StrengthPortal

We’re excited to announce new leadership changes at Mindbody! Rick Stollmeyer, the company’s co-founder, will be transitioning from CEO to Executive Chair, pass...ing the baton to former President, Josh McCarter. Rick has built something truly special, and I think I speak for everyone at the company when I thank him for his exceptional leadership and vision. - Josh McCarter, CEO

There’s no sugarcoating it, fitness businesses of all sizes are in a tough position right now. The number one goal in 2020 as a fitness business owner is to survive. Today I wrote about an observation I've had while working with fitness business owners over the last few months. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the biggest advantage that small business owners in our industry have. The advantage is simple, they can simply move faster than larger gym chains. Read my latest article here: https://buff.ly/32mIOMQ

6 Tips for creating a quick and efficient program from Matthew Berenc

NEW interview with MOVE Fitness Club founder Kelly Taphouse! We really enjoyed listening to Kelly's story about her personal fitness journey and what led to the creation of MOVE Fitness Club in Toronto. She's built an incredibly strong community that has stayed intact despite all of the challenges Covid-19 is throwing their way in 2020. Check out the interview to read about the process of bootstrapping MOVE, investing and building a personal training team, and the new training services they've added to their business: https://buff.ly/3e6ROYP

We're super excited to follow up last week's announcement of our Mindbody integration with our biggest interview to date, the CEO of Mindbody Rick Stollmeyer! Mindbody Online is one of the largest and most impactful software companies in our industry, so it was a real pleasure to learn more about their history. In this interview Rick shares his insight about the early days of Mindbody, the decisions that led to their incredible growth and IPO, the tough decision to approve the acquisition, and why he thinks that the health and fitness industries are more important than ever right now. Enjoy:

Build vs buy? -The hidden costs of building custom software We get asked this question by gym owners often: Should you use a pre-existing software platform or build a custom software tool from scratch? The answer, as always, is that it depends! In this article StrengthPortal co-founder Matt McGunagle walks through the questions fitness business owners should ask before taking on the challenge of building a custom software tool. You can read the article in Personal Fitness Professional - PFP 's online magazine for free here:

ANNOUNCEMENT Our integration with Mindbody is officially live! If you're a current MindBody customer looking to add a workout programming and tracking software platform to your fitness business we're here to help. Details here:

With gyms opening back up across the country personal training teams are reassessing their training service options. Is it possible to return to normal with only offering 1on1 personal training? Should you be adding hybrid and online personal training to your service offerings permanently? In our latest interview with industry veteran Pat Rigsby he shares his experience with hybrid personal training and makes his case for why you should be adding it to your business today:

And we are LIVE!!! I had the amazing opportunity to write an article for the Functional Movement site and it posted yesterday! It was fun sharing some thoughts ...on progressing bodyweight exercises, especially during a time where access to equipment has been pretty limited for a lot of people. As a sneak peak of what is covered, I look at using some key variables from traditional training to increase (or if needed) decrease the challenge of bodyweight training. There’s always a way to find an entry point to your program and then the fun begins with seeing how far you can take it. Give it a read and let me know what you think. I’m looking forward to continuing to put out some material, so if there are other topics you think would blow your hair back, let me know!

"Our trainers will be able to schedule their sessions with their clients and deliver workout programs to the Equinox gym member app with StrengthPortal. Covid-19 accelerated our plans and it’s clear that the online component of our business is here to stay."

"The goal is to keep the goal the goal." NEW StrengthPortal interview with one of our all-time favorite fitness professionals Dan John Strength Coach. Topics discussed: If you only had three 15 minute periods a week to accomplish your goal, what would you do?... Experimenting and testing as a strength coach. The current status of the personal training profession and what the industry should be focusing on to continue to improve. What personal trainers should be considering when offering online personal training.

In case you missed it, check out our latest Fitness Industry Interview with Movati Athletic's VP of Studio Fitness Kelly Thorne! Kelly went from working as a personal trainer, to working as a Fitness Manager, to eventually managing the personal training programs across 70 locations in a 10 year career at Goodlife Fitness. Now at Movati she's built their personal training program to become the employer of choice in the industry. Check out the interview to read about Movati's plans for growth from here: