At PerformX 2025, Matthew Januszek and Mohammed (Mo) Iqbal sat down with Richard Boyd, Director of Global Wellness Designs, to confront a question that is no longer hypothetical for the fitness industry: will artificial intelligence fundamentally change what personal trainers do, how they earn a living, and what members expect of them? Boyd brings a global design and consulting perspective that goes beyond the typical tech-optimism or tech-skepticism of these conversations — and the result is one of LIFTS's most substantive explorations of how human expertise and technological capability can coexist in a coaching relationship.

The episode covers the lasting behavioral shifts that COVID-19 accelerated in how people approach training, the growing challenge trainers face as clients arrive with more self-directed knowledge from social media, the evolving role of empathy and assessment in effective PT, and the real opportunity that GLP-1 medications create for coaches willing to specialize. It is a conversation built on nuance: neither a dismissal of technology's power nor a surrender of what is irreplaceable about skilled human coaching.

What This Episode Covers

Richard Boyd, Director of Global Wellness Designs, works at the intersection of facility design, fitness programming, and evolving wellness strategies for operators around the world. His career has given him a broad view of how personal training has changed across different markets, cultures, and business models — making him well suited to assess whether the current wave of AI-assisted coaching tools represents an enhancement of the profession or a genuine threat to its economic and professional foundations.

Boyd's perspective on trainer authority is particularly grounded in observation: he discusses how increased consumer access to information — through apps, influencers, YouTube, and now AI tools — has shifted the dynamic between trainer and client in ways that create both challenges and new opportunities. Trainers who adapt, he suggests, will find their roles expanding rather than contracting; those who don't will find themselves competing on territory where machines have a structural advantage.

LIFTS — the Latest Industry Fitness Trends and Stories — is the weekly fitness industry podcast co-hosted by Matthew Januszek and Mo Iqbal of SweatWorks, published at liftspodcast.com. The show's PerformX 2025 recordings brought together some of the industry's most forward-looking voices, and Boyd's appearance sits at the center of what that series was designed to capture.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• COVID-19's disruption of the personal training industry created lasting shifts in how both trainers and clients approach fitness, with remote training, self-directed exercise, and digital tools all accelerating trends that were already underway before the pandemic.
• The rise of consumer-facing fitness content — from social media influencers to AI-powered apps — has changed the authority dynamic in the trainer-client relationship, with many clients now arriving at sessions with pre-formed opinions, specific requests, and information that challenges the trainer's traditional role as sole expert.
• Boyd and the hosts discuss how effective trainers are responding by doubling down on what technology cannot replicate: empathy, contextual judgment, emotional support, and the ability to read a client's physical and psychological state in real time.
• AI integration in program design is explored as a practical reality that is already shaping the profession, with the episode examining how trainers can use AI tools to improve efficiency and personalization rather than treating them as competitors to their professional value.
• Expanding PT roles and compensation models are discussed as the natural response to a changing market — with Boyd identifying a range of adjacent services, from wellness coaching to GLP-1 support programming, that position trainers for income growth rather than income compression.
• Social media and fitness influencers are examined not just as competitors to traditional PT but as forces that have expanded the overall market for fitness engagement — raising the challenge of how trained professionals differentiate their value from content creators who look authoritative but lack clinical depth.
• The GLP-1 moment is identified as a significant opportunity for personal trainers specifically: the episode makes the case that coaches who understand how to work with clients on these medications — including the muscle-preservation challenge — are positioned to command premium relationships and referrals from the healthcare system.

Why This Conversation Matters

The question at the center of this episode — whether AI will end personal training as we know it — matters because the answer shapes training business models, equipment investment, and facility design decisions across the entire industry. Matthew Januszek has spent decades building fitness products and programming that serve the trainer-client relationship; his perspective at Escape Fitness USA is grounded in the conviction that great equipment and environments make great coaching more possible, not less necessary.

Richard Boyd's answer, borne out through this conversation, is not that AI will replace trainers — it is that AI will accelerate a sorting process already underway, rewarding trainers who invest in the distinctly human dimensions of their craft. For LIFTS listeners building facilities, managing teams, or thinking about the next phase of their fitness business, that is exactly the kind of clarity the show was built to provide.

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