In this episode of the Fitness + Technology Podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Richard Grönberg, Founder and CEO of ECDESIGN — a leading 3D interior design software that empowers sales professionals to quickly plan and visualize any space without the complexity of traditional CAD tools. With over 10,000 companies across 170 countries using the platform, ECDESIGN is transforming how fitness and commercial environments are imagined and brought to life. Tune in as Richard shares insights into th...
Jul 01, 2025•21 min•Season 1Ep. 188
In this episode of the Fitness + Technology Podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke is joined by Julian Barnes, Co-Founder and CEO of The BFS Network, a market intelligence and growth accelerator for beauty, fitness, and self-care businesses. In his role, Julian serves as a strategic growth advisor, helping BFS members enhance profitability and scale smarter. With a background that includes marketing leadership roles at Velocity Sports Performance and Oasis Day Spa, Julian later co-founded Body Local, NYC’...
Jun 30, 2025•41 min•Season 1Ep. 187
In this episode of the Fitness + Technology Podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke is joined by Eddie Arpin, Co-Founder of OfferingTree, a comprehensive website, scheduling, and payment solution designed specifically for wellness professionals. OfferingTree empowers coaches, yoga instructors, personal trainers, mindfulness teachers, and other wellness practitioners by streamlining digital operations, so they can focus on delivering exceptional client experiences. In this conversation, Eddie shares the jou...
Jun 21, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 186
In this episode of the Fitness + Technology Podcast, Bryan O’Rourke shares his keynote, “The Key Trends Creating Opportunities and Challenges for the Global Fitness Industry in the Next 5 Years” live from Beyond Activ in Singapore. Bryan shares the spotlight for what’s next for fitness across the globe — from emerging technologies and programming innovations to finance, business models, and the forces reshaping how to serve members and scale impact. Whether you lead a gym, studio, supplier brand...
Jun 10, 2025•23 min•Season 1Ep. 185
In this episode of the Fitness + Technology Podcast, Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Pariskshit Dutt & Jackson Powell to the show. They are the founders of Fittest, a hardware-free heart rate tracking platform designed to help gyms boost member engagement, drive accountability, and increase retention. By seamlessly integrating with wearables, Fittest provides real-time in-studio and at-home tracking, gamification, and performance insights without the cost or hassle of additional hardware. Today, the...
May 31, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 184
In this episode of the Fitness + Technology Podcast, Bryan O’Rourke shares his presentation “The Future of Fitness” live from SIBEC. Bryan offers a bold and thought-provoking look at how industry leaders can thrive amid rapid transformation. From navigating global micro and macro trends to redefining leadership, marketing, and digital strategy, this talk explores what it takes to succeed in today’s evolving fitness landscape. You’ll hear his insights on the rise of recovery and luxury experience...
May 20, 2025•39 min•Season 1Ep. 183
In this episode of the Fitness + Technology Podcast, Bryan O’Rourke shares his webinar with Hilary McGuckin and Sarah Harris from Keepme.ai as they explore how the modern fitness sales funnel is evolving—and what that means for fitness operators, marketers, and tech providers alike. In their conversations, they unpack: The biggest challenges fitness businesses face today with consumer acquisition and retention. Surprising insights from Keepme’s latest research on changing consumer behaviors. How...
May 07, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 182
In this episode of the Fitness + Technology Podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes back Garrett Marshall, a distinguished leader with over 22 years of experience driving growth in the wellness industry. Garrett’s expertise spans strategy and innovation, executive leadership, business development, strategic partnerships, and technological product development. He has notably served as CEO of Fitness On Demand and President of Xponential Fitness. Today, he is the Founder and Chief Growth Officer of ...
Apr 28, 2025•36 min•Season 1Ep. 181
In this episode of the Fitness + Technology podcast, Bryan O’Rourke joins an exclusive panel live from FIBO to explore the future of the fitness industry through the lens of technology, innovation, and digital transformation. Featuring global industry leaders: Bryan K. O'Rourke – President, Fitness Industry Technology Council | Chairman, Vedere Ventures | CEO, Core Health & Fitness Hugo Braam – CEO & Co-Founder, Virtuagym Magdalena Szwed – Product Director, Benefit Systems Oddział Fitnes...
Apr 21, 2025•50 min•Season 1Ep. 180
This week on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Marco Benitez to the show. Marco is the CEO & Founder of ROOK, a wearable API that transforms health data and empowers apps and software with actionable insights. ROOK easily processes and embeds data from hundreds of wearables with single integration and shares access to deeper understanding and more actionable insights that allows users to make more informed decisions, find better solutions, and drive innovation. T...
Apr 15, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 179
This week on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Mike Arce to the show. Mike is the CEO & Founder of Loud Rumor, which helps fitness studios dramatically increase membership by improving their marketing strategies through consulting. Today, Mike joins Bryan to talk about his business, lead generation marketing, implemented technology, and other implications around fitness operations. One Powerful Quote: 34:57: “If you gamble, you’re just playing off feeling, but if...
Mar 25, 2025•41 min•Season 1Ep. 178
This week on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes back Hans Muench to the show. As the Director of International Development at FIT-C, he leads the council's efforts to grow the fitness industry, improve fitness user experience, and mature the collection of real-time wellness data through the creation of interoperability standards for technology-based fitness devices. With over 35 years of experience in the health and fitness sector, Hans has a deep understanding of the...
Mar 06, 2025•18 min•Season 1Ep. 177
This week on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Ian Mullane to the show. Ian is the Founder & CEO of Keepme, an AI-powered sales and marketing CRM platform for the fitness industry. Launched in April 2019, Keepme has customers globally and assists hundreds of clubs with member acquisition and retention. Today, Ian joins Bryan to discuss AI tech adoption, his business, and operational insights across the industry. One Powerful Quote: 26:43: “Every unique idea only ...
Mar 04, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 176
This week on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Doug Miller to the show. With extensive experience as an industry advisor, including his role with IHRSA’s European Council, Doug brings valuable insights into the evolving fitness landscape. As the owner of Virtual Road Show, an innovative app providing transformational education to fitness professionals worldwide, he shares his perspective on industry trends and the future of fitness. Today, Doug joins Bryan to discuss...
Feb 25, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 175
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Barry McDonald to the show. Barry is the CEO of NovoFit, an Australian owned and operated fitness equipment distribution company representing some of the top brands in the industry. With 20 years in the health and fitness industry, Barry has extensive experience and insight into the evolving potential of health, fitness, and wellness experiences from leading large-scale health club operations nationally to designing and...
Jan 27, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 174
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, Bryan O’Rourke shares his recording of his recent SIBEC webinar on 12 key trends for 2025 in the global fitness industry. This presentation covers trends for suppliers, gym and health club operators, and others in the global fitness industry. From M&A and finance, to digital fitness, GLP1's, Micro and Macro trends, Bryan covers a wide range of subjects about the future of fitness across every spectrum in the industry. One Powerful Quote: “Ideas...
Dec 13, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 173
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Amy Boone Thompson to the show. Amy is the Owner & CEO of IDEA Health & Fitness Association, the world's leading organization of fitness and wellness professionals and has been for more than 40 years. She is also Chairman for World Active, a global initiative meant to set up an open and transparent platform for the fitness and physical activity sector to get “more people, more active, more often”. Today, Amy joi...
Nov 21, 2024•21 min•Season 1Ep. 172
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Herman Rutgers to the show. As an expert in setting up and expanding international brands in durable consumer goods with a specialization in sports, health & fitness, Herman is the International Ambassador for EuropeActive, the leading non-profit organization representing the European fitness and physical activity sector, and Board Member to Basic-Fit, the largest fitness chain in Europe. Today, Herman joins Bryan t...
Nov 14, 2024•36 min•Season 1Ep. 171
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Dr. Cedric Bryant to the show. As Chief Executive Officer & President, Dr. Cedric Bryant leads ACE with a focus on science-backed education to support health and exercise professionals, utilizing emerging fitness technology, championing inclusivity and diversity, and sharing quality information to help all people develop long-term healthy habits and keep people moving. Today, Dr. Cedrick joins Bryan to talk about hi...
Oct 16, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 170
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Dave Wright to the show. Dave is the Founder of MYZONE, a cloud based and wearable technology fitness tracker that consists of a heart rate monitor chest strap and monitoring system that displays real time heart rate, calories, MEPs, and EFFORT to a watch, tv, or monitor whilst simultaneously creating an online logbook of all physical activity that can be viewed from anywhere in the world. He is also the owner of Creati...
Sep 29, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 169
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, Bryan O’Rourke shares his presentation live from Beyond Activ in New York. Beyond Activ is a leadership, investment, and business development event for owners, managers, and investors of health, wellness, fitness, and hospitality brands. Bryan was invited to present and host a panel on franchise innovation and growth with Emily Seaman, Head of Marketing from Momence, Bradford Smith, Chief Development Officer from PureGym, Eric Keller, VP of Support...
Sep 23, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 168
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Adam Alfia to the show. Adam is the Founder of Real Time Feedback, which is a customer engagement platform that allows customers to directly interact with businesses in real time. Customers submit discreet feedbacks that are sent in real time to a businesses owners and managers. The business can respond using the in-app 2 way chat feature to work with the customer to resolve any complaints. Once the issue has been resol...
Sep 10, 2024•25 min•Season 1Ep. 167
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, Bryan O’Rourke welcomes back the infamous Sal Pellegrino to the show. Sal has worked in the fitness and wellness industry in a variety of roles, from club owner to equipment sales professional, to industry trend spotter and advisor in leading organizations. He is currently the Executive Director for FISA, which provides valuable research and unique events for the commercial and not-for-profit fitness industry. Today, Sal joins Bryan to recap his ex...
Aug 30, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 166
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, Bryan O’Rourke shares his panel discussion, The Download On Digital, from 2024 IDEA World live from Los Angeles. He is joined by fitness technology gurus Garrett Marshall, Eric Posner, Jeffrey Scott, Mike G. Hansen, and Deb/Debbie/Deborah Praver (Eble) as they take a deep dive into the latest trends, innovations, and how technology is revolutionizing the fitness industry. The panel also answers questions from the audience highlighting key topics in...
Jul 15, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 165
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Brandon Bean to the show. Brandon is the Co-Founder of Lumin Fitness, a smart movement platform with a cutting-edge operating system design to leverage the latest advances in computer vision, digital displays, and machine learning to deliver personalized, interactive fitness experiences. Today, Brandon joins Bryan to talk about his business and key trends happening in the space. One Powerful Quote: 15:55: “Data is dopam...
Jul 01, 2024•27 min•Season 1Ep. 164
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Chris Edwards to the show. Chris is the Founder & CEO of TriCore Wellness which focuses on the integration of technology, health data, and professional coaching. TriCore Wellness seeks to develop and provide comprehensive wellness solutions for individuals, employees, and businesses. Today, Chris joins Bryan to talk about his business and truly define what wellness means. One Powerful Quote: 2:53: “Wellness is essen...
Jun 24, 2024•19 min•Season 1Ep. 163
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Alan Thompson to the show. Alan is the founder and CEO of GroeFit, a gym member management software powered by computer vision technology. GroeFit leverages cutting-edge AI to provide gym staff with real-time insights, transforming big box gyms into supportive communities that recognize and nurture every member’s fitness journey. Today, Alan joins Bryan to talk about GroeFit and why automated engagement is table-stakes ...
Jun 07, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 161
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Steven Webster to the show. Steven is the CEO of ASENSEI which captures sports apparel and knowledge into software so that fitness equipment, training apps, and connected fitness products can coach and correct customer's movement in real-time. ASENSEI aims to strengthen engagement by turning solo practice into instructional learning, locks in brand loyalty by connecting coaching to clothing, and increase retention by sh...
Jun 04, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 162
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Federico Imparatta to the show. Federico is the founder of Ataraxy, a digital product agency, which helps lead strategic development and execution of digital solutions that drive business growth. His team's technical expertise is in software & hardware development, product development, and design to deliver high-quality digital products with the overarching goal of empowering entrepreneurs to thrive in the digital e...
Apr 22, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 160
This week, on the Fitness + Technology podcast, host Bryan O’Rourke welcomes Tessa Thomas to the show. Tessa is the Co-Founder of Pipeline Solutions, a purpose-built automation and analytics platform for boutique fitness studio owners and operators. Today, she joins Bryan to talk about her business, automation and coding, and keeping the human touch in a digitized world. One Powerful Quote: 21:51: “It’s really still about people.” 4-10 Bullet Points (w/ timestamps) - Highlighting key topics disc...
Apr 01, 2024•26 min•Season 1Ep. 159
