Ramon Castillon - Row House & Seeing The Opportunity in 2022

Hey everybody, welcome to the Future of Fitness, a top-rated fitness industry podcast for over two years and running. It is 2021, and I am your host, Eric Malzone. I have the absolute pleasure of talking to entrepreneurs, innovators, and cutting-edge technology experts within the fast-paced industries of fitness, wellness, and health sciences. Stop by futurefitness.co to subscribe and learn more. When you do what you love, running, racing, or simply enjoying the great outdoors, you want to do it for life. Insight Tracker can help. Insight Tracker was founded in 2009 by leading scientists in aging, genetics, and biometrics. Using their patented algorithm, Insight Tracker analyzes your body's data to provide you with a clear picture of what's going on inside you while offering highly personalized, science-backed recommendations for positive diet and lifestyle changes. Okay, time for straight talk. It's time that each single one of us takes responsibility for our own health. Personally, given the results of my Insight Tracker DNA and blood tests, I now have a clear and simple game plan to lower my cholesterol and stave off my family's genetic history of heart disease. The best part is that the plan doesn't include any kind of pharmaceuticals, just personalized nutrition and natural supplementation. Possibly my favorite feature of Insight Tracker is the inner age score, a singular metric that shows me how my biological age compares to my chronological age. They just gamify longevity. It's crazy cool. For a limited time, you can get 25% off the entire Insight Tracker store. Just go to InsightTracker.com forward slash future. But wait, there is more. If you're a coach, trainer, registered dietitian, or any other health and wellness practitioner, you can now leverage Inside Tracker services to help your clients perform better than they ever have. And you can offer them discounts while you earn revenue. Inside Tracker Pro is your gateway to offering your clients Inside Tracker, the science-backed, ultra-personalized performance platform trusted by elite athletes and top coaches. Just go to InsightTracker.com forward slash future to get more information and enjoy deep, deep discounts. That is insight tracker.com forward slash future. Look, friends, the fitness industry is changing faster than ever. The intersection of technology with fitness and health is growing bigger and more dynamic by the minute. Gyms are exploding figuratively, and their constituent parts are ending up at home, outdoors, on your wrist, or in entirely new places with brilliantly new concepts. Investors are pumping astronomical amounts of money into the market like we've never seen before. The FitTech Club believes that collaboration is the advantage to these times of change. That's why the club aims to bring thought leaders together to inspire them by making the right contacts at the right time and giving insights to the industry's most relevant and current trends. Here's what Melanie Lauer, CEO of Kettler and TriSports, says about the FitTech Club.

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Uh thanks. I'm excited to be here, Eric.

Yeah, uh, it's really good to have you. First of all, did I get that last name close to correct in the pronunciation I tried? You crushed it.

Okay, good. I'm them I'm so I'm so jacked up right now. Like I don't normally I don't normally get that uh that type of like phonetically accurate introduction. So I'm pumped.

Yeah, my uh my wife is Brazilian, so I if I figure if you can start to pick up Brazilian Portuguese, you can start to pick up a lot of different things.

Let me guess, your last name is it is it Malzone or is it Malzone?

Malzone. Yeah.

Malzone, yeah.

Yeah, quick history lesson for people who don't care. My family came over, so my uh we'll get into generations too. I think my my dad was a first generation Italian, uh was born here actually uh in 1937. So he was the last one born his family, but the first one born in the United States. And during that time, they changed everything. He went from Gennaro Malzone to Jerry Malzone. Uh Italians were too warmly welcomed on the East Coast at that point. And then later in life, he went back to so like our family is like, well, what do we call ourselves now? Um, but uh yeah, that's where we're at. So, dude, um, really excited been listening to some other stuff, um, reading some articles that you've been interviewed on and listening to a couple podcasts that you've been on. Um, very, very articulate speaker and and great insights as an entrepreneur. So I'm happy to have you here. And you know, if you could just brief the audience, give them a little of your background, your uh I guess fitness uh origin story and how you got to be the president of Row House.

Yeah. So I uh so I'm I'm from Oakland originally. Uh both both my parents are from Mexico. Um they migrated over when they were 15 different years. Um and they were uh migro farm workers and um pretty neat story there. My mom um went to school, became a registered nurse and was in the Air Force for 20 years. Um my dad, you know, kind of went from working in the fields to working um for a soils engineer company, and um from there ended up being able to take over a lab in San Ramon. And so um so yeah, I started I started in the Bay Area. Um, you know, I my heart, my heart's always there. Um and uh when I graduated from from college, uh I did what every uh finance person did coming out of college and tried to find a job at a bank. Um and so I worked in the investment management industry for roughly six years. And uh I did just I did a lot of analytics, a lot of strategy work. Um and at that point, this was I think in 2008, 2009, I was um I had an itch to get back home. Um I wanted to kind of be around the family, and um I found a job at 24 Hour Fitness uh doing pricing and strategy. So I wasn't it wasn't like I was um looking to get into fitness. It just happened to be a job that was in the Bay Area. It was in San Ramon, so it was right next to where my dad worked. Um so I was like, wow, this is this is perfect. I couldn't ask for a better situation. I can have lunch with my dad um every day. I can see the family. This is this is awesome. Now I was into fitness, like that's not like I have my own kind of fitness origin story from high school where um I was kind of an overweight kid and um had a lack of confidence because of that. Um and there was this kind of inflection point um in high school where I committed to my fitness and was able to kind of come back my senior year in a very different shape. And the what that did for me um just mentally was was significant. And it's always something that I've latched on to um regardless of where I've been in my life, um, in high school, college, professionally, and and even today. So I was excited once I got a job there because I was like, wow, I love working out, this is gonna be awesome. Um and so then I I did I did strategy, I did research um for a few of the executive team uh at at 24 Hour Fitness. And I was I was fortunate enough that um the CEO at the time of 24 was Carl Lieber. And he kind of he challenged me. He said, Look, if you ever really want to understand brick and mortar, um you gotta run one of these things. And I was kind of like, What does that mean? He's like, You need to go run a gym. Um and for me that was like so outside my comfort zone because I was I was a person that sat at a desk and worked with Excel and built really beautiful slides and had ideas. I was an idea guy. And uh and so I said, you know what, I trust what guidance you're giving me, let's do it. And I jumped uh head first into the club management training program, which was really scary. Um, you know, because I mean I have a ton of respect for for day-to-day operators. Um when you look at kind of what they're doing in day in and day out in terms of um driving the business, um building teams that are all moving in the same direction with um with you know, you're you're recruiting from a different labor pool than even the type of labor pool that I had recruited in the past. I mean, I was just I was floored. I mean, I was like, these are these are leaders, and I really have to try to figure out how I can be successful at that because you know I want I want to succeed in this realm so I can take this and and leverage it for the next phase of my career. And so yeah, I had to go into the program. I had never sold a fitness membership, I'd never attached personal training to a membership. Um and I just had to figure it out. And they like they put me on the production report so like the entire company could see how many guests I was taking, um, whether I was closing them or not closing them, when or whether I wasn't attaching fitness. Uh and I struggled a bit to attach fitness because I like to build build relationships and talk. And so it was really good at at getting people to want to buy their membership. Um, but then I wouldn't get them to buy personal training um because I was doing most of the talking versus actually asking questions and listening. Um and so once I started to actually ask the questions and listen, I started to kind of connect the dots with why personal training would help them out. So I went through that, um, got a chance to run the Santa Monica Supersport at 24 Hour Fitness, so I did that. Um and that's where I really got into got into, I mean, I always say like that's the inflection point of my career. The the 13 months that I was running that gym. Um, you know, I had you had your membership team, your personal trainers, um, ancillary revenue. The gym was open 24-7. You had to grow, run, protect the business um day in and day out. Um, I learned a lot. And so it was at the end of that 13 months, um, I got connected with uh a high net worth individual who had uh created this small boutique brand in Burlingame, California. And they were kind of, what are we gonna do with this? Uh and so I had a chance to connect with them and you know I thought, wow, this is you're you're you're doing something pretty unique here in terms of the technology, the the piece of cardio equipment that was being used, um, and then the type of clientele that was coming in to the studio was was pretty interesting. You know, it was it had a it had uh you know hints of CrossFit, but the clientele that was coming in was um, I think people that wanted to have high high intensity workouts without the high intensity attitude. And so I was really I was I was I was just you know I was attracted to it. And so I was fortunate enough that he brought me on board, and then you know, the I think the story kind of wrote itself where we we took it from one to five locations. Um I was as entrepreneur as they come because up until that point, like I had never looked for real estate, had never done build-outs, hired architects, GCs, um, worked on websites, all that kind of stuff. I mean, I'd I'd done analytics and I had uh operated, but building a company that could scale, that was just something that I was learning on the fly. And uh and then afterwards we had a few folks that were looking at base camp fitness, um, and one of them was exponential. And kind of the the way that things unfolded is um there was an opportunity for me to transition from from base camp over to exponential, um, and they brought me over to start uh scaling Wheelhouse. Um so the the brand had just been acquired in December of uh 2017, and then so I came in um in Jan of 2018 and then just started working on getting it ready to to become scalable as a franchise. Um and so that meant kind of taking all the the intellectual know-how of getting Basecamp to a scalable position and packaging that up and and being able to provide that to folks who wanted to purchase the rights to uh open a row house and open it and then um drive drive successful membership growth so that the studio would make money. And so I came on board to kind of work on that and and launch the brand. And so now it's been close to four years. Um, and we're at 91 open studios and 318 territories sold. And you know, we're kind of moving along, still, still growing, still expanding our footprint, which is exciting. Um, and as as I mentioned earlier, you know, I think we're, you know, with everything that's gone on in the last two years, I think um this coming year is going to be, I think, something very special for not just Row House, but you know, all the exponential brands. But yeah, that's my story. That's kind of it in a nutshell how I went from the Bay Area and finance and then got into fitness and landed at Exponential.

Yeah, man, that's great. I mean, I I've had the pleasure of uh interviewing uh a handful of presidents of different brands from Exponential. And it's you know, it's really the the wealth of experience that they seem to get after um and secure within their brands is is is pretty impressive. Uh, you know, they have uh you know great, I even talked to individual, you know, kind of not individual, but yeah, I guess individual brands. Um and everybody always has they're like, God, those guys are good at exponential, but damn, we respect what they're doing. Like it's such a hard thing to compete with what you guys do. Uh I guess you know, one of the big questions, then we can get into some of the other stuff that we alluded to there earlier about you know why it's going to be, you know, 2022 is a very uh exciting time and you know, the the positive projections that we have for it. But give us a little insights into the row house experience, man. What what is it about the row house experience that makes it unique, the blend of you know, uh type of training, the environment, technology? Yeah, let us uh let us know more about that.

Yeah, you know, yeah, I always say if anyone's ever worked out before, uh, I'm sorry, they've either done the rowing workout, like they they know that they know that rowing is awesome. I mean, it's it's yeah, it's like that reaction you just had there is I would say nine out of ten times people are like, I get on a rower and I work out. My full body gets engaged, my legs, my core, my upper body, I burn a ton of calories. Um, and so I mean that that's important for us because our our programming is centered around the rower. Um but when I think about the experience, and I think what kind of separates us um and makes us kind of that that leading rowing base fitness brand um has everything to do with how we deliver the rowing. Um for us, you know, we our goal is that it's not a gimmick for you, but we want to teach you how to really optimize your time on the rower while at the same time deliver it in an experience where you got music, you got coaches, and it and everyone feels like they're working together. Um, and so that and that's what we call kind of like the swing, where uh because we're kind of coaching people to row on the same scroll grade, um, people see people feel like they're working as a community, but they're still getting their individual workouts because the rower is linear based. So the harder, the more effort you put into it, the more effort it gets back. Um, so it allows people of different shapes and sizes to be able to work out in the same road. So what I mean, so the experience for me has always been um, you know, it's it's a great workout, but the it factor is just how you how you get people to come together in a 45-minute um class that wants them to continue to come back because they just had uh an awesome experience working out with their communities. They had motivating coaches and motivating music, and they they just they want more of it. And uh the you know, the cherry on the top of that Sunday is that it's a modality that you can actually do quite often because it it it doesn't break you down um because of the low impact nature. So a lot of the times when uh you take a workout and you love it, it it can sometimes be high impact and you get into it, and next thing you know you're you're sore for days or you're nursing an injury or something happens, and it's really it gets in the way of of being able to do it repetitively. And I think with with what we do, you know, we deliver this great format, but it's it's accessible, it's something you can do day after day, you can build on. So but yeah, that's kind of the the it factor, and I think what separates us from um other modalities, but then also just other rowing-based concepts that are out there.

Yeah, you know, it's it's uh I remember when spinning came out, and I was like, and I I own a cross for gym, and like I started to see spin classes pop up. I'm like, ah boring. People that's gonna that's gonna fad. That's not going anywhere. And it stayed. It sure has stayed. And you know, I have to say, when I tried my first spin class about three or four years ago, like a good one, right? I was like, okay, I get it. I get it. I can, you know, it's it's time flies by. I I I'm dripped, dripping in sweat. Um, the music was good, it was a good experience. It was a nice kind of like tribal feel to it. And I can see that being, especially with the rhythmic nature of the rowing machine and the the visceral reaction that I have when you mentioned rowing initially, for people to understand because they couldn't see it. If you've ever done a 2K row for time, you know what a rower can do to you. It'll break you. Yeah, it'll break you, yeah. In so many ways. I I always joke, I'm like, I think each one of us has just a certain amount of 2K rows for time in us before we just fall over. Yeah, like I think you get maybe like a hundred of them. If you push past that, then you're you're just it's like your life force gets sucked away. Uh so when you look at like the differences, I guess compare like when people are coming around, they're like, well, you know, I'm looking at spin, I'm looking at rowing, I'm looking at what you know, obviously low impact is a big thing. But what what other advantages do you guys think you have there?

So I one I think you get you're bang for your buck. I mean, do you I always will compare what my calorie burn is when I go for run versus for 30 minutes versus what it is when I row versus what it is when I spin. Um and I always burn the same, if not maybe even slightly more calories when I get on a rower. Um and so for me, that's kind of that's awesome because I'm a I'm a I'm 230 pounds, uh 6'2, running for 30 minutes that takes its toll, especially as I've gotten older. And so for me, I get excited about the fact that I can actually go and take a class and not compromise the physical well-being of my body and still be able to achieve the goal, which is a workout where I break a sweat, I get a I get a mental release, but I also am able to work on my health, especially in especially in today's climate, but how important being healthy is. I mean, that was the the the number one way to to be able to protect yourself against against the pandemic is to to be healthy. Um and so you know it's I think for me what what makes that kind of stand out versus the other uh like the running or the bicycling and everything that you talked about is you get to check all your boxes, right? You get the you get the calorie burn, um, you get all the different muscle groups that are worked, um, but you also don't expose yourself that much to a risk of injury, which is to me awesome. Um, because as I get older, especially, um, I don't I don't want to get out of bed and take an hour to warm up. Um and there was some of that, right? When before before I kind of really started to look for these low impact ways of working out, like I was a CrossFitter or I was uh you know a high intensity, high impact person at work out. Um and you know, it's like I feel like I spent after a couple of weeks more time nursing injuries than I did actually working out. Um and that just that wasn't fun as I got older. Um it became a lot harder too as I got as I got older. And so um, but yeah, I mean I think when it at the end of the day, I think what makes it awesome is just it's the sustainability. Um, and then what I like about just like the way that we do it at Row House, and I you know, I had this um dur during like I had to travel a decent amount for some some family stuff, and so you know, a couple times I was in a hotel, um, and usually they'll have like a rower and they'll have like uh an elliptical machine and a treadmill. And so what I did was um I had to just download some some you know at home programming to be able to work out in the in the little gym that they had at the at the hotel. And what I loved about with the stuff that I did at home was in the past, like I would do it and I'd get on the rower and I just would. trying to row hard and that's it and I would get off. And I hadn't actually done this. Um I hadn't rowed outside a row house. And so I get on the rower and I row I rode the row house way which is really focused on my form. How you know how how do I how do I get into the catch and explode off of it. And it was it was interval based of some time on the rower, sometime on the floor, sometime on the road, sometime on the floor. And it was a way better workout for me because I knew how to row the and but I had never known how to row until I've been taught how to do it by Row House. And so I think even even outside of the modalities I think what what is special about what we do is we take something that people have done before and they enjoy but we grow we we help them expand on it so that then they can take that skill set and apply it hopefully at our studios. And I think the reason they do that is because of the the coaches and the music and the camaraderie but also just in general whenever they're on a row they see value in the rower and they and they they learn how to do that because of the time that they spent with Row House.

Yeah yeah it's uh you know I as a coach at heart when I go into a gym and my wife made me promise that I won't coach people I don't know right that was one that's one of our might have been in in our in our marriage vows. But I'll see people coaching or rowing and it's it's you can spot it from across the gym right when she like you can spot like the simple the okay the ordering is wrong um they're not catching they're not you know posturing correctly or they're not leveraging all these things and it's it's so easy and then even like I a friend of ours just got a C2 rower at home and she started using it and she sent me a video and I sent her a couple things and she's like oh my God what a difference like it's just a whole different workout. It feels stronger it feels smoother you sweat more you're breathing harder and that's where I think a lot of the instruction you know come uh like Shane we were talking about from Dark Horse Rowing did a lot of great instructional videos on his YouTube and um you know it's it it makes a huge difference. You know I want to ask you like so having a single modality thing like rowing and um spinning or you know even Jeff from Stride was on here as well not too long ago you know being running how do you keep do you find that it's do you encourage people to mix it with other things in order to keep them in the longevity or are you starting to branch out into like okay well here's the next level after because you know people are we're we're crazy things like we'll we'll just get bored of stuff right this just happens especially in fitness we know it's almost impossible to keep someone for a lifetime. Yeah it's in fact it is it is impossible to keep someone for a lifetime so you constantly have to keep people engaged or or you're worrying about you know retention and getting new clients in so how do you increase the longevity of a client in a single modality like Row House?

Yeah no it it's it's an important point because to your point like people look for variety and you want you have to continue to keep them engaged or else you're gonna lose them. The way that we do it is we have um four different program types that are centered around um so it's not all rowing so sometimes like I have to kind of catch myself because I'll talk about the Row house brand and it'll seem like it's 45 minutes of rowing which would be a lot. And it's it's really so really um about 60% of the of the classes are rowing and the other 40% are floor work. And so we have a strength based class we have a power class we have a restore class and we have a full row class. Strength based we call signature and so on a signature class when you're on the floor work you're doing more body weight movements and using dumbbells um with power you're doing more high repetition more explosive kind of get your heart rate up type of movements in restore the the program the rowing programming is really interesting because you'll actually work at a lower stroke rate which doesn't make rowing easier because it's actually can be a pretty brutal workout to generate power when you're rowing at a lower stroke rate. And then on the floor you do more restorative movements um different stretches things to kind of help give you range of motion and hopefully combat potential of injuries um and then we have full row for those diet hearts that just want to row a lot and just burn a ton of calories. And so we we take those different program types and we build out a schedule that would give people they would feel comfortable coming into the studio three four or five times a week because they feel like they will get the variety there. And then we sprinkle in some other things like benchmark programming so that people can prepare for like a 500 or like you were saying the 2K and then we have like special events like relay rows and things like that to keep people engaged throughout the month. And so we that's that's how we kind of um expand on it on the rowing so it doesn't feel like it's just rowing over and over and over again. And then even within the rowing um we have a lot of different drills that will change up so that people can't predict what the workout's going to be because to your point if you can start to predict things um then that's when you start to see attrition. And then the I think what what we've done well at Xville though is understanding that um folks at times will want to you the the existence of the exponent exponential network and the creation of XPass was so important. Because what happens sometimes is in fitness you kind of have this either or that you have to go through. So I I like rowing but I want to do something different. So I have to choose my rowing with something else some other membership at another gym and so I guess I'll just forego rowing for now and go do this modality. And so you you break up and then to your point you then realize when you're over here that you do miss rowing and then you come back. And so what something like XPass the reason that was created is it kind of it one of the reasons is it gives that option to the person who loves rowing. I don't want to stop rowing but I do want some variety and so now I have a very easy bridge to all the other modalities that we have here. So I don't have to walk away from the thing I love but I get to scratch the itch of other types of workouts to keep that variety going so I can keep working out and then continue to work towards my fitness goals, right? So now you can spin, you can run, you can do Pilates, you can do yoga.

So I think that's twofold right so internally we put in a lot of thought into how do we keep people engaged um but then externally Expo their goal is to create a mechanism so that people don't leave their their core uh membership but also have an avenue to try some other stuff and that helps with retention that helps with dollar spent in the network um everything kind of centered around uh helping studios gain more memberships and drive more revenue people age at different speeds and the date on your license may not represent your inner biological age at all if you're looking for ways to extend your health span and slow down the aging process the keys to health and longevity run in your blood. That's why InsightTracker provides you with a personalized plan to boost your metabolism reduce stress improve sleep and optimize your health for the long haul. Created by leading scientists in aging, genetics and biometrics, InsightTracker analyzes your blood, DNA and fitness tracking data to identify where you're optimized and more importantly where you're not you'll get a daily action plan with personalized guidance on the right exercise, nutrition and supplementation for your body. Add InterH2.0 to any plan for definitive calculation of your true biological age to see how you're aging from the inside out. I was proud to find out I'm a few years younger than I thought I was for a limited time you can get 20% off the entire inside tracker store. Just go to insight tracker.com forward slash future to check it out learn more and get your own it's inside tracker.com forward slash future on to the show yeah that's great man it's such a um you know a hard uh tough earned and and great advantage for exponential is to have those those options within there where I can go you know do a row house workout hit yoga the next day to recover you know do just do multiple things I think that's uh that keeps people really engaged and and loyal to the brand um within your what what do you guys what does your tech stack look like do you guys like what types of do you guys have your own brand of rowers do you use any heart rate training do you have any other what what do you guys use in there?

Yeah it's we use the concept two um we uh classic workhorse yeah that is i if you're gonna be the leading authentic rowing brand um you have I I think you have to have concept twos in your studio um and I think they it's it's an amazing piece of equipment um it's it's extremely resilient as well which is important um you know when you think about all the classes that are being taught and the meters that are being rowed um that that piece of equipment lasts a really long time and and doesn't um the it it doesn't give so this rower you can use over and over time but it's still it's still uh challenging you every time you get on it you know versus like sometimes when you when you use a piece of equipment you've used it so many times like the resistance gets easier or something like that. Like that's not the case with with the concept tube. So we do that which is really important and and I think that that has uh helped us by uh gain credibility with the rowing community as well um when they see the concept twos and I think that's important. And then from a from a data standpoint um people love their meters at row house we have a a meter milestone program um where when you cross certain thresholds you get celebrated um and so we have different prizes based off of those milestones 50k 100k 250 500 a million um it goes up to the millions too because we're starting to get members that are crossing that five six million threshold and so um and so we help them track that in the studio they get to see that but then also after class um they get to they see their stats live um and they they can always go back into the app and see kind of where they where they sit in their progress. And so that kind of allows people to kind of latch on to the meters and and have that data component of if they're if they're a data junkie. And then we do where we have heart rate monitoring where we have an Apple Watch integration um it it you know so we um it's almost six 60 I think 60 to seven percent of our um users all have an Apple Watch. Which is yeah which is pretty which is pretty crazy. And so what's neat what's neat about that is it it allows them to check in their class they can sync right away they can um you know they can um see their stats it's it's it all syncs up um and it gives them that heart rate monitoring and it works with their app so there's a lot of touch points um to get people uh it could to keep people kind of sticky um but I also think to educate them on what's happening when they take class because especially with the heart rate monitoring um you know when when you're when you are looking at your heart rate and you are looking at your calories and you're you're doing that across different modalities like it's it's a pretty like oh my god oh my goodness moment when you see what you achieved when you took a rowing class versus what you achieved doing something different right um which we talked about earlier um because I think it it just helps the modality gain more credibility um because I do believe that people like the idea of not compromising their workouts um by having to do something that quote unquote is low impact right because I think sometimes low impact gets a bad rap um people see that and they go it's not a good workout it's it's it's not the same as some Uber intense you know class. And so um but that's not the case and you can you can you can be destroyed doing a a low impact rowing class. And so things like you know Apple Watch that shows you kind of your metrics helps gain that credibility.

Yeah awesome man um so when you look at the world of rowing I mean there's uh in the last two years we've just seen in you know the the connected fitness thing boom boom exploded right the uh I feel like there's still an arms race in the connected rowing area like there's you know uh C2 rowers like we discussed kind of the the gold standard when it comes to rowing machines they're not connected not yet right who knows what they're up to or people who are looking to do that um but where where do you see row house fitting into the connected rowing is it something you guys are paying attention to are you staying to your lane of just being an in-studio experience or do you have plans to kind of get into that arena as well um so I'm I'm not too privy to what I so we have we have our exponent we have our Go product um which is on demand which is um it it brings our coaches and our our brand and our modality to um people outside of the studio um don't have a crystal ball to kind of predict where that might go but it's definitely I think it's something you have to pay attention to um which I think go the Go product demonstrates that.

For us personally, you know our focus is still at the studio level um you know that's what we want to be great at because I think that that's what people need um especially now more than ever as as the um you know as as people have have had to go through the last couple of years and just the challenges that come with um being within a confined space and you know what that does to your psyche I think that people are ready to uh get back into the rhythm of things that help them feel better uh outside of the homes and so I think we're we're in a really good spot to be able to uh provide that need to those people um I am though from an at-home perspective I think yeah I think rowing is going to continue to get more and more attention and eyeballs and development um which for me I think is a great thing because what it does is it just puts rowing top of mind similar to like what Peloton did for um cycling studios you know I think that they got more people into cycling um and then as a result it just created more lead flow into the studios. I think when you see Hydro Row or you see some of these other um at-home fitness options with celebrities on them like I get excited about that because I I go that's just that's helping that's helping to drive more credibility around the rowing modality and I think that that is going to uh make people wonder what it's like when they do that within a group setting because it is different. It is different I mean I've I've used at-home rowing options and it is different when you're on a TV screen on a row and looking at a TV screen versus in a room hearing the concept twos all go together with the music. I mean it's you hear that right and it's like you you vibe and you you you forget that you were in there for 45 minutes. And so I think when you see at home expanding, I get excited because I think that's just going to help the studios more in terms of just more leads in through the studio. But um but I'm also not going to sit here and say that um you know it that we're not that we haven't actually try to look at ways that we can engage that consumer um with with Row House so that they do come to us inside the studio and and experience it that way because we have through the Go product but um I guess we'll just have to see I mean I'm I'm excited right I think the options are there and I mean it'd be cool to see what come up with.

Yeah yeah it's gonna be an interesting ride man which in this dovetails nicely into kind of the you know on the the I guess big final points we want to talk about is you know why should a studio owner maybe specifically a uh franchisee of Real House be excited about what's coming up in 2022. I mean we've seen a hard year of you know gym shutdowns um small businesses services uh to no fault of their own just just go out of business man and it's it's been hard and you know it's just whatever your opinion of it is of why or if it was right or whatever it doesn't matter it happened and this is where we are so when you look at the last two years and um you kind of rally the troops for next year what what are you what are you saying? What are you thinking what's going on in your head?

Yeah I mean I think I think the pandemic created a seismic shift um you know people are always going to look at life pre-pandemic versus post-pandemic. I mean that's almost like now when someone asks me about something I go oh that was that was pre-COVID like that that felt long time ago and now we're we're post COVID and I'm I've changed because it I did you know I I think what I personally and what our franchisees and what consumers um went through cause caused a shift. And um but I think there was a lot of good changes that happened and looked a lot of opportunities and one of them is just how people engaged in their their wellness. You know we saw time and time again whenever we we we looked at research and we looked at surveys people started working out more. They they made a concerted effort around living healthier lives. And I think in part because that was one of the few things that you could control during the pandemic. It helped make people feel better. But at the same time you saw people reporting that they missed their communities, they missed their gyms, which is why when gym started opening up people started to come back. But to your point it was unfortunate because some folks it was tough and they didn't get they didn't get make it to the other side. So you have this you know this um increase in and focus around your wellness um not just working out but everything else right that you have you know now you have plant-based food options I mean the list goes on and on of uh you have you know you have um technologies like like calm and the things that help you meditate and head headspace and so you have just all these different things that are being uh created to help individuals not just be physically better but spiritually mentally um and I think you have that increase but you also have uh a consolidated uh industry um because of everything that went down and so you have this opportunity now to take these individuals who are yearning for connection and provide that connection for them um and and we have the toolkit here at Rowhouse and Exponential to help our our franchise owners be able to tap into that market and to get those folks to come into the studio take class have an amazing experience and convert into to to members um and then once they're members uh leverage that that foundation to become brand advocates until more people who are in that space to come into the studio so you know I I think it you know it's it's it I always feel kind of a little weird saying that um you know there's this light at the end of the tunnel that's created because of um a lot of difficult times um because we want to be respectful to the folks that were in that difficult time and and unfortunately for whatever reasons weren't able to kind of get through it. But at the same time for for our owners that have stayed engaged um that that that got creative and and and ran outdoor classes I mean they basically recreated indoor studios and made them into outdoor studios during the pandemic to be able to stay engaged in their communities and build those relationships you know now is their time like this is this is what they fought for. And I you know whatever other challenges come up because of COVID because there will be um you know I think you know we're still kind of navigating that stuff um I do think that you know we've been able to demonstrate that we know we know what to do in this tough situation thrown it our way. And so um you know I get excited I get excited about what we've been able to accomplish and kind of the support that we can give our partners um to be able to to win um in this environment I do think that they're gonna win in this coming year.

Yeah man I I think it's really exciting and anybody who's been in the fitness industry for more than a minute has seen that you know some kind of consolidation has been necessary. There's got that had as something this just accelerated what we knew was coming and um you know that's been a topic on this podcast more times I could probably count. Yeah. And it's just interesting like I I'm starting to see the need for people really strong need like I mean just personally anecdote is like my wife and I were talking like she was kind of a little uh upset she's she's like you know we need we never talk at the end of the day anymore. I'm like well it's because I saw you in the morning we spent all day together in the same house and afterwards like well what am I going to ask you like how'd your day go? I know exactly what happened right you know exactly what I did. You probably heard me doing podcasts yeah from 10 feet over like I think people need to get out and need it's it's more enriching for our relationships and you know to to have that that need to get out and I think people are getting to the point where like well you know today's the thirtieth of November in twenty twenty one and people are talking about this new variant. I don't know how much people care anymore. Yeah. People are ready to get out. They're like, well, take we'll take on whatever takes on because we can't live like this anymore. Yeah. And uh I think that's a very powerful motivation. And it's gonna see we're gonna see a huge upsurge in the right brands and the community engagement.

Yeah, yeah. No, you're spot on. I mean, the lines got so blurred um over the last couple of years, and I think people are tired of that, and they're trying to figure out how to kind of create the separation that existed before, which they didn't really recognize how important that separation was until it got taken away. Um, and so yeah, I think that's a catalyst for I mean, I I just uh we went to a movie theater for the first time this past week. Like we what did you see? Uh in Kanto. I have a four and a half of that. So I wanted to watch Eternals, but you know.

I was hoping you're gonna say Dune. No, it wasn't exactly okay.

It was in Kanto, so we had to go watch that. I wanted like I walked in, but we went, right? And so here I was. I was like, I was the type of person that was like this at home HBO Max, getting the movie to my home. This is everything I ever wanted. This is awesome. Like, I have my couch, I have my big screen, like, oh, this is one of the best things that happened from COVID. I go to the movie theater and I go, you know what? I like eating a bucket full of popcorn and having my seat shake from this ridiculous sound system. That was fun. And I go, Yeah, you know what? Because you're human. It's in your it's in your DNA. Like you needed that. Like, and so and that's applicable to so many different things that we do. So, like, um, you know, you know, our our CEO here uh says this uh often he talks about like at home, it's like uh you know the the the at-home kitchen didn't cannibalize restaurants. Um and it and it's kind of it's true because you still need like I can cook all I want, but at the end of the day, like sometimes I just want to go to the restaurant and hear the music and engage with the waiter and discover some new dish and some new glass of wine, and that's just awesome. And so um, so yeah, to your point, I was just like you were talking about that. I'm like, I just literally experienced it with a movie theater, and I thought and I thought I had converted. And so, and I realized it's like just because I'm I'm human, and I need experience, I need touch points, some auditory, visual, all that kind of stuff, right? So, but yeah, it's it's everywhere. So I I think it, you know, we'll get through this and we'll come out of the stronger. And um, you know, and I think we've done a lot of good work here at Roehouse and Exponential as a whole to really kind of be that that key um kind of operator in this industry. And so um, you know, I'm I'm excited. I think we're gonna we're gonna answer the bell and um I think it's gonna be a good year for us.

Yeah, awesome, man. Yeah, I mean, overall we're experiential beings, right? And uh, if we can stay out of the matrix, um, you know, and uh I think you know, having great community experiences like what you guys are striving to do and a lot of other great uh you know in-person brands, there's there's always a lot of space, and I think it's gonna be a great year. And I've talked to a lot of people who have their finger on the pulse and seeing the data of what's going on with uh you know Boutique Fitness, and it's it's gonna be a 2022 is gonna be a good year for that. So man, uh Ramon, thank you so much for for spending some time with me. It was uh a lot of fun, very insightful. Love your positive attitude. And uh if if people want to get a hold of you or um you know you want to send them somewhere online, where where do they go?

Uh if everyone check out the brand, uh www.therowhouse.com. Uh ton of info there. You can get on you can get in contact with us that way. Um, but start there, download the app to the rowhouse app. Um and look for a row house near uh where you live. Um, because we'd love to have you in our studios and um treat you to a really awesome class and and hopefully have you join the join the family, have you become part of the boat. So uh check out the website.

Nice. Awesome, man. Well, thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen. Ramon Castillon. Thank you, Eric. All right, have a good day. Hey, wait, don't leave yet. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Future of Minute. If you did, I'm gonna ask you to do three simple things. It takes under five minutes and it goes such a long way. We really appreciate it. Number one, please subscribe to our show wherever you listen to it, iTunes, Spotify, Castbox, whatever it may be. Number two, please leave us a favorable review. Number three, share. Put it on social media, talk about it to your friends, send it in a text message, whatever it may be. Please share this episode because we put a lot of work into it. We want to make sure that as many people are getting value out of it as possible. Lastly, if you'd like to learn more, get in touch with me, simply go to the futureoffitness.co. You can subscribe to our newsletter there, or you can simply get in touch with me as I love to hear from our listeners. So thank you so much. This is Eric Malzone, and this is the future of fitness. Have a great day.