Wellness Is No Longer Optional
My Notes from the Athletech ATN Innovation Summit
Hi All!
I spent last week at the Athletech Innovation Summit and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
It wasn’t your typical fitness event or technology conference. No flashy gear launches. No panels filled with hype. What I walked into felt more like a deep diagnosis of the current system and the blueprint for what’s next.
Here’s what stood out:
The Wellness Consumer Has Evolved
We’re no longer designing for the "gym rat" or "casual yoga goer."
The modern fitness user is what Josh Walker, Co-CEO and President of Sports Innovation Lab calls the Fluid Fan—someone whose relationship with movement is layered, emotional, often inconsistent, and deeply personal.
They might go to Club Pilates on Monday, use a mobility app on Wednesday, and book a wellness retreat in Tulum next month. People aren’t loyal to logos. They’re loyal to experiences that feel aligned. And they’re willing to spend, as long as it fits their rhythm.
Club Pilates has one of the highest spends per member at $829*
RYZE Superfoods went from $6M → $11M in one year.
Garmin has five different segments of Revenue and their fitness segment grew 31% last year
None of this is fringe. These are mainstream numbers. And yet, so much of the industry still builds like it’s 2014. The industry often sees fitness enthusiasts through a narrow lens, but truly understanding their behaviors, needs, and motivations is essential.
Our Healthcare System Is Backward
This stat hit me hard:
95% of U.S. healthcare spending happens after someone is already chronically sick.
Not during prevention. Not on lifestyle changes. After.
We’re also spending 4x more than other developed countries on healthcare... for worse outcomes.
Meanwhile, metabolic dysfunction is everywhere.
38% of teens have pre-diabetes and 66% of adults have diabetes
U.S. kids have 6x the obesity rate of other countries
Americans get 3000 less steps a day in the United States than those in Europe
And yet, we still treat fitness like it’s a luxury product or aesthetic hobby.
There’s growing momentum in Washington D.C. to reframe this. To treat movement, food, and sleep as essential and not extracurricular. But it’s early. This momentum needs more fuel and advocates.
The Female Fitness Consumer = Massive White Space
One of the most eye-opening sessions was about the modern female fitness user—and how most platforms completely miss her.
A few things I learned:
90% of women say they work out to relieve stress, not to look a certain way
But only 15% feel their needs are being met through current fitness tech
Over 80% want cycle or hormone tracking baked into their experience
85% hear about new fitness brands through word of mouth (not ads!)
Meanwhile, many women-led fitness companies started from a place of loneliness, not performance.
Barre3 was built to fight isolation.
CorePower Yoga tracks its "love score" to measure how seen their members feel.
Form, Sculpt Society, and LMDR are doing an incredible job creating experiences that prioritize how women feel in their bodies and not just how they move them (& if you’re looking to try out Form, DM me for a discount code!!).
If you’re building anything for women and not considering hormonal health, emotional safety, and stress resilience… you’re behind. And, even more importantly, make sure women are in the room where these conversations are happening!!!
Fitness x Travel = The Next Gold Rush
The wellness tourism numbers were wild.
$830B market in 2023
On track for $1.3 trillion by 2028
10.2% CAGR—one of the fastest-growing corners of the entire travel industry
People aren’t just taking vacations anymore. They’re looking for transformation.
They’re traveling with their Oura data. Doing breathwork in their hotel rooms. Asking about pillow menus and healthy food spots before they check in.
Hotels are starting to catch on:
Turning unused conference rooms into touch-less spa zones
Offering in-room breathwork classes
Creating “wellness touchpoints” throughout the entire guest journey and not just at check-in
Wellness is no longer a feature—it’s a filter. And soon, all travel will be wellness travel.
A Few Other Quick Sparks
The shift from “sick care” to healthspan is real. But only if we keep pressure on the policy level.
GLP-1s (like Ozempic) are dominating the conversation—but most people taking them don’t understand what sustainable health actually looks like.
Brian Mazza said, “Hospitality is an emotion.” That stuck with me. In fitness, too—it’s about how you make people feel. That belief is at the heart of my own work: creating spaces where people feel seen, supported, and genuinely welcomed.
Robbie Bent the Founder of Othership is rethinking what community looks like. It’s not just a breathwork class or a sauna — it’s an experience designed to move emotion through the body and build connection beyond small talk. With a new flagship space opening in Williamsburg, Othership is showing that wellness can be high-vibe and human. Plus, stay tuned to hear about another Othership opening in the near future that will be DOUBLE the size of their location in Flatiron!!!
Final Thought
The most honest thing I heard all week?
“Americans are crying out for help. And they’re not being served by the $5 trillion we spend through the government.”
People want more than symptom management.
They want energy, clarity, connection, and a sense of possibility in their lives.
And if the system won’t meet those needs, we have to build new ones.
This isn’t about individual optimization anymore.
It’s about collective care.
About designing better experiences, businesses, and ecosystems, so that we can all be well together.
Wellness isn’t a trend. It’s a shift.
And we all have a role to play.
& if you want to see more about the super cool products I tried out at the Summit, see my Instagram post here.
That’s all for now!
-Faith