Anton Marchanka (Zing Coach CEO) on AI Personal Training and Gym Member Retention

Eight Sleep's Dr. Nicole Moyen has data from millions of nights of sleep, and it shows menopausal and pregnant women want the coldest beds of anyone. So why has almost no research looked at temperature and sleep in women?Get Eric's free Q2 State of Fitness Report: → https://q2-report.future-of-fitness.info/Dr. Nicole Moyen, Senior Director of Science and Clinical Research at Eight Sleep, joins Eric to break down what close to 200,000 members and millions of nights of data say about temperature and sleep. In a study of nearly 100 peri- and postmenopausal women, the Pod cut hot flashes by 56% on average, whether or not they were on hormone replacement therapy. Her team has also followed more than 100 pregnancies from three months before conception to six months postpartum, and biometrics still hadn't returned to baseline at the six month mark. She also explains why sleep regularity is now a better predictor of all-cause mortality than total sleep time, and how trainers can start bringing sleep into client conversations.Dr. Nicole Moyen holds a PhD from Stanford, played Division 1 soccer, and worked in research at Fitbit and WHOOP before joining Eight Sleep, where she has spent four and a half years studying how to improve sleep through temperature.Thanks to Our Sponsor:Perfect Gym: A leading fitness club management platform, part of Sport Alliance, now expanding across the U.S. market:https://www.perfectgym.com/en?utm_source=futureoffitness&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=perfectgym&utm_content=show_notes► Get the State of Fitness quarterly report: https://q2-report.future-of-fitness.info/► Partner with Future of Fitness: https://futureoffitness.co/contact► Follow Eric on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-malzone-8b452a3/Connect with Dr. Nicole MoyenWebsite: https://www.eightsleep.comLinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolemoyen/?isSelfProfile=false

Two thirds of Zing Coach's most active app users were already gym members. CEO Anton Marchanka explains why that one finding pushed the company out of consumer fitness and into the gym operator's own app.Get Eric's free Q2 State of Fitness Report: → https://q2-report.future-of-fitness.info/Eric Malzone sits down with Anton Marchanka, CEO of Zing Coach, to talk about why the AI personal training company moved from a standalone consumer app to a white label coaching product that runs inside a gym's existing app. Anton says nine out of ten users proactively share wearable, sleep and nutrition data, and that Zing's two-photo body composition scan lands within 2 to 4 percentage points of medical-grade DEXA in internal benchmarks. They also get into how an AI copilot could let a trainer triple their client load, why retention matters more than acquisition for US operators, and what members ask an AI coach most (trying to bargain their way into pizza is number one).Anton Marchanka is CEO of Zing Coach and spent about a decade running mobile businesses under the IAC umbrella, including a stint as general manager of Daily Burn.Thanks to Our Sponsors EGYM: Connecting smart strength equipment across the fitness floor with personalized, AI-powered training experiences: https://engage.egym.com/6GTrUv7?utm_source=futureoffitness&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=egym&utm_content=show_notes Perfect Gym: A leading fitness club management platform, part of Sport Alliance, now expanding across the U.S. market: https://www.perfectgym.com/en?utm_source=futureoffitness&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=perfectgym&utm_content=show_notes► Get the State of Fitness quarterly report: https://q2-report.future-of-fitness.info/ ► Partner with Future of Fitness: https://futureoffitness.co/contact ► Follow Eric on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-malzone-8b452a3/Connect with Anton Marchanka Website: https://www.zing.coach/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anton-marchanka/

Adam Shane spent 13 years helping scale Barry's. Now he's putting his own money behind Yoga Joint, a Florida infrared fitness brand that fills suburban classes with 55-plus people, and he's taking it straight into Manhattan.Adam Shane, Franchise Owner and Managing Director of Yoga Joint New York, joins Eric Malzone to explain why he's flipping the usual boutique playbook and proving a suburban model in the city. He breaks down Yoga Joint's split between 60-minute Flow and 45-minute FIIT classes in 95-degree infrared rooms. He also explains why he's hunting for 3,500 to 5,000 square foot spaces when most of the industry is building 1,500 to 2,500. Adam shares his read on a boutique market that feels frothy, and he describes how details like elevators and stairwells quietly shape the member experience before anyone steps into class.Adam Shane is the Franchise Owner and Managing Director of Yoga Joint New York and the former Chief Development Officer and EVP of Operations at Barry's, where he spent more than 13 years scaling the brand after starting as its last domestic franchisee. Website: https://yogajoint.com | Instagram: @adamjshaneGet Eric's weekly industry newsletter: https://futureoffitness.co Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@futureofofitnesspodOUR SPONSORS: 🔗 Perfect Gym: https://www.perfectgym.com/en 🔗 EGYM: https://egym.com/

Dr. Heather McKee, PhD behavioral scientist and motivation science advisor at MyZone, joins Eric Malzone to explain why motivation is the wrong thing to chase first and what actually gets members to stick around past January.Dr. McKee argues that action creates motivation, not the other way around, and that operators should design for a member's ordinary Tuesday rather than their idealized best day. She breaks down why six week challenges quietly fail most members, citing Eric's own experience retaining just 4 percent of a 50 person challenge cohort six months later, and introduces the concept of competence matching, or stage matching people to exercise based on their actual confidence level rather than their ambition. The conversation also covers how AI can extend a trainer's reach from a few hours a week into dozens of touchpoints without replacing the human relationship.Dr. Heather McKee is a PhD behavioral scientist, motivation science advisor at MyZone, and Europe-based habit formation specialist who has consulted for lululemon, Starbucks, Unilever, and HSBC. Website: https://www.drheathermckee.co.uk | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drheathermckeeGet Eric's weekly industry newsletter: https://futureoffitness.coWatch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@futureofofitnesspodOUR SPONSORS:🔗 Perfect Gym: https://www.perfectgym.com/en🔗 EGYM: https://egym.com/

 What if the next major shift in fitness and health isn't another wearable or blood panel, but knowing which of your organs is aging fastest, and whether the things you're doing to improve your health are actually working?Paul Coletta is Co-Founder and CEO of Vero Bioscience, a predictive health company commercializing Stanford research in proteomic organ aging.Before Vero, Paul spent decades building consumer businesses and brands across Disney, MTV, Hewlett-Packard, Jamba Juice and Urban Remedy. He isn't an MD or a PhD. Three years ago, he says he didn't even know what proteomics was.Then he became one of the first people to take what would become Vero's assay.The result showed that his kidney was aging significantly faster than his chronological age, even though the traditional markers he had been tracking, including creatinine and GFR, looked normal. Paul didn't believe the result, so he took it to his cardiologist. An ultrasound found a large renal cyst. It was benign, but the experience changed how he thought about what health data could tell us before traditional diagnostics flag a problem.That story became part of a much bigger question: Can we move from measuring health after something has gone wrong to seeing where the body may be heading, then intervene early enough to change the trajectory?Eric Malzone and Paul unpack the emerging science behind proteomics, the study of proteins and what they can reveal about the real-time function of the body. Paul explains why he thinks proteins offer a different layer of information than genetics, conventional bloodwork and whole-body biological age scores.Vero's Proteomic OrganAge™ analyzes roughly 11,000 proteins from a blood sample and maps those signals across 11 organ systems. The underlying research has been validated across more than 45,000 people, with longitudinal data extending over 17 years. Rather than reducing someone to a single biological-age number, the goal is to identify which parts of the body may be aging differently from the rest.As Paul puts it: "You're only as healthy as your oldest organ."But the measurement itself is only part of the conversation.Eric has talked for years about the industry's "now what" problem: consumers have more data than ever from wearables, bloodwork, sleep trackers and other diagnostics, but getting another score doesn't necessarily tell someone what to do next.Paul argues that the real opportunity is creating a closed-loop health system: measure what is happening, connect that insight to a targeted intervention, retest, and measure how the biology responds.This leads to a broader conversation about the longevity industry itself.As those categories continue to converge, the opportunity may be bigger than collecting more health data. It may be building systems that can turn that data into direction and give both consumers and clinicians a clearer picture of where to act next.CONNECT WITH PAUL + VEROLearn more about Vero Bioscience / join the waitlist →https://www.verobioscience.com/?utm_source=future_of_fitness&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=podcast_collective&utm_content=paul_colettaPaul Coletta on LinkedIn →https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulcoletta/Vero Bioscience on LinkedIn →https://www.linkedin.com/company/vero-bioscience-inc/home/ 

Jon Ward left the influencer playbook behind at Plunge to build something with no media, no selling, and an NDA at the door — and he's already turned away over a hundred applicants to protect it.Jon Ward, Founder and CEO of The Assembly, joins Eric to unpack why he's betting on trust over reach in an industry drowning in pitches. Jon breaks down how GLP-1s are splitting the gym-going population in half, why brands like Evolve went from zero to over $100 million in under a year, and why he thinks "health" needs to stop being treated as an industry and start being treated as culture. He also gets into how The Assembly vets its members, what its Chatham House rules actually protect, and why he sees fitness as the best-positioned industry to own the next decade of health.Jon Ward is the Founder and CEO of The Assembly, an invite-only network connecting founders, executives, and investors across health, wellness, and longevity, and previously worked in brand growth at cold-plunge company Plunge. Website: https://theassembly.health | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonward007Get Eric's weekly industry newsletter: https://futureoffitness.co Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@futureofofitnesspod

James Hurlock went from professional rugby to founding Fitura Brands, the multi-concept franchise platform behind Padel SWT, Core Precinct, and ContrasTheory. He explains why he's betting on three categories at once — and why he's deliberately taking the slow, expensive route to franchising.James Hurlock is the Founder and CEO of Fitura Brands, a Utah-based wellness holding company that launched in 2026 at a $20 million pre-money valuation. Before founding Fitura, Hurlock served as founding CEO of FS8, Chief Partnerships Officer at F45 Training, and Chief Brand Officer at The Picklr, where he helped grow the indoor pickleball franchise to roughly 70 locations across the US and abroad. In this conversation, he breaks down Fitura's three concepts — Padel SWT (big-box indoor padel), Core Precinct (hybrid reformer Pilates), and ContrasTheory (guided contrast recovery) — and shares why Fitura spent 12 months building infrastructure before selling a single franchise.James Hurlock, Founder and CEO of Fitura Brands, previously held leadership roles at F45 Training, FS8, and The Picklr, and played professional rugby for Northampton Saints Academy and London Saracens before captaining England Schoolboys.Get Eric's weekly industry newsletter: https://futureoffitness.co Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@futureofofitnesspod

Jon Canarick has spent 25 years investing in gyms, and he's still trying to explain why doctors won't write a prescription for exercise. As Managing Partner at North Castle Partners, he helped build Equinox, turned around Curves, and backed Barry's long before boutique fitness was a category.Canarick walks through what actually changed in fitness private equity since he joined North Castle in 2001, from the corporate franchise wave that built 24 Hour Fitness and LA Fitness to Planet Fitness's pricing model, which he credits with pulling more Americans into gym memberships than anything else in the last quarter century. He details the failed attempt to combine Curves with Jenny Craig and a Cleveland Clinic nutrition program, a bet he calls a real failure despite the medical credibility behind it. Canarick also breaks down why GLP-1 drugs are reshaping the industry at the premium end through brands like Monarch and Miora, and why an LEK study showing 30% of big box gym members also pay for boutique fitness complicates the usual story about a shrinking middle class of gyms.Jon Canarick is Managing Partner at North Castle Partners, a private equity firm focused exclusively on healthy, active, and sustainable living businesses, where he has sat on the boards of Equinox, Curves, Barry's, Therabody, and SLT. Website: https://northcastlepartners.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jon-canarick-4340362Get Eric's weekly industry newsletter: https://futureoffitness.co Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@futureofofitnesspodOUR SPONSORS: 🔗 Perfect Gym: https://www.perfectgym.com/en 🔗 EGYM: https://egym.com/

Garmin Health's Andy Beckman joins hosts Eric Malzone, Juliet Starrett, and Alex Alimanestianu for the quarterly roundtable, talking wearables and the Training Peaks acquisition before the group digs into a full quarter of fitness industry earnings. Andy Beckman explains what Garmin Health actually does, from employee wellness and insurance underwriting to military fatigue tracking and the pilot study that flagged COVID cases 48 hours before symptoms appeared. Juliet Starrett and Alex Alimanestianu then break down the numbers: Garmin posted a record quarter with revenue up 11% to $2 billion and its fitness segment growing 25% to $757 million, Lifetime grew revenue 13.7% to $866 million while deliberately shrinking its membership base toward higher-paying clients, and Peloton logged its first full year of net profitability even as subscriptions fell 9%. Xponential Fitness comes up as the quarter's cautionary tale, with a new leadership team and a debt-to-EBITDA ratio the hosts call unsustainable. The episode closes on Procter & Gamble's acquisition of supplement brand Thorn, New York City's new click-to-cancel law, and a widely shared article questioning the accuracy of Blue Zones longevity data. Andy Beckman leads Garmin Health, the division that connects Garmin's wearables to partners in corporate wellness, insurance, clinical research, and remote patient monitoring, after joining the company in 2008. Website: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/health/ | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/beckmanandy Get Eric's weekly industry newsletter: https://futureoffitness.co Watch full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@futureofofitnesspod OUR SPONSORS: 🔗 Perfect Gym: https://www.perfectgym.com/en 🔗 EGYM: https://egym.com/

Your gut lining rebuilds itself every five days — faster than any other tissue in your body — and that turnover rate is either your best defense or your biggest vulnerability, depending on what you're doing to it. In the final episode of this series with stem cell scientist and STEMREGEN founder Christian Drapeau, Eric Malzone digs into why the intestinal lining is "the most fragile and vulnerable part of your body," how estrogen withdrawal at menopause quietly wrecks gut repair, and why Christian believes the real story of aging isn't inflammation or free radicals — it's a failure of the body's own repair system. They also get into a jaw-dropping 1940s case study on gut bacteria and psychosis, the specific bacteria linked to autoimmune disease and diabetes, and why Christian thinks "stem cells bring cure" is the hardest sentence in modern medicine. Key Takeaways 🔄 Your gut lining fully renews every 5 days — versus 30 days for skin 📏 Unfolded, your intestinal lining covers roughly the surface area of a tennis court, packed into ~10-13 feet of tube 🧫 That lining is one cell thick — the only barrier between your bloodstream and everything in your gut 🌸 Estrogen withdrawal at menopause reduces stem cell proliferation and strips away its anti-inflammatory protection, weakening gut repair 🦠 The "estrobolome" — a distinct, estrogen-linked gut microbiome that shifts dramatically after menopause 🧠 A 1940s-50s study fed institutionalized psychosis/seizure patients ~700 billion microorganisms/day via fermented yogurt — many normalized within two weeks 💊 Christian's core thesis: failure of endogenous repair, not inflammation or free radicals alone, is the fundamental cause of aging and disease 🩺 25 years of research shows that simply increasing circulating stem cells can produce results Christian calls "phenomenal" — including an ongoing Parkinson's study CONNECT WITH CHRISTIAN DRAPEAU TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stemcellchristian Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stemcellchristian/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STEMREGENOfficial/