caught the MyZone bug because I think once somebody does one workout and gets their MEPs, they're in the game. And actually, one of the things that we did earlier on this year is when I came on board, I felt really uncomfortable that the first time you sign up and create an account on MyZone, you had no status, and I felt like, well, that's not really very inclusive. So you had to wait a whole month until you got 1300 MEPs and you would go from no status to iron. And so we created a new status tier called Copper. And copper is for anybody who's done their first workout. So you do one workout, we're ringing the bell and we're celebrating with you, and you've got copper status, you're in the club, next stop iron, and you're off to the races. And so that's something that we're super interested and excited about because we think that we've removed all this friction from the system, and so our partner clubs can just help people start tracking their workout from literally day one. No hardware required, no hard sell. You've already joined the club membership, and so we're supporting our gym partners by saying, Hey, you can offer a free trial to My Zone Go. They just scan on the QR code and away they go, and then and then we handle all of the renewal so that the club doesn't have to get involved in administration. Um and we listened to club operators and they told us we don't want to be selling wearables, we want to be working on memberships, giving great service to our customers. You know, it's not a core skill of ours to be selling wearable technology. So we're we're taking that pressure away.

Is there um any are you guys or any of your partners offering like tangible rewards and incentives? Like, hey, you get to this level, you get, I don't know, a free t-shirt, right? Or maybe um, you know, whatever, uh smoothie at the the smoothie bar. Like what have you seen in that perspective?

Yeah, we've seen a few. There's some there's a there's a few good examples of that. I know UFC Gym, some of their locations have done a really nice job of that. And there are other examples around the world, but it's not it's not common yet, which I think is quite surprising. And so one of the things that we're working on and as a team is with our technology to try and enable that more. And even on our own level, we want to celebrate status more. So, you know, if if we were being hypercritical of ourselves, historically, if you were using MyZone and you went from say, you secured platinum status or you secure gold status, something to celebrate, you would secure a Hall of Fame status, it's uh it's an incredible, incredible achievement, incredible consistency. And it almost happened without any kind of ceremony or event in the app. You would do a workout, one day your status A, and the next day your status B. And that felt kind of underwhelming and almost clutching defeat from the uh the arms of victory. And so we've worked really hard to bring that to life in the app and say, okay, it deserves to be celebrated, make it easier for you to share on socials, but also bring it to life within the app experience that you know, great job, you just achieved Hall of Fame status, in you know, and also helping to start bringing out where you sit in the overall ecosystem. So if you've got a streak of a certain number of workouts, maybe it's in the top three percent of all my zoners, and wouldn't you love to know that? And how cool would that be? And it's another kind of game and comparison point as well. So I think there's more to be done on that front, Eric. And we're you know, we're we're partnering all the time with with gym operators to say what more can we do. And there's a correlation as well. So we work with Dr. Paul Bedford, and we've also started working with a behavioral science advisor, which you may have seen, Heather, and she's amazing. And we are we're really leaning into the motivational science behind what MyZone is about, and also uh the correlation with length of stay. And I know, having been a CEO of a of a gym chain, that LTV's everything, right? If you can get every single member to stay just one month more, it's transformational to the bottom line. And we know from our data that my zoners on average stay three months longer than non-Mysoners. It's like the best kept secret of MyZone. So we're just trying to put that out there so that people can understand that if you get your members using MyZone early on in their journey, they will stay three months longer on average than non-Mizoners. That's a game changer. If I was a if I was a CEO, I would be picking I know it sounds like a hard sales pitch, but I genuinely would. I'd be picking up the phone saying, oh, this is this is kind of easy money, right? What a great way to drive longevity of your members, lifetime value, stickiness with the customer. It's like a it's like a win-win. So we're really leaning in hard to that kind of motivation and behavioral science element to my zone.

Yeah, the behavioral science. I know it's not your field of expertise, that's why you hired someone to oversee it, but I'm curious to get you, I've I'm sure you you think about it. Like this this whole category, like I I distinctly remember I was doing a gravel race this summer, and one of the hardest parts of the climb, they had little signs that keep you motivated. You know, it was like, hey, pain is temporary, strava is forever. And I laughed. It made me laugh. I was I was really hurting at that point, but that made me laugh. And then I think about like my tonal, I use tonal, it gives me streaks, right? And it actually does motivate me. I get bummed when I miss a streak. And you know, there's all this gamification happening. What is it about human psyche and our evolution that makes us so so drawn to that? Like, how does that even just a number, you know, a random number we get from an app or you know, something like that? It's so motivating. Like, what do you think that is?

I'm definitely getting way, way, way out of my wheelhouse here. But I would say, you know, I spent a bit of time with yeah, that's all right. We'll just go for it, see where we go. But I I've started spending you know more time with with Dr. Heather McKee, who's our behavioral science advisor, who's wicked smart, um, and just bringing so much rich kind of context and insight to to what we're doing. And it's you know, I think for me, I think probably one of the things is we're kind of digging into that that that feeling of belonging, wanting to be part of something. I think that's one of the things. And I think everybody also likes to feel good, so it's that enhanced kind of dopamine hit that you get when something really, really good happens. And so she's teaching us all the time, and we're learning, and we we we do you know webinars internally with our team and spending time with our our tech team so that the product the the product folks that are actually building the product are being guided by by Heather, knowing what will actually drive based on the literature, what will drive lasting behavior change. And and I certainly I don't profess to to understand it, but but I but I think it's powerful. And for one, as my zone, we're we're leaning into it because we think it's differentiating and we think it's what the industry needs, is there's just there's so many quick hits out there which are kind of snake oil, right? And you know, there's there's a bunch of really great people in the industry who just want to help people live happier, healthier lives. And we think this kind of behavioral and mote and motivational science, this motech focus is really gonna help, you know, bring bring a spotlight to that.

So describe what when you yeah, if you you talk to somebody on a plane and you're like, yeah, I'm I I do motivational technology, describe that. What is how do you how do you tell that to a lay person?

Yeah, yeah, it's a good test for me, right? So I got the team are gonna be listening now and seeing how well I do. But I think as a category, I see they'll they'll score me at the end. But you know, I think in practice what we what we're talking about is we help people create lasting lifestyle change that helps them live a healthier, happier life. We do that through a combination of wearable technology, which gives heart rate data, and a single currency, which is my zone effort points. And then we we essentially have a game in the app that you play, which requires you to be active more often than you're not. And if you stay active more often than you're not, you'll continue to progress in the game. And then the the bit that gets really exciting, which you already touched on, is the more you stay in the game, the more you're gonna get back.

I love it. You uh I know you have a big announcement coming up, and and you know, by the time this publishes, have we covered that, or is there something else that's gonna be unveiled soon?

We've covered most of it. So the big announcement for us is all about how the brand shows up. You know, we historically were a business that was really just selling devices, and what we've done is really crystallize the value that we offer to consumers and the value that we offer to gym partners. And that showed up or shows up at the launch event in terms of the brand, the look and the feel, the product lineup. And I think at the epicenter of that for us is is the work that we're doing with Heather and showcasing that that real focus on MoTec. And then right at the very, very core at the nucleus is My Zone Go, which is essentially democratizing MoTec. It's saying if you've got a wearable already, we're not going to try and force one of ours on you. Let's leverage the technology you already have on your wrist, and let's bring you into the MyZone ecosystem and get you into the game, and then you know, we can go from there. And so that was the really that was the heart of what we what we believe, and that's really set the pace for the organization going forward. And then, you know, beyond that, you talked it's uh Yeah, sorry, I was gonna say you talk you talked about Garmin and we touched on Whoop and we touched on Aura Ring, but if you actually start to expand your horizons and say, really imagine how many devices are out there that currently are capturing heart rate, and what can we do with those? How can we harness that data? How can we harness those users' profiles to help them have a better, longer lasting behavior change experience? That's what gets me really excited.

Which is uh thank you for that. That's a really nice segue into the next tremendously large topic I want to cover with you, which is uh I don't let anybody get off the show anymore without talking about artificial intelligence. It's it's you know, with all the data that you guys have flowing in and the promise of you know hyperpersonalization through artificial intelligence, like, you know, how much focus? How do I ask this question? What are your expectations of artificial intelligence within the sphere of my zone over the next like five years? You know, by twenty-five. It's impossible to predict, right? So I wouldn't, you know, no one's gonna hold you to it, but like, you know, how big is the focus? Um, what are you guys thinking it could mean for for you, your company, your consumers, your partners? Can you picture that?

I think it's um it's gonna change our world, right? I mean, it's not just gonna change our industry, it's already changing our world. And I'm a father of five, and we talk about it as a family all the time because my my youngest daughter, Elizabeth, is four, my oldest daughter, Scarlett, is 19, so I've got quite the spread. And they're at different stages, so the world for Scarlett with AI is gonna look quite different to the world for Elizabeth, and then their kids, it's a whole different world altogether. It's coming, it's gonna change our world. You know, in my mind, we have to embrace it organizationally at my zone. We're excited about the possibility of AI for two reasons, really. One is we already talked about data overwhelm. So there is a lot of health data out there. We're connected with Apple Health and Google Health. So there's data available to us to help augment a user's experience. We don't leverage that today, but we could leverage that in the future. And AI has a real powerful capability to do that, and therefore, it's like how do you harness large quantities of data and give really clear advice? And then the other is that I think the problem that wearables in general have today is this data overwhelm. And I think AI is one of the potential solutions that that simplifies that, which is consistent with what we believe MyZone should be all about, which is anchoring everything to a single kind of metric and point of view. And we think that AI is going to really help us do that, and so we're already working on some really exciting projects that will help us leverage AI through coaching, right, to augment a user's experience, should should they want to have it. And for me, I started out my career as a fitness instructor as a personal trainer. It's not about replacing humans in my mind, it's about augmenting them and helping them, you know, bring to life the data and make sure that programming and interventions and support are really, really effective. And so I think it's coming. We're super excited about it, and we think it sits really well in the space that we love. You know, my zone equals MoTec and effort is rewarded. And they're the kind of the two tenets, if you like, of my zone, the two pillars of my zone is everything goes down to a single metric and effort is rewarded. Whatever effort you do is rewarded. And so I think that AI is going to help us continue to do that and continue to simplify the world that is overwhelmed by data and tracking.

Yeah, it's um, I'm sure you have this conversations internally too, but I I work with uh do some consulting work for Dr. Andy Galpin's group and Vitality Blueprint, which is performance biomarkers, blood work, stuff like that. And you know, there's a ton of there's competition in the market, right? There's a lot of that now. People are interested in the hirationalization of it. And you know, in a recent conversation I have with some of the leadership team, we're like, you know, I yeah, we have all this competition, but our real competition is artificial intelligence, right? Like that's like, you know, in two to three years, you know, there's a window where all I think we have of of a lot of this is just music speaking, where like a lot of the stuff is is gonna be consumed. Like what's gonna stop ChatGPT from having a health doctor, you know, specifically within their platform, right? Or you could build your own or things like that. So it's just it's it's it's it's it's an odd time to be alive, man. I I've I've just I'm fully believing that like I don't think there's ever been a time like this where it's like there's excitement and there's anxiety and there's you know potential, but there's also catastrophic possibilities, right? Of all these things, and we're just kind of on for the ride. Like we're that's it. Like we're in. Like we're you can't get off this car, right?

Well, and I think you said it so well. Like, none of us know, right? This is unprecedented in human history. We've never faced the idea of technology being this sophisticated that it can it can do and achieve more than anybody else in human history combined, right? And it is remarkable. It's remarkable to think of our children and our children's children and the the power and the knowledge that they have instantly at their fingertips. And you see it with your um, you know, I see it with my youngest children, they have instant access to Chat GPT and Siri, and they already have access to the world's knowledge. And when we were kids, we didn't. We had you know, our parents were buying Encyclopedia Britannica, right? From door-to-door salespeople. The rate of change that society has seen in the last 50 years is unbelievable. The rate of change that we're gonna see in the next 10 is gonna make that look like it was a hundred years, I think. And so none of us know, like you say, we're all along for the ride. I kind of fall personally, and it's just an end of one, right? But just personally, you know, as a as a dad, as a as a business leader and as a human, I think I just fall on the side of it's coming, whether we want it to or not, that that you know, the horse is less the stable, right? The fox is in the henhouse. So I think it's too late to be, it's right, it's too late to be pontificating on whether we should have let it get this far. It already has. And so in my mind, it's like, how do we leverage this for the greater good, greater good of humanity? What are the things that we can do to leverage this technology to make life better, healthier, happier, more sustainable for the planet? So that's what you know, that's what I focus on when I think about AI. And so that manifests itself at my zone around okay, what is the experience that we're trying to create? How are we helping people create lasting behavior change? And how can AI help us do that even more effectively so that we can help more people?

Well, it's uh the way you guys are addressing it, it's a noble pursuit, right? And there's uh a lot of people who may not have the same uh motivations as you guys do. You know, one of the things I talk about on the show too is a lot of executives are trying to figure out there, there's an overwhelm with artificial intelligence where it comes into play of like, we know we need to be using it, we just don't know how, right? Like where's where's the best application of it? So if you're giving advice to other executives, is there and little things like Chris Crater was here from ACAC and you know, we we talked about he just created an internal SOP. They train their own GPT. So it's like, hey, you want to know what the business hours are or what the rest quote is or whatever. It's just they can punch it in, has all the SOPs already in there, right? Standard operating procedures. Like any little things like that that you would give advice or insights that's been useful for you and your organization that other executives could use as well?

Yeah, I mean, well, first of all, I think generally I come from a position as you as you just heard of encouraging it. So we just did a survey with our team. We're not a huge team, but we we've got folks all around the world in in the US, in Australia, in Europe, and so we reached out to everybody and just to try and get a lay of the land. And you know, what showed up is more than two-thirds of the business were using AI in some form on a daily basis, right? So it's already alive in the business, and so I don't I I'm not sure whether I'd be in a position to give advice because we're all just learning this for the first time. But what I what I took from that was it's happening, and so what we need to do is be thoughtful about how does it show up in the business? Are we helping educate and guide our teams on an AI usage? So even just simple things like okay, if two-thirds of the employees around the world are already utilizing AI, what proprietary confidential information is already being uploaded into Chat GPT or other things on a daily basis? And so, can we create some guidelines for the team on what is and isn't sensible? It's a bit like you know, 10 or 15 years ago we didn't know much about cybersecurity. Now we always train our teams on okay, be aware of these things because there are people out there trying to hack and get information from you or the business. And so, you know, it falls into that decision. Main it's a bit boring, but it's also real. It's a real threat to the organization, and so it's one that we need to contemplate, particularly as you think about kind of proprietary corporate technology or or strategy. So that's one thing that we're thinking of. But the other is the exciting, the exciting side, that's the kind of the scary side of how it might be leveraged for for you know kind of immoral reasons, like you said. But the the positive side is how much amplification we might get from talent. Like if we've got great talent in the organization, we're really focused on having great people, and then we can, you know, how much can they be amplified, their effect be amplified by leveraging AI to do some of the tasks that they might normally have done themselves, which would take them time, and how we can accelerate and amplify their impact by giving them access to these incredible tools. So they're the things that I think are really interesting. And then even I just came off a call with our CTO, and he's uh you know, Vahid Zadeh, he's formerly of Whoop, he's an absolute genius, fantastic guy, a real privilege to work with. And he, you know, he's a data guy, right? He loves data and he he dives into the data, and we've got our dashboards, our snowflake data, and and and he's like a mad scientist. He's like, Oh, look at this stuff that I found, and it's amazing, right? And then, but I said to him, hey, you know, let's get let's get some AI working on this, right? I kind of need you building stuff, right? It's great that you're excited about this, but is it the best use of you? You can set the parameters, you can set the projects, but how do we leverage this amazing new technology so that we can go to bed and AI will just keep cranking out the numbers and come back to us the next day with analysis? And that for me, I think is is exciting. And I I do genuinely, but maybe I'm naive and and history will judge me on this one way or the other, but I don't think AI will fully replace as many roles as people think it will. I think it will mean that that people's roles can be expanded and their impact can be expanded because we can start to train AI to work for us so one person can have three or four AI assistants doing work for them and amplify their impact. So it can it should, in my mind, maybe I'm overly romantic or naive, but it should amplify human intelligence in my mind. I uh I hope you're right.

I hope you're right.

Either that or it's gonna be Terminator. So one other one.

Yeah, right, yeah, yeah. I know, I know, I know. It's either Utopia or Sky or uh what was it? Skynet? Yeah, Skynet. Yeah, exactly. Last question I always ask here, uh Jay, is you know, what what do you what's a challenger you need help with as an industry? You know, how can we help you hiring, you know, looking for certain positions? Are you trying to crack home? Do you need specific type of partnerships? Like people are gonna reach out. What would you like to hear from them about?

Yeah, so there's a few things I think. I think our industry has got some way to go on collaboration. Um, I think it's it can be a little tribal, and we may not we may not always want to share and be open and collaborate to grow the industry, and I think that has to change. So I genuinely buy into this notion of a rising tide raises all ships. And you know, I'd love to meet with the CEO of Whoop and talk about how Whoop plus My Zone can mean more people you know living healthier, longer lives, and and I don't see why that conversation couldn't happen, you know, the same with Polar and Garmin and Android and Apple. And so, you know, for me, that's the the real opportunity is that we we kind of forget our tribal allegiances and start to figure out how we genuinely help the industry grow. So that's one thing that I think I'd love to see more of. And the other is I want I want to work with partners that are really interested in measuring the impact of MoTEC. So if if you're interested in having Motec in your facility and really looking at the data and saying, okay, do these members stay longer? Do they spend more money? Do they refer more friends? Do they visit more times? Do they spend more on coffee? And you know, let's do that because I think for us, we're data hungry and we're we're keen to build more evidence into what we do in the industry to drive our credibility collectively, not just at my zone. And so anybody who's interested in that side of things should definitely reach out.

Awesome, awesome, man. And uh, if people do want to reach out, is there a specific place you want them to go and you want them to follow you on LinkedIn, is there uh email, website, yeah, where where would you direct them?

I am wide open and always willing to chat. LinkedIn's good, and then email is J so J A Y J dotworthy at myzone.org. And so yeah, hit me up and let's have a conversation. Yeah, man.

Jay, this was great. I really it was great to hear what you guys are up to. Your insights on artificial intelligence. I'm sure it's you know front and center for what you guys do there at my zone. So it's it's always helpful, I think. Speaking openly about it, especially a lot of people have excitement and concerns, and I think we just need to talk about it more because no one really knows what they're doing. So that's the thing, right? That's right. Yeah, it's been awesome, man. Um thank you. Uh thank you for doing this, ladies and gentlemen. Jay Worthy. Thanks, Eric. Hey, wait, don't leave yet. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future of 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, iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, whatever it may be. Number two, please leave us a favorable review. Number three, share. Put it on social media, talk about it to your friends, send it in a text message, whatever it may be. Please share this episode because we put a lot of work into it. We want to make sure that as many people are getting value out of it as possible. Lastly, if you'd like to learn more, get in touch with me, simply go to the futurofitness.co. You can subscribe to our newsletter there, or you can simply get in touch with me as I love to hear from our listeners. So thank you so much. This is Eric Malzone, and this is the Future of Fitness. Have a great day.