AI won’t save your gym, leadership will

Today he is president of Midtown Athletic Clubs, which runs 8 luxury athletic clubs from Miami to Montreal. Each one sits between 250,000 and 700,000 square feet, with pools, restaurants, hotels and boutique fitness studios under one roof.

We got into where AI adds real value in a fitness business, the trends shaping the next decade of fitness, what organisational health means in practice, and the redevelopment of Midtown's flagship club in Chicago.

Watch the episode on YouTube

Key takeaways#

How should a fitness club start using AI?#

Start with the problem, then pick the tool. Jon's advice to operators is to name what you want to fix before adopting anything: marketing costs, member attrition, loyalty. At Midtown the first target is speed of response. The club is looking at agentic AI to help membership teams answer member and prospect enquiries fast. Jon's benchmark is a reply within 60 seconds, which he links to a jump in sales conversion of around 80%. The next step on his list is using AI and machine learning for proactive reservation and booking management. The other half of the equation is data. Jon's rule for that is short: garbage in, garbage out. Without clean, structured data, the AI has nothing useful to work with.

Try this: write down the one number you want AI to move this year, then check the data behind it by hand. If either part is shaky, fix that before you buy anything.

How is technology changing the fitness industry?#

Mostly through what members wear and what clubs measure. Wearables like Fitbit and Whoop are on the rise, and with them comes an industry debate about data collection, privacy and usage. At the same time Jon sees a counter-trend: people who want to disconnect from tech when they work out. He expects the next big wave of fitness tech to come from the medical and health insurance sectors. At Midtown, technology does practical work. The team analyses member behaviour, plans space and equipment around how it's actually used, and looks for ways to help members build fitness habits that last.

Try this: ask your members which device or app they'd happily leave at home. Their answer tells you where tech helps and where it gets in the way.

What are the biggest trends in fitness right now?#

A move away from "no pain, no gain" toward fitness that links mind and body. Jon's list is specific. Strength training is booming, especially among women. Treadmills and stair climbers hold their ground while bikes and ellipticals decline. Yoga and pilates studios stay popular. Community formats like Hyrox, Spartan and CrossFit keep growing because people want a shared identity. And thermal bathing (saunas, steam rooms, relaxation treatments) is drawing rising interest in the US, after a long history in Europe and Asia.

Try this: walk your floor at peak hour and count which equipment is idle. Your members are already telling you which trends are real.

What is organisational health, and why does it matter?#

It's trust inside the team, strong enough that people ask questions and own up to their mistakes. Jon credits it as one of the reasons Midtown works, alongside a long-term focus over short-term wins. Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of a Team shaped his thinking here. He describes his own role as Chief Repetition Officer.

Try this: at your next team meeting, share a mistake you made this month before asking anyone else for theirs.

How does a leader's style change over a career?#

From doing the tasks yourself to developing other people. Jon started out as a school teacher and played semi-professional soccer, and he says his leadership is still rooted in that background and in humility. Over time his focus moved to growing talent and creating psychological safety. As CEO of a professional rugby organisation in New Zealand, he learned the value of diverse, multi-skilled teams. He went on to run health clubs in Germany, Italy and Belgium before moving to Midtown in the US.

Try this: look at the last 3 tasks you did yourself. Pick one to hand to someone on your team, along with the context they need.

What does success look like for a luxury athletic club?#

For Midtown it's measured in lives changed, beyond membership numbers and ROI. The company's purpose is to inspire people to transform their lives, and Jon is clear that transformation isn't only physical. Helping one person can ripple out to everyone around them. Midtown started in 1970 as the world's largest indoor tennis club, added fitness in the 1980s and has since moved to a luxury sports resort model. It runs 8 clubs from Miami to Montreal, ranging from 250,000 to 700,000 square feet, with pools, restaurants, hotels and boutique studios. The thing Jon is proudest of delivering is the redevelopment of the flagship club in downtown Chicago, the original 1970 tennis club, now considered the world's number 1 health club.

Try this: write your club's purpose in one sentence that a member would recognise. Then check whether your KPIs measure it.

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Listen & watch#

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