Pat Rigsby - Franchising Reality Check: B2B Acquisition, Broker Dependency, and Loss of Control

Pat Rigsby - Franchising Reality Check: B2B Acquisition, Broker Dependency, and Loss of Control

Author: Eric Malzone March 3, 2026 Duration: 50:27
From franchising fitness empires to developing the next generation of athletes — Pat Rigsby has seen it all, and he's not done yet. In this episode, Pat joins Eric to break down what's actually shifting in the fitness and sports performance industry in 2025, why the gap between "trainer who pays rent" and real business owner has never been wider, and what two decades of franchising experience taught him before launching Athletes Accelerated. Pat pulls no punches on what it really takes to fr...

Eric Malzone has spent over fourteen years working within the fitness world, and in his Future of Fitness podcast, he channels that experience into conversations that feel more like strategic planning sessions than simple interviews. Each episode connects you directly with the people actively reshaping what health and wellness mean today-founders launching disruptive tech, investors spotting the next big trend, and executives steering major brands through rapid change. The discussions move beyond workout tips to explore the real business of fitness, tackling how entrepreneurship intersects with wellbeing, what emerging technologies are actually viable, and where the industry might be headed next. This isn't about generic inspiration; it's a grounded look at the mechanics of moving an entire field forward. By listening, you gain access to unfiltered insights from those making decisions at the highest levels, all through the perspective of a host who is both a seasoned coach and a pragmatic business advisor. Tune in for a clear-eyed view of the innovation, challenges, and opportunities defining the modern fitness landscape.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Future of Fitness
Podcast Episodes
Christian Drapeau: The Science of Vitality After 40 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:34
Christian Drapeau, neurophysiologist and stem cell researcher, joins Future of Fitness to explore the body's natural repair processes and how they change as we age. Christian breaks down the balance between breakdown and…
Brian Keane - The Fitness Coach's Guide to Beating ChatGPT [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:38
Brian Keane has built a fitness empire that most coaches only dream about — four bestselling books, over 580 podcast episodes, a top 0.5% global podcast, and more than a thousand coaches trained through his mentorship pr…
Dr. Gloria Winters - How the YMCA Is Merging Medicine and Fitness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:45
Healthcare in America is stuck in a "sick care" model—we wait until people are already ill, then scramble to treat them. Dr. Gloria Winters, VP of Health Innovation at the YMCA of the USA, has spent the last year buildin…