I was interviewed on The Future of Fitness podcast recently and had a great chat with Eric!
Justin âJTâ Tamsett is the host/director of the Fitness Business Podcast and Chairman of REX Roundtables (US, Australia, NZ). The Fitness Business Podcast has been publishing episodes for 10 years now and was a huge inspiration for getting the FoF podcast going 8 years ago. I especially enjoyed this one.
JT has been in fitness for 35+ years and still gets the classic question: “When are you going to get a real job?” His elevator pitch response is pretty solid: “I reduce healthcare costs around the globe by getting more people moving and moving more often.”
Running REX Roundtables and working with operators globally has given JT a unique perspective on where the industry stands. Some of his insights were encouraging, others were a reality check we probably all need to hear.
đŻ Key Takeaways:
â Â The Numbers Don’t Add Up:Â Here’s the reality: service providers are growing at 10% annually while market penetration only grows at 1-2%. Industry reports show record penetration, but operators feel the squeeze because the pie isn’t expanding as fast as we’re dividing it up. JT’s take is we need 40% population penetration to really move the needle, and we’re nowhere close to that yet.
â Â The Industry is Splitting in Two:Â There’s a clear divide happening between low-price equipment rental and high-end lifestyle destinations. Premium operators are becoming “third places” that combine work, workout, and social spaces, while budget operators focus on equipment access. The problem? Mid-market operators are getting squeezed – they’re not premium enough for the lifestyle crowd and not budget enough for the equipment renters.
â  We Have a Documentation Crisis: This one really got JT fired up. Too many trainers aren’t recording any client data, and his frustration was clear: “How can we be taken seriously when we don’t do that?” Without data, we have zero credibility with medical professionals. This documentation gap is partially what’s holding us back from healthcare integration; not a lack of desire or capability.
â Â Reality Check on Our Size:Â We feel enormous when we’re together at industry events, but JT reminded me we’re actually tiny in terms of GDP and employment contribution. We punch above our weight but we’re competing against pharma companies with massive budgets. When people can choose between pills and hard work, human nature usually wins. Step outside fitness conferences and the general population’s health status becomes sobering pretty quickly.
The REX model brings non-competing operators together three times a year to solve problems through peer support and studying other industries for insights. They’ve looked at everything from Savannah Bananas fan experience to five-star hotel operations to find what transfers to fitness.
If youâve been to industry events over the past few years, you may have noticed that everyone looks pretty darn healthy and fit. But go to a state fair or baseball game and the reality hits you differently. We’re not reaching the people who need us most.
The conversation reinforced something I’ve been thinking about often: if we want healthcare integration, we need to get serious about data collection and documentation. We also need to acknowledge that while our penetration stats look good on paper, competition for attention is getting fiercer every day.
The reality is that our industry is relatively small but we punch above our weight. Now we need to prove our impact with real data while keeping the human connections that make this work meaningful.
