Physical Activity As Essential [Podcast Series]
[:40] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Chuck Runyon
Chuck Runyon is the CEO and Co-Founder at Self Esteem Brands, which is the parent company of Anytime Fitness, Basecamp Fitness, Waxing the City, and the Bar Method. Anytime Fitness operates 4,000 franchised health & fitness clubs in 50 countries and has been named the #1 franchise and the fastest growing fitness club in the world.
[1:10] Physical activity as essential
“Physical activity can empower people to new roles, new moves, new mindsets.”
“Health is an asset in my life that empowers everything I do.”
“Daily physical activity is critical to mental acuity and mindset and to unlock our potential.”
[3:10] Fitness as one piece of mental and physical health
“There is so much evidence linking it to lower risk of depression and stress.”
“I wish we focused less on the scale and more on how it mindset and mood and how it empowers so much in your life.”
“We want to make sure we are reaching people where they are at..reaching them with nutrition support, physical activity support, we are moving more toward more mental support, and just more lifestyle, more holistic in the coaching we can provide.”
[5:40] Removing barriers to active lifestyles
“I think we can unlock a person’s potential once they are willing to be a bit vulnerable, once they are willing to ask for help.”
“What I love about some of the body scanners and wearables is that it democratizes body intelligence, so now we can take biometrics that are highly personal and help someone understand them, and now set some very realistic goals to make fitness achievable.”
“Progress equals further engagement.”
[8:30] Teaching kids to be physically active so they grow up to be active adults
“We have to reframe how we are teaching health and make sure that we value physical activity.”
“Physical activity and nutrition and health should be part of the core curriculum.”
“When people get out of school, they are not equipped to live in an unhealthy world, a world of high calorie cheap meals and sedentary activities...equipping people to be the CEO of their own health.”
[11:40] The dual pandemics of COVID and physical inactivity/sedentary behavior
“The health of the country, pre-COVID, was not good, and when COVID goes away, we are going to be left with a very unhealthy country.”
“This thirty day pandemic has shined a spotlight on this 30 year epidemic called obesity and physical inactivity and diabetes and hypertension.”
“That is what we have to fix long-term. We need to turn the health of this country in the other direction.”
[14:00] Exercise as better than medicine
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We are not even putting an ounce worth of prevention”
“If you look at policies, and funds and incentives for individuals and corporations to be healthy, we don’t have a culture of health”
“Everyone is on the hook here, everyone can do a better job to help people, help communities, help our country get to a better place.”
[17:05] The fitness industry as a partner with healthcare
“Doctors can trust that if they refer to a patient to someone with one of these certifications, they are going to get good care.”
“The technology is there now where we can start to standardize data, that can be used by the consumer and by the doctor to show that we are in fact making progress.”
“We are in the progress game, because if an individual is making progress, they stay engaged in their health and fitness goals.”
[20:30] Physical activity as essential now more than ever
“If I were a lawmaker, I would be fighting like heck to find a way for the gym industry to reopen safely and responsibly under COVID conditions and find a way to get people stronger, get people moving.”
“Now more than ever people need to move.”
“For us to get through these very trying times, we’ve got to have the emotional strength and mindset to do that, and that starts with physical activity.”
[22:18] Physical activity in a post-COVID world
The optimist in me says yes, this is going to be the perfect time to spark a new conversation to get people healthy and we are going to see a surge coming back to our facilities”
“I love the fact that you are trying to bring the medical community closer to the fitness space and closer to communities. I really think this can be solved through collaboration. We’ve got to find some adjacent industries to work together.”
“I love the digital muscle that this fitness industry has been building”
[29:50] Closing the health loop
“Maybe as a fitness industry we can do a better job closing the health loop with data..you referred him your him to us, and this is the progress they have made”
“You can’t do this alone. We’ve got to collaborate with smart people, we’ve got to collaborate with other industries.”
“The only way to solve personal health, the only way to solve global health is through collaboration.”
