Shifts in Leadership and the "New Normal" - Adam Zeitsiff

Hey everybody, welcome to the Future of Fitness, where we talk with entrepreneurs, researchers, and practitioners in fitness, wellness, and the health sciences. I'd like to give a big thanks to our sponsors, Level Five Mentors, helping entrepreneurs achieve the highest levels of freedom in time, money, relationships, health, and purpose. Also, Certified Course Creation, helping entrepreneurs create accredited online certifications that are not only lucrative but highly scalable. Go to level5mentors.com or certifiedcoursecreation.com and learn more. I am your host, Eric Malzone. And once again, welcome to the future of fitness. Boom. We're live. Adam, welcome to the show, man. Thank you.

Great to be here. Appreciate you having me.

Yeah, yeah, likewise. I think some background here. So uh, you know, as a date of recording, today is April 7th, 2020. Things are shaking up. I originally had you slotted for an interview last week, which I was going to kind of do the normal interview process for CEOs and leaders within the fitness industry. But then obviously we're in very different times now. And I think it's more applicable, it's more valuable to be topical about what's going on with coronavirus and the effects of that has on business and the fitness industry. And there's, you know, very few people who are at a position like you are as a CEO of of Gold's Gym to understand really what's going on here and certainly in the trenches. So maybe just give us a little quick backstory and then we'll dive into it. How did you get to be the CEO of Golds Gym?

Well, you know, I actually started out as the CIO of Gold's Gym. I started in uh February of 2016, was brought in to kind of lead the digital transformation of the brand and work on a variety of projects. And so started there and spent uh the better part of almost three years in that role. Launched a couple cool products, including Gold Zamp and a few other things that we had going on, and then lost my mind for about nine or ten months and left to take the CIO role in another in the quick serve restaurant industry, but then came back in um February of uh 2019 to come back and uh kind of help lead the resurgence of the brand and our global franchising efforts with our team and just kind of really taking the brand back into dominance into the fitness industry around the world. So it's been a up until a few weeks ago, it's been one heck of a fun ride so far.

You know, curious from a demographic standpoint, where do you guys have your strongest like uh mind share? I would imagine I'm 43. I know Gold's gym really well. I was pumping iron the San Jose location when I was like 11. Yeah, wanting to be like all the the big guys. Who's your strongest demo?

You know, it's funny, if you asked us that a decade ago, you it would still be that very much that kind of that bodybuilding type and um people who knew us for what we were famous for, which was making people strong for things like bodybuilding and then things in Arnold and the rest of the that group helped bring us into the world, right? And help put us on the map. But today we are really uh our demo is really split from a standpoint of male to female now. We're pretty much even in our clubs, which is great because that wasn't the case a while ago. We're very strong now in that kind of you know 22 to 44 kind of age group, again, evenly split between male and female. We have a lot of people coming in just to use us to help them get strong for whatever life requires, right? For me, it's getting strong to have a seven-month-old baby in one hand and 10 bags of groceries in the other. So I don't have to make two trips from the car, and that's strong for me, but strong for other people, it means something else. And so we're helping them get strong now and uh kind of in that demographic area, which we're very proud of because we still serve and are very proud of our bodybuilding heritage. But now we kind of hit uh we're the gym for anyone who wants to come in and be stronger in life.

Awesome, awesome, man. So let's get into the meat of this as a leader, as a CEO, Adam. You know, with uh really this thing kind of hit full speed, I think about two weeks ago, right? And when everything starts shutting down, it feels like a joke all the time that, you know, wow, last week was the longest year I've ever had. Things are changing really quickly. How, you know, from your perspective, from a personal standpoint as a leader and a CEO, how is your role changing right now?

You know, it's interesting. When I made the decision, it was March 16th that we had to close all our company-owned US gyms. We had to do, you know, make that choice and make that right decision to support humanity. And that was a really important decision, a really difficult decision. And I look back on it, and ever since that day, Eric, I've kind of been, I think I've been the role of uh chief kind of uh psychologist officer kind of role, where I'm working on the psychologist aspect of making sure we're all in the right mental state as we get through this. My team, you know, it's it's a tough thing. No one's ever been through something like this, right? That's a really tough thing from that perspective. So just working with them, staying in touch with them, psychologists from a standpoint of just communicating with my franchisees, talking to them. We've got we've got an amazing franchise support organization here in our company. And so they're reaching out all the time and I'm working through them and talking to franchisees, understanding how to support them and our members, trying to talk to our members. I mean, most members are understanding and they get it, but they also, you know, I must see, you know, 50 tweets a day about I miss you, Gold's Gym. And then, of course, I to be quite frank, um, psychologist myself, I have to look in the mirror every day. It's not easy to see all the great things we've been doing over the last year and how we've been really transforming this business all around the world and uh see it all put on hold right now. So that certainly takes a little looking in the mirror every morning to get myself, you know. I'm not someone who's immune to that either, right? So get myself excited and understand this is temporary and it's stressful and it's something that we've never been through, but it too shall pass, and we will get through it. And I've got to keep myself in check every day as well.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's that's the hard thing to do, I would imagine, for you too, is you know, as a leader within a large organization, is that everyone goes to you for answers. And right now, there's really not a whole lot of answers.

No, you're right. And and you know, and I've said this a couple of times, and we were talking about this. It's it's hard as a leader. You want to fix things, you want to solve things for your company, you want to solve things for your team, you want to solve things for your customers, for your ownership group, for the demographic that you serve and your industry. And it's hard right now because there's not much we can do except take a look at our business and do a lot of things I'm sure we'll talk about to get ready for when we relaunch, but we can't control when that's going to be. We can't control when the governments and the locals and state authorities are gonna allow us to open our gyms again. We can't control a lot of those things. We can control staying indoors and doing our part and flattening the curve, which our our team is doing since uh March 16th. But at the same time, that's it. And it's very difficult, and it is part of that stress and that self-psychology that I need to put myself through because there's just not much I can do other than get the team ready, support them, and be ready for when we have to go ahead.

Yeah. Well, what are the action items that you're giving franchisees right now? What do you tell them to do immediately?

Well, I think what we've been doing, we've been really supportive of helping translate some of the stuff that's come down through the various stimulus packages, right? So I mentioned our amazing franchise support team. Our legal teams have been doing some analysis, our financial people, our franchise support and business folks. We're understanding with some of our partners what does this mean for you, Mr. or Mrs. Franchisee? How can you apply for these things? How do you do it? Do we have partners that can help, which we do, and they're doing so at no cost, which is great. So, really, it's just been supporting them in that regard, helping them understand what they can do to talk to landlords, what they can do to talk to members. We're giving them sample content of member letters that we sent out to our landlords and things. I mean, we we can't be a counsel for them, but we can certainly just give them samples and things that we can do to show them how we're handling things and how they can talk to their landlords, their vendors, their customers, and just come up to an arrangement that will help them get through this, right? So that's what we're trying to do and be a really good franchise or partner to our franchisees because we obviously need to be there in the good times and the bad. And that's what we're trying to do, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's uh it's the best advice. I mean, I've I've talked to a lot of leaders, you know, gym owners, people who coach and mentor, you know, fitness professionals. And that's about the best advice you can give without, you know, with the information we have at hand. And, you know, one of the things I've I've found interesting, and it hit me like a ton of bricks a couple of weeks ago is that right now we're living in a general sense of uncertainty. Uncertainty is kind of a mild way to put it. We just but you know, when you look at people who are actually used to living in uncertainty, it's it's entrepreneurs. And uh, this is you know, kind of another day in the park, right? But the key to it and and why, you know, if people could maybe take a more of an entrepreneurial mindset is the creative problem solving. You know, I've seen some pretty amazing things, man. I've heard some really cool stories about small businesses pulling together and supporting not only each other through things like, you know, care package uh subscription services, but they're also, you know, finding creative ways to support the local, you know, healthcare system, doctors, nurses, first responders, you know. So part of their revenue in these packages goes towards those. You know, it's really creative, awesome problem solving. And I'm curious to see from your ranks, you know, maybe from the local franchises. Have you seen any really cool creative problem solving come out of there?

Yeah, I think one of the things I saw that was directly related to their business and and and our business was how we all came together as a global franchise community to help drive some online content and online fitness for our members around the world, right? So we have Gold's AMP, which is our personal training app, audio coaching and video coaching and music. And it's been it's been a great uh opportunity for us to extend ourselves outside of the four walls and support both our members and non-members alike. We made it available to anyone in this country through the end of May to use for free. But on top of that, we've launched a lot of video on demand content. But we we didn't have a video on demand content on March 16th. You know, we had been in the planning and we were in the early stages of technology planning for a new service. And within five days, we had a service launch. We had reached out to our franchisees around the globe, and they all came in with content. We gave them specs of how to how to record the content, what it should be, and how to intro and outro it, and what it should be made up of, desired lengths. And we had people pouring in content from all over this country, first of all, from our franchisees here who are amazing, from Egypt, from Morocco, from Australia, uh Russia. I mean, you name it. We came together as a global brand and as a global fitness community. And I thought that was really cool because it was it didn't exist. And literally almost seven days later, we launched a service with content, and now it's got over 125 workouts from around the world and growing. And it's you know, it's it's content that people can use while they're while they're in their houses and working out, and they can say, Hey, I just finished a workout with a personal trainer in Egypt today, and it was awesome. And she crushed me with a great workout, and I'm ready to start my day at home and work with the kids on schoolwork and get to work and all those fun things. So I'm really proud of our community for doing that. And then a lot of our local franchisees are doing all the things that you said. They're helping and volunteering at local food banks, they're renting out equipment as needed for some people. They're helping. We have I've spoken to some that are opening up, you know, their gyms, not for business because they're not allowed to, but letting like firefighters and things like that who are working around the clock on whether it's traffic control or things of that nature or EMTs or whatnot use their showers and clean up and get back to a ship because they can't go home or just really great things that they're doing. And you know, the gym is the ultimate fitness community and uh and they're trying to be the ultimate providers to their local communities.

It's awesome. I mean, that this is the kind of stuff where when we really get pushed with our backs against the wall, that really people come together and we're gonna talk about kind of a global community that's coming out of this. You mentioned community, and I think I I've asked a lot of people, people have asked me, well, what do I think the future of the industry is gonna look like? And the people who are very optimistic about, hey, we'll get through this, it's gonna bounce back, there's kind of demand, tend to be people who are very much into the community-driven fitness. The people who think the opposite who are like, well, this is it for the industry, you know, because no one likes to work out, everyone quits after 30 days, all this stuff, right? Those are non-community-driven gyms that just, you know, kind of uh, you know, make it a commodity. So, I mean, I'm starting to see some writing on the wall, but I'm I'm curious, you know, when then when this thing settles down, we don't know. I was actually just reading an article right before this that says that probably businesses maybe shut down until August. And that was an optimistic look. I don't know if that's true. I'm seeing all kinds of you know future predictions coming out there, and who knows who's right. But when the dust settles a little bit and things start to get back to quote unquote normal, what do you think the fitness industry is gonna look like?

Well, first of all, let me just get back off my chair and sit back down when you said August. But I hope we certainly we certainly hope it's not August, but yeah, we're we're we're again we're prepared for that. But uh we need we need to think through those things. I think for me, I think when we reopen our gyms, when we get the all clear, I don't know what normal is gonna be. And I think normal will never be even close to what it was, but we can get back to some semblance of it. But I think people are gonna return gradually. Yes, you're gonna have your gym rats who just love being there, who are gonna literally be banging down our doors at 4 59 a.m. when they're supposed to open at 5 a.m. and be ready to jump in. But I I think that'll be the exception. I think people are gonna come back gradually. I think they're gonna get more comfortable being back in a public setting because that's it's gonna take some time. I mean, unless except for the quick trip to the store or driving around in the car and not getting out because you just want to see what the world looks like. Most people aren't gonna have been in a public setting in a while, right? And and I think one thing we can all agree upon because we're hearing about it, and we're also learning from gyms over in the Asia Pacific market, and we're sitting in on calls with them and they're learning how they reopened because they're in the middle of it now. So we're taking those best practices, social distancing. It's certainly gonna be part of the club for a while, right? What does new normal look like in group fitness? Does group fitness even open up when we first open up? Does it open up gradually? Um, do we shut down every other treadmill just to keep some distance for a while as this thing dissipates and make sure it doesn't come back? But I think all those things we are already diving into. And we're we're looking at a ton of things in our clubs, you know, like the door kick so that you don't have to open the door with your hands, you can use your feet and just additional cleaning and and and fogging and things like that. We're gonna do a we're gonna go above and beyond to make sure the clubs are clean, but cleanliness is part of it. The spacing and the physical piece and just the comfort. But I think you know, people do want to stay active and be healthy. It's important to beat the disease number one in the virus, but it's important for life. So we think I do feel that things will get back to as close to normal as possible in our brick-and-mortar gyms, but I I do feel that it's gonna take some time. And I also feel that unfortunately, it's a negative way, but it's a positive. But what this virus has done has accelerated the kind of the hybridization of the physical and the digital in fitness by at least two years. Like you know, it's been there. You got great leaders out there in our industry driving and disrupting with digital, but this virus just accelerated that. And the brands who can seamlessly integrate the brick and mortar and the digital side of fitness and make it a very omnichannel approach so that the member can do a workout at home with someone from Gold's, for example, one day because they're running late and they got to get the kids to school for an early activity. And the next day they can be in the gym in their favorite class and it's seamless and it's integrated. That's where I think the long-term success is gonna be. And that's what this virus has done, which has really accelerated the need for that to be seamless and much and much sooner.

Yeah, I do agree. And you know, there's been a resistance to the technological side of fitness from many, many people, and now there's simply no choice. And you know, that's gonna accelerate one of the reasons I started this podcast, Future of Fitness, almost three years ago, is that, you know, I wanted to modernize, help modernize the industry and play my part in that. And I think that, yeah, there's there's a lot of things that are they're gonna change, but definitely the the hybridization of it is that's a great point. And that's it's a good term to put it because it what I hope too. And here's here's what I here's the positive, Eric, who's seems to be uh really fighting for his life right now, is that it's uh, you know, I always want to see the value of the fitness professional in our modern Western society rise, right, to the same level as as a chiropractor or psychologist or you know, anybody who's a well-respected profession, I want to see that rise. And I think what you're gonna see here is, you know, from a macro perspective, and I'm not, you know, I don't know, I just want to put this positively, is that there's an opportunity to evolve and become something greater because one of the things that I do know for sure is that as fitness professionals, and I'm talking about the trainers and the coaches and the gym owners, um, we have access to people's lives that most people don't have, you know, now even if somebody sees a therapist, right? How often do they see him, right? Fitness professional, they could be seen two, three times a week. And we have access and know, you know, and I think that's a big thing is we can really use that access and provide a ton of value for people in ways that we didn't think we could before, all within scope of practice, of course. But just like you're finding yourself as a leader, like now as kind of a psychologist, right? You know, we we can we can walk that line and help people in a bigger way. And I think that'll return, you know, in in in some good ways as as we get through this. What is one thing that you think fitness professionals and gym owners should not be doing right now?

Yeah, you know, that's that's a good question because I think this is the time where your your brand and your legacy and and and your reputation can be defined or redefined, right? And so, you know, for example, obviously we got regulations in place. Don't ignore them. Don't try to like meet your clients in the back and whoop them out with the lights off. I mean, uh it sounds silly, but I've already heard, not thankfully not within our brand, but I've already heard people doing that. And it's it has a bad negative connotation on our industry, not just a specific brand, right? So obviously follow those, follow those regulations. Certainly don't put sales over the health and safety of members. Yes, everyone has to keep the lights on. No one has revenue coming in right now, depending on what's going on in your state. And most people aren't billing people, and even a little bit of revenue some remote from some remote digital stuff is not really paying the bills, but certainly don't put that over the health and safety of your members, of your team members, and things of that nature. Don't just sit back, don't be idle, like engage. You know, if you have employees that you've had to you know put on a temporary furlough or that, stay in touch with them. I try to try to email at least once a week some people that we have on furlough and reach out to them and just give them an update, even if it's just basic and some personal information, how the family, the kids, things like that. Certainly don't sit idle in that regard and don't sit idle with your members. Communicate with them at least once a week, at least. That doesn't have to be every day, but certainly once a week. We started out with emails about every three or four days. Now I'm doing a video message at least once a week that we're sending just to our members right from my home office, really casual and just, hey, here's what's happening, here's what we're waiting on. And then the last thing, you know, I would say is don't when you talk about being idle, don't be idle as it relates to your business. Don't just sit back and assume it's gonna be the new normal, like we just spoke about, right? Start thinking how that applies to your specific business. I don't care if you're just a small boutique's personal training studio studio who's crushing it with members, or you're a large, you know, 50,000 square foot big box or anything in between. You've all we've all got viable businesses, we all have viable models. And I think what the one thing you should not be doing is assuming that your model is gonna be completely viable when you get back in three, four, five, six weeks, whatever it is. And so don't sit idly and just thinking that that's gonna be the way it's gonna be when you get back because it's gonna change.

Yeah, yeah. Great points, man. I I and I totally agree with you. One of the things that I wanted to bring up is that before we start recording, you're you're telling me about some of the positive things you've been seeing out of it, one of which was a council, like a you know, kind of the the industry coming together, right? And you know, I look at it, uh, you know, you watch all those like alien movies, right? Where all of a sudden we get invaded from a foreign planet and all of a sudden humanity pulls together. There is no Russia or America, that's just one one thing, and then it's sci-fi geeking me talking. But really, it's kind of well, we have a universal threat. It doesn't matter if you are, you know, up in Canada or China or United States or Taiwan or wherever. It's it's it's a threat against humanity. And the same thing with the defendants industry is seeing a universal threat. So tell me about this council, man. Who pulled it together? What do you guys talk about? What's going on there?

Yeah, I know. I mean, I it was a great idea. Francesca, the CEO of InShape in California, great regional brand, just an amazing group of clubs and a great leader. And Alno Schiavani from Motion Soft, who's been a great leader in our industry for a long time. They just had the idea to pull some people together. Anyone and anybody who was uh in the industry of some of the little bit larger presents to bring some some mind share together, and they did a great job of bringing this group together. And we sit down and we stand, whatever we're doing on Zoom, once a week. We go through a bunch of items that are discussed uh ahead of time and some questions and thoughts and topics that people want to have. And so we go through that and then we have an ad hoc conversation, and it's been great. And people just kind of put down the gloves, and some of us compete and some of us don't, but put down the gloves, and and there's people from all over this country. I think there's a one or two from Canada. I saw there's some folks from uh David Lloyd in the UK, and we're all just in this together, you know. And for example, some of the larger chains and larger size companies and fitness were left out of the last couple stimulus packages. Well, we got together ourselves, talked about it. We got together with Ursa, the governing body, and we're trying to do something about it, right? And coming together. And how do we talk about, you know, the last week it was cleaning standards and what's what's a new cleaning standard look like? Should we all come together and agree on something so we can be out there? And how are we just helping? Whose landlord is doing what? What are you saying when they come back and put their put their hand up and say no away? And it's just it's been really great. And we've got some new things we're gonna be working on that you'll see and that hopefully we can announce in a few weeks and just come out as an industry together and just support one another. And people forget that, yes, restaurants are so important and and hotels and travel and hospitality. But I I saw a list somewhere where you know fitness is maybe one of the top four employers that's been affected by this virus, right? That's nothing to take a stir. That's a lot of people who are sitting there on pause, waiting to get back to work, and we need to support them, but also we need to come together as an industry to try to support ourselves so we can understand what the new normal is, be ready for it. And that's what this group is doing. And it's been just a pleasure to listen and have some great minds just contribute just for the greater good of the industry and of the people we serve.

Yeah, that's great, man. I commend you guys for doing that. I think it's uh it's a very powerful thing. And that's how ultimately we're gonna get through it, right? Is uh sharing of good ideas, finding out what's not working more importantly, and and what is working and going from there and how to support each other through it. So I think it's pretty awesome. Is there any, you know, as we kind of wrap this up, Adam, is there any other messaging that you want to get out to the industry? Anything that you woke up this morning, you're like, and uh I know everything changes in 24 hour cycles, it seems like, but what do you what's the messaging you want to get out there?

Yeah, I think I think for me, as as as gym operators and as an industry, I think even though we can't operate as usual, I think we've seen just in the last three or four weeks, really how important our industry is to be, right? And how much it means and how how quickly an industry like ours can react to this, right? And it's more important than ever for people to obviously maintain that healthy immune system. You hear about it on the news every day, ward off potential health issues. We've been saying that since the birth of this industry, but now specifically as it relates to this virus, obviously. And you know, for me, all I can say is, I mean, you said it every 24 hours something changes, but for us, I think it's we can't forget that. And as the situation continues to evolve and and you know, they're gonna we're gonna be leaned on. People are still gonna lean on the fitness industry as an outlet for physical wellness, mental wellness during uncertain times. And I think it's, you know, it's just crucial that we continue to collaborate, we continue to innovate together as an industry, and we need to be that consistent resource and tool for fitness consumers, whether it's in the physical, in the virtual, or a hybrid of everything in between. We need to be that thing they can turn to and that that consistent source and resource they can turn to to maintain that healthy and active lifestyle, wherever and however that may be. And I think that for me is the most important thing we just cannot lose sight of as we get through this. And if we do, there'll be some bumps in the road as this comes together, but we'll come out stronger as an industry and and stronger for a long time to come. Yeah, awesome.

Well, Adam, I know you you got a lot going on right now. I I appreciate taking 30 minutes out and coming and talking to me and the audience and uh in the industry as a whole. So yeah, man, keep up the great work. And you know, if there's anything you need from me or the audience or anything like that, just let us know. I appreciate it, Eric, and thank you very much for having me on. It was great. Oh, my pleasure. Hey, it's your host, Eric Malzone. Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Future of Fitness. If you enjoyed it, please do me a huge favor by going to the website and signing up for our newsletter. The website is futurofitness.co. Again, that's futurofitness.co. We've got some big, big announcements coming down the pipe, and we want you to make sure that you are on top of it. Thank you again. Signing off