Transformative AI is revolutionizing the fitness industry and reshaping how clients monitor and achieve their health goals. As AI continues to evolve, it promises to reshape the fitness landscape by making it more efficient and innovative than ever before.
In the latest Thought Leaders digital roundtable, Mohammed Iqbal, the founder and CEO of SweatWorks; Ted Vickey, the president and chief exercise officer of FitWell LLC; and Rachel Chonko, editor-in-chief of Peake Media discussed how AI can improve club operational efficiency.
Due to the wide variety of systems that people can take advantage of, it’s no wonder that AI has been booming across all industries. With the amount of AI use increasing, club employees can become hesitant to embrace it and it could cause fear for their jobs. In reality, these systems are being utilized to assist staff, not undermine them.
“AI should help enhance the human connection, not replace it,” explained Iqbal. “Especially in fitness, we found the personal touch really matters. Whether it’s someone saying happy birthday or the coach, the human element is what builds trust, motivation and loyalty. AI should play a supporting role by providing trainers and coaches with insights, pulling in wearable data or something else that might take them hours to create.”
Providing this support role gives staff more freedom as it makes time available where staff could be focused on other areas. Instead of spending hours on administrative duties, staff can get back to engaging with customers while AI does the paperwork.
Another way that AI can improve operational efficiency is through marketing. As trends are constantly changing, it’s difficult for marketing staff to keep up with them. AI removes this stress and can increase content availability.
“AI can be helpful for iterating social media, copy of specific buyer personas and other marketing,” said Chonko. “As a marketer, it’s an extremely helpful tool for tailoring messages to specific groups of people. which in the past may have taken you hours and hours, but AI can do within minutes.”
SEO optimization is required in online marketing to determine if content gets noticed. AI tools can optimize content quickly to get it to fit SEO standards, therefore increasing potential exposure. Designing target marketing is a tedious task that these systems can complete in a minimal amount of time.
While these systems can design marketing content, it can also play a role in collecting member data. The goal of collecting this data is to see how the fitness club can impact members through personalized recommendations.
“We need to become health hubs, not health clubs,” said Vickey. “ACSM just said that data driven personal training is gonna be one of the number one things coming up in 2025. That means we now can impact our members’ lives outside the four physical walls of the fitness center. We can motivate them.”
Obtaining this information allows AI to conduct data analysis. The analysis will provide staff with personalized recommendations that they can suggest to their members, which will encourage retention. There isn’t a one-size-fits all training program, so AI facilitates the development of personalized programs.
Collecting personalized data comes with a fear of personal risk. Putting any sort of data on the internet is always at risk for being hacked.
“My word of advice is don’t put anything on the internet you don’t want people to know,” said Vickey. “As fitness professionals, don’t put health information on there, but if you do, don’t put the person’s name next to it. Create some sort of system. But I also think that while it’s a concern, it’s not as big a concern as what many of us make it out to be.”
Another way that clubs can protect their members is limiting what they collect. Collecting only relevant and accurate data is the key to getting a functioning AI system.
“Just because someone is giving you data, it doesn’t mean you need to collect it,” said Iqbal. “One of the things that we do is to make sure we have a use for the data. If you cannot identify a use then don’t collect it, because all you’re doing is opening yourself more up to risk.”
Determining what data to collect and learning how to integrate AI systems can seem daunting. However, getting started with AI is not as difficult as you might think.
“Just start experimenting,” Chonko advised. “There’s a ton of AI tools out there, many of which are free or very low cost. So I’d recommend picking two or three, and play around with it.”
Connecting with AI experts or fellow people in the industry also aids in jumpstarting AI use in your club. Use the low cost resources around you to see if AI is a right fit for your club and to see the benefits it may bring.
While introducing new systems can be intimidating, the use of AI into the fitness industry is elevating club operations and providing clients with data-driven solutions. The most popular fitness trackers already have integrated AI systems into their programming, so take advantage of what clients are already using and having success with.
