Health & Fitness Industry Advocacy and Innovation [Podcast Series]
[:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Adam Zeitsiff
Adam Zeitsiff is Chair of the National Health & Fitness Alliance.
[1:13] Advocating for the health & fitness industry
“And the first time is a little intimidating, because you've never been there and you’re walking through the halls of basically the leaders of the free world, and you get a chance to really get on Capitol Hill and talk to your local members of Congress—and if you get lucky maybe senators—about why your industry obviously the fitness industry benefits their constituents, how it helps them get healthy, how it helps drive jobs in their backyard, how it helps improve the lives of Americans.”
[4:54] Addressing the youth mental health crisis
“It really took its toll on kids. And the one thing that brought kids out of their shell, many other things, but the big thing that brought them out of their shell after that was just getting outside, being active, playing sports again with their friends. You don't have to be a tremendous jock going to college, you could just be playing T ball in the backyard with your friends or running around playing frisbee in the street. But that's what got kids out of the house. That's what got them excited. And that's what got them moving again, and I think it really did have a positive effect on their mental health...”
[8:47] Amplifying the voice of the industry
“Our job is to be advocates for the advocates. So our job is to really amplify the voice of what the health and fitness association is doing with our state and federal leaders, right.”
[14:55] Technology trends supporting physical activity behavior change
“I think it really makes it so that we can have a continuous level of engagement with our members through wearables—regardless of their age or fitness levels—I think, that transcends everything. So I think that is an important one. I think what we're doing is just at the tip of the iceberg. I know, wearables is old hat 5, 6, 7 years ago, but we still not haven't cracked the code as to how to make them really key with members' health and fitness journeys.”
[19:51] Augmenting in-person fitness with AI
“I think we never preached that virtual fitness was going to replace in-person fitness. And just like that, I don't believe that AI and things like that are ever going to replace in-person fitness or in-person personal trainers, things of that nature. They're going to, they're going to augment them to make what they do from a one to one or one to many basis even better.”
[22:33] Anti-obesity medications as an opportunity for the industry
“I feel that GLP-1s and the appropriate prescription of them could bring on a new era of collaboration. Finally, a real era of collaboration between health and fitness, right, hence the name of our organization as doctors and medical world and fitness finally has really something even better to collaborate on, and maybe this is the kickstart we need to have us continue to work together...”
[26:03] Prescribing strength training
“This is a great chance for our industry folks and gyms to go out there and build partnerships and get a continual referral stream that has nothing to do with health insurance, co-pays and CPT codes. Just, hey, my doctor just prescribed this to me. He said I should really be lifting weights three or four days a week. How can you help? There’s another customer.”
