The Evolution of Digital Fitness - Daniel Waide

As technology improves and and and as trackers and sensors get cheaper and things like that, then you will be able to go in and just lift the dumbbell, but it'll all be tracked for you. I think that that's where where we we want to go as an as an industry. We want to take all the hassle out. We just want to go in and get told what to do and do it so we don't have to think because we have to think doing everything else.

Hey fitness fans, welcome back to the Future of Fitness podcast and interview series. This is your host, Eric Malzone, and this is episode number 73. I talked to Daniel Wade of Wexer.com. So this podcast is named the Future of Fitness. I couldn't imagine a more suitable guest and topic than this. So virtual reality, augmented reality, it's all coming. We know that, right? Um, at least if you are someone in the modern age, you realize it's coming. It's already here, actually, and it comes with Wexer. So this is just the beginning, right? Uh he talks about how they're implementing virtual studios within uh health clubs and gym facilities uh all over the planet and what it looks like, where it's going, uh all that stuff. So brace yourself. Uh yeah, it's here, guys. It's already here, and uh Wexer can prove it because it's all over the place in gyms uh all over the world. So without further ado, let's get into it. Daniel Wade of Wexer.com. Everybody, welcome back to the Future of Fitness podcast and interview series. Today, I'm I'm just really excited because we're gonna get nerdy today a little bit. And uh Daniel Wade from from Wexer, thanks for coming on, man. I'm excited for this. Thanks for having me, right? It's uh good to be on. Yeah. So before we dive into uh the world of virtual reality and and what you guys do, um if you can just give a little background on yourself, like how you got to the point of where you're at working with Wexer, um, and then we'll go from there.

Yeah, for sure. Um and so, you know, uh I think uh one of the things to clarify too, just that the staff listeners is is Wexer uh digital fitness content. Um club chains often call it virtual, even though it's it's really video. So um I I I the VR sort of stuff is something hopefully we'll talk a little bit about, but it's not something that's um that that we're we're doing yet. Um uh so yeah, uh I I'd just like to start off on that note, but um, but I guess a little bit about me. I started in the fitness industry in 2000 um as a mobile personal trainer in Australia while I was doing an exercise science degree. Um, ended up working with one of the large gym chains in Australia running all the personal training uh and then decided to make the move to the US. Um so I've been in the US around eight years, worked for a couple of big gym chains here, um, ran my own uh fitness business and online startup for a little while, and then um moved to to Philadelphia, where I'm currently sitting, and um and uh found Wexer. And uh look, it it's sort of a perfect marriage of uh my love and and uh I I guess experience in the fitness industry with uh with that of technology as well and and what we're doing to move forward and and hopefully make fitness more accessible for people just using technology is uh I think sort of the the goal at the end of the day. So I think that's my 30-second brief on myself, man.

Yeah, yeah, well done, man. Thanks. And please, you know, feel free to um talk to me as if I'm a four-year-old with this stuff, because uh, you know, I think uh if I if I'm not quite grasping something, the large majority of people um probably aren't either. Not to saying that I'm I'm I'm just at that level.

So uh we can kind of go from there. Also, feel free to slow me down on the accent. I know that that's uh sometimes the listeners. It's very charming. Thanks.

Thanks. Let's see. So let's what what is what's Wexer? What is it, man? Give me give me some insights.

Yeah, so so really Wexer is is about you know digitally transforming fitness clubs. You know, our our aim is to keep fitness clubs relevant. Um, we do have uh customers outside the fitness industry, but real realistically, we've grown up you know from a from a fitness industry base. Our founder was a gym operator, saw his group fitness studios empty uh the majority of the day, like many clubs do, and wanted to provide value and uh accessibility for his members. Um now that that's sort of grown into its own thing now, um, and now we're seeing sort of the advent of uh the mobile phone uh and and you know on-demand sort of uh needs from this generation of of uh fitness goers and fitness users. And so, you know, we've evolved with that as a partner to fitness clubs. Uh we we sort of see the importance of providing them uh with the tools uh to I think you know make fitness more accessible for the for the broader community. Um and um you know there's there's a number of different ways you can you can make fitness more accessible, uh, and that's both in the clubs and outside. So, you know, we're we're really there to support the fitness clubs with that um and make sure that they're seeing technology as a tool rather than sort of as a broad strategy. Uh I think that that's the best way we can put it.

So what is the what's the experience with Waxer? I mean, I was I was been going through your website this morning, looking at some of the demo videos and things like that. But what's you know, if if someone's walking like what type okay, what type of gym facility is using it right now? And then, you know, who are the clientele and what what what do they experience when they use this?

Yeah, for sure. So so we work with the majority of the top 25 club chains worldwide. Um and so for example, you can walk into a uh a 24-hour fitness club uh and there isn't a uh live class on that day. You walk up to uh the the Wexer on Demand player in the club, and it's basically a big, big touch screen. Um I I call it an iPad on steroids to a lot of people just because it gives them the better vi better visual. Um and and then I use another well-known uh business Netflix, and we've got basically you know a Netflix for gyms. So you can go in, you say, okay, it's it's uh 5 43 a.m. There isn't a class until 7, uh, and I want to do yoga. I scan through and the NBA finals are on, I can see that there's a yoga class with Kevin Love. Um I'm gonna select that um because I'm a big guy and and I want to do yoga, uh, and I I watch that class in the studio. Um alternatively, from a club's perspective, they might decide that you know they've got a number of people who want to come in at 6 a.m. but they they can't find a yoga instructor uh instructor for their location at that time, they can actually schedule that video class to come up automatically. So they're the two sort of main in-club use cases. Um and and that's probably the most common, uh, I guess, common way that you would see us uh in a fitness club uh at this stage if we're talking about the physical experience.

Yeah. Yeah. So if you're um a gym owner, and the way I actually I came across you guys is I interviewed a multi um location gym owner from from Los Angeles, and he was mentioning that he was incorporating uh Wexer in into his gym. And I was just like, what? What is going on? It's already here. Um if if what kind of like does a gym, you know, do they need like extra rooms for this? Or like how, or is it just rooms that aren't being occupied at certain times? Like I know you mentioned that you fill in, I think that's fantastic. Like there is, you know, being a gym owner or former gym owner, um, there's always dead time in certain rooms, you know?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Look, um as I mentioned, that's how it started. It was sort of the dead time when the instructor doesn't turn up when they should have. And you know, I've been a manager of clubs too, and people come in. Can you teach the Zumba class? And I'm I'm not capable, right? Um, but but we can we can put a Zumba class on for them with it with our system. But what we are seeing now is that clubs and and even uh facilities are being built specifically with virtual rooms. Um, you know, the experience it's different to live, you know. Uh I I a lot of people are concerned, you know, we're competing with a live instructor, and I don't think you know uh a video experience uh in a room on a wall is ever going to compete with a really high quality live instructor. Um but I think that it still serves a purpose um around the times where we don't have those high quality live instructors um in a facility. So to get back to the question, where is it used, you know, yes, both in the existing studios, um, but we are seeing more clubs now actually create you know almost pod experiences where you can have six or seven people in and it's a virtual only studio. Um and and uh and yeah, that's that's happening uh around the world right now. There's there's a number of facilities um that have really executed well on that and um and get you know usage of 12, 13 people in a virtual class, virtual only class. Um and even to speak more specifically, you know, uh MicFit uh in in Germany started with virtual only classes, uh and that's all they had. They're actually adding some live um now, but uh but were originally uh virtual only for their group fitness.

Wow, that's crazy. So so if I'm walking in and my I'm uh like I'm I'm a member of a a bigger box gym here in Whitefish, Montana, and uh you know I started taking spinning classes. I don't you know, never done that before. It's like a whole new thing for me. Um I thought you were a crossfitter. What's what's going on with that? Yeah, I know, don't tell people.

Sorry, sorry.

But you know what? It's freaking hard. Really hard. And uh that comes from a CrossFitter. I'm like, God, this is really I want to throw up right now. Um so you know, if if that experience, like that room, I'm just thinking about this. Like that room is isn't occupied all the time. Like that that spin cycle room is probably empty, you know, 22 hours out of the day. Yeah. And um, so if I wanted to come in and not and the spin classes aren't always when it's going on. So if I wanted to, if they had this technology, I could go in at like as soon as this meeting's over, right? As soon as this recording's over, I could run over there, I could just, you know, put on a recording or whatever's going on with that, and then I could just take a class by myself. Or does you do I need other people there? Or how you know how the logistics work?

Yeah, for sure. So uh absolutely you could you could do that. Um, and and we do see really great usage in in Cycle Studios um because you know, we spinning uh classgoers uh tend to be really committed. And so if they can't get to see their favorite instructor, um then they're they still want to want to get into their class. And and that does also lead to some of the other things we're we're starting to do with trying to you know make those high-quality instructors available throughout a club chain so we can broadcast them through our system um to other facilities. But we can get back to that uh a little later. We'll we'll we'll go through um some of the uh I think natural progressions of sort of where the technology is going and where the tools are going to make sure the experience is good. Um but yeah, so from a cycle standpoint, it really depends on the on the fitness facility themselves. They they know their members better than we do, and they know their club better than we do. So we have account managers who work with their facility to say, okay, you've got a really popular class at six, but you haven't got anything at seven. You do have a number of people in the club at that time that fit the cycle class go up um demographic. So it's probably best that you schedule a class at that time. Now, at um at 10 o'clock, maybe there isn't as many people, and we want to make it more on demand. That means that that we make the kiosk available to be used on demand. So you can go up and say, okay, I want to ride the Alpha Juez today, um, and you you hit the buttons, start the class, and away you go. Whether it's by yourself, you you come in with a few friends, um, and we call that on-demand usage. And and that's really one of the most popular reasons people use our um use our product. It's for the convenience and the flexibility that they get. Um, but from a an operator standpoint, we've got to understand that it is better to serve many users rather than just one or two. Um, and so at those key times, we definitely try and work with the operator to schedule a relevant class. And that might only be a 20-minute video or a 30-minute um climb or something like that that we do. Uh, but you know, we we do want to make sure that they're getting the most out of it for the most number of members that they can.

Yeah. Yeah. So you guys have so you'll help a facility owner, the operator, you'll you'll help them kind of navigate these waters and implement the best strategy for for their own.

Yeah, that's really important. I I think you know, where what we do is a little different to say just buying a treadmill and and and putting it in in a space. Um it's it's it's kind of you always got to look at it like as part of your live uh group fitness schedule. Um and and uh and the clubs that execute that well and execute the experience well, and that's another reason Cycle works, is is that the rooms are often set up in a dark environment and you've got LED lighting and it's cool and it's a good experience. Yeah, um, you know, you can still have a really bright open um room if you've got the right screen and experience, it'll work really well. So we talk to the clubs about that too. We're not an A V company, but we we like to be involved in that part of the process because um the better the experience, the more people will use it, and then uh obviously the happier the gym's gonna be and uh the happier we are.

Yeah. Yeah, right on. So, you know, as a um, you know, I'm putting myself back like two years ago when I when I was owning the facility, um I had a 5,000 square foot, you know, um micro gym facility, which is mostly geared towards CrossFit, you know, a couple rooms, things like that. Is is this type of service for that type of gym owner, or is it still for more of like bigger box gyms? Like, are you guys getting into that area? Yeah, we are we are getting into that area.

I think you know the the trends are sort of forced everyone there. Even the bigger box owners, some of their group fitness rooms, they they start to realize that 80% of the time that the the space is empty. Can they use that better? And we've seen the advent of a lot of the functional zones or coaching zones or um areas of the club that they're they're using to kind of try and create almost a CrossFit box within a box or or um or their branded equivalent. Um and so from a functional training standpoint, we developed a um a product that that still has some of our classes because some of the content that we have that you can do in the um the group fitness room is still relevant from a functional area if you've got the space. Um and so we call that our Wexa Trainer. Um it's a 65-inch touch screen. Uh, and generally uh what what clubs will do is put it sort of uh at the end of their of their functional area where everyone can see it. Um so you have access to the to the classes. So we have around 800 different titles right now as part of our, I guess, Wexa collection of titles. Um and so you know in the group fitness room you have things like you know Zumba or Yoga type things outside on the Wexa trainer. You're probably not going to choose not to have those types of classes. You'll choose more of the high-intensity classes, some of the Fit Fusion on Mike Devanovic uh classes um that are on there, uh, and and shorter ones to say 15-20 minutes. Uh the other thing we have on the trainer is uh uh an exercise option. So we have 900 different exercises, so you can just go in um on the big touch screen, select arms, and it'll show you all the different arm exercises you could do. Select legs and different leg exercises. The one other feature on that um that that is uh getting used as part of small group training. Um we sort of saw small group training getting quite big, uh, and so often an instructor taking a small group might have 20 or 30 people there. Um so we've created uh a workout builder, and so using those 900 exercises, you can drag and drop them into a carousel, uh, and the exercises can either split up on the screen, and so you you're in uh part one, you're you're doing part two, you're doing part three with the timer in the middle. Alternatively, we can have the exercises playing one after the other, and you can set the the length of time and the amount of rest uh for that product. So, so yeah, we're we we are seeing that. Um we've got another prototype that we're working on for multiple screens to have you know uh as many screens as you need um throughout the club. Um, but uh that's that's in testing right now. So um uh the Wexa trainer though, the 65 inches is is out there in the world.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Wow. So you know what what type of from a gym owner standpoint, what type of investment level are these people looking at?

Yeah, for um, so for the Wexer trainer, uh it's 5,000 US uh and then there's a monthly subscription that's $199 a month. That gets you all the content uh that you need. Um for WEX of uh that come with the hardware too, Daniel? Yeah, yeah. So that's the that 65-inch touch screen. That's actually the it's it's the the I guess the on-demand player or the it's the device that you use, the interface, and it also plays the the image on it. You can connect it to another screen if you wanted, uh then you've got to buy the other screen. Um and and in the uh in the group fitness product, the the Wexer on Demand player that we have uh is all in around 3,000 US. It's actually a little less than that, and that includes delivery, um, and $199 a month as well uh per player. So, you know, uh that's that's sort of the baseline. And then you you know clubs can spend anywhere from sort of six and a half, seven thousand total for sort of uh connecting it to you know a big screen TV. Um but as I mentioned, you you want to make the experience worth it. So bigger is better is uh is one of one of the things that we that we say when it when it comes to the screen you're attaching it to. And so you know you can spend up to you know sixty, seventy thousand dollars on a on a really great setup. Um but depending on the room, you don't necessarily need that. And and we're always you know mindful that we want to get the best experience, but you know, the the gym tells us the budget, and we say, okay, well, for that, you know, if we put some blinds up, that might be a better way to create the atmosphere in your studio and save your money rather than spending another 20,000 on the screen. So, you know, it's it's every club's different, but um, but yeah, that's that's kind of where you're where you're looking to start is um sort of six or seven thousand all in for the for the studio as a as a as a base, um, and then five thousand for the whole thing really with the Wexa trainer from a hardware perspective.

That's not bad, man. I thought it was gonna be much higher. I thought it was gonna be much higher. I was um, you know, I was expecting like 20 grand, you know, yeah, no. I mean, it's a great opportunity. You know, if I'm looking at like, you know, a micro gym operator, which is a lot of people that I work with in the world I came from, um, you know, putting that investment because there's so there's so much goes into optimizing the time that you have for your gym. And dead time is bad, right? You just don't want dead time in your gym, especially when your overhead's high, your margins are thin, you know, you want to have something like at least can put in there. And that's why, you know, people try to shove personal training into different time slots, but you can't always do it. But there's so many opportunities, like especially um, I can't tell you how many times I got hit up by like um, you know, people who wanted a a specific class at like 9 or 10 a.m. with childcare, you know, or you know, things like that where you're like, how am I supposed to pull that off? You know, but this this like I could see this working in so many different situations. Um and I I agree. I think it's gonna take a long time before people um give up that that interpersonal experience. I think that's still I think that's gonna become actually greater, greater demand.

Yeah, I don't think they ever should too. I and I want to make yeah, make sure that comes across. I think that you know what we've found with uh virtual classes, it can really actually help your your live classes um improve. People um you know are intimidated by live instructors and personal trainers. And and so if we're trying to get um, and I I don't think they should be, I I think that generally, in my experience, they're the nicest people in the clubs, but but it's uh but you know, it's and I'm a bit biased there, but but no, I think that that you know, from a a new person coming in as an outsider, you know, those people uh can be seen as intimidating. So they want to get comfortable in the space, they want to get comfortable uh in the room. And even little things like putting our uh console and device outside the group fitness um area uh actually helps usage. So people don't actually want to go in and find it, they want to see it there, they they can scroll through, find a class, get comfortable, and then you know, we we've we've seen that you know when people do a virtual uh yoga class, then the the number of people in the live yoga class does increase as well. And we want to push that and and hopefully um make more people comfortable and confident enough to go to those live classes and then get a better experience and stay as members longer. So yeah, it's important. Yeah.

Yeah. Who's using it? Like, is it um you know what's the demographics of the end user? Is it skew younger, I would imagine, or is that just something that I have a bias towards?

No, no, look, it it does. Um and and we have a survey you can you can download from our um from our site just uh on on that, and and it does still skew sort of the the the millennial age age group, the on-demand sort of age group, um and and it skews female as well, and similar to sort of online and mobile, which I'm sure we'll talk about. I think you know that's generally where um where the usage skews. But I also think that um we've seen uh a number of clubs asking for more senior content, and I think part of that comes with the time of day that their rooms are available and the and the customers they've got. It also comes from you know that uh that generation and that age group being more aware of you know that what what they actually need to be doing for their for their lifestyle. And um, you know, I think that that's that's an area that we see growing um and and the amount of content that we're getting is growing too uh from a senior relevant or senior suitable uh sort of style. So I think that um yeah, it it it definitely skews that way, but I would also argue that the content skews that way, um, and maybe that's that's part of the uh part of the reason why it's younger, but also you know, the majority of our uh our partners in in gym chains, they're focused on that sort of 18 to 40 bracket uh as well. So we sort of sit in that zone a little bit. Um so yeah, but it it does definitely skew a little younger.

Interesting. So you you mentioned, so I presume this isn't just being used in a gym, or that's not your your final intention, right? Um are people using this at home? Where else where else is this being applied?

Yeah, for sure. So, you know, we we really came to the conclusion uh uh a little while ago that obviously um there's only so much that you can deliver inside a facility, and there's only so many people we can impact inside a facility. And one of the great things about you know digital content is it can be consumed anywhere. And I think fitness can uh can be done anywhere. I mentioned earlier I started out as a mobile trainer. I didn't work out of a specific location. I met people at their homes and and a lot of those people, you know, we'd work out in a park or we'd do things and you know I'd send them their program and that sort of thing. So it's not like this is a brand new thing, but I think the access to quality content has improved so much. Um and uh and through things like social media and um and you know video streaming getting much better, you know, the the the workouts and the programs um can be consumed at home a lot easier, uh and there's a lot more of them. And and I think from a fitness club standpoint, we want to make sure that they're still relevant and uh and that all those years of experience of helping people um, you know, they're they're using that and using their brand locally, um, but giving people the ability to still train outside of their facility. So a membership looks less like uh uh the ability to go into a place and more like the ability to get information from a great source um that may be might be curated or helped by us, but um the end consumer doesn't need to know know that where we work with the brand, obviously.

Yeah, yeah. Oh interesting, man. So who's um who are you guys competing with? I mean, what what's what does this market look like? I mean, it's so new, right? Yeah, look, what is the front of it look like?

Yeah, I I I mean the interesting thing is from uh you know, because we're partnering with with fitness clubs, it's yeah, you know, uh with regard to creating digital memberships. Now, some clubs already have their own digital memberships, and so I wouldn't say what's a digital membership. Yeah, so so a digital membership would uh would classify uh any value that you're paying for that's not uh performed in the club. Uh and so we we see that and and we we think that you know that you should be providing your uh members with with value outside of the club, potentially as part of their regular membership, right? Um and so you know with with our app, we we have a a workout builder and the exercise library and challenges and and trackers that we really think should just be part of your brand and what you offer your members and and even what you offer non-members, most most gym apps, you open up the app and it says sign in. Um and if you're not a member, you can't sign in. And so I you know, if I'm live far away from that location and I've heard of the brand and I want to try it out, there's really nothing for me there. And so what we're trying to say is if you're providing some of that knowledge that you've built up over the last you know 30, 40 years in some cases, um, then then you're you know you're providing value to that person and maybe they become a what we call a digital member. And a digital member, maybe we're providing uh a more premium uh service. They're they're getting workout videos from a specific trainer at the location, they're getting the ability to live stream the best instructor from that location, or or they're just getting content that's been curated by you know a company like ours. So I think that that that's um you know that's sort of where we see it going. Um where we've seen uh a lot of success is bundling those things together uh as the digital membership. You can still do things a la carte and you could have you know uh an online fitness assessment or or those sorts of things um can prove to work well. Um but I think when you bundle things in, you'll you'll create more ways for the person to be engaged with your brand. So whether it's a 12-week transformation plan, if you only sell that, they'll only stay on for 12 weeks. So, you know, how what else can we provide them um to help them on their sort of fitness journey? And and uh, you know, clubs do a great job of that you know internally in the facilities generally. Um, and and uh what we're trying to do is help them take that outside of the facility and keep them relevant so that the the membership um becomes uh not tied to a physical location uh as such.

Wow. Wow, okay. Um, we were talking about this. The fitness industry, you know, at least from my my experience, and I've I've been in it for a few minutes, um, you know, tends to be either kind of stuck a little bit in the past, you know, with with old models and and very a lot of tradition, a lot of, you know, um, this is the way it's always been done mentality, or people are very stuck in the current day. Like people are still trying to figure out Facebook funnels, which is great, right? Um but so many other industries are way, way ahead. So how I guess the the question I'm trying to get to here is how is the fitness industry reacting to what you guys are doing? Like I would imagine there's a lot of you know, old school people who are like, this is never gonna go, this is BS, right? Um I mean, maybe you maybe you don't hear it, maybe I don't know. Maybe that's my own bias. I'm imagining that you're gonna get some of that if you haven't already.

Yeah, look, there's obviously that that um component of uh fear of change, but there's also that component of we're running a really good business, we're making money, we're doing a great job, it's not broken, don't fix it. Um and you know, uh it's not my job to force uh these things upon uh upon these club chains. But I think that you know, if you if you're looking at um you know the customers at the end of the day and and putting the user experience first, you know, the and we I just mentioned before, you know, that 18 to 40 age group, you know, 10 years ago um is different to to what it is now uh when it comes to expectations around service and around um you know convenience and what they want. Uh and so you know uh I don't really have to argue with clubs, uh, and and I think that most people see around the world what's happening um with with uh a variety of sort of what what are old bricks and mortar businesses. And you know, I I always joke that we should have a slide with you know Blockbuster on it and and Barnes and Noble and these sorts of things when we go in. Um but we haven't done that because it's it's it's probably a little bit cheeky. But at the same time, you know, it it we we do um we do want to help the the gyms transform and and for some of them the best thing that they can do is put our um Wex a virtual player in in the facility and and and create an experience for their members where you know it doesn't matter that they can't get in for their favorite 9 a.m. cycle class, um they can they can come in and ten it to it. But you know, we we really feel like those things are also skewing mobile and and and that that you know that app experience, if you don't have it, uh you know, with the increase of usage of of cell phones and the increase in um the convenience of being able to get quality content, um, that you you're gonna lose out. I mean the digital membership subscriptions and and that's anything with regard to whether it's a um a 12-week you know newsletter that people subscribe to, they're they're they're growing at 20 times the rate of actual gym memberships right now. And so, you know, my argument to the fitness industry is like we know, and I say weakism from it, is we know how to, you know, we know this industry, it's our industry. Why are we letting tech people come in and take over? Why are we letting um you know individuals um who who have great programs, you know, uh grow, grow the user base and be the voice of this when we've got you know hundreds of great people with hundreds and and probably thousands of years of experience in some fitness chains and and using them. So, so um I it's sort of a long-winded way to go back to who you're competing with. I think that you know we can we can work together with a lot of the um content providers that are out there, and there are some facilities and and chains already doing that, um uh as well as um you know working within and looking within and seeing who the quality people you've got that you can sort of put on more of a pedestal to make a better experience for the user at the end of the day.

Yeah. Yeah, it's it's really interesting, man. And one of the um, you know, my business partner and I, Doug, we we have fitness professional online, which we're investing a lot of time and money in because we have a we want to make sure that the industry is moving forward and that people aren't getting, as little people as possible are getting left behind. And, you know, I I have so many people that have idolized in the fitness industry for so long, and I'm not gonna name names, but um, I love these people. I love what they've done, I love their books, I love everything, but I see them getting left behind because they just um either are unwilling or unable to kind of keep up. Like, you know, I can think of some of these names, they would be amazing contributors to have digital content, right, for something like this. But I just I don't know if they're unaware or if they just feel that, you know, and that and that one-on-one, one of my, you know, I had interviewed, I interviewed a guy on here, his name's Andy Petronik, who is the whole life challenge. And uh he's like, you know, we're talking about tech, and he's like, at the end of the day, you still gotta pick up the fucking dumbbell, right? Like you got like you gotta do the work, right? So you still have to have that that, you know, at some point I think that interpersonal is really important, but you can just broaden your your reach so much now. And um, hopefully, you know, hopefully digital marketers like us don't ruin everything. Um, you know, and uh you know, get a hold of this thing. I don't want to see, I guess I don't want to see the fitness industry um lost to uh the digital marketer or you know the Instagram influencer or all that. Like I want to see the hardcore people, and that's that's probably a wish. But I I think you know, once people start getting on board and seeing tech like yours and seeing the movement like yours, hopefully we can get the you know the more traditional methods into into corporate ancestry. Maybe you already are. I don't know.

That's that's I I think and that's a challenge for us too, is to make it easy to consume and make it easy to understand. And you know, um you said talk to people like the they'll talk to you like you're a four-year-old. It's it's um, you know, it it is a challenge at times, and it is something that that that scares people. And and um I think that you know the the sometimes the hardest thing is just to get started, and that's one of the things I say to a lot of clubs, and they'll come in and they they want to use everything that we've created and those sorts of things. And sometimes, as I mentioned, it's it's easier, just get started if you've got that, you know, what we call the the works of virtual player, we've got the on-demand player sitting outside that group fitness room. From there, we can start to do some cool things. If you've got multiple locations and we've got those in those locations, we can start to broadcast your best instructor across. We can start to, okay, if we set up a little camera somewhere, um, we can start to do some some really cool things, and you can use that um you know use that for other areas of your business as well. And I just think that, you know, um yeah, talk to talk to someone in the you know the digital space, and there's a number of companies out there about you know how how do I make a little bit of content or how do I um you know get these on-demand classes? Because one of the things that a lot of clubs are well, they don't know what people want, and that's where we've gone out and we have a lot of different content partners. Um that doesn't mean it's gonna be as effective potentially as having your own instructor on there. Um, my my advice is always though, learn a little bit first, use what's already been created, um, because it'll be cheaper. Um, and having worked in tech and and even within ourselves, we have our own tech team, um, it's it's always cheap to use something that's existing, and and we try and do that even in our own development. Use something that's existing and that works. Um, and then if you need it yourself uh a little bit different than you can actually find, then develop that um because going out and developing from scratch uh usually takes longer and is more expensive uh initially. And sometimes, you know, if you're not sure if it's gonna work, then that's a big risk to take and just the amount of time that those things take. So so yeah, there's a there's a number of ways to look at it. But from a industry being left behind, I think the the best thing to do is just start somewhere and and and look at technology, not as the strategy and we're either tech or we're not, but what are some of the things we're trying to do for our members? How could we, you know, how can we impact that? And can we use any of these technological tools and sometimes as simple as email? Can we use you know MailChimp to create a better experience for our members?

Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. So, you know, if I'm a if I'm a fitness, if I'm a trainer or a coach, you know, and I'm like, shit, I want to get involved with this, right? Well well how if I want to get, if I want to be on that side of things, right? There's the gym owner, there's you guys, and then there's the trainer who produces the content. Or, you know, who how do I get involved in that if I'm something like that?

Yeah, and and uh I I would say that always you know figure out who who you're who you market and who your target is. Um, you know, uh there is starting to be a lot more content out there, and it is being has become a lot cheaper to create. Um when Wex has started, uh we created our own content. Um at that time it was really expensive and and we realized there are a ton of people out there doing it really well. Why not work with them and um and then have a lot more variety? Um but but you know, it it is one of these things that um that we do get uh contacted almost every day with, hey, I've got this great content, and can I be on your system? And um and and yeah, I I think the the the best thing you can do is you know identify who who your customer is um and uh and and and work that out. And and so once you know who your market is, then you're targeting that market, and if that builds up enough, then you know companies like ours are gonna be chasing you down because we need that content, need that brand. I think that um you know if you if you start with a user in mind and and you you focus on that user base at the end of the day, and and it might even be your own client base if you're an existing trainer, um, you know, create things that'll support them, they'll start sharing it with their friends, and I think that that's probably how you're gonna grow a little more organically. I think you know that the challenge is always, you know, how do I get big? I think sometimes you've got to be be good and little before you get before you get big.

Yeah, yeah, man, I totally agree. And this sounds uh sounds awfully familiar like business one-on-one. Yeah.

Yeah, look at that. You know, I I mean uh with the with the content, I'd love to put my face out there on everything um and and uh and get famous. But I think that you know, uh you look at all the successful Instagram people out there, you know, they they've been doing it for a long time and um and their content's authentic, and and that's the you know, uh this isn't sort of my area of expertise to be honest. We have a a content team, but the the message that that we constantly get through is you know, who's it going to be relevant for? And we work with large gym chains, so um, you know, there there's been content that we think would work really well, but because it's one specific piece of equipment um and it's in a group fitness room, it it doesn't it doesn't do as well as it as it could. So yeah, again, I would say, you know, think about who who you're trying to help um first and and speak to those people, whether it's through the the types of videos you create or where you're posting them, and then um from there I think that that's the that's the best way to go.

Yeah. And and for those listening to if if anyone wants to contact me, we we've got this down to a system. We help people get their their business online. And and number one starts with, you know, if you're doing local market, um, you are in a niche, right? That is a niche, right? Niche, niche, go back and forth. But point is that that you are contained to a niche. You're working within a zip code or area code or a county. Once you go online, you have to get much more specific because you're just opening yourself up to a global market and you really got to find out A, what your core competency is. What are you really, really good at? What are you passionate about? What do people really come to you? And then B really narrow that down. You know, if you want to work with athletes, like, okay, narrow it down to a sport, okay, great. Let's say, you know, football, okay, now narrow it down to even more to maybe, you know, juniors and seniors in high school who want to get, you know, uh college scholarships and what to train because that's just your experience. You know what I mean? So it's got to be funneled down to a very specific thing and then serve those people very, very, very well. And uh it's that sounds oversimplified because it is, but that's that's the gist of it. And I think that's kind of what you're alluding to as well. And um, so here here's a question is this is the million-dollar question. Where's this all going? Right? Where where is this going? I mean, do you see integrations with like like wearables? You know, is there is there APIs available that do that now? Like where's this whole thing going?

Yeah, I I think that that we definitely see um the the mobile phone as sort of the the hub uh and so the uh an app or whether it's uh iOS or Apple TV or that whole infrastructure. And and so that's that's sort of the path we've gone down and and and what we're doing for for club chains and and and wearables are part of that. So at the moment, you know, we have Apple Health and Google Fit uh integrations um depending on on your device, because most of the devices talk to those two. Um uh but but yeah, I think that you know what we're trying to do at the end of the day for everyone is is m make it as relevant for uh the the user as possible. And so um if it's relevant for the user and it's a good experience, then then it's gonna be successful. And so from a from a gym chain perspective, if if they do feel like a lot of their users are wearing um you know Apple Watches or things like that, then having an Apple Watch app is really important. And um and and I think that you know as as technology improves and and and as um as we get you know trackers and sensors get cheaper and things like that, then you will be able to go in and just lift the dumbbell, but it'll all be tracked for you. I think that that's where where we we want to go as an as an industry. We want to take all the the hassle out, we just want to go in and get told what to do and do it so we don't have to think because we have to think doing everything else. And um, you know, I I think that that's that's the way that it's going. I think that the the prescriptions um uh we'll get smarter and we'll start to learn what gets better results um because of all these devices that we're attaching to ourselves. Um and so we'll be able to optimize and personalize exercise a lot more. And again, that's why I say the the phone is kind of the the engine for it or the app is the engine for it, but it's really about personalizing the experience so that when I walk into the club, you know, my my app tells me what I'm gonna be doing. I go over to the machine and it knows that I'm there because the sensor on it knows that my phone's next to it and those sorts of things. I think that that's that's kind of from a uh from a fitness perspective, the way it's going, from a from a business perspective, obviously we can use a lot of that information to learn more about our our prospects as well as our members and and and how we get them from outside the club into the club. Um or if we can't get them outside the club into the club, how can we serve them um while they're outside? I think that that's the way that's yeah, yeah.

And I think about this topic all the time. I mean, every day I think about where is this all going from the integration of wearables, um, you know, personalized genetic testing, um, you know, real-time biometrics and and stuff like you know, AI and virtual trainers and all these things. Like, where's it all going? I don't, I don't know, but I know it's going somewhere and it's all gonna be integrated and it's gonna be completely individualized to this crazy factor that we can't even imagine yet. And it blows my mind. What about Waxer? Where do you see Wexer in like two to three years?

Yeah, I think that we we continue to you know deliver some of these things that we're talking about. That's um, you know, obviously the the apps and uh are growing and our aim is obviously to grow more digital members for our partners and and make that you know uh a really common uh theme and make sure that you know people and and club chain owners uh do really see uh a membership as something that's not just about their their four walls, um that we are sort of making fitness easier to consume uh around the world, whether that means that they're opening up new markets or whether it just means that they're instead of the 20% that that come to the gyms that we're serving, we start to serve that 100%. I think that that's you know that's where you know we we currently are, um, but we want to be better at it, and we're working each day to get better at it for our partners and making sure that that health clubs stay relevant is is really what we want at the end of the day. And so um if if they're successful, we're successful. So we're we're really passionate about making that happen.

Yeah, man. And I I I love what you guys are doing because I think it lowers the barrier to entry. I think there is so much intimidation. I mean, we're fighting such a crazy unnecessary battle against obesity and and you know, wellness issues, and just that you know, if we can get people to take that tiny step forward, and maybe it's just taking their first virtual class or even just watching a virtual class, you know, or a content, you know, a digital content that just to get them maybe inspired and seeing like, hey, I can actually do this from home, and and then eventually step by step getting into the gym and then working with a trainer and getting it sorted out. I I just I love it. I mean, it's just getting more access to more people and at a lower price point, and I think that's that's um a big part of it. Obviously, you know, you can you can lead a horse to water, right? But you you can't make them drink. We try to make them real thirsty though.

Lots of little push notifications and things like that. So, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There you go.

Yeah, yeah.

Right on, man. Well, Dana, if if people want to, you know, search you out and they want to ask you questions, um, where where do you send them?

Yeah, uh, so you can go to the Wexa website um and uh and contact us through that or uh Daniel.wait at Wexra is my is my email address. Um there's an I and Wade, so it's W-A-I-D-E, just to make it difficult. Um but uh but yeah, if you send something through the website, send it to um the put just put my name in the contact form and it'll find its way to me as well. So um yeah, happy to help out or chat about it. You know, as I mentioned, it's um something that we really want to see. We think that the more of this that's out there and the more we can help fitness clubs, uh, the better it, the better it becomes and uh the more people uh that are getting getting into fitness and exercise, which is yeah, the end goal, which is what we want, right?

Yeah, man. Awesome. Well, thank you for coming on, man. I appreciate your time and and sharing the insights and uh yeah, it's gonna be cool. I'm gonna keep an eye on you guys for sure. Appreciate it. Thanks, Eric. All right. Hey fitness fans, don't leave yet. It's your host, Eric Malzone, and I have a quick favor to ask. Actually, three favors. So, number one, if you're a fan of our show, I ask you to do something that takes under three minutes. Go to iTunes, please, and subscribe to our show. Please, please, please. It means so much to us. It's so important. And then give us a favorable review. We would really, really appreciate it. And uh, I can't tell you how much it means and helps us out. So I know it takes two minutes of your day, and uh, it means a lot to us. So please do that. Number two, go to our YouTube channel, our fitness marketing alliance, and uh please subscribe to our YouTube channel there. Number three, if you like this episode or any of the episodes that we've released, share it on social. That's huge, that's a big deal for us. And we put a lot of work into these episodes uh trying to give you great, actionable content uh for the fitness industry. So that would mean a lot. And that's it. So we have some big plans coming up for this show. I'll be talking about that in the next couple episodes. But thank you so much for listening. It means so much. And uh, if you have any questions, please reach out to me. I'd love to hear from everybody. Eric, E R I C at Fitness MarketingAliance.com