Juliet Starrett & Alex Alimanestianu - Quarterly Earnings Reports & Opportunities In Women's Health

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Hey everybody, welcome to the Future of Fitness, a top rated fitness industry podcast for over

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_02]: four years and running.

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[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_02]: executives, thought leaders, and cutting edge technology experts within the extremely

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[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for listening and onto the show.

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[00:02:07] [SPEAKER_02]: All right, we are back.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Juliette, Alex, always a pleasure.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm really excited for everything that we have to cover today.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there's a, we got a lot of stuff on the docket and I feel like every time

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_02]: we do this, it's a little bit bigger, a little more in depth.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_02]: And you know, we got our homework from Professor Alex here to get ready and it's

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_02]: time to go. But I think first of all, I don't want you a little bit of update on the

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_02]: summer for you guys so far and you know, Juliette, you just came back from a very

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_02]: special trip, so maybe we'll save that for a second.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_02]: And Alex, like how's it been for you this summer so far?

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_01]: It's been, it's been great.

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I was, we were up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin living the lake life for three

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_01]: weeks.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's kind of one of the highlights of our year because we get to reconnect

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_01]: with family, especially on my wife's side.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_01]: And the lake life is great.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Jackson's great too, but gets really busy in the summer.

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's nice to sit on the dock and, you know, watch the loons and ride my

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: gravel bike and a kayak and yeah, it's great.

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Anyway, life is pretty awesome.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I can attest to that for sure.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, good to hear Alex.

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Glad you have a great summer.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_02]: And Juliette, you just got back from a very special memorable trip or we're

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_02]: dying to hear about it.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_02]: So how was it?

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I was lucky enough to be able to go see some events at the Olympics.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'll be honest, we were already going to be in Europe for a different

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: trip and three weeks before the Olympics, we had this bug and realized,

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: man, what are we doing if we're in Europe and we have an opportunity to

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: go to the Olympics, we should go.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And we assumed that cost would be, would be the thing that would make that not

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: happen.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And I will say that I was blown away that we were able to find like a

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: totally affordable Airbnb in a great neighborhood and get all resale tickets.

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And so we went to four events and, and, and I'll start just by saying

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: that like parrot, like Paris was the best, I mean, I already love Paris,

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: but Paris, Paris was the best it could ever be.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it was clean.

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Everybody was lovely.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: The streets were packed with people.

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was really interesting, actually culturally, it seemed like the

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Parisians actually nobody was home watching the Olympics.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: They would all go out to bars and restaurants and venues and watch all

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: the events outside all night.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And so the streets were just like a buzz and, um, and then we went to

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_00]: four events, two water metal water polo games.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: We were able to go to the men's beach volleyball gold medal final

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_00]: underneath the Eiffel tower in that insane stadium.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And then we went to women's heavyweight weightlifting.

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: So it was kind of this broad, uh, broad group of events, all metal finals.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, man, it was just so, I mean, the first thing was when we,

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, we walked into the law defense arena and I don't know if you guys

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_00]: were watching the Olympics the whole time, but leading up to going,

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I was watching a ton of Olympics.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I love swimming in water polo and just walking in the door felt so

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_00]: spectacular.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, Oh my God, I've been watching this on TV for two weeks

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and now I'm standing right here.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: It's amazing.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I mean, I love sport and gosh, why, you know, being in the

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_00]: crowd, sitting next to parents watching their kids was like one of my great

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: joys.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, just watching the parents like both be gripped and have joy.

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And I mean that just watching him, you can almost just watch

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_00]: the parents and not the sport.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that alone is like a sport in of itself as a parent,

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: you know?

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And, and then we were able to watch one medal ceremony and, you

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: know, there wasn't even a USA team in the medals on the podium.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And I still was crying.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_00]: It was so moving and just lots of amazing moments and, and just such an

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: example of like why we love sport and how unifying it is.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And it was just, it was a blast.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: And so, you know, I invited you guys before, but I'm going to rent

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: a big house in LA in 2028 and invite everybody and you can bring

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: your laptop and record podcasts or whatever you need to do and go see

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: events because it was, it's just awesome.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And just like really a peak life experience.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: So thanks for asking.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_02]: What about you, Eric?

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_02]: What have you been doing?

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I have a thought.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I will tell you in a minute.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Did you have a favorite event?

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Any one moment that stood out?

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there was, we watched the women's gold medal water polo

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: match and there were the, those women from Spain ended up winning

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_00]: the gold medal and there were a few moments where a couple of the

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: players who I later learned have been in multiple Olympics and never

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: before had some great plays and then actually looked up into the

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: crowd and were able to find their, their parents and their family

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and like sort of have these in game connections and cheering, both

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: of which literally made me cry.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I was like, I don't know why it was just like water

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: works the whole time, but, but watching those interactions,

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: just being on site to see those, you don't see those kinds

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: of things on TV as much.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that was my favorite.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I think those, those moments were my favorite.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I watched that game.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_02]: It ended up in shootout, right?

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Yep.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_02]: And a heartbreaking.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_02]: I think my favorite, I don't know if you guys saw the, sorry, not

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_02]: to get into too much water polo, but that's my sport.

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I love it too.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_02]: And the, the men's versus Australia game with Adrian, the USA goalie.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh my God.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Amazing.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Like they got, they got, uh, yeah, like as a stud and they lost

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_02]: a player stupid call, my opinion, but pretty factual is a stupid call.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_02]: And then, uh, they lost the player for the entire rest of the, like,

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_02]: I think it was a six minutes.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_02]: It went down and up, come back, went in and shoot out.

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_02]: It was, uh, it was awesome.

[00:07:38] [SPEAKER_02]: I was so stoked to see those guys get a medal this year.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, it was, it was amazing.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And, and then the other sport that I don't know if you guys

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: watched any of this, but maybe because I like water polo, I'd

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: never really watch handball before.

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought handball was kind of like racquetball, but it's not

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_00]: handball is water polo on land.

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: So I, yeah, there was, I had a grand old time watching it.

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: It was great.

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_02]: That's funny.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_02]: My wife, uh, she went, she had a, she was a scholarship athlete

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_02]: in college in Brazil and she played team handball and we somehow

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_02]: ended up together.

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_00]: What a cool sport.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_02]: I get such a cross fit.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:08:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for the client.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_02]: So in my cellar, it's been pretty, uh, pretty stay, you know,

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_02]: uh, to Alex's point last time I was gravel on a gravel ride

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_02]: and ran into a black bear and a cub just about a week ago.

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_02]: So that was pretty interesting and fun.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_02]: You too.

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00]: As Alex last time.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Were you carrying bear spray?

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Both my buddy and I slammed on the brakes and, uh, we were fine.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, they're gone by the time, uh, the time we got there and other

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_02]: than that just living the lifestyle, you know, um, you know, as much

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_02]: as I can here and, uh, and enjoying the outdoors, but nothing, nothing

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_02]: huge.

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And I watched a lot of the one thing I want to say that's changed my life

[00:08:46] [SPEAKER_00]: about doing these podcasts guys is that I actually already had found

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_00]: and had the tabs open on my computer for the earnings reports before

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Alex even sent them to us.

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, who am I?

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Who has, who have I become because you already had, you know, I have these

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_00]: already open on my computer.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: So anyway, thanks.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks guys.

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_02]: We'd have to get the Wall Street Journal soon.

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, we have a lot to cover today.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Go ahead.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_01]: One, one, uh, couple, a couple of things on the Olympics.

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_01]: What did you guys think of that?

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, the American woman who won the, uh, the cycling road race who

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_01]: picked up site Harvard.

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_00]: You have a Harvard venture capitalist who like picked up cycling a few years ago.

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_01]: In the bunkers was that

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_01]: in central parks, he started cycling.

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_00]: She went to like a cycling class.

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: That blew my mind.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_00]: That blew my mind.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_02]: I'd like to see some insights into her physiology, right?

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_01]: She was, she was a rower at Harvard.

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_01]: So she's obviously a great athlete, but I just thought that was up against

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_01]: these, these women who are, you know, the greatest cyclists of all times, you

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_01]: know, from bill and Holland.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, and she had, she crossed the finish line with like time to drink a

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_00]: cappuccino before anybody else even crossed the line.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_01]: She won.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:10:11] [SPEAKER_01]: It didn't seem like she knew she won.

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_01]: She didn't have radio on your piece and, and she didn't really celebrate.

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway.

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that was, yeah, that was one of many moments that I watched that.

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_02]: And it was amazing.

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_02]: It was amazing.

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_02]: In Australian breakdancing.

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_02]: I thought that was.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think my, you know, I love Bob role and I think Bob role was

[00:10:29] [SPEAKER_00]: commentating that and even they were like, wait, who is this again?

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Who's this?

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, like they, they couldn't believe it either, you know, the

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: commentators, so yeah.

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:10:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Fantastic.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, plenty to cover today.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, my notes are full.

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER_02]: We have the earnings reports.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_02]: We have a blank fitness going bankrupt.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_02]: So we can talk about that.

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, we have mind body online teasing a, uh, that they're going public.

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, we have a pretty solid conversation lining up about women's health,

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_02]: fitness, strength and all those things.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I know we've covered it before here, but I feel like it's worth even more

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_02]: conversation with some recent publications and the, you know, now

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_02]: infamous or famous, I should say non-infamous, Huberman's Dr.

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Stacy Sims podcast.

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Like there's, there's a lot of stuff going on in women's health and fitness.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_02]: That's really exciting.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I think as an industry, we really need to be wrapping our arms around this, uh,

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_02]: because it's a big, big deal and should be talked about a lot.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_02]: So, uh, I guess if we just going in order of how Alex sent it, which

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_02]: is how I do everything, um, should we start with lifetime?

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_02]: What's, uh, what's the takeaways there?

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Anybody want to Alex, why don't you kick us off?

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, sure.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_01]: So I would say a quality performance on there on the financial side.

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_01]: The, uh, they have a 26% EBITDA margin, which is the highest they've ever produced

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_01]: and way, way above what they guided towards, which is about 23 or 24.

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_01]: So they're, they're really firing on all cylinders.

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_01]: They did have free cashflow, which they promised they would in

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_01]: in the second quarter, not a lot, but they, but they did have, have some.

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, and the stock is up 59% year to date.

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_01]: So they're, uh, they're really, you know, in a, in a great position.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's a testament, I think, to the resilience of management post COVID

[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_01]: and the strategy they put in place, the execution, you know, on the

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_01]: stability of that management team.

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_01]: The founder has been there 30 years.

[00:12:51] [SPEAKER_01]: He's, he's still, you know, CEO and chairman, and he's just doing an

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_01]: amazing job growing the business and improving it.

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And, uh, you know, it's interesting.

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_01]: He talks about not having sales people and not doing any marketing.

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Because that's the experience and the, and the power of the brand at this point.

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_01]: So he, you know, the, the numbers he gave were, they were spending about a

[00:13:25] [SPEAKER_01]: one and a half percent on sales and marketing versus an industry standard

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_01]: of five to 6%, so, you know, I don't know, I haven't shopped a lifetime

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_01]: in a while, so I don't know how they sell when you, when you walk in the

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_01]: doors, don't I don't know the process.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Um, but that's a big difference from how the industry has, you know, still

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_01]: still run in a lot of cases and has been run historically.

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So I thought, I thought those were some interesting takeaways.

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.

[00:14:01] [SPEAKER_00]: The only thing I noticed and correct me if I'm wrong, but that they

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_00]: also had to invest money in renovating some facility they bought.

[00:14:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I got way down in the weeds there in the report, but they were still spending

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_00]: money and yet still had these great results.

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_00]: So I thought that was extra cool to see because, you know, it wasn't as

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_00]: though they just turned off the hose of spending altogether and they're

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: still spending money and still seem to be doing well.

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_00]: So I, you know, I don't know.

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Did I read that correctly?

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_01]: They spend huge, huge amounts of capital, hundreds of millions of

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_01]: dollars and they, they camped it down a little bit, but not, not a lot.

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And I just think the, the, the, the business itself, everything is, is,

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_01]: is working, you know, the personal training is growing the membership

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_01]: dues lines are growing, uh, the pickleball investments are paying off big time.

[00:14:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Huge, huge.

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you think part of it?

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I was thinking about this because I don't, I've actually, I don't think

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I've ever been to a lifetime.

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of a place that I drive by when I'm in certain geographic places.

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you think part of the key to their success is this choice of

[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_00]: places where maybe there aren't another, there aren't a ton of other options.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, the one I think about is up just outside of Sacramento.

[00:15:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I happen to drive by it when I'm going to Tahoe and they've, they've

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: invested massively in pickleball courts.

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_00]: But my guess is it's like, there might be a few little mini gyms around,

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_00]: but like that's kind of the gym to go to in that area.

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And I wonder if they've been really smart about choosing locations

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_00]: like that, where they're the one.

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_00]: Which makes it easy to not do a lot of sales and marketing.

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to go to the gym, that's the gym.

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if that's their strategy or.

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'd say a couple of things.

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_01]: One, they need so much real estate, such a big footprint that they kind

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_01]: of have to be a little bit on the periphery of communities.

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And then, uh, and they, you know, they only have 175 locations.

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's not that many and they can be selective certainly about, you

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_01]: know, the competitive environment, but they don't, they don't, they

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_01]: claim they don't really compete because what they offer is just

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_01]: different and more extensive.

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, that's, that's probably hubris to some degree, but

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_01]: that's certainly what they say.

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Alex, you, uh, you said you gave them an A is there anything from your

[00:16:38] [SPEAKER_02]: experience that would have gotten them an eight plus just a perfect score.

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's funny.

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I, I was thinking about whether it was an eight plus the, uh, they

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_01]: still are spending huge amounts of capital and so they don't have

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: a lot of freak free cashflow.

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, they put it, they, they had about 25 million of free cash.

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And as they invest so much, the return on their capital is not as high

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_01]: as some of the franchising like expo or planet.

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_01]: So, so that's the, that's the challenge.

[00:17:24] [SPEAKER_01]: If there was a way for them to generate the returns, the, the, the, the

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_01]: EBITDA that they're, that they're generating without spending the

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_01]: hundreds of millions of dollars on capital, that would be, that

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_01]: would be a plus with interest rates coming down that does help them.

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And generally across the board for the brick and mortars, lower

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_01]: interest rates are helping those businesses.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_01]: You see it in the public markets with exponential, their stock is relatively

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_01]: strong given all the, all the drama they've had and, uh, planet planet

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_01]: as well has, has bounced up a little bit as interest rates have come down.

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_01]: And anybody building, uh, brick and mortar facilities is going to benefit

[00:18:15] [SPEAKER_01]: not everybody, if you have, if you're just putting in equity, you know,

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_01]: it's different, but if you're getting an SBA loan, you know, and paying 13,

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_01]: 14% last year and it's coming down, you know, closer to 10 or 11 that,

[00:18:31] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, that helps you get your, your facility built.

[00:18:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:18:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, overall, when I was reading through this, I mean, I guess

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_02]: my, my, my major note was like, looks really good.

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_02]: It's kind of, it's pretty good.

[00:18:46] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I think that was the only thing I was like, yeah, I

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_02]: think it stops spinning, you know, as much money or find different ways to,

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_02]: to, you know, leverage the capital than they'd be in good news.

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_02]: And so exponential let's, let's move on to that.

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_02]: I was kind of looking over a lot of things, not sure exactly what to make

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_02]: of it was my big punchline here for myself, as far as notes, but you

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_02]: know, I was realizing it's been over a year now since the fuzzy pen report.

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, last June there at $28 this June, they're at six,

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_02]: they're at 16, uh, per share.

[00:19:15] [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, obviously something, you know, if you look at the year,

[00:19:17] [SPEAKER_02]: hasn't been from that perspective, not the best, but it looks, you know,

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_02]: there there's a lot of different signals and reports.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_02]: So what do you, what do you guys say?

[00:19:26] [SPEAKER_01]: The new CEO was on the call.

[00:19:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So he's been in the seat for maybe two months.

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And, uh, remember he comes out of Adidas, Taylor made, uh, and Taco

[00:19:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Bell, I'm not sure why those three are in the same sentence, but they are.

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And, uh, so, so he's just getting settled in.

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_01]: It was too early for him to have a, you know, clarity on what, what, if

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_01]: anything, he's going to change in their strategy, but I would say the

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_01]: focus sounded like it was going to be working with the brands that they have.

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, so they have eight brands left.

[00:20:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, they got rid of, uh, row house, not got rid of, but, but spun off row

[00:20:15] [SPEAKER_01]: house, uh, stride.

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_01]: So the running, the running one and then AKT they're winding down.

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Um, I, I'm not sure that ever got much oxygen.

[00:20:26] [SPEAKER_01]: That was the dance cardio concept, but so they're going to

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_01]: focus on what they have.

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_01]: It sounds like the, the strength is really in Pilates and in, uh, the

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_01]: stretch lab, which is, which is interesting, but, and maybe not a

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_01]: surprise to, to you guys.

[00:20:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, but I think club Pilates is the star.

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, I think there's weakness in cycle bar.

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_01]: That seems to be the one that they're closing a lot of, and they, they have

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_01]: increased the number of units that they're closing, especially in, in

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_01]: that modality, um, and I think across the industry cycling is, is

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_01]: in a bit of a tough situation.

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_01]: But, uh, in terms of the numbers, I, I was, I was pretty impressed with

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_01]: the key, you know, the key performance indicators.

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_01]: So they're saying store sales were up 7%, which is really strong.

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_01]: They expect 22% growth for the year.

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, they did, they did, uh, cut back a little bit on news on new openings,

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_01]: but they're still going to do 500 or so openings this year.

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So overall I'd say the, the, the company seems in like it's in, in a

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_01]: straw, you know, strong position.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_01]: But there's, uh, you know, there's, there's some sort of wrinkles there

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_01]: that, that, uh, could turn into, you know, weaker performance.

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you, if you have a portfolio of eight brands and only two

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_01]: are really performing two out of eight is not long-term.

[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_01]: That's not going to work because Pilates, as we all know, is, is,

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_01]: is amazingly strong and has been for the past couple of years, but you

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_01]: know, trees don't grow to the sky, right?

[00:22:22] [SPEAKER_01]: At some point that's, that's going to slow down.

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think the only thing I would add is I forgot until I reread

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_00]: this report that they'd added and I forget when, but that weight loss brand.

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And Dora is Lindora.

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And to me, that's the one to watch in their portfolio because you know,

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_00]: again, now there's so many of those.

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I just don't know if the market's been flooded and whether their

[00:22:46] [SPEAKER_00]: particular one will be successful.

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_00]: But I also think, uh, based on what I'm seeing that has a lot of potential.

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, and I've seen this is just, you know, my own local

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_00]: experience, but a couple of cycle bars in our community have closed.

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's, that's what I just noticed on the ground.

[00:23:02] [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I thought, I thought the same thing.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought it does feel like spinning was spinning in, in, you know, soul cycle.

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think even our local soul cycle closed down, which is not part of that

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_00]: brand, but I just thought maybe it said something about spinning overall.

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm super curious to see if the weight loss brand, what that does.

[00:23:22] [SPEAKER_00]: If anything.

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_02]: It, it's kind of, it's curious to me because I've always wondered over

[00:23:28] [SPEAKER_02]: recent years how these single modality boutique concepts will do.

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, the rowing, the running that just, you know, just cycling, like how,

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_02]: how long will people maintain a membership there when they can get

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER_02]: everything they want at a nearby

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_00]: At lifetime.

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:23:43] [SPEAKER_00]: At lifetime.

[00:23:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, you know, ironically I talked to somebody in the upper management today

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_02]: from Lindora and they just shifted over, you know, they shifted over some

[00:23:51] [SPEAKER_02]: pretty experienced and successful people, especially at the president level

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_02]: and shout out to Lou.

[00:23:56] [SPEAKER_02]: And so I think they're very, uh, I mean, GLPs aren't going anywhere, right?

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Weight loss is not going anywhere.

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_02]: And if they could serve that correctly and get all the, uh, I imagine there's

[00:24:07] [SPEAKER_02]: a lot of red tape when it comes to medical on that side that you have

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_02]: to go state by state and, and, and get through, but if you can get

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_02]: through that, I mean, it's not just about weight loss too.

[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_02]: It's vanity, right?

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Like a lot of people, you know, specific areas are going to pay a

[00:24:21] [SPEAKER_02]: lot for that kind of thing.

[00:24:23] [SPEAKER_02]: So I think it's super interesting to watch and, uh, yeah, I'm

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_02]: curious what you guys think about the state of overall a boutique

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_02]: fitness, right?

[00:24:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Has it kind of, is it flattening out?

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, was there, cause there was such a surge in just so many modalities

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_02]: and it was so trendy and people were willing to spend so much money.

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_02]: And now it seems like it's quieting a little bit.

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_02]: It costs real States up.

[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_02]: The interest rates are high.

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, uh, what do you guys overall think of boutique right now?

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Is it hot cold lukewarm?

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_02]: What do you say?

[00:24:51] [SPEAKER_00]: No, Julia seems to me like the, it seems to me that the pendulum

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_00]: is swinging back more towards people wanting the full service gym experience.

[00:25:01] [SPEAKER_00]: For all the reasons you said, I think even with CrossFit, I think it's

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_00]: a problem for CrossFit too, but the people that I know who like boutique

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_00]: fitness and still do it tend to do two days a week at Orange Theory.

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And then they go to club Pilates and then they go here and, and

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, I know ClassPass has tried to solve that problem sort of,

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_00]: but it's not a, it hasn't been a perfect solution for the

[00:25:22] [SPEAKER_00]: sort of boutique fitness goers.

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm seeing just in my own community, more and more people, you know,

[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_00]: joining the Bay clubs and the bigger gyms because they do, they like

[00:25:31] [SPEAKER_00]: spinning, but that's not all they want to do.

[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_00]: They maybe want to do that two or three times a month and they

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_00]: want to be able to have access to yoga and, you know, have a cup of

[00:25:38] [SPEAKER_00]: coffee and talk to their friends at their gym, the social piece.

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, it seems to me that there's a correction a bit where people

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_00]: are wanting the more full service gym experience and, and, and then,

[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, we're going to get to the Stacey Sims podcast, but I thought

[00:25:55] [SPEAKER_00]: that from a women's perspective, she gave a pretty blistering, uh,

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_00]: non-review of Orange Theory and berries for women in particular.

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, Ooh, man, she definitely did not mince words and saying

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_00]: like, yeah, those, those programs are exactly not what most women

[00:26:11] [SPEAKER_00]: need to be doing again.

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I've no idea if her single podcast with Huberman will have

[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_00]: an impact on their numbers.

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_00]: But if I were Orange Theory and I think it was berries, she

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_00]: mentioned, I forget.

[00:26:22] [SPEAKER_00]: It was 45.

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_00]: It was 45.

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was.

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway.

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_00]: So, uh, yeah, I think that those things all combined make me

[00:26:30] [SPEAKER_00]: wonder if it's, we're going to start to see more of those

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_00]: boutique fitnesses, especially the single modality.

[00:26:37] [SPEAKER_00]: The, I mean, I feel like the rowing as a former rower myself,

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, how are these things ever going to survive sitting on

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_00]: a rowing machine is hard and not that fun.

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to make it fun.

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I don't know.

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_00]: What do you think Alex or Eric?

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think that, you know, Barry's is for sale.

[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Solid core is for sale.

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the owners obviously think that this is a good time to sell.

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_01]: There are lots of different reasons to sell.

[00:27:07] [SPEAKER_01]: It could be that, you know, North castles owned Barry's for a long

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_01]: time, which they have and, and there, they need liquidity.

[00:27:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Their LPs want, you know, return of capital, which, you know, would

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_01]: would make sense.

[00:27:22] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the, the solid core owners may think we're kind of at

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_01]: the top of the wave here.

[00:27:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, the getting is good.

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So you, so you never really know why people are selling, but, um, if

[00:27:36] [SPEAKER_01]: you get some really, uh, good results on those sales that will

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_01]: incentivize investment in boutique because people will say, Oh, and

[00:27:49] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, invest that person invested in Barry's.

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_01]: They got a 10 X return.

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, what's the next Barry's or what's the next solid core?

[00:27:57] [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't, I mean, it used to be that it was pretty much just the

[00:28:04] [SPEAKER_01]: bit, the global gyms and yoga studios.

[00:28:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And then you had the explosion in boutique and all sorts of different

[00:28:11] [SPEAKER_01]: modalities.

[00:28:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So do we go back to where it's kind of global gyms and on some

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_01]: sprinkling of boutiques?

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think so.

[00:28:20] [SPEAKER_01]: We'll maybe go back a little bit, but I, I think there is an

[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_01]: expertise and a community on a, and a convenience to going to a

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_01]: boutique that you don't have.

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Like you go to lifetime, you're spending like three hours to just

[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_01]: like park and get to the front door.

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And then you might have to compete for the machine you want.

[00:28:42] [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, so I think, I think boutiques will, will hang in

[00:28:46] [SPEAKER_01]: there, especially if we get some good exits.

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:28:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I would just want to add one more thing before you go Eric too, as

[00:28:52] [SPEAKER_00]: a plug for CrossFit when I still owned a CrossFit gym, we

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_00]: actually had, we were, we owned it for long enough that we

[00:28:57] [SPEAKER_00]: would see some of those swings where people would leave and come

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_00]: back and when people came back, their primary reason was

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_00]: coaching, they would go away to these other things, you know,

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_00]: oftentimes global gyms and just miss actually getting technique

[00:29:13] [SPEAKER_00]: coaching and, you know, and showing up and just having

[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_00]: someone program and have a plan and tell you what to do from

[00:29:19] [SPEAKER_00]: moment to moment to moment.

[00:29:20] [SPEAKER_00]: So we noticed that.

[00:29:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And I do think that's never going to go away.

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_00]: There's going to be a subset of people who do want coaching.

[00:29:27] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:29:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, the global gyms tend, unless you have a

[00:29:29] [SPEAKER_00]: personal trainer, but you know, if you're just attending

[00:29:32] [SPEAKER_00]: your it's pretty much a DIY kind of situation.

[00:29:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that's, that's going to keep people doing

[00:29:38] [SPEAKER_00]: more boutique stuff as well, especially CrossFit.

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I would agree.

[00:29:42] [SPEAKER_02]: I think BFT, I mean, sorry, BFT is on my mind.

[00:29:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:29:45] [SPEAKER_02]: So my thoughts on boutique is like, it's kind of like the

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_02]: experimental aspect of, of our industry.

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like people get to try new concepts.

[00:29:52] [SPEAKER_02]: They can serve their community in a very distinct way.

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_02]: And then some of them rise, some of them don't, and

[00:29:57] [SPEAKER_02]: some of them scale massively.

[00:29:58] [SPEAKER_02]: But I do think, you know, as we were before just as the

[00:30:00] [SPEAKER_02]: stuff we're going to talk about later too is like anything

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_02]: around strength right now CrossFit, right?

[00:30:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Matabolic BFT, like some of these ones are it's like,

[00:30:09] [SPEAKER_02]: okay, you get coaching, you get strength, you get these things

[00:30:11] [SPEAKER_02]: that are people are really dying for it.

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't see those trends going away anytime soon.

[00:30:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I think they're a really good position.

[00:30:17] [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, let's see what's next.

[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_02]: We got, I don't like to say for the end Planet Fitness.

[00:30:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:30:24] [SPEAKER_01]: So all up all good.

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_01]: Is that right?

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Planet did, it's doing fine.

[00:30:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's up, it's up 4% same store sales.

[00:30:35] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's not as, not as good as lifetime, which was 12%.

[00:30:39] [SPEAKER_01]: An expo was 7%.

[00:30:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, but 4% same store is still pretty good.

[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, they, they slowed down a little bit this year, but that was

[00:30:50] [SPEAKER_01]: a function of construction costs mainly that franchise franchisees were slower

[00:30:56] [SPEAKER_01]: to build, uh, because they couldn't get their construction budgets in

[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_01]: line with what the model requires.

[00:31:06] [SPEAKER_01]: They have changed the model and the franchisees have signed off.

[00:31:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I haven't seen the financials on the new model, but they did.

[00:31:17] [SPEAKER_01]: One of the key changes was, uh, to, uh, to take into account that construction

[00:31:25] [SPEAKER_01]: costs were up 30% since 2019.

[00:31:29] [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's why they raised the price, the basic price from 10 to $15.

[00:31:34] [SPEAKER_01]: To give the franchisees, uh, just, you know, higher revenue and, and a

[00:31:39] [SPEAKER_01]: bit more profitability to, to get a return on the higher investment.

[00:31:45] [SPEAKER_01]: So the, the new CEO, Colleen Keating who comes out of hospitality, uh, had

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_01]: her first call, uh, earnings call.

[00:31:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And again, too early to talk about strategy too much.

[00:31:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, but what she did say, which were one of the things she said was that

[00:32:03] [SPEAKER_01]: there was going to be more focused on international expansion.

[00:32:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And in her first six weeks, she spent, she already spent time in Europe, which

[00:32:11] [SPEAKER_01]: makes saying either she was on vacation or, or, or there was, you know,

[00:32:18] [SPEAKER_01]: the, the, she's scouting.

[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_01]: I think they're opening clubs in Spain.

[00:32:22] [SPEAKER_01]: That's the first market and it's under penetrated.

[00:32:26] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's only, I think 10% of the, of the population uses a

[00:32:29] [SPEAKER_01]: club versus, you know, 20% in, in the U S.

[00:32:34] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think international is a focus.

[00:32:37] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that she talked a lot about improving or focusing on the

[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_01]: overall experience in, in the, uh, in the, in the gyms and the need to,

[00:32:53] [SPEAKER_01]: to make sure that it's, it's just an unparalleled experience.

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_01]: And to me, I'm sort of, uh, you know, scratching my head, like

[00:33:02] [SPEAKER_01]: how do you make a, you know, bare bones, an unparalleled experience?

[00:33:11] [SPEAKER_01]: There's no classes.

[00:33:13] [SPEAKER_01]: There's something to do personal training.

[00:33:15] [SPEAKER_01]: They don't, uh, there's almost nobody on the floor employee wise.

[00:33:21] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, they, they, the, the one thing or one thing that people complain

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_01]: about is how hard it is to cancel your plan and fitness membership.

[00:33:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe figure out a way to make it easier to cancel membership.

[00:33:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, I don't want to be.

[00:33:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I think they're having an unparalleled experience in

[00:33:39] [SPEAKER_00]: monthly membership cost.

[00:33:40] [SPEAKER_00]: They're definitely having that.

[00:33:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:33:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:33:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_01]: That helps.

[00:33:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:33:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:33:46] [SPEAKER_01]: So, so that that's that, you know, she's new and she'll

[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_01]: new to the industry, new to planet.

[00:33:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, she'll, she'll figure out, you know, how to elevate the

[00:33:58] [SPEAKER_01]: experience in some way.

[00:33:59] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm, I'm sure, but I don't know that there's how much you can do when you

[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_01]: have no payroll line to speak of.

[00:34:06] [SPEAKER_01]: So, uh, uh, she talked about strength being taking more, uh, you

[00:34:13] [SPEAKER_01]: know, for space and, and the gen Z, uh, demographic being the most

[00:34:18] [SPEAKER_01]: important one in, I thought those that I thought that that was,

[00:34:22] [SPEAKER_01]: that was interesting.

[00:34:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And then, uh, yeah.

[00:34:26] [SPEAKER_01]: So overall fine, uh, financially and, and you know, they're getting used to their

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_01]: new, we'll see what the new CEO has in terms of strategy over the next few calls.

[00:34:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:34:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:34:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Interesting.

[00:34:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Any, any other takeaways for you, Joe?

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_00]: No, not much.

[00:34:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it just seemed fine to me.

[00:34:43] [SPEAKER_00]: The only thing I noticed in light of our blink conversation as I did read

[00:34:47] [SPEAKER_00]: somewhere that they were going to focus on some smaller format gyms, which I

[00:34:52] [SPEAKER_00]: assume smaller format means smaller like in size.

[00:34:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought, well, maybe that's not the best idea based on what

[00:35:00] [SPEAKER_00]: we're seeing from blink.

[00:35:01] [SPEAKER_00]: So I, you know, I don't know if I would have made that connection

[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_00]: if we didn't already have this plan, but I thought, I thought

[00:35:07] [SPEAKER_00]: that that was interesting.

[00:35:08] [SPEAKER_00]: That was the kind of note I took out of that.

[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I didn't have too many other notes on, honestly.

[00:35:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I think it was just, Alex has said is right.

[00:35:15] [SPEAKER_02]: We're going to wait a couple more quarters, see what the new CEO

[00:35:18] [SPEAKER_02]: does and what changes she makes.

[00:35:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I think we'll have a lot more to talk about.

[00:35:21] [SPEAKER_02]: So that brings us to Peloton then, uh, doing more with less.

[00:35:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Is that the headline for Peloton now?

[00:35:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's, I, I was, I, I enjoy their reports out of all of them,

[00:35:32] [SPEAKER_02]: the way they write them and everything, just the formatting.

[00:35:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And, uh, I think they, they paint a good picture even when it's not so

[00:35:38] [SPEAKER_02]: great, but I don't know, I, I was going through, I was like, okay, yeah.

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_02]: All right.

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Cool.

[00:35:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Good for them.

[00:35:45] [SPEAKER_02]: They seem to be, maybe they're listening to our podcast.

[00:35:47] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, but it seems they're, they're listening to people who are

[00:35:51] [SPEAKER_01]: saying the same thing that we've been saying, and it could be the board.

[00:35:57] [SPEAKER_01]: It could be analysts.

[00:35:59] [SPEAKER_01]: It could be us, but you know, they don't have a CEO now.

[00:36:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, they're looking, they should, they say by the next call, they'll

[00:36:09] [SPEAKER_01]: have somebody in the, in the corner office, but you know, we'll see,

[00:36:14] [SPEAKER_01]: we'll see, uh, uh, what direction they want to go when they, when they

[00:36:19] [SPEAKER_01]: have that, but I do, I think my sense is that the company is really cutting

[00:36:28] [SPEAKER_01]: expenses in across the board, R and D marketing, you know, just retail.

[00:36:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, they're, they're doing it.

[00:36:39] [SPEAKER_01]: They're going even deeper after they've already been gone through

[00:36:44] [SPEAKER_01]: three or four rounds of cuts.

[00:36:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And it just gives you a sense of how much bloat there was under,

[00:36:51] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, during, during COVID.

[00:36:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_01]: They just, they, they built this Taj Mahal, uh, corporate office in

[00:36:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Manhattan, you know, they bought factories and so the, so they can,

[00:37:06] [SPEAKER_01]: there's still expense to be shed and they're going to continue doing that.

[00:37:11] [SPEAKER_01]: It sounds, it sounded to me like the CFO was running the show.

[00:37:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Which, which is it probably makes sense given the stage they're at and they

[00:37:22] [SPEAKER_01]: don't, they have two interim CEOs.

[00:37:24] [SPEAKER_01]: So those folks are just keeping the seat warm, but they're not

[00:37:27] [SPEAKER_01]: going to be there very long.

[00:37:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So, so it's, they're very much focused on profitability and, and, uh,

[00:37:34] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, solid financial footing.

[00:37:37] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think they, that will, they did extend all their debt to 2029.

[00:37:43] [SPEAKER_01]: So, so that's a big help.

[00:37:45] [SPEAKER_01]: They don't have that hanging over their heads where, you know, there was

[00:37:48] [SPEAKER_01]: a bankruptcy concern before that these debts were going to just kind of,

[00:37:53] [SPEAKER_01]: uh, you know, they were, they were going to suffocate on them.

[00:37:56] [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't, I don't think that's going to happen anymore.

[00:37:59] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, they teased, uh, a price increase on the subscription.

[00:38:04] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think they're at 44 bucks a month.

[00:38:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I would not be surprised if that went up, but the, but the, uh,

[00:38:11] [SPEAKER_01]: probably not till the new CEO comes in.

[00:38:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think, you know, he talked a lot about strengths and that

[00:38:19] [SPEAKER_01]: that was the modality that they, they, you know, their customers

[00:38:23] [SPEAKER_01]: were really engaged with.

[00:38:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't, it doesn't, it's not really an equipment based thing, right?

[00:38:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's more content, I guess, but, uh, you know, churn is up a little bit.

[00:38:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Not, not dramatically though.

[00:38:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think we, you know, we wait for the new CEO and in the interim, they're

[00:38:45] [SPEAKER_01]: not going to really grow like the, the macro view was connected.

[00:38:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Connected fitness is, is still declining.

[00:38:54] [SPEAKER_01]: It hasn't recovered and certainly hasn't recovered.

[00:38:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, and it hasn't even sort of plateaued yet.

[00:39:02] [SPEAKER_01]: Um, so it's still going down a little bit.

[00:39:04] [SPEAKER_01]: They're not, they, you know, they're on a different fiscal year.

[00:39:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So they gave, uh, the 2025 projections or guidance and, uh, they don't expect to

[00:39:14] [SPEAKER_01]: grow, they'll, they'll, they're expect to be flat revenue wise and

[00:39:19] [SPEAKER_01]: may even go down a little.

[00:39:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Interesting.

[00:39:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, Julia, what were, what did you pick out of that?

[00:39:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't have much to add to that.

[00:39:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I love the clip.

[00:39:27] [SPEAKER_00]: There was like a four minute clip you send from CNBC or Bloomberg or something.

[00:39:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And I love that guy.

[00:39:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I thought he did a great job of just saying, you know,

[00:39:35] [SPEAKER_00]: they're making money.

[00:39:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:39:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they have, they're making money.

[00:39:38] [SPEAKER_00]: They have this very profitable arm of their business and they just need to

[00:39:41] [SPEAKER_00]: figure out how to spend less money.

[00:39:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's sort of, and then I did think, and I was glad to see, cause it

[00:39:46] [SPEAKER_00]: makes, you know, we have talked in the past about their sort of whack a

[00:39:49] [SPEAKER_00]: mole like partnership strategy and adding new things.

[00:39:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And I was, I was happy to see the bike rental things seems to be working

[00:39:55] [SPEAKER_00]: somewhere in the UK and that model actually makes sense to me knowing a

[00:40:00] [SPEAKER_00]: thousand people who were saddled with a Peloton they owned and no longer

[00:40:03] [SPEAKER_00]: wanted.

[00:40:04] [SPEAKER_00]: And the, you know, gigantic market for them on Facebook marketplace and other

[00:40:08] [SPEAKER_00]: place.

[00:40:08] [SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, the bike rental thing makes sense.

[00:40:10] [SPEAKER_00]: It sort of keeps their focus of their business on their app and their, and

[00:40:15] [SPEAKER_00]: that side of their business, which continues to be great and slay.

[00:40:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So I thought that was an interesting idea.

[00:40:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And I wonder if that'll work for them on the long-term and be

[00:40:23] [SPEAKER_00]: profitable at all.

[00:40:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:40:25] [SPEAKER_02]: It was a, to that note too, I really like how they are embracing the

[00:40:29] [SPEAKER_02]: secondary market and monetizing on it.

[00:40:31] [SPEAKER_02]: So one of the things in there, it said we're initiating a new one-time

[00:40:36] [SPEAKER_02]: $95 U S used equipment fee activation.

[00:40:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Yep.

[00:40:39] [SPEAKER_02]: And they're offer a virtual custom fitting for members, and then they

[00:40:42] [SPEAKER_02]: get a history summary on the pre-owned hardware.

[00:40:45] [SPEAKER_02]: So it's like, they're really making it good for these things to stay in

[00:40:49] [SPEAKER_02]: circulation and continue to make money and not just become, you know,

[00:40:52] [SPEAKER_02]: a clothes hanger somewhere, right?

[00:40:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Which happens with a lot of home equipment.

[00:40:55] [SPEAKER_02]: And I really liked their, you know, seem to be leaning more into

[00:40:58] [SPEAKER_02]: their B2B strategy because I think at large health clubs, why not have a

[00:41:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Peloton in there with all the content and all of that versus just say,

[00:41:05] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, some other kind of bike people know Peloton.

[00:41:07] [SPEAKER_02]: They like Peloton.

[00:41:08] [SPEAKER_02]: It will draw people to the club.

[00:41:10] [SPEAKER_02]: I think so really interesting stuff.

[00:41:12] [SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, I'm excited now they've kind of looks like they're

[00:41:15] [SPEAKER_02]: starting to write the ship from an expense standpoint and lean up.

[00:41:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I think who knows, you know, this thing could be around for a while.

[00:41:21] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they need, they need a, a really good CEO.

[00:41:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:41:26] [SPEAKER_01]: It's still, it's still a tough, a tough business to grow.

[00:41:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:41:33] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, expenses will, you know, at some point you run out of, you start

[00:41:37] [SPEAKER_01]: cutting to cut or you start cutting muscle and bone and it's that's painful.

[00:41:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Interesting.

[00:41:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:41:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.

[00:41:46] [SPEAKER_02]: How about blink?

[00:41:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, so Equinox owned, you know, I think, uh, I'm always curious, you

[00:41:51] [SPEAKER_02]: know, I'm not bankruptcy can mean so many things.

[00:41:53] [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't actually mean that everything's going out of business.

[00:41:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[00:41:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, but yeah, what was your guys, your guy's initial take on that?

[00:42:00] [SPEAKER_02]: What does it mean for the market?

[00:42:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be honest until we started talking about this, I'd never even heard of blink.

[00:42:05] [SPEAKER_00]: So I had to do some recon.

[00:42:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, what is blink?

[00:42:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:42:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, and yeah, I mean, I thought about it in the context of our women's

[00:42:14] [SPEAKER_00]: strength and you know, strength conversations coming up next, I was sort

[00:42:19] [SPEAKER_00]: of surprised to hear that it, and maybe it just was a, maybe it just

[00:42:23] [SPEAKER_00]: could never recover from the pandemic.

[00:42:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, maybe that's ultimately the problem and that if it had just come,

[00:42:29] [SPEAKER_00]: to market in 2023 versus whenever it did, maybe, maybe it would still be successful.

[00:42:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.

[00:42:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I honestly wasn't sure what to make of it because I was so unfamiliar

[00:42:38] [SPEAKER_00]: with the brand and the concept.

[00:42:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't think I have a ton to add other than that.

[00:42:42] [SPEAKER_00]: It's, it seemed like it was a timing problem to me.

[00:42:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:42:48] [SPEAKER_01]: The, a little hard to say what the primary cause was of the, of the bankruptcy.

[00:42:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I think if you go back to the founding of blink 13, you know, 2011, I want to say.

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[00:44:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Equinox was firing on all cylinders.

[00:44:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Soul cycle was doing great.

[00:44:44] [SPEAKER_01]: They were probably, they had more cash, you know, getting thrown off

[00:44:47] [SPEAKER_01]: than they knew what to do with.

[00:44:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And they were like, okay, we need another, uh, Avenue of growth,

[00:44:54] [SPEAKER_01]: another brand.

[00:44:56] [SPEAKER_01]: And so they decided, they looked around and were like, okay, you know,

[00:45:03] [SPEAKER_01]: you've got planet fitness doing this and retro and, and we can do that better.

[00:45:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I think that there was that assumption that we're equinox.

[00:45:13] [SPEAKER_01]: We can, you know, we can figure this model out and do it better.

[00:45:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And, uh, and, and then I think they built mainly in the New York area

[00:45:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and in Metro areas that were probably more expensive than where

[00:45:30] [SPEAKER_01]: your typical planets are.

[00:45:32] [SPEAKER_01]: And then I guess, you know, the model just didn't pencil the,

[00:45:37] [SPEAKER_01]: the amount of revenue just wasn't sufficient to make better HVLP work.

[00:45:45] [SPEAKER_01]: And then also they never really franchised.

[00:45:50] [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, and that, that was most successful HVLPs franchise

[00:45:56] [SPEAKER_01]: like planet and France.

[00:45:58] [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think EOS does, but, but so I don't know,

[00:46:02] [SPEAKER_01]: that may have been a factor.

[00:46:03] [SPEAKER_01]: They may have had too many units that were especially hard hit by COVID

[00:46:10] [SPEAKER_01]: shutdowns that's possible.

[00:46:12] [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't really, I, that's not a, you know, I'm not altogether clear on

[00:46:17] [SPEAKER_01]: what the primary causes are, but it is a little surprising to me given how

[00:46:22] [SPEAKER_01]: planets bounce back and, uh, and EOS is growing like crazy and crunch is

[00:46:28] [SPEAKER_01]: growing like crazy with their HVLP.

[00:46:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, I was, I was a little surprised that Blink was filing chapter 11.

[00:46:36] [SPEAKER_01]: It'll get sold off presumably and, you know, rebranded maybe,

[00:46:41] [SPEAKER_01]: or we're not, I, yeah, we'll see.

[00:46:45] [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to happen quickly though.

[00:46:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:46:47] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, outside looking in my first thought when reading it and realizing

[00:46:50] [SPEAKER_02]: it was Equinox own was like, well, that's a, it seems it's

[00:46:53] [SPEAKER_02]: stark contrast as far as branding goes because Equinox is known

[00:46:57] [SPEAKER_02]: for exclusive, right?

[00:46:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:46:59] [SPEAKER_02]: This is literally says inclusive and accessible.

[00:47:03] [SPEAKER_02]: They're like, kind of guys are overreaching to a brand extension

[00:47:06] [SPEAKER_02]: that may not be within your wheelhouse, you know, but that's

[00:47:09] [SPEAKER_02]: just, you know, just outside looking in.

[00:47:11] [SPEAKER_02]: So how about mind body?

[00:47:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if there's a whole lot to report here, but they did

[00:47:14] [SPEAKER_02]: report that they plan on going public in the next 12 to 18 months.

[00:47:18] [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, given what we've seen, uh, in our industry

[00:47:21] [SPEAKER_02]: about companies going public, my first reaction was why, but then.

[00:47:26] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.

[00:47:26] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, they're a tech company, right?

[00:47:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Is this, is this a little bit different?

[00:47:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, what do you, what do you guys initial thoughts on that?

[00:47:31] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.

[00:47:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Suspicion.

[00:47:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:47:36] [SPEAKER_01]: One explanation I, I would propose is they, they, they wanted to say

[00:47:45] [SPEAKER_01]: to the potential buyers of the company, like private equity, you know,

[00:47:54] [SPEAKER_01]: specifically, uh, you know, we are positioning, we're doing really well.

[00:47:59] [SPEAKER_01]: We're positioning ourselves to go public and they didn't, it's just so far off.

[00:48:05] [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't, it doesn't seem very meaningful and it's pretty unusual.

[00:48:11] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, normally CEOs don't, don't talk about IPOs that far off.

[00:48:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:48:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I thought the same thing you did, Eric.

[00:48:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, why would they do that?

[00:48:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Number one.

[00:48:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Uh, and then number two, I had, I also was like, wait, is this,

[00:48:25] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, this is does feel to me, I mean, granted it's in our space, but

[00:48:28] [SPEAKER_00]: it does feel like a tech company and so different from these other brick

[00:48:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and mortar companies that were always, well, Peloton, I guess is a tech

[00:48:37] [SPEAKER_00]: company at this point, but it feels markedly different from those companies.

[00:48:41] [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah.

[00:48:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:48:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And I, I don't, I, yeah, I don't know anything about the strategy around

[00:48:46] [SPEAKER_00]: that, but that does make sense to me what you're saying, Alexa, that if

[00:48:49] [SPEAKER_00]: they're, if they're not going to do it soon, they're not doing it.

[00:48:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:48:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:48:53] [SPEAKER_02]: I agree.

[00:48:54] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, uh, let's get into the, to the kind of one we've been teasing

[00:48:58] [SPEAKER_02]: here for a bit, so women's health, women's fitness, women's strength,

[00:49:01] [SPEAKER_02]: whatever you want to call it.

[00:49:02] [SPEAKER_02]: It's about women right now.

[00:49:05] [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, I'll go on record and say, I think this is, uh, the biggest

[00:49:08] [SPEAKER_02]: opportunity our industry has right now and for at least the next 10 years,

[00:49:12] [SPEAKER_02]: because it doesn't take much additional investment, um, science and the

[00:49:17] [SPEAKER_02]: knowledge and the desire and the need is there immediately.

[00:49:22] [SPEAKER_02]: And you don't, you don't have to go with like changing your gym around.

[00:49:25] [SPEAKER_02]: You don't have to go do it a whole lot.

[00:49:26] [SPEAKER_02]: You just got to change a little bit of your coaching style, change a

[00:49:29] [SPEAKER_02]: little bit of your programming, maybe a little bit of equipment and you can

[00:49:32] [SPEAKER_02]: really serve and I think, uh, you know, we, we talked about the Stacey Sims

[00:49:37] [SPEAKER_02]: and Huberman podcast, which was like well over three hours long.

[00:49:41] [SPEAKER_02]: And, uh, I got the opportunity to interview Stacey about two weeks ago.

[00:49:45] [SPEAKER_02]: So it hasn't been released and won't be released until Q1 on

[00:49:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Aftal Tech news, but she was telling me that I had to cut it down.

[00:49:50] [SPEAKER_02]: It was about an hour longer.

[00:49:52] [SPEAKER_02]: So their conversation was long and she kind of schooled Andrew

[00:49:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Huberman in many ways about things that he was very, had very,

[00:49:59] [SPEAKER_02]: big blind spots and I'm not criticizing Dr.

[00:50:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Huberman.

[00:50:03] [SPEAKER_02]: I think that's the general public.

[00:50:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Cause we have a lot of blind spots when it comes to women's health.

[00:50:07] [SPEAKER_02]: So I'll take one more thing and then I'll let you guys rip on this

[00:50:10] [SPEAKER_02]: because I think it's really, I'm really keen to see what you have to say,

[00:50:13] [SPEAKER_02]: but a lot of people on 47 now, a lot of people very close to me are

[00:50:17] [SPEAKER_02]: going through certain phases of life.

[00:50:19] [SPEAKER_02]: And I've seen them make significant health changes that I wouldn't have

[00:50:24] [SPEAKER_02]: been able to coach 10 years ago when I was coaching.

[00:50:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[00:50:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Now I'm seeing like the advancement and then people, the desire and the

[00:50:31] [SPEAKER_02]: need for that specific age group.

[00:50:32] [SPEAKER_02]: And I'll just say women over 40 specifically takes a lot of change,

[00:50:37] [SPEAKER_02]: right?

[00:50:37] [SPEAKER_02]: To keep them on track, to be healthy and where they want to be in their

[00:50:40] [SPEAKER_02]: bodies and their lives and activity and all those things.

[00:50:43] [SPEAKER_02]: So really, really cool time.

[00:50:44] [SPEAKER_02]: I think it's a very optimistic trend line that we're seeing and it's

[00:50:48] [SPEAKER_02]: something that I think is really exciting.

[00:50:49] [SPEAKER_02]: So that's my initial thoughts, but I'll let you guys take away.

[00:50:52] [SPEAKER_02]: And Juliette, why don't you start on this one?

[00:50:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Sure.

[00:50:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I'll just start by saying it.

[00:50:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I treated the Huberman and Sims podcast like a, like an audio book.

[00:51:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Took me like almost a week and a half to get through it in chapters.

[00:51:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I would say I listened to it like in chapters.

[00:51:09] [SPEAKER_00]: So if anyone is intimidated by listening to it, it's well worth it,

[00:51:13] [SPEAKER_00]: but it does require some investment, maybe not all at once unless you

[00:51:17] [SPEAKER_00]: happen to be lucky enough to go on a road trip.

[00:51:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, so I was, I mean, Stacy's a friend of mine, so I was so

[00:51:23] [SPEAKER_00]: excited to see that and just the massive reach that that got.

[00:51:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, just her sort of chipping away at some pervasive myths

[00:51:31] [SPEAKER_00]: that are going on and, you know, disabusing many of us of those myths

[00:51:36] [SPEAKER_00]: in the fitness space as they relate to women.

[00:51:38] [SPEAKER_00]: So I thought that was, that was in particular great.

[00:51:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, what I see is from a business perspective, that this

[00:51:44] [SPEAKER_00]: is a massive opportunity, massive opportunity, because I do think despite

[00:51:50] [SPEAKER_00]: the uptick of information, there's still a lot of concern and reticence

[00:51:56] [SPEAKER_00]: among women and, and even for the women who have kind of gotten over

[00:52:00] [SPEAKER_00]: the hump and think, okay, I do need to strength train.

[00:52:02] [SPEAKER_00]: There's still a lot of concern and confusion about how to do it,

[00:52:06] [SPEAKER_00]: where to do it, how much what's going to work.

[00:52:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's where the fitness community can really meet those women

[00:52:12] [SPEAKER_00]: with really good programming and coaching and classes and, you know,

[00:52:17] [SPEAKER_00]: styles of coaching that work for women.

[00:52:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So, I mean, I think it's a massive opportunity because, you know, women

[00:52:22] [SPEAKER_00]: are definitely curious and it's still going to take a long time to bust

[00:52:26] [SPEAKER_00]: the myth of, you know, I don't want to get bulky that, that is still very

[00:52:32] [SPEAKER_00]: real and very pervasive and it's still going to take a lot of work by

[00:52:36] [SPEAKER_00]: the Stacey's of the world to, to, you know, to dispel that.

[00:52:40] [SPEAKER_00]: But I think it's, I agree with you.

[00:52:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's exciting and I think it's a gigantic business opportunity

[00:52:46] [SPEAKER_00]: for people who see it for what it is.

[00:52:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Alex, so where is the business opportunity?

[00:52:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I guess that would be my question.

[00:52:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, those are good questions.

[00:52:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And those are all, yeah, Alloy and those companies are all, you know,

[00:53:04] [SPEAKER_00]: designed to mostly help women with menopause hormone therapy and other

[00:53:08] [SPEAKER_00]: sort of menopause specific things.

[00:53:09] [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, I mean, I think that's, that's a separate conversation and

[00:53:11] [SPEAKER_00]: that is going to be a slaying business in and of itself.

[00:53:14] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, I don't know yet.

[00:53:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I, what I know is I think there's a massive amount of interest by

[00:53:21] [SPEAKER_00]: women in strength training.

[00:53:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I think what's out there isn't serving them or they don't relate to it.

[00:53:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I've, I try to funnel as many of those women as I can who are new

[00:53:30] [SPEAKER_00]: to strength training to CrossFit, but that's a hard sell and, and then

[00:53:34] [SPEAKER_00]: what they also don't want to do is go to lifetime and lift weights on

[00:53:38] [SPEAKER_00]: their own.

[00:53:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know, I don't know, but, and, and I think that the worst

[00:53:44] [SPEAKER_00]: case scenario I always think about is, you know, we don't need a curves,

[00:53:47] [SPEAKER_00]: right?

[00:53:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Remember curves, which is sort of attempting to do strength training

[00:53:51] [SPEAKER_00]: for women in that weird way that curves was doing.

[00:53:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:53:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't think women necessarily want to go to women only gyms, but

[00:54:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I think, I do think at the very basic, you know, every gym should be

[00:54:05] [SPEAKER_00]: offering basic strength and conditioning for women because I think that that's

[00:54:10] [SPEAKER_00]: one of the biggest problems is most women have never put their hand on a

[00:54:13] [SPEAKER_00]: barbell or a pair of dumbbells or the biggest dumbbells they've ever touched

[00:54:16] [SPEAKER_00]: are the one pound ones attached to the back of their Peloton.

[00:54:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think, um, yeah, I mean, and you may be right, Alex.

[00:54:23] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, maybe there's really no money in it from a business perspective.

[00:54:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.

[00:54:27] [SPEAKER_02]: So we were talking about the business models now I have an idea.

[00:54:30] [SPEAKER_02]: So as I was telling you about how to do business, you know, uh, my

[00:54:34] [SPEAKER_02]: peer group, I've seen an eight week program and I wish I could remember

[00:54:40] [SPEAKER_02]: the name of the coach, but I can't.

[00:54:42] [SPEAKER_02]: So I apologize to her, but it's gone viral amongst my peer group of women

[00:54:47] [SPEAKER_02]: in this age group who are now looking and feeling great and there's a lot

[00:54:53] [SPEAKER_02]: of things that go into it.

[00:54:54] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think it comes down to number one education, understanding

[00:54:57] [SPEAKER_02]: and resetting hormones, maybe especially cortisol.

[00:55:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Certainly you can get into the, you know, a lot of supplementation,

[00:55:03] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, basic nutrition things like, you know, are you eating enough

[00:55:06] [SPEAKER_02]: protein and then the training.

[00:55:07] [SPEAKER_02]: So getting into just kind of basic, you know, fundamental weight training,

[00:55:12] [SPEAKER_02]: especially reps and lifting heavy and educating like, uh, the CC Sims

[00:55:16] [SPEAKER_02]: talks about reps and reserve.

[00:55:18] [SPEAKER_02]: So there's, I think there's a, if you can develop programs for sure

[00:55:21] [SPEAKER_02]: that are probably somewhere between, you know, six to 10 weeks where

[00:55:25] [SPEAKER_02]: you can help essentially women within perimenopausal and

[00:55:29] [SPEAKER_02]: maripanos menopausal state phases, like re-educate and reset things.

[00:55:33] [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that's really valuable because it does take, you know, as

[00:55:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Dr. Stacey Sims said in my interview with her and the one she did is like

[00:55:41] [SPEAKER_02]: when men age in a linear fashion, right?

[00:55:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Women have significant changes at a couple of points in their lives where

[00:55:48] [SPEAKER_02]: they have to kind of reestablish new habits, reestablishing training

[00:55:52] [SPEAKER_02]: nutrition and the cortisol thing has been really interesting.

[00:55:55] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, the, I think the four or five women I know who've gone through

[00:55:58] [SPEAKER_02]: this program gave up coffee for a while, caffeine, and that really

[00:56:03] [SPEAKER_02]: affected how their cortisol, they start sleeping more just overall,

[00:56:06] [SPEAKER_02]: but their body composition changed.

[00:56:08] [SPEAKER_02]: And the thing I kept hearing them say, as you know, I would hear them

[00:56:10] [SPEAKER_02]: in side conversations that I wasn't part of was like, I feel like I have

[00:56:14] [SPEAKER_02]: control again and that I think is something that it's a distinct problem.

[00:56:20] [SPEAKER_02]: You can figure out the language from a marketing standpoint.

[00:56:22] [SPEAKER_02]: You can run into a good program and just adjust their needs.

[00:56:26] [SPEAKER_02]: And there's a young lady who runs a her own gym here, a little

[00:56:30] [SPEAKER_02]: boutique personal training studio.

[00:56:32] [SPEAKER_02]: And we've been talking, I really hope to have an opportunity to help her

[00:56:36] [SPEAKER_02]: develop a program like that here locally.

[00:56:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Cause I think it'll do it really well.

[00:56:40] [SPEAKER_02]: So I think there is this opportunities you, and I hate to do things in

[00:56:44] [SPEAKER_02]: a six to 10 week increment, but I think this is actually quite appropriate

[00:56:48] [SPEAKER_02]: where you could start running these programs and then, you know,

[00:56:50] [SPEAKER_02]: educate and then hopefully they're self, you know, people go through

[00:56:53] [SPEAKER_02]: the printer or self-sustaining.

[00:56:54] [SPEAKER_02]: They now have the knowledge and training to go forward and adapt

[00:56:57] [SPEAKER_02]: their life to these changes and do some massive good.

[00:57:01] [SPEAKER_02]: So that's my, that's my thought on the business model.

[00:57:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I think it's out there and I don't think it's, I think it's pretty attainable.

[00:57:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I agree.

[00:57:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I think there's a lot in, by the way, will you send me that?

[00:57:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Cause I have about 50 women.

[00:57:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to send that to know what it is.

[00:57:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And like, if you could send me that, that'd be great.

[00:57:16] [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I mean, I think that that's what I think people are looking

[00:57:20] [SPEAKER_00]: curious, don't know what to do looking for guidance.

[00:57:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And right now what's available from a brick and mortar standpoint is

[00:57:28] [SPEAKER_00]: either to not enough coaching and support or seems to extreme for women like CrossFit.

[00:57:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Many women will just never go in my experience.

[00:57:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just too scary for them.

[00:57:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, maybe some kind of program like that is exactly what they need.

[00:57:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, times 10,000, because there's so many people who want to

[00:57:49] [SPEAKER_00]: feel better in their bodies, especially at this particular phase.

[00:57:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, I think it's coaching, right?

[00:57:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Coaching. It's coaching.

[00:57:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:57:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's no different than youth athletes.

[00:57:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think that's always the advice I give for parents who are seeking out

[00:58:02] [SPEAKER_00]: strength and conditioning for youth athletes, which is so important.

[00:58:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And a struggle as well is that people need coaching and kids, you know,

[00:58:08] [SPEAKER_00]: weightlifting is not dangerous for kids if they're done, if it's done in

[00:58:11] [SPEAKER_00]: a coached environment.

[00:58:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think the same is true for women who've never lifted weights.

[00:58:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[00:58:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I also think that the coaches have the opportunity to really arm

[00:58:20] [SPEAKER_02]: themselves with new sets of knowledge that may be like I was joking in a

[00:58:24] [SPEAKER_02]: recent interview like eight years ago, I was sitting in what I think was a

[00:58:27] [SPEAKER_02]: very high quality education program that did a lot of strength, a lot of

[00:58:30] [SPEAKER_02]: nutrition.

[00:58:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I won't say who it is, but I'm sure Juliette, you probably know.

[00:58:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And we would talk about, okay, well, what about the nuances of training

[00:58:36] [SPEAKER_02]: the female athlete or the female client?

[00:58:38] [SPEAKER_02]: It was like, well, you know, you should ask them about their

[00:58:41] [SPEAKER_02]: menstrual cycle.

[00:58:42] [SPEAKER_02]: That was about it.

[00:58:43] [SPEAKER_02]: How's your menstrual cycle?

[00:58:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Good.

[00:58:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.

[00:58:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Great.

[00:58:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Then that was it.

[00:58:48] [SPEAKER_02]: That was it.

[00:58:48] [SPEAKER_02]: So like, what do you do with that?

[00:58:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[00:58:50] [SPEAKER_02]: So I think now we have this huge opportunity where the education

[00:58:53] [SPEAKER_02]: is expanding so quickly that if coaches and trainers really want to take

[00:58:56] [SPEAKER_02]: advantage of getting in there and learning it from people like Dr.

[00:58:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Stacey Sims or a lot of other people out there, you know, there's, there's

[00:59:02] [SPEAKER_02]: a huge opportunity to develop programs around that knowledge now and the

[00:59:05] [SPEAKER_02]: language and the need and the desire is absolutely there.

[00:59:09] [SPEAKER_02]: The pocketbooks are there, right?

[00:59:11] [SPEAKER_02]: For sure.

[00:59:12] [SPEAKER_02]: So I don't think it's big tweaks.

[00:59:14] [SPEAKER_02]: It's just a matter of the knowledge is out there and you just got to go

[00:59:17] [SPEAKER_02]: get it.

[00:59:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Is the curriculum pretty well established for around that?

[00:59:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I, yeah, that's a totally ignorant question on my part because I have no,

[00:59:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I hadn't done any research on it, but if you are a trainer at, you know,

[00:59:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Equinox or something in you, you're like, okay, I want to become an expert

[00:59:41] [SPEAKER_01]: on training my women, you know, female clients, 45 to 55.

[00:59:47] [SPEAKER_01]: What is the education that I need to do that?

[00:59:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think that's a great question.

[00:59:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I will say a lot of the strength and conditioning

[00:59:55] [SPEAKER_00]: piece of it is the same.

[00:59:58] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think as long as you have the right kind of coach who

[01:00:01] [SPEAKER_00]: understands how to scale and, you know, teach people progressively,

[01:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's very similar.

[01:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think the method is similar, but yeah,

[01:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: how exactly, and I don't know whether that's going to be in technology,

[01:00:14] [SPEAKER_00]: how coaches can leverage technology or other resources or education

[01:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: to actually be able to know what the next step is from a question

[01:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: like how's your menstrual cycle, right?

[01:00:24] [SPEAKER_00]: How to consider that in training.

[01:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: But I do think just that alone, there's space for education

[01:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: because I do know women can handle and do different, you know,

[01:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: the training should be, the considerations in training should be

[01:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: different depending on where they are in their cycle and, you know,

[01:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: the most sophisticated coaches among us will know what that is.

[01:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: So there's certainly an opportunity there from an education

[01:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: standpoint for coaches.

[01:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think, you know, the big opportunity is in private coaching

[01:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: and personal training as well, because to me, that's where,

[01:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, that's how we professionalize the industry.

[01:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's where, you know, that's where coaches actually make money.

[01:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no coaches make money from teaching classes, or at least

[01:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: in my experience they don't.

[01:01:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And if there's this whole new market of women who are ready to learn

[01:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: and have money, like you said, Eric, in that, I mean, that's a big

[01:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: opportunity for private coaches and personal trainers, I think.

[01:01:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, I was in it.

[01:01:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Small group training, things like that of peers, like at the same

[01:01:20] [SPEAKER_02]: going through the same thing is really powerful.

[01:01:22] [SPEAKER_02]: And just the fact that we're asking that question once again,

[01:01:25] [SPEAKER_02]: presents a huge opportunity.

[01:01:27] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like, well, where is the leading education and training?

[01:01:30] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, women 40 and over.

[01:01:32] [SPEAKER_02]: I know I think Sims has some stuff.

[01:01:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, she has some courses that you can take.

[01:01:35] [SPEAKER_02]: She does. Yeah, I'm sure they're excellent.

[01:01:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the, the I listened to one section a couple of times where they

[01:01:44] [SPEAKER_01]: were focused on training for longevity for women over 50 and part of that.

[01:01:56] [SPEAKER_01]: Was a Huberman sort of skepticism that women could actually would

[01:02:09] [SPEAKER_01]: would actually want to do the intensity that Dr.

[01:02:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Sims was suggesting.

[01:02:17] [SPEAKER_01]: And so, so there was, there was sort of an on-ramp needed in the

[01:02:22] [SPEAKER_01]: that she was talking about was planet fitness, actually just like getting,

[01:02:29] [SPEAKER_01]: getting the on the circuit at, at a planet fitness.

[01:02:34] [SPEAKER_01]: So no instruction really, but just, you know, three or two or three times

[01:02:42] [SPEAKER_01]: a week doing a circuit and that that struck me as, as you know, that

[01:02:50] [SPEAKER_01]: could really work for a lot of people.

[01:02:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Right.

[01:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[01:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you have to start somewhere and, you know, to the extent everybody

[01:02:56] [SPEAKER_00]: does not have the resources to be able to hire a personal trainer or pay for

[01:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: an expensive online program.

[01:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, man, that's an amazing option.

[01:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: The other thing that Stacey and I are currently having a side text about,

[01:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: because she's really the only voice in this that is using this word is

[01:03:13] [SPEAKER_00]: that women in this age category need to lift heavy and I'm texting with

[01:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: her saying, Hey, we need to define heavy.

[01:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And she said, you know, yeah, well, I was trying to do that a bit with the reps

[01:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: and reserve on the Huberman lab podcast.

[01:03:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And I said, you know, I love that.

[01:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And that makes sense to me.

[01:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm a lifelong athlete and I started lifting weights when I was 13.

[01:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't really even think in reps and reserves.

[01:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: So I fear that may be too complicated, way too complicated for the brand

[01:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: new lifter and definitely non-athlete.

[01:03:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And so, so we're having a side text right now, brainstorming about how

[01:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: do we define what heavy means?

[01:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Because I do see, you know, the concern I have is that there is a subset of

[01:03:49] [SPEAKER_00]: women who are getting the message they should strength train, but to them,

[01:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: that means, you know, lifting the one pound dumbbells overhead from their

[01:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Peloton.

[01:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I fear that that is not going to get the results they

[01:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: want.

[01:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: So they're going to stop doing any strength training.

[01:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So how do we define what heavy lifting means, especially for the

[01:04:05] [SPEAKER_00]: brand new?

[01:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's an open question.

[01:04:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:04:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:04:08] [SPEAKER_02]: I would say if I had to throw a guess at that is that it means

[01:04:12] [SPEAKER_02]: educating on the movement themselves because.

[01:04:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Bicep curl, sure you can, you can get heavy curls, dumbbells, but you're

[01:04:20] [SPEAKER_02]: not lifting heavy, right?

[01:04:21] [SPEAKER_02]: So it has to be like the compound movements.

[01:04:24] [SPEAKER_02]: So maybe teaching them more like, okay, we'll, we'll get to lifting

[01:04:27] [SPEAKER_02]: heavy what that means, but you gotta learn how to press deadlifts.

[01:04:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Learn how to move.

[01:04:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:04:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Learn how to move.

[01:04:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[01:04:33] [SPEAKER_02]: And then I think that's where maybe some of these circuits could be

[01:04:35] [SPEAKER_02]: useful.

[01:04:35] [SPEAKER_02]: I cringed originally when you said that, uh, Alex about that doing

[01:04:39] [SPEAKER_02]: the circuit on their own and I'm like, okay, that's just me being,

[01:04:41] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, the arrogant fitness guy like, no, you know, they, you're

[01:04:45] [SPEAKER_02]: right.

[01:04:46] [SPEAKER_02]: If they can't afford a personal trainer or a program or something like

[01:04:48] [SPEAKER_02]: that, then it's, it's really useful.

[01:04:50] [SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, I,

[01:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: that's my, that's my global gym background.

[01:04:54] Yeah.

[01:04:55] [SPEAKER_01]: It's, um, it's gotta be accessible to, to a lot of people because

[01:05:00] [SPEAKER_01]: otherwise it's just not going to break through.

[01:05:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[01:05:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I, whatever it is, there's a lot, there's stuff to figure out.

[01:05:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Obviously like we haven't figured it all out on this call or this,

[01:05:09] [SPEAKER_02]: interview, but I think there's, there's still really just from what

[01:05:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I've seen in the conversations have had with trainers and coaches who

[01:05:14] [SPEAKER_02]: are doing this type of work.

[01:05:15] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, there's something here and I keep encouraging them to

[01:05:18] [SPEAKER_02]: really, really lean into it.

[01:05:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Like seek out the education, be a leader.

[01:05:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe, you know, take, you only have to be one chapter ahead in

[01:05:25] [SPEAKER_02]: the book to teach people about it.

[01:05:26] [SPEAKER_02]: So you don't have to finish the whole thing so you can take what

[01:05:29] [SPEAKER_02]: you've learned and see what works and kind of pass that along.

[01:05:32] [SPEAKER_02]: So I just think if we, as a community, this is something where I

[01:05:35] [SPEAKER_02]: feel like the fitness community can really, can really do some good.

[01:05:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:05:38] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that's my initial thought and Julie, I want to ask you this

[01:05:41] [SPEAKER_02]: question because I asked your husband this question and I want to

[01:05:44] [SPEAKER_02]: see what your answer is.

[01:05:46] [SPEAKER_02]: I can't wait.

[01:05:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:05:47] [SPEAKER_02]: So, and this is going to be interesting for you, Tealock.

[01:05:49] [SPEAKER_02]: So if you're going to open another gym, right?

[01:05:54] [SPEAKER_02]: If that's ever something you wanted to do, what would that model look like?

[01:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[01:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: So we talk about all the time.

[01:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: One of the things we can't, we never drive anywhere without being,

[01:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: without seeing pieces of real estate and saying to each other,

[01:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: that'd be a great gym.

[01:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: That'd be a great gym.

[01:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it doesn't matter.

[01:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Like we were just on a road trip in the Pyrenees in Spain and we saw like 10

[01:06:11] [SPEAKER_00]: buildings where like that'd be a great gym.

[01:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Like we were stuck on that.

[01:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I would rather, and I feel bad saying this in a way because my general mission

[01:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: in life is to make health more accessible and relatable to more people.

[01:06:23] [SPEAKER_00]: But were I to do it from a business standpoint, I think I would open a small

[01:06:29] [SPEAKER_00]: expensive gym with a smaller number of members and more of a high level

[01:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: of service.

[01:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't really want to open like a fancy longevity gym.

[01:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Like a lot of people are opening that doesn't appeal to me.

[01:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: It would still be in spaces, would be in strength and conditioning, but smaller,

[01:06:46] [SPEAKER_00]: uh, more tailored and way more expensive.

[01:06:49] [SPEAKER_00]: What did he say?

[01:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Are you going to open like a plan of fitness?

[01:06:54] [SPEAKER_02]: No, he's, it wasn't too dissimilar.

[01:06:56] [SPEAKER_02]: He said he would focus something really specifically on strength,

[01:06:58] [SPEAKER_02]: teaching and especially youth and maybe even leaning a little bit more into

[01:07:01] [SPEAKER_02]: young female youth strength training.

[01:07:04] [SPEAKER_02]: So not, not too far away from you said, and Alex, I mean, you coming from kind

[01:07:08] [SPEAKER_02]: of the big gym area, like what if you were going to, you got the urge to do

[01:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: it again, Alex, let's go.

[01:07:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, let's do it.

[01:07:17] [SPEAKER_02]: This is my, this is my pitch to you guys.

[01:07:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Actually, I'm going to send you a folder right off.

[01:07:21] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I am really interested in making fitness more accessible to people

[01:07:27] [SPEAKER_01]: and not, and, and, and more outcome, you know, focused and more accountable.

[01:07:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that I think the, the personal trainer, you know, high

[01:07:42] [SPEAKER_01]: touch expensive model can do, can do a lot of things, but it's not

[01:07:48] [SPEAKER_01]: accessible to most people.

[01:07:51] [SPEAKER_01]: So how do we, how do we make things more accessible?

[01:07:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Can we use technology assessment tools and, and reduce the amount of, of

[01:08:02] [SPEAKER_01]: human in the loop so that the cost is more reasonable to people.

[01:08:08] [SPEAKER_01]: The $40,000 longevity program at Equinox is, is amazing if you can afford it.

[01:08:14] [SPEAKER_01]: But then, you know, the Canyon ranch $20,000 a week saying it's great.

[01:08:20] [SPEAKER_01]: But so, so how do we make things more affordable and accessible?

[01:08:25] [SPEAKER_01]: And, and then, and then outcome outcome oriented where the, the owners of the,

[01:08:31] [SPEAKER_01]: of the, the gym, the studio have responsibility to deliver outcomes.

[01:08:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And if they don't, then they don't get paid, you know, that's assuming

[01:08:46] [SPEAKER_01]: that the, I like that.

[01:08:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[01:08:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Assuming the client does what he or she is supposed to do.

[01:08:53] [SPEAKER_01]: We are the experts.

[01:08:54] [SPEAKER_01]: We give the clients plan.

[01:08:57] [SPEAKER_01]: We measure, we assess, we progress.

[01:09:00] [SPEAKER_01]: If they're not meeting their objectives, then we don't get paid.

[01:09:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, it's, it's pie in the sky.

[01:09:08] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not going to happen.

[01:09:09] [SPEAKER_01]: I realize that, but, you know, the accountability thing to me has to go

[01:09:16] [SPEAKER_01]: both ways and.

[01:09:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And the industry traditionally has, it's only gone one way.

[01:09:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, if you succeed, that's great.

[01:09:25] [SPEAKER_01]: If you don't, it's probably your fault.

[01:09:29] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, we keep money.

[01:09:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So, so that would be my, that's what I'll get off my soapbox, but

[01:09:35] [SPEAKER_01]: that was a good life, my model.

[01:09:37] [SPEAKER_00]: One more thing, Eric, I would like to slightly editorialize our friend.

[01:09:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Mark Bell has for years owned a free gym and that would be cool.

[01:09:47] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we have a little gym here in our studio, our office, and we do open

[01:09:52] [SPEAKER_00]: it up to a very small number of people who are able to exercise here for free.

[01:09:56] [SPEAKER_00]: But I love Mark Bell's model.

[01:09:58] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he has this gigantic gym in Sacramento and it's not open all the

[01:10:02] [SPEAKER_00]: time.

[01:10:03] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's not, you can't come whenever you want.

[01:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: There's these specific times where people can come, but man, it would be

[01:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: cool, you know, as a retiree to have the funds to be able to just operate

[01:10:14] [SPEAKER_00]: a gym and say, hey, come use it.

[01:10:17] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, that would be that would be that'd be the real dream.

[01:10:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I know.

[01:10:21] [SPEAKER_02]: I know some, some other people who do that are pretty far along in their

[01:10:24] [SPEAKER_02]: coaching career.

[01:10:25] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:10:26] [SPEAKER_02]: It's like you just, it's the gym you want.

[01:10:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[01:10:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, everybody sweeps up the chalk because they care and you know,

[01:10:32] [SPEAKER_00]: they know they're coming for free.

[01:10:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, you know, I think that would, I think that'd be fun.

[01:10:38] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:10:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Not a great business model though, but it'd be fun.

[01:10:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:10:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, awesome.

[01:10:43] [SPEAKER_02]: You guys, I think that's a, we've covered quite a bit of ground today and

[01:10:46] [SPEAKER_02]: a really appreciate any, any closing thoughts or comments on anything.

[01:10:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Alex, what do you got?

[01:10:53] [SPEAKER_01]: No, yeah.

[01:10:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we didn't talk about the GLP ones, which is the gift that keeps

[01:11:00] [SPEAKER_01]: giving and the one thing I wanted to put on the, on your radar, you know,

[01:11:06] [SPEAKER_01]: obesity rates are off the charts and keep going up with GLP ones.

[01:11:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Are we going to see that change?

[01:11:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Are we going to see some data that says obesity rates are actually

[01:11:18] [SPEAKER_01]: starting to come down a little bit.

[01:11:20] [SPEAKER_01]: That would be wonderful.

[01:11:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And now given the number of people using them, uh, do we, you know,

[01:11:26] [SPEAKER_01]: let's keep our, let's, let's keep our fingers crossed that we do see

[01:11:30] [SPEAKER_01]: some progress on that front.

[01:11:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I agree.

[01:11:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And in fact, we were just on a podcast earlier today with a guy,

[01:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: die man, well up in Vancouver.

[01:11:37] [SPEAKER_00]: You probably know who he is.

[01:11:38] [SPEAKER_00]: We were just, I saw him, uh, talk to him this morning and he said that

[01:11:42] [SPEAKER_00]: he's been back on the train, you know, researching obesity rates.

[01:11:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And he is, you know, he said just as, as soon as yesterday, he was

[01:11:50] [SPEAKER_00]: doing current research and all the numbers are still on the up, which

[01:11:53] [SPEAKER_00]: did make me wonder if GLP ones are being used, but by people who weren't

[01:11:59] [SPEAKER_00]: obese to begin with and have money that they haven't gotten yet into

[01:12:03] [SPEAKER_00]: the hands of people who really need them.

[01:12:04] [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's interesting.

[01:12:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think this is a fascinating topic and maybe we can put a pin in it

[01:12:09] [SPEAKER_00]: for next time, cause I think it's, I think we're going to have to keep

[01:12:12] [SPEAKER_00]: discussing it for years to come.

[01:12:13] [SPEAKER_00]: It's, it's a big deal.

[01:12:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:12:15] [SPEAKER_02]: We're just getting started, especially when it's, you know, uh, being

[01:12:18] [SPEAKER_02]: talked about with this application towards addiction as well.

[01:12:21] [SPEAKER_02]: So we'll see.

[01:12:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Well, uh, yes, thank you for all this pleasure.

[01:12:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, Alex.

[01:12:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Always fun to talk to you guys.

[01:12:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

[01:12:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Hey, wait, don't leave yet.

[01:12:34] [SPEAKER_02]: This is your host, Eric Malzone.

[01:12:36] [SPEAKER_02]: And I hope you enjoyed this episode of future of feminist.

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