Why AI belongs inside your fitness business—not on the sidelines
When I joined the panel at this year’s ATN Innovation Summit to answer the question “Is AI taking over the fitness world?” the conversation wasn’t about speculation—it was about action. What made it so powerful wasn’t hype or futurism. It was honesty. Real use cases. Real wins. Real failures. And above all, a shared sense that fitness operators don’t need another year of theory—they need a push to get moving.
I had the privilege of joining Eric Malzone (Moderator, ATN Innovation Summit), Rose Minar (CMO, Lift Brands), Chris Appiah (Founder, The SalesArms), and Benji Donhardt (CEO, SupafitGrow) for this conversation. And while our approaches and brands may differ, our message was aligned: AI is here. It’s moving fast. And standing still is the biggest risk you can take.
AI isn’t the threat—fear is
As Benji Donhardt said during the panel, “Most teams are paralyzed, not because AI doesn’t work, but because they’re afraid it won’t work like them.” That hit hard. Too many operators are stuck waiting—for certainty, for perfect tools, for permission. But the industry isn’t slowing down to accommodate your comfort zone. The ones who hesitate will get left behind.
Benji’s challenge was clear: Start running experiments. Break things. Learn out loud.
Right now, the real gap isn’t capability—it’s courage. “The brands that win,” Benji reminded us, “will be the ones with speed, not polish. Playing it safe is the riskiest strategy in the game right now.”
“The time is now—or yesterday.”
That was how Eric Malzone, the panel moderator, framed the conversation—and he nailed it.
He put it simply: “Operators across the industry are fully aware of the need to adopt AI. The question isn’t ‘if.’ It’s an adopt or perish scenario. The question isn’t ‘when.’ The time is now—or yesterday. The question is ‘how.’ That means identifying the biggest pain points within an organization and the best AI tool(s) to meet that need effectively.”
And that’s exactly the shift we’ve seen among the most successful operators. They’re not chasing the shiniest tech—they’re solving real problems: lead fall-off, staff overload, retention gaps, stale communication. They’re focused on doing fewer things, faster—and smarter.
At Daxko, we’ve embraced that same principle. When we built Zen Planner Engage, it wasn’t to offer a flashy new feature. It was to meet a clear need: operators struggling with follow-up, buried under manual messaging, missing easy wins with people already in their funnel. So, we built automation into the heart of the member management system—not outside it—so it works with your real-time data, not around it.
What does that look like in the wild? It looks like:
- Trials getting instant, personal follow-ups with zero staff effort
- Lapsed members receiving timely reactivation nudges that actually work
- Birthday promos, class reminders, and check-in flows triggered automatically
These are small things—but they drive real revenue. And more importantly, they free your staff to focus on coaching, connections, and delivering the human experience your brand is built on.
AI is the engine. Your brand is the differentiator.
Chris Appiah brought this point home. In a landscape crowded with automation, what people still crave is meaning. Your unique voice, your niche, your why—that’s what builds loyalty. AI can accelerate delivery and scale your operations, but if you lose your brand identity in the process, you’re just another option in a crowded field.
Technology should amplify your voice—not replace it. That’s the line we all must walk in.
Quote: AI won’t replace humans, but humans that use AI will replace those that don’t.
That quote from Rose Minar of Lift Brands was one of the most memorable from the entire event. It struck the perfect balance between optimism and urgency.
Because this isn’t about whether AI will change the game. It already is. The only question left is whether you’ll let fear keep you on the sidelines—or whether you’ll step in, take a swing, and start learning faster than the competition.
So where do you start?
Not with perfection. Not with a long roadmap. You start with one use case. One automation. One experiment.
You start with motion.
Because in this era of transformation, the biggest risk is not failure—it’s standing still.