Matthew Januszek, co-founder of Escape Fitness and a partner in Escape Fitness USA, and Mo Iqbal, Founder and CEO of SweatWorks, kicked off their live Beyond Activ NYC LIFTS series with a set of conversations covering opposite sides of the industry — operators and suppliers — on the forces reshaping the fitness market in 2024.

In this opening installment, Matthew and Mo speak with leaders from across the fitness business, covering everything from low-cost gym pricing pressures and functional fitness growth to wearable personalization and the rising urgency of women's health programming.

What This Episode Covers

Beyond Activ NYC is a leadership, investment, and business development event for owners, managers, and investors across health, wellness, fitness, and hospitality — and its September 2024 edition drew an exceptional mix of operators and suppliers for this opening LIFTS session.

The conversations in Part 1 span the full spectrum of the fitness business: how large-format brands sustain global growth, how functional strength is positioned as consumer interest accelerates, how wearable data and analytics translate into personalized insight, and how body literacy and women's health programming represent an underserved category.

Taken together, the conversations form a detailed portrait of the pressures and opportunities currently defining the fitness industry — from pricing expectations set by low-cost competitors to the untapped potential of women's health as a programming and business category.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• Low-cost gym operators are actively setting new price expectations in the broader market, and premium brands must articulate their value proposition more clearly than ever to justify the gap.
• Disciplined, sustainable growth plans matter more than aggressive expansion in the current environment, particularly for globally recognized franchises.
• Functional fitness is growing as a consumer priority, and the panel explores how brands are positioning themselves at the center of that trend with a focus on functional strength and global reach.
• Wearable data is moving beyond step counts and heart rate toward truly personalized, actionable health insights, with analytics translating member data into meaningful behavior change.
• The evolving role of wearables in fitness is not just about tracking; it is about driving industry growth and improving health outcomes through smarter data integration with gym ecosystems.
• Women's health and body literacy represent a significant gap in current fitness programming, and the conversation makes the case that closing that gap is both a business opportunity and a public health priority.
• Funding conditions and the broader economic environment are shaping strategic partnership decisions across the industry, with operators and suppliers navigating uncertainty with more caution than in previous cycles.
• Gen Z's fitness preferences and social media behaviors are creating new opportunities for brands willing to invest in platforms and formats where younger consumers are spending their attention.

Why This Conversation Matters

The convergence of wearable technology, women's health programming, and functional fitness is redefining what a relevant fitness brand looks like in 2024 and beyond. Matthew Januszek has spent years at the forefront of equipment innovation through Escape Fitness, and his conversations at Beyond Activ surface the exact tensions — between scale and discipline, data and experience, general appeal and targeted programming — that every serious operator is working through.

Part 1 of this live series sets the strategic context for the deeper investment and trend conversations that follow in Parts 2 and 3, making it an essential starting point for the full Beyond Activ LIFTS series.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• Beyond Activ NYC (Part 2) →
• Women's Health & Fitness Media →
• Star Sage →