Matthew Januszek, co-founder of Escape Fitness and a partner in Escape Fitness USA, and Mo Iqbal, Founder and CEO of SweatWorks, took LIFTS on the road to Beyond Activ NYC — a leadership, investment, and business development event for owners, managers, and investors across health, wellness, fitness, and hospitality.
Joined by guests spanning technology, content, Reformer Pilates manufacturing, and health-bridge business models, this episode moves through fittech innovation, the healthcare-fitness intersection, Gen Z's relationship with subscription models, and a forward-looking assessment of where the Pilates boom is headed.
What This Episode Covers
Beyond Activ NYC is a leadership, investment, and business development event designed for the owners, managers, and investors of health, wellness, fitness, and hospitality brands — making it a natural venue for the LIFTS podcast's live format.
In this episode, Matthew and Mo speak with a series of guests who each bring a distinct vantage point on where the fitness industry is heading — from sports technology and content to Reformer Pilates manufacturing and the business of bridging health and fitness.
The episode captures a moment when the Pilates category, the healthcare-fitness boundary, and subscription business models are all in motion simultaneously, generating rich cross-sector conversation.
Key Moments from the Conversation
- Cultural differences in fitness adoption patterns are creating meaningfully different market opportunities across regions, and operators need localized strategies rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.
- Subscription models are growing in fitness, but the transition demands operational discipline — the fittech guests explore the innovations that can support that shift.
- Gen Z's relationship with fitness is hybrid by default, and businesses that can meet younger consumers across both digital and physical formats are better positioned to capture long-term loyalty.
- The Reformer Pilates boom is real and still building, and the manufacturing and market dynamics behind the surge in demand for studio and at-home equipment are a recurring theme.
- Healthcare meeting fitness is not a distant concept but an active market development, and the panel explores how facilities and services can bridge the two sectors.
- Consumer demographics are shifting in ways that expand the total addressable market for fitness, particularly among populations previously underserved by traditional gym models.
- Technology's role in new fitness initiatives — from wearable integration to content delivery — is becoming foundational rather than supplementary for brands seeking to differentiate.
- Broader economic conditions are influencing industry investment sentiment, with guests offering their read on how uncertainty shapes business planning.
Why This Conversation Matters
Live events like Beyond Activ NYC concentrate the industry's sharpest operators and thinkers in one place, and Matthew Januszek's ability to surface the ideas that matter most — from fittech to Pilates to healthcare convergence — makes LIFTS an essential listen for anyone navigating the fitness business landscape.
The healthcare-fitness intersection in particular represents one of the most significant structural opportunities the industry has seen in a generation, and this episode captures expert thinking on how to approach it practically.
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube
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About Matthew Januszek
Matthew Januszek is the co-founder of Escape Fitness, the functional-training equipment brand he built from a UK startup into a global name supplying many of the world’s leading gyms, studios, and hotel fitness spaces. Following the separation of the UK and US businesses, Matthew’s focus today is Escape Fitness USA and the next chapter of the brand in North America. He hosted more than 300 episodes of the Escape Your Limits podcast and now co-hosts the LIFTS Podcast with SweatWorks founder Mohammed Iqbal, covering the business, science, and technology shaping the fitness industry. Explore more interviews and episodes on MatthewJanuszek.com.
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