Justin Tamsett - The Future of Fitness Leadership: REX Roundtables and Industry Evolution

·43 min·3 clips

Justin Tamsett says the fitness industry's product is 'fucking boring' and gym intimidation still holds back growth.

This episode features host Eric Malzone interviewing Justin Tamsett, a veteran fitness industry consultant and host of The Fitness Business Podcast. Tamsett explains his work helping club owners globally increase membership retention and translate trends from other industries into fitness. He details the REX Roundtable model, which brings non-competing fitness business owners together for peer-to-peer problem-solving and recognition three times annually. REX also organizes visits to companies outside fitness, like the group-texting firm Text-a-Mall and the Savannah Bananas baseball team, to study culture and customer experience. Tamsett highlights hospitality as a particularly valuable industry for fitness to learn from regarding staff training and motivation. He describes the new REX Leadership Academy, launched to address a lack of industry-specific leadership development for up-and-coming managers. Tamsett and Malzone discuss the trend of major fitness companies hiring CEOs from outside the industry, like Taco Bell, noting the challenge of selling an intangible product like fitness membership. They explore the growing divide between low-price, equipment-focused gyms and high-end clubs evolving into "third places" with workspaces and cafes, citing Club Greenwood in Denver as an example. A key challenge identified is that service provider growth is outpacing market penetration, despite reports of record gym membership rates. Tamsett argues the industry must improve at ensuring members actually use their memberships and focus on teaching behavioral change. He observes that the average person's size is increasing, using the example of cramped seats at Fenway Park, and states the fitness industry's real strengths are improving mental health and reducing loneliness through community. Tamsett criticizes personal trainers who do not document client progress, calling this a major barrier to the industry being taken seriously in preventative healthcare. The conversation covers the misaligned incentives in healthcare and the potential for technology, like eGym's systems, to provide necessary data. He stresses that the fitness industry remains small compared to sectors like pharmaceuticals, which have vastly larger budgets. The tone is a conversational and insightful dialogue between two experienced industry insiders. The style is educational, blending personal anecdotes with analysis of broader business and health trends. This episode would appeal to fitness studio owners, operators, and managers interested in business strategy, leadership development, and industry evolution. Listeners seeking tactical workout advice or consumer-focused content might find it less relevant.

As heard by us

A clear look at why fitness is still a hard sell for first-time members.

Fitness comes across as a tough product to sell because it is hard to hold, easy to put off, and often wrapped in the idea that a person should already be in shape before walking through the door.

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Why does fitness still struggle to get people through the door?

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