Matthew Januszek and Mo Iqbal launch something new in this inaugural episode: L.I.F.T.S. — Latest Industry Fitness Trends and Stories — a weekly, sub-30-minute podcast built for fitness professionals who want sharp analysis of the headlines that matter. Matthew, co-founder of Escape Fitness and a partner in Escape Fitness USA, and Mo Iqbal, founder and CEO of SweatWorks, have spent their careers inside the industry. LIFTS is their way of making sense of it, out loud, every week.

For the launch episode, they are joined by Emma Barry, CEO and founder of Trouble Global and author of the best-selling book Building A Badass Boutique. Together, the three cover a news agenda that includes a leadership change at Core Health and Fitness, Lululemon's Peloton content deal alongside the end of its Mirror service, Xponential Fitness's VR launch for Meta Quest 3, and Interactive Strength's acquisition of CLMBR.

What This Episode Covers

LIFTS was built on a simple observation: the fitness industry moves fast and the people running businesses inside it rarely have time to keep up. The show's format — tight, curated, conversational — is a deliberate response to that problem. Matthew Januszek and Mo Iqbal bring complementary vantage points: Matthew from the equipment and facility design side through Escape Fitness, Mo from the technology and innovation side through SweatWorks.

Emma Barry, the launch episode's guest, is the CEO and founder of Trouble Global and the author of Building A Badass Boutique, a book that has become a reference point in the boutique fitness sector. Her presence for the first episode signals the caliber of voices LIFTS intends to convene — practitioners who can apply real-world judgment to the week's headlines, not just describe them.

The news agenda for the debut episode spans leadership, technology, content, and M&A. A leadership change at Core Health and Fitness, Lululemon's content partnership with Peloton alongside the simultaneous shutdown of Mirror, Xponential Fitness's VR application for Meta Quest 3, and Interactive Strength's acquisition of CLMBR — each story points toward the same underlying question: what does the fitness industry's next chapter actually look like?

Key Moments from the Conversation

• LIFTS launches as a weekly, sub-30-minute podcast dedicated to fitness industry news — co-hosted by Matthew Januszek of Escape Fitness and Mo Iqbal, founder and CEO of SweatWorks — filling a clear gap for busy professionals who need curated analysis rather than long-form interviews.
• A leadership change at Core Health and Fitness is an early agenda item, reflecting the talent and leadership dynamics shaping how major fitness companies are being managed heading into 2024.
• Lululemon's decision to sign a Peloton content deal while simultaneously shutting down its Mirror service illustrates how quickly connected fitness hardware bets can be revised when the market signals change.
• Xponential Fitness's VR application for Meta Quest 3 marks one of the most direct integrations yet between a multi-brand boutique fitness operator and consumer virtual reality hardware.
• Interactive Strength's acquisition of CLMBR points to a growing segment of operators who want premium vertical training options for commercial installations.
• Emma Barry's participation in the launch episode grounds the inaugural conversation in boutique fitness operational experience, adding practitioner depth to what could otherwise be a purely analytical show.
• The LIFTS format is explicitly designed for the professional audience — the gym owner, the equipment buyer, the brand strategist — who needs a reliable weekly briefing without sacrificing the depth to understand why each story matters.

Why This Conversation Matters

The launch of LIFTS represents a meaningful evolution in how Matthew Januszek engages with the fitness industry. Having spent years building Escape Fitness into a globally recognized equipment brand and now focusing on Escape Fitness USA in the North American market, he is translating that accumulated knowledge into a media format — a weekly conversation that reflects what he and Mo Iqbal are actually paying attention to.

For listeners, this first episode is a statement of intent. LIFTS is not a supplement to existing fitness podcasts — it is a different format entirely, built for a specific professional audience. Going back to listen to the very first episode is a way to understand where the show started and how its original ambitions have shaped every episode since.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• Nike Strength & Industry News →
• Industry Headlines →
• AI, Mergers & Muscle →

Matthew Januszek and Mo Iqbal return for an early episode of LIFTS, and this week Nike is at the center of almost every conversation. From a new strength equipment line launched in partnership with Dimension 6 Fitness to an entirely new network of boutique group fitness studios under the Nike Studios banner, the brand's moves are forcing the fitness industry to recalibrate what competition looks like when one of the world's most recognized consumer companies decides to go deep into physical training.

Joining Matthew, co-founder of Escape Fitness and a partner in Escape Fitness USA, and Mo, founder and CEO of SweatWorks, is Debra Strougo, founder of Row House, who brings a studio operator's perspective to a news agenda that also covers Barre3's acquisition of The Barre Code at 185 combined locations, Sports Illustrated Resorts' active-lifestyle expansion, and a major yoga brand's foundation partnership.

What This Episode Covers

Nike's entry into the strength equipment market — branded as Nike Strength and executed in partnership with Dimension 6 Fitness — is the story that shapes most of this episode's debate. For years, Nike's relationship with training was expressed through footwear and apparel; the move into hardware represents a fundamentally different kind of commitment to owning the training environment.

Nike Studios, a network of boutique fitness locations, adds another dimension to the brand's ambitions. Group fitness is a category with its own retention mechanics, community dynamics, and instructor culture, and the question of whether a global brand can authentically compete in that space is one Debra Strougo is well positioned to engage with as a studio founder.

Beyond Nike, the episode covers Barre3's acquisition of The Barre Code, which brings the combined footprint to 185 locations — a meaningful consolidation in the barre segment. Sports Illustrated Resorts' plan to expand with active lifestyle programming at its core, and a foundation partnership in the yoga sector, round out a news agenda that illustrates how fitness is embedding itself into adjacent lifestyle categories.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• Nike's partnership with Dimension 6 Fitness to launch Nike Strength marks the brand's most direct move yet into the strength equipment category, raising questions about what this means for existing equipment manufacturers and specialty retailers.
• Nike Studios — a boutique group fitness studio network — signals that Nike is willing to operate physical training spaces, not just supply them with gear, which expands its competitive footprint significantly.
• Barre3's acquisition of The Barre Code and the combined 185-location milestone reflect ongoing consolidation in the boutique fitness segment, where scale increasingly determines which brands can invest in technology, training, and marketing.
• Sports Illustrated Resorts' expansion with active lifestyle at its core demonstrates how hospitality brands are integrating fitness as a core amenity rather than an afterthought, creating new partnership opportunities for equipment and programming providers.
• Purpose-driven partnerships in the fitness and wellness space illustrate how brands are using shared causes to deepen community relevance and differentiate in a crowded market.
• Debra Strougo's experience building Row House gives this episode a sharp operator's lens on what large brand entries into boutique fitness actually mean at the studio level — for pricing, instructor culture, and member loyalty.
• The LIFTS format, co-hosted by Matthew Januszek of Escape Fitness USA and Mo Iqbal of SweatWorks, distills a week's worth of industry headlines into a focused conversation purpose-built for busy fitness professionals.

Why This Conversation Matters

Nike's strength equipment launch matters to anyone in the commercial fitness supply chain, and that includes Escape Fitness USA. Matthew Januszek has spent years building a brand that stands for purposeful, well-designed training equipment — understanding the dynamics that shift when a giant like Nike enters the hardware category is part of running a competitive equipment business in North America.

Through LIFTS, Matthew and Mo are building a habit of critical analysis around exactly this kind of industry disruption. Tracking which brands are consolidating, partnering, and expanding — and why — gives fitness professionals the context they need to make better decisions about their own businesses, whether they operate a single studio or manage a multi-site portfolio.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• The Ozempic Tsunami →
• The Launch of LIFTS →
• The Fitness Revolution →

Matthew Januszek and Mo Iqbal are back for an early episode of LIFTS — the quick-fire fitness-industry news show that cuts through the noise in under 30 minutes. This week the conversation centers on what many operators are calling the Ozempic Tsunami: the cascading effect that GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are having on how consumers think about their bodies, their habits, and their gyms.

Joining Matthew, co-founder of Escape Fitness and a partner in Escape Fitness USA, and Mo, founder and CEO of SweatWorks, is Jessica Yarmey, founder of the franchise kickboxing studio concept KickHouse and the creator of an emerging boutique fitness brand. Together, the three work through a news agenda that ranges from Peloton's move into live NBA and WNBA programming to Gymshark's partnership with Google Cloud AI — and what each headline means for gym operators trying to stay relevant.

What This Episode Covers

The Ozempic Tsunami segment anchors this episode's exploration of the intersection between fitness, health, and technology. As GLP-1 drugs reshape conversations around weight management at a population level, Matthew, Mo, and their guest wrestle with what this shift means for facilities, programming, and the broader positioning of the fitness industry.

Jessica Yarmey brings a franchisee and founder's perspective to the debate. As the force behind KickHouse — a kickboxing studio franchise — she offers a ground-level read on how operators are interpreting consumer behavior shifts driven by pharmacology and changing health expectations.

The episode rounds out with two significant brand moves. Peloton's decision to broadcast live NBA and WNBA games through its entertainment hub signals how equipment brands are competing for screen time and daily habit. Gymshark's Google Cloud AI partnership, meanwhile, reflects the broader retail fitness sector's bet that personalization and smarter customer experience are the next competitive frontier.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are creating meaningful behavioral shifts that fitness operators cannot afford to ignore, prompting debate about how gyms should reposition their value proposition.
• The intersection of fitness, health, and technology is accelerating, and brands that fail to bridge those three categories risk being left behind by consumers who now expect them to be integrated.
• Peloton's live NBA and WNBA programming through its entertainment hub reflects a broader strategy of competing for habitual daily engagement, not just workout sessions.
• Gymshark's partnership with Google Cloud AI is positioned to improve customer experience and drive growth through smarter personalization — a model other fitness-adjacent retailers will likely study.
• Jessica Yarmey's experience building KickHouse illustrates how boutique fitness franchises can create community and retention in an environment where consumer options are multiplying rapidly.
• Continued experimentation at the studio level shows operators looking for formats that resonate with evolving fitness motivations rather than relying on legacy models.
• The LIFTS format — co-hosted by Matthew Januszek of Escape Fitness USA and Mo Iqbal of SweatWorks — is designed to deliver a weekly intelligence brief for fitness professionals who need clear analysis without lengthy listening time.

Why This Conversation Matters

For Matthew Januszek, the Ozempic conversation is not abstract. Building Escape Fitness USA means equipping facilities and working with operators who are navigating exactly the kind of demand disruption this episode unpacks. Understanding whether pharmacological weight loss competes with or complements structured training is a genuine strategic question for every equipment provider and gym brand in the market.

The LIFTS Podcast exists precisely to make sense of fast-moving industry news, and this episode captures a moment when multiple forces — pharmaceutical, technological, and experiential — are converging at once. For anyone building or investing in fitness businesses, the frameworks Matthew and Mo develop each week are a practical tool for staying ahead of the curve.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• Industry Headlines →
• Nike Strength & Industry News →
• W3Fit North America →

Matthew Januszek, co-founder of Escape Fitness, and Mo Iqbal, founder and CEO of SweatWorks, brought in Glen Stollery, CEO of Les Mills IMEA, as a special guest for this LIFTS Podcast news roundup — an episode covering four stories that each reflect a different dimension of the fitness industry's ongoing evolution.

From GymNation's separation from JD Sports and the launch of The Yard by F45's founder to a high-profile wearable technology dispute and Life Time's entry into the integrated wellness market with its Miora brand, the week's headlines offered a snapshot of an industry simultaneously consolidating, innovating, and expanding its definition of what fitness businesses can be.

What This Episode Covers

This episode clusters four distinct but thematically connected stories: a franchise separation, a founder's new venture, an intellectual property dispute between wearable brands, and a major gym chain's expansion into longevity and wellness services.

GymNation's management buyout from JD Sports and its continued expansion into Saudi Arabia illustrated both the maturation of the budget fitness model in the Middle East and the strategic logic of a specialist fitness operator operating independently from a sportswear retail parent.

The Yard, launched by the founder of F45 Training, introduced a differentiated boutique model that incorporates childcare as part of the offering, reflecting a growing recognition that removing friction from parents' fitness routines is itself a competitive advantage.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• GymNation's separation from JD Sports reflects a broader pattern in which fitness brands that grew inside retail or diversified conglomerates are finding more strategic freedom and clearer identities as independent operators.
• GymNation's success in Dubai and its expansion into Saudi Arabia highlight the Middle East — particularly the UAE — as an unusually fertile environment for incubating new fitness concepts, with a high-income consumer base and significant government investment in health infrastructure.
• The launch of The Yard by the founder of F45 Training signals that serial entrepreneurship in boutique fitness remains active, with experienced founders bringing new models to market rather than exiting the industry.
• The Yard's incorporation of childcare into its fitness offering represents a practical solution to a real barrier — parents who cannot arrange coverage often deprioritize their own workouts, and integrating childcare addresses that friction directly.
• The fitness industry's continued shift toward strength training and away from traditional cardio formats was discussed as a programming and equipment trend with implications for facility design and floor space allocation.
• A legal dispute involving the founder of the Oura ring over allegedly copied wearable ring technology illustrates the intensifying intellectual property competition in the wearables category as the market matures.
• Life Time Fitness's launch of Miora, a wellness brand built around personalized blood work and supplementation, represents a meaningful step toward integrating traditional gym membership with data-driven health services previously associated with specialist longevity clinics.
• The integration of wellness services — including recovery, mental health, and personalized biomarker tracking — into the traditional fitness club model emerged as one of the most significant structural shifts discussed, with Glen Stollery's Les Mills perspective adding regional and brand-building depth.

Why This Conversation Matters

Matthew Januszek and the LIFTS team track these industry movements because they reveal where the fitness market's center of gravity is shifting — from pure workout delivery toward integrated health, wellness, and longevity services that require different equipment, programming, and business models.

Glen Stollery's participation as a representative of Les Mills IMEA added a valuable international lens to the conversation, underscoring that the fitness industry's most interesting dynamics are playing out simultaneously across multiple markets — and that operators paying attention to all of them will make better decisions than those who do not.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• Anthony Vennare →
• The Ozempic Tsunami →
• The 2025 Global Fitness Report →

Matthew Januszek sat down with Anthony Vennare, founder of Fitt Insider, and Mo Iqbal, founder and CEO of SweatWorks, for a year-in-review episode that used 2023's biggest industry wins and stumbles as the foundation for a forward-looking discussion about what the fitness industry will look like in 2024.

The conversation ranged from the uneven performance of big tech in fitness and the realities of connected fitness valuations to the enduring value of community, the rising importance of mental health and longevity, and specific predictions about AI, mid-sized companies, and consumer behavior in the year ahead.

What This Episode Covers

Anthony Vennare is the founder of Fitt Insider, a widely read industry newsletter and intelligence platform that tracks investment, company performance, and emerging trends across the fitness and wellness sector. He is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable analysts of the fitness business landscape.

Fitt Insider has become a go-to resource for founders, investors, operators, and executives who need a clear-eyed view of what is happening in the market — making Vennare an ideal conversation partner for an end-of-year review that requires both data and interpretive judgment.

His focus on the commercial mechanics of the fitness industry — valuations, investment rounds, business model viability — complements Mo Iqbal's product and technology perspective and Matthew Januszek's equipment and operator vantage point, creating a genuinely multi-dimensional discussion.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• The fitness industry entered 2024 emerging from a turbulent period defined by post-pandemic resets, connected fitness valuation corrections, and a widening gap between companies that built durable models and those that were carried by pandemic tailwinds.
• The 'Flexes and Fails' framework used in the episode provides a practical way to assess 2023: big tech's entry into fitness produced mixed results, with some companies demonstrating genuine product-market fit while others overpromised on AR, VR, and connected fitness propositions.
• Connected fitness faced continued scrutiny in 2023, with the conversation questioning whether the hype cycle had run ahead of genuine consumer demand and asking what sustainable connected fitness businesses actually look like.
• The in-person model and the value of physical community emerged as an enduring counterweight to the digital fitness narrative — with evidence that consumers who want a gym experience continue to seek out the social and motivational dimensions that screens cannot replicate.
• Wellness, health, and longevity have become mainstream consumer priorities rather than niche interests, with implications for how operators program their facilities and how brands position their products.
• Mental health and resilience appeared as themes that the fitness industry is only beginning to fully integrate — moving from lip service toward programming and services that genuinely address psychological wellbeing alongside physical performance.
• AI was identified as a significant force for 2024 and beyond, particularly in data analysis, personalization, and health monitoring — areas where fitness companies are just beginning to understand the practical applications.
• Predictions for mid-sized fitness businesses in 2024 centered on the need for clearer profitability models and sharper value propositions, with less tolerance from investors for growth-at-all-costs strategies that ignore unit economics.

Why This Conversation Matters

For Matthew Januszek, conversations with analysts like Anthony Vennare serve a strategic function — understanding which trends are real and which are noise is directly relevant to the decisions Escape Fitness USA makes about product development, market positioning, and partnership priorities.

LIFTS was created to be a peer-level intelligence resource for fitness industry professionals, and this episode is a strong illustration of that mission: three people who work at the intersection of fitness, technology, and commerce thinking rigorously about where the industry has been and where it is going.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• Industry Headlines →
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Matthew Januszek, co-founder of Escape Fitness, and Mo Iqbal, founder and CEO of SweatWorks, were joined by a Director of Content from a leading fitness and wellness media platform for this LIFTS Podcast news roundup — a packed episode covering several of the biggest stories to hit the fitness industry simultaneously.

From Planet Fitness's new celebrity partnership to a sovereign wealth fund taking a stake in Technogym, and Equinox introducing a dedicated program for clients using GLP-1 medications, the week's agenda captured the full range of forces reshaping the fitness business.

What This Episode Covers

This episode covers a cluster of major industry stories that arrived in the same news cycle, each reflecting a different dimension of the fitness industry's transformation: marketing and mass-market branding, international capital flows, pharmaceutical integration, and the annual ritual of New Year fitness resolutions.

Planet Fitness's campaign featuring Grammy-award winner Megan Thee Stallion as 'Mother Fitness' signaled the brand's continued emphasis on accessible, culturally relevant marketing — a sharp contrast to the premium and performance-focused positioning of competitors.

The NEOM Investment Fund's decision to hold a stake in Technogym underscored the scale of Saudi Arabia's investment in health and wellness infrastructure, part of a broader national strategy focused on improving lifespan and healthspan across the population.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• Planet Fitness's partnership with Megan Thee Stallion represents a calculated marketing move to connect the brand's low-cost, judgment-free positioning with a cultural moment and a mainstream celebrity audience.
• The NEOM Investment Fund's acquisition of a stake in Technogym signals that sovereign wealth capital from the Gulf region is flowing meaningfully into fitness and wellness, with stated goals around improving population lifespan and healthspan.
• Equinox's new training program for clients using GLP-1 medications acknowledges a pharmaceutical reality reshaping consumer health behavior — and positions the brand as a professional partner in medically supervised weight management rather than a passive bystander.
• The conversation around GLP-1 medications reflects a wider industry reckoning: as weight-loss drugs become more mainstream, fitness operators face both a challenge and an opportunity in how they position exercise relative to pharmaceutical intervention.
• New Year resolution trends for 2024 were examined for what they reveal about evolving consumer priorities — including shifts in how people frame fitness goals relative to mental health, longevity, and lifestyle rather than purely aesthetic outcomes.
• The guest's perspective from a fitness and wellness media platform added editorial context to the headlines, helping frame each story within the longer arc of industry change rather than treating them as isolated events.

Why This Conversation Matters

For Matthew Januszek and Escape Fitness USA, tracking how major brands market themselves, how capital enters the sector, and how pharmaceutical trends reshape consumer behavior is essential intelligence — these forces set the context in which equipment decisions, gym design, and programming choices get made.

The LIFTS format — snackable, weekly news coverage with commentary from practitioners — was built precisely for weeks like this one, when multiple significant stories land at once and the industry needs a trusted voice to make sense of them quickly.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• CES 2024 →
• Anthony Vennare →
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Matthew Januszek, co-founder of Escape Fitness, and Mo Iqbal, founder and CEO of SweatWorks, broadcast live from the floor of CES 2024 in Las Vegas for this wide-ranging episode of the LIFTS Podcast — one of their most ambitious field recordings.

The episode spans interviews with both early-stage startups and established businesses, covering the latest developments in AI-powered wearables, connected fitness, boutique studio economics, public health technology, and the kind of passion-project entrepreneurship that tends to surface at a show like CES.

What This Episode Covers

CES 2024, billed as the most powerful tech event in the world, drew tens of thousands of exhibitors and attendees to Las Vegas in January 2024, with the fitness and health technology sector occupying a growing share of the show floor.

For the fitness industry, CES functions as an annual glimpse at the technologies that will reshape gyms, wearables, and consumer health habits over the following two to three years — making it essential territory for anyone making product, investment, or programming decisions.

The 2024 edition was particularly notable for the prominence of AI-powered applications in fitness: from wearables that quantify strength training to analytics platforms designed to coordinate care across health and fitness providers.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• An AI-powered wearable designed to quantify and personalize strength training illustrated how device makers are trying to capture training data that existing wearables have not managed to measure accurately.
• Fitness industry strategists offered perspective on what separates durable innovations from CES hype, grounding the conversation in real industry experience.
• A display designed for connected rowers showed how hardware additions can bring a connected, content-rich experience to rowing without requiring a full platform replacement.
• Care analytics and coordination platforms demonstrated how technology aims to bridge the gap between fitness participation and measurable health outcomes.
• Smart resistance bands and suspension trainers brought data capture and progressive programming to traditionally low-tech equipment categories.
• Conversations on boutique fitness economics addressed how technology can drive profitability — a persistent commercial challenge that innovation alone rarely solves.
• The role of small, incubator-stage founders at CES emerged as a consistent theme: some of the most interesting ideas at the show come from entrepreneurs who entered fitness through personal passion rather than institutional investment.
• The role of technology in addressing the global public health crisis was raised across multiple interviews, reflecting a broadening of the fitness industry's self-perception from wellness service to preventive healthcare partner.

Why This Conversation Matters

Matthew Januszek has spent his career at the intersection of fitness equipment and the evolving demands of gym operators and consumers — so walking CES with a microphone is a natural extension of the strategic intelligence work that underpins Escape Fitness USA's product decisions.

LIFTS exists to surface these conversations for the full spectrum of fitness industry professionals who cannot attend CES themselves, ensuring that insights from the world's most influential tech event reach the operators, coaches, and entrepreneurs who need them most.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• CES 2024 Recovery →
• Industry Headlines →
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Matthew Januszek walked the floor of CES 2024 in Las Vegas to speak directly with the founders and executives behind some of the most compelling new products sitting at the crossroads of fitness, recovery, and technology.

This episode of the LIFTS Podcast focuses specifically on the recovery and wellness segment of CES 2024 — covering infrared light therapy, smart sleep systems, air quality monitoring, office wellness equipment that generates power as you work, and digital strength training hardware.

What This Episode Covers

CES 2024, held in Las Vegas in January, brought together companies across every stage of the product lifecycle — from early-stage startups to established brands — to showcase innovations in connected fitness, recovery, sleep, and workplace wellness.

The recovery and wellness category at CES has expanded significantly in recent years, reflecting growing consumer and operator interest in what happens outside the workout itself: sleep quality, air quality, light therapy, and office ergonomics are now treated as part of a holistic performance picture.

For fitness industry professionals, CES provides an early signal of where consumer technology is heading before it reaches gym floors or retail shelves — making the show an important scouting ground for brands and operators planning capital investments.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• Full-body red and near-infrared light therapy devices were positioned as cutting-edge recovery tools for both consumer and commercial environments.
• A smart yoga mat that learns from certified instructors to deliver personalized feedback and content guidance illustrated AI-assisted coaching applied to low-intensity movement.
• A complete smart sleep solution was demonstrated to give users deeper insight into how their body performs during rest, extending the performance conversation into the bedroom.
• Indoor air quality drew attention as an often-overlooked role in overall health, with smart monitors and purifiers presented as a relevant addition to the wellness technology conversation.
• Office wellness products that generate power as users work showed a practical fusion of sustainability and movement that appeals to employers investing in workforce health.
• Digital strength training equipment on display highlighted the continued globalization of connected fitness hardware development.
• Comprehensive wellness solutions reinforced the episode's theme that recovery and wellness are becoming as commercially significant as the workout itself.
• Across the interviews, a consistent thread emerged: the most compelling CES innovations treat the human body as a system requiring attention at every stage — exertion, recovery, sleep, and environment.

Why This Conversation Matters

For Matthew Januszek and Escape Fitness USA, tracking recovery and wellness technology is not incidental — as gym equipment evolves beyond simple iron and rubber, understanding where consumers are investing in their overall health informs smarter product and partnership decisions.

The LIFTS Podcast brings its audience inside events like CES not to report on gadgets in isolation, but to surface the broader narrative: wellness technology is migrating from luxury accessory to mainstream expectation, and the fitness industry needs to meet consumers where they are.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• The 2023 IHRSA Global Report →
• CES 2024 →
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Matthew Januszek, co-founder of Escape Fitness, and Mo Iqbal, founder and CEO of SweatWorks, brought IHRSA's research leadership onto the LIFTS Podcast to walk through the findings of the 2023 IHRSA Global Health Club Report and the 2023 U.S. Health and Fitness Consumer Report.

The episode unpacks the data behind the headlines — from Pilates growth and treadmill dominance to the expanding intersection of fitness and healthcare — giving operators, investors, and industry professionals a grounded view of where the market stands and where it is headed.

What This Episode Covers

The IHRSA Global Health Club Report is published annually by IHRSA (the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association) and serves as the definitive reference point for health club industry statistics, covering membership numbers, revenue, consumer trends, and market segmentation across dozens of countries.

IHRSA's research leaders joined the conversation to explain the methodology behind the reports and to contextualize the findings for an operator and investor audience, drawing on the association's deep institutional knowledge of the global club market.

IHRSA's foundational pillars — education, advocacy, and research — inform the scope of these reports, which have grown in importance as governments, healthcare systems, and private investors pay closer attention to the fitness sector as a public health lever.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• The 2023 IHRSA Global Health Club Report examines market size and consumer behavior at a global level, providing the kind of benchmarks that help club operators and investors understand relative performance.
• Post-pandemic demand for in-person fitness experiences has remained strong, with data showing consumers actively seeking the social and community dimensions of gym membership that digital platforms cannot fully replicate.
• Digital member touchpoints outside the club — apps, on-demand content, wearable integrations — are increasingly expected as a complement to in-person access rather than a replacement for it.
• Pilates has seen a notable boom in popularity, strength training continues its upward trajectory, and traditional cardio equipment participation is softening — a shift with real implications for facility design and equipment investment.
• Treadmill utilization remains the top tracked activity in health clubs, even as the broader cardio category faces headwinds from changing consumer preferences.
• The intersection of fitness and healthcare is an expanding frontier, with operators and policymakers exploring models in which gym membership functions as a preventive health intervention.
• Mental health, recovery, and longevity have moved from niche interests to mainstream consumer priorities, reshaping program design and the language facilities use to market themselves.
• Click-to-cancel regulations represent an emerging compliance challenge for the fitness industry, requiring clubs to revisit membership contract structures and cancellation processes.

Why This Conversation Matters

Understanding industry-wide data is central to the kind of strategic thinking Matthew Januszek brings to Escape Fitness USA — knowing where consumers are moving before the trend fully materializes is how equipment brands and operators stay relevant.

By bringing IHRSA's researchers directly into the LIFTS conversation, Matthew and Mo give listeners access to the primary source of the industry's most cited statistics, rather than secondhand summaries — which is precisely what the podcast was built to deliver.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• L.A. Fit Expo 2024 →
• CES 2024 Recovery →
• Dr. Nick Barringer →

Matthew Januszek, co-founder of Escape Fitness and co-host of the LIFTS Podcast, took the show on the road for this episode, heading directly to the floor of Fit Expo 2024 in Los Angeles to capture the energy and ideas driving the fitness industry forward.

Across an extended episode, Matthew and Mo sat down with a lineup of experts and founders attending the expo — covering everything from building a large TikTok presence and the psychology of self-belief to the science of sleep, wellness tracking technology, and the philosophy of self-actualization.

What This Episode Covers

Fit Expo Los Angeles is one of the most well-attended fitness consumer shows in the United States, drawing professional athletes, gym owners, supplement brands, equipment makers, coaches, and content creators under one roof each year.

The 2024 edition proved a rich environment for conversations about where the industry is heading, featuring the kind of on-the-ground access that allows podcasters and journalists to speak directly with practitioners rather than through a press release.

For Matthew and Mo, the expo served as both a reporting trip and a networking opportunity — a chance to put real faces to the ideas and movements shaping what consumers and gym operators will experience in the years ahead.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• Conversations with bootcamp and performance coaches centered on the mindset factors — self-belief, mental toughness, and resilience — that underpin both athletic performance and business success.
• Weight loss specialists shared perspective on the business and personal dynamics of helping clients transform their bodies and habits sustainably.
• Celebrity trainers brought insights from years working with high-profile clients, emphasizing the principles that transcend any single training trend.
• Dance and movement coaches explored how movement functions as a vehicle for both physical health and community building.
• The conversation touched on the mechanics of building a large TikTok following — a milestone increasingly relevant for fitness professionals and brands seeking consumer reach.
• The role of sleep technology and wellness tracking devices emerged as a recurring theme, highlighting the growing consumer appetite for data-informed recovery and lifestyle optimization.
• The concept of self-actualization — reaching one's full potential — was discussed as a framework that fitness professionals can use to motivate clients beyond physical metrics.
• The impact of multitasking as a productivity disruptor was raised, offering a practical takeaway for coaches and entrepreneurs managing complex workloads.

Why This Conversation Matters

For Matthew Januszek, getting onto the show floor at events like Fit Expo is a natural extension of the work he has done building Escape Fitness USA — understanding what consumers and operators want requires being present where those conversations happen organically.

The LIFTS Podcast was built to surface exactly this kind of on-the-ground intelligence: voices from practitioners and innovators who are shaping the fitness industry in real time, delivered in a format accessible to anyone building a business or a personal brand in health and fitness.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

Related Episodes & Interviews

• Industry Headlines →
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