- 3 days ago
Living longer is reshaping the purpose of fitness, putting strength, mobility and independence centre stage.
Ryan Cheal, Group Chief Operating Officer of Inspire
Ryan Cheal, Group Chief Operating Officer of Inspire
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00:00Intro
00:02Intro
00:02Intro
00:03Intro
00:08Halo, saya Nina Rosman
00:09dan anda bersama Niaga Awanim
00:11Sekarang kita di Anytime Fitness
00:14Tropicana Bukit Jalil
00:16Di mana banyak orang dari tahun yang berbeza
00:18berkerja untuk kehidupan hidup yang lebih baik
00:21Dan ia sempat yang beritahu
00:23di mana Malaysia bergerak lebih dengan lebih dekat
00:25menjadi negara yang berada di tahun 2048
00:28dan menjadi aktif bukan hanya tentang fitness
00:31tetapi ia tentang mempertahankan
00:32keseluruhan, mobiliti dan independen
00:35semasa kita berkembang lebih tua
00:36Jadi, ikuti saya dalam kesempatan saya
00:38dengan Ryan Schill,
00:40Chief Operating Officer
00:42Inspire Brands Asia
00:43Master Regional Franchise Anytime Fitness
00:46untuk berbicara tentang
00:47bagaimana Malaysia berhati-hati
00:49untuk kemahiran demografi
00:50dan bagaimana kemahiran
00:53industri, ekosistem dan pemain
00:55kemahiran yang lebih baik
00:55dan menggantikan
00:56dan kemahiran yang lebih baik
00:58Ayo lihat
00:59.
00:59.
00:59.
01:00.
01:01.
01:01.
01:13Selamat tinggal, saya Nina Rozman dan anda menonton Niaga Awani.
01:16Sekarang kita di Anytime Fitness.
01:18Saya bercakap tentang mana saya sekarang, di Tropikal Bukit Jaleh,
01:23di mana orang yang berbeza datang ke sini untuk menjalani lifestyle yang lebih baik.
01:26Sekarang, ini adalah tanda yang berhenti untuk berbincang tentang negara yang berhenti.
01:31Kita bercakap tentang menjadi negara yang berhenti dengan kemampuan 2048 untuk Malaysia.
01:36Dan kita bercakap tentang aktif bukan hanya tentang kemampuan,
01:38tapi juga tentang kemampuan, kemampuan dan kemampuan semasa kita tumbuh lebih tua.
01:43Sekarang kita ingin bercakap tentang bagaimana Malaysia berhenti untuk kemampuan demografi ini
01:48dan bagaimana industri kemampuan yang berhenti melindungi Malaysia untuk negara yang lebih baik.
01:54dan bagi ini, saya akan menghubungi anda.
01:57Saya akan menghubungi awak, saya akan menghubungi awak.
01:58Saya bercakap untuk menghubungi awak, Ryan Trill,
02:00pemilik gerai pengawal perangkat Inspire Brands Asia,
02:03seorang penyajah masyarakat di Anytime Fitness.
02:07Terima kasih banyak, Ryan, untuk mengatakan kami.
02:09Bagaimana?
02:09Saya baik, terima kasih kerana mengatakan kami.
02:11Ryan, kami tahu bahawa Malaysia bergerak kemampuan yang berhenti.
02:19bagaimana ini sangat penting di dunia ini dan apa yang paling penting di dunia ini
02:25dan apa yang paling penting di dunia yang harus membuat perubahan untuk hari ini?
02:29I think it's not just a statistic.
02:32I think we know an aging population,
02:34how that can affect family, home life and community as well.
02:39And you know, what we sort of need to start leaning towards is
02:43we sort of know not being active,
02:44how that can sort of lead into sort of more diseases as we get older as well.
02:49So, I think we just need to start moving, getting more active
02:52and helping everyone get into a more active state in Malaysia.
02:56Alright, as life expectancy increases,
03:00do you think that the meaning of fitness should be redefined today?
03:06Because we all know that fitness is not just about being healthy.
03:10There are so much more towards it.
03:12Help us understand the dunia edition of fitness of today.
03:16I think, you know, traditionally fitness has been about sort of looking good.
03:19I think now it's about feeling great, having energy,
03:22but more importantly, being able to live day-to-day life to the fullest.
03:26Even if you're sort of an aging population, getting older,
03:28being able to have the energy to play with your kids,
03:30pick up your grandson, granddaughter.
03:32I think those have become more and more important.
03:34So, it's not always about looking good,
03:35but it's just living a much better life.
03:38Alright, definitely, I agree.
03:39It's not just about staying fit,
03:41but also how can we see a healthy independence as we grow older.
03:46Share with us, Ryan.
03:47Being a Group Chief Operating Officer,
03:50maybe you have seen a lot of type of fitness here,
03:52and misconception as well.
03:54Share with us what some of the misconception that Malaysians still have
03:58about staying active as they grow older.
04:02I think one of the biggest misconceptions is it's too late.
04:06It's never too late.
04:07I think I worked out this morning here in this gym,
04:09and I see all types of age ranges, you know, up to sort of 60, 65 years old,
04:15sort of working out, even to sort of the teens working out as well.
04:18So, I think it's never too late or never too sort of early to start working out.
04:23And also, this environment's not intimidating.
04:26Everyone's very friendly.
04:27We build Anytime Fitness within the community.
04:30So, it's going to be your friends, families, and your next-door neighbours anyway.
04:33So, yeah.
04:35You know, it's never too late to start,
04:37and you're part of a community that your next-door neighbours and your family go to as well.
04:41And we can always start small and slow.
04:43Yeah.
04:44I mean, you go at your own pace.
04:45I think that's the main thing is it needs to become a lifestyle rather than
04:49I'm going to try and get fit in three to six months.
04:52I think those times have gone.
04:53It has to be part of that lifestyle, you know, going to the gym every other day,
04:57going to the gym three times, four times a week,
04:59and just making that part of your daily habit.
05:01This is the new definition of what healthy fitness means.
05:07We're looking at the bigger picture of a fitness journey,
05:09especially in the ageing society.
05:10And now I want to focus more a bit on the movement of healthy ageing.
05:16We often hear the terms of functional fitness.
05:20Ryan, what does it actually mean?
05:22And why is it becoming increasingly important, especially in the ageing nation?
05:27I think it's important in the ageing nation.
05:29And also, we live a much more sedimentary life than we have done before.
05:33And an ageing population, we now sort of see it's more important to sort of move, work, be active.
05:39We've sort of seen our parents, our grandparents sort of be less active in the older age.
05:44And I think now we sort of see that as a much important part around functional fitness.
05:48Functional fitness is not just about lifting weights or running on a treadmill.
05:51It's more of how do I improve the muscles that help you live a much better day-to-day life.
05:57So functional training is a bit of everything to make sure you're moving the right muscles, all muscles, all body.
06:03And we've got great coaches. We have an Anytime Fitness app that can sort of teach you all of these
06:07things.
06:08So non-intimidating, very easy to get started.
06:11I think Anytime Fitness has got that product ready to help people get started.
06:14To help people get started, especially for the people from the group of 40s, 50s who have never stepped foot
06:22in the gym before.
06:23Maybe they are scared. Maybe they do not have enough experience to start which gyms or which equipment should I
06:31start with,
06:32which is suitable for my capacity. To these kind of people, where should they begin?
06:39I mean, they could just start by moving every day. Try and just move. Personally, I walk to work.
06:45I know it's not very Malaysian to do so, but I actually walk to work and walk back from work
06:49every single day.
06:50Just starting by walking. I think also Anytime Fitness, we built, this was built in the US in 2002.
06:56We're sort of nearly 25 years old. And the equipment that we pick and that was selected is to make
07:02sure there's unlimited safety
07:03for people to come and work out in the gym and use the equipment and not really get injured.
07:08And also, with the coaches that we have, we've just done the AF Certified Coach, which is internationally recognised.
07:16So all of our coaches are going to be trained to really look after anyone that comes in.
07:20But yeah, if you're around the 40s, 50s, you've just started, in my perspective.
07:26Just start getting moving and come to us at Anytime Fitness. We can definitely help and support you in your
07:31journey.
07:31And then for the people who wanted to start, maybe they say they don't have enough time, enough experience to
07:38begin with.
07:39So how can the role of every fitness industry play a role to making us staying active feels more approachable?
07:48I think at Anytime Fitness, we try and educate our members as much as possible.
07:52And I think even our non-members can have access to our Anytime Fitness app as well.
07:57The Anytime Fitness app will teach you around training, it will teach you about nutrition, it will teach you about
08:02recovery as well.
08:02So the more we can educate for our social media pages, our app, you know, I think people can start
08:08moving into that direction.
08:11And then what we're doing at Anytime Fitness is, you know, as we grow in our markets and especially in
08:15Malaysia,
08:16we want to be in the community and be as accessible as possible.
08:20So 150 gyms across Malaysia so far.
08:23We have two more states that we need to get into to fill all of the states in Malaysia.
08:27And that's our mission. How do we keep on bringing the gyms to the communities where it's underserved,
08:32where people don't have the opportunity to go to the gym.
08:38We want to make sure that that's there for them.
08:42This is something very important for us to, one of the key aspects talking about fitness in the gyms.
08:49Previously, before we start our conversation behind the scenes, we were talking about our busy schedules
08:53of how can we fit in for every exercise and we know that it's not very easy because we have
08:59to make sure
09:00saying active means also being very flexible and then talking about recovery after all the hectic,
09:06our peak season of our daily lives.
09:08And we know that recovery is very important, not enough to talk about.
09:13Sometimes they say we have enough time to continue but we don't have enough time to recover from all the
09:20activities.
09:20So beyond the exercise itself, how can we ensure that recovery is also a part of a healthy lifestyle?
09:28And it's not only a part of what only athletes do.
09:32Yeah, I mean, again, fitness used to be for athletes.
09:36Now recovery was for athletes and now recovery is coming to everyday life.
09:40I think, like I said, we lead probably more of a sedimentary life.
09:44So people are more sitting down, so probably sitting more pain in their hips and their lower back and their
09:49knees.
09:50And when you are training, how can you recover quickly so you can sort of train again?
09:55Which, you know, so recovery is becoming a much bigger mainstream topic in the fitness industry.
10:01It's definitely part of our sort of three pillars.
10:03We have training, nutrition and recovery.
10:06And we do have recovery in our clubs that really focus on active stretching.
10:10So I think knowing how to stretch and, you know, to remove those little niggles of aches and pains.
10:16I think sometimes people feel when they go to the gym or they're sitting down, they have these niggles.
10:20Actually, it's just, you know, muscle tightness and just having those active stretching, teaching people how to stretch properly makes
10:27a huge difference.
10:28And then we have the massage gun that just relieves some of the sort of the pain as well.
10:33And then we've got the compression pants as well, just focusing on the sort of the legs and the knees
10:38and the ankles as well.
10:39So that recovery is a big piece just for leading, you know, we're sort of leading more of a sedimentary
10:45life.
10:45How can we get over that to then sort of be more active?
10:47So recovery is actually helping us be more active.
10:51So and just helps us live a much better life.
10:53That is very important.
10:54Yeah.
10:55Lead a much better life.
10:56That is something that everyone wants, need in their future for their daily life.
11:02But also talking about the trend of industry as a whole, from your experience and observation across the whole of
11:09your network.
11:11Maybe share context within Malaysia.
11:14What's some of the trends that you see in the Malaysia's fitness industry and what stands out the most for
11:20today?
11:21I mean, what I can say about Anytime Fitness, some of the trends, as we talked about earlier, the demographic.
11:26It's really surprising.
11:27We see every demographic increase over time and more and more people training.
11:31So when we see that trend, we then lean, OK, what equipment do we need in the gym?
11:37What's the look and feel?
11:38So in Anytime Fitness, we actually change the design sort of every two years and every five years.
11:43every gym has to sort of refresh.
11:45So we want to make sure it feels comfortable, non-intimidating when people come into the gym.
11:50And really around the equipment selection.
11:52So this is something that changes nearly every sort of year, every two years.
11:56And what we see more recently is around plate-loaded equipment or cable equipment, which comes a bit more of
12:03a functional sort of workout.
12:04And that functional just to make sure people are sort of moving their joints and feel safe when they work
12:08out as well.
12:09This is also how sports industry are transforming over the years.
12:14It's not only we can see all the equipment is forever, but we also see what are trends that most
12:19people are enjoying
12:19within the sports or industry ecosystems.
12:23This is very important to see.
12:26But looking at what can we, every gym fitness centre can provide for the people over there
12:33and how they are transforming, following the trends, following the people expectations.
12:38And also within the industry, are we seeing more mature adults joining the gyms compared to a few years ago?
12:47And how have the members' expectations changed over the years?
12:51Yeah, any time fitness, we're seeing that age range more and more.
12:54I think they understand that they're sort of at that stage where they're living professional lives.
12:59They have family.
13:00They need energy to sort of keep up with that lifestyle that we have.
13:05And so we sort of see that increasingly improve.
13:08To your earlier question, what do we need to do or what does the fitness industry need to do?
13:13We need to make sure that we're accessible from a gym perspective.
13:18And that's why we keep on building as many gyms into the communities as much as possible.
13:22We have coaching, PTs that can really help them get into their routine
13:27and understand what technique and what exercise they should be doing for their goals.
13:31And really going back to the Anytime Fitness app, just having lots of bite-sized education in our AF app
13:36just really helps you understand the fitness industry, nutrition, working out and sort of the recovery.
13:43You get to learn it quicker in bite-sized chunks.
13:47Technology is also something that we can see within the industry transformations, making it easier, accessibility.
13:53but also we know that accessibility becomes or remains one of the biggest barriers in a lot of people's life.
14:01So in accessibility, focusing more on this, how can we ensure more access to other people
14:08other than technologies and what can it look like?
14:12I think accessibility, I mean again from Anytime Fitness, that's why we keep on building in the communities.
14:18we truly do understand there's a lot of underserved areas where we're trying to go to every single state
14:24and hopefully by, you know, 2027 we'll be in every single state.
14:28We just moved into sort of Sarawak earlier this year, which was a huge achievement and a huge milestone for
14:34us.
14:34And the local community absolutely loved it and they loved the gym that we've built there as well.
14:39So we'll keep on doing that.
14:41So if we can keep on delivering our product to the communities that are underserved,
14:46I think that's how we sort of make it more accessible.
14:49And again, just going back to the educational piece of, you know, really when people do come in,
14:53how do we educate them as quick as possible on how they can achieve their goals
14:57and understand it's not a short-term journey.
15:00How do we make sure we educate them that this is a lifestyle?
15:04And, you know, if we keep on doing that, you're going to live a much better life,
15:07you're going to have more energy, you're going to be more active,
15:09spend a lot more time with your family, with your friends.
15:11Good, decent time that you make memories from.
15:13Firstly, I want to say congratulations on the new launch until Sarawak.
15:17Yeah.
15:17We can see the transformation within the Anytime Fitness Journey
15:21from located franchise to a lot of locations
15:25and how technology is connecting a lot of people within the fitness journey.
15:30from, you are one of the manpower operating behind Anytime Fitness Gym in this region.
15:39And maybe how is Inspire Brands Asia is doing its role in supporting Malaysia's healthy aging society journey?
15:48Yeah.
15:49And apart from just trying to grow the number of gyms, we have these three pillars around training, nutrition and
15:56recovery,
15:57which I've mentioned before.
15:58I think training, one thing we understand now that it's not a one size fits all.
16:03We understand when we're training our members, we've got a wide different age range with different types of goals.
16:12And we need to make sure that we educate our personal trainers along with our Anytime Fitness app.
16:17So then we were actually delivering the right product for the right member at that time.
16:21So I think that's super important.
16:24From a nutrition perspective, lots of bite-sized sort of little bits of knowledge on the AF app
16:30just to make sure, are you doing the right thing before you train?
16:32Are you doing the right thing after you train?
16:35And what's creating the right energy and what's not?
16:37And again, like we discussed with the recovery piece is, as we're getting a lot more new people to fitness,
16:45sometimes they feel when I work out, the first time I work out, I get, my muscles are sore.
16:49And it can come as a bit of a shock if they've not felt that before.
16:53I think someone that's going to the gym a bit more, when you feel that muscle pain, you feel good
16:58about it.
16:59But I think when you're a beginner, you're like, oh, what's that? That's not right.
17:02And that's where the recovery and there's, in our app, it will teach you and our PTs will teach you
17:07and say,
17:08absolutely normal.
17:10You're going to have a bit of muscle pain, but this is how to get through it
17:13to make sure you can get to your next session in one or two days as well.
17:16We can see that AF is helping people from beginning to ending, from how to start, how to maintain
17:22and also how to recover.
17:24And also Anytime Fitness is also approaching, if I'm not mistaken, 150 clubs in Malaysia
17:29while continuing its expansion, nationwide expansion.
17:33But beyond growing the business, what role do you hope from these expansions
17:37we play in improving Malaysia's fitness journey as a whole?
17:42Yeah, I think from a Malaysia perspective, we just want to increase
17:44the amount of the Malaysia population actually working out and training.
17:50Apologies to harp on around the AF app, but in our AF app, you can actually choose,
17:54am I training from home, am I training from a hotel, or am I training at the gym?
17:57So it's actually in that app, it's not just about you coming to Anytime Fitness
18:01and training, it's like, if I'm on a work trip and I don't have access to a gym,
18:06what else can I do?
18:07And even what can I, I'm busy, you know, I couldn't make it because my kids
18:11are sick at school, so I have to bring them home.
18:14What can I do at home as well from a workout perspective?
18:18So we're trying to make sure that when you look at a gym brand, you're actually looking at
18:23how do we just make our members and the community more active rather than sort of saying,
18:28hey, you need to be active in a gym.
18:29We just want to make sure everyone's active and we're given the right education as well.
18:33Active and the right education is the focus moving forward.
18:36And I want to talk about BOPC, what inspired its creation especially,
18:40and how does it support your broader missions of making fitness more accessible and also inclusive?
18:49BOPC, Battle of the Purple Champions, it's a lot of fun.
18:53We've done it a few times in different countries and we've seen families do it.
18:57You know, you've got your dad, your mum and your brother and sister doing the whole challenge.
19:02So it can be a family fair, it can be your aunties and uncles, and so it's a lot of
19:06fun.
19:07It's not your traditional, as probably most people know as a workout, it's Hyrox at the moment.
19:11We love what Hyrox has brought to the fitness industry around, you know, being a sport for the gym.
19:18But this is just more living day-to-day life.
19:20So we want to sort of challenge, have a bit of fun and say, when you look at a BOPC
19:25sort of workout,
19:26this is just like day-to-day lifestyle.
19:30And that's sort of when our tagline for anything, anytime fitness is, you know, train for your life.
19:36So actually, when you talk about functional fitness and talk about working out,
19:39how can you do that in a day-to-day life?
19:41And we want to time you and test you and sort of see what you can do.
19:45And that's what the BOPC is.
19:47It's a lot of fun.
19:49Anyone can join, it's accessible to anyone and everyone.
19:52Like I said, families are doing it.
19:54So it's great, great, great fun.
19:55But it's all about, you know, living a normal day life.
19:59And we sort of put that in the BOPC.
20:01Alright, Ryan, before we wrap up our conversation, if all the Malaysians can see this watching today,
20:07could you maybe just share with us what are some one step towards healthy lifestyle that they could take right
20:15now?
20:18Just, I think what we can start is just to be active on a day-to-day basis.
20:23I believe it doesn't necessarily have to always start in a gym.
20:26But we are here to help that journey for you.
20:29We've got great coaches, we've got the Anytime Fitness app, and we've got gyms everywhere.
20:32But if you can just take 15 to 30 minutes a day to spend on yourself, look after yourself,
20:39you will see that energy, you'll see that difference in your body, your different shape and your mind.
20:44If you keep on doing that every single day, you'll make a big difference in your life and you'll lead
20:49a much better life.
20:50So, be active 15 to 30 minutes a day.
20:54Alright, Ryan, thank you for your insight.
20:55As Malaysia moves towards an aging nation, it's very important that for us not to focus on how to live
21:02longer,
21:03but also how to live healthier.
21:04Again, thank you, Ryan, for joining us.
21:06Thank you very much.
21:06Thank you.
21:21Today's discussion reminds us that preparing for healthy aging starts long before we reach our seniors years,
21:27and that every small step we take today can make a meaningful difference tomorrow.
21:32And I'm Nina Rosman, catch you on the next one.
21:36I am.
21:48You're welcome.
21:49Thank you very much.
21:49Not looking good.