Matthew Januszek continued the Escape Your Limits Podcast's live series from BOLD 2022, the MindBody annual conference, with a set of conversations centered on one of the most important questions in modern fitness: who does this industry actually serve?
This episode features the founders of two brands that are actively working to bring underserved communities into the fitness space, using very different approaches to create the sense of belonging that keeps people engaged long term.
About BOLD 2022 MindBody Conference
BOLD 2022 is MindBody's annual flagship conference, bringing together fitness, wellness, and beauty industry professionals for three days of networking, trend discussions, and strategic insight sharing.
The conference functions as a high-density gathering point where founders, operators, and innovators meet to exchange ideas about where the industry is heading — with a particular focus on the business models and community practices that will define the next era.
The 2022 edition featured voices from across the wellness spectrum, and Matthew Januszek used the event as the backdrop for a multi-episode Escape Your Limits series capturing the conversations that mattered most.
Key Insights from the Conversation
- Thomas Drew, co-founder of 1AND1, discusses how his platform is working to bring underserved communities together through fitness, using technology and community design to make wellness more accessible.
- Corey and Kiara Johnson, founders of ATL Kula, share how an ancient form of fitness is being adapted to get younger generations moving and engaged with their physical health.
- The guests explore the mental health dimension of inclusive fitness communities, noting the powerful effect when people realize that others in the room are experiencing the same struggles.
- The conversation examines what it actually takes to build a fitness community where people who have historically felt excluded — by cost, culture, or format — feel genuinely welcome.
- Both sets of founders reflect on why the fitness industry's default assumptions about who its customer is have left large populations underserved, and what it looks like to design from a different starting point.
- The episode surfaces the idea that unity around shared mental health challenges can be as powerful a community glue as shared physical goals.
- Matthew uses the BOLD setting to draw out the common thread between two very different businesses: both are using fitness as an entry point to address broader questions of belonging and wellbeing.
Why This Conversation Matters
The question of who fitness is for has always been central to how Matthew Januszek thinks about building equipment and programming — Escape Fitness has always aimed to serve serious training environments, not just premium ones.
Through Escape Fitness USA and the LIFTS Podcast, that same commitment to expanding who participates in fitness continues to shape the work, and conversations like this one — with founders who are rewriting the rules of access and community — are exactly the kind that inform what comes next.
▶ 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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