Top Fitness Stories Of The Week: Nov 21 - 27

Time to put down the Pumpkin Pie and look back at this week's Fitness Stories.  Let's start the heavy lifting:

Rep One - F45 Training Holdings Inc. (NYSE: FXLV) today announced that Chris Payne, the company’s chief financial officer and a member of the Board of Directors, stepped down effective November 15, 2022 to address immediate personal and family matters in Australia. Mr. Payne will continue to support the company in an advisory capacity to facilitate a seamless transition. - via Business Wire

Rep Two - Ergatta Rower will be available through BestBuy.com starting November 22nd. - via PR Newswire

Rep Three - Jess King is officially a mom! The Peloton instructor, 37, and fiancée Sophia Urista welcomed their first baby together, son Lucien "Luz" Urista King, on Wednesday, Nov. 16, the couple announced in a joint Instagram post Monday. - via People

Rep Four -How Peloton's Alex Toussaint Trains Off the Bike—And How You Can Get Strong, Too. - via Men's Health

Rep Five -Amazon Can’t Get Peloton Back in the Black. Selling on Amazon can help Peloton work off bloated inventory, but profitability won’t be the same. - via WSJ

Rep Six -The Beachbody Company, Inc. Receives Notice of NYSE Trading Share Price Listing Rule Non-Compliance. - via BusinessWire 

Rep Seven - The biggest security risks of using fitness trackers and apps to monitor your health. via CNBC 

Rep Eight -Meta Killed Plans for Homegrown VR Fitness App, FTC Says. - via Bloomberg

Rep Nine -DICK'S Sporting Goods Reports Record Third Quarter Sales; Delivers 6.5% Increase in Comparable Store Sales and Raises Full Year Guidance . - via YahooFinance

Rep Ten -Cody Rigsby Is Facing Backlash For His Comments About Taylor Swift. - via Buzzfeed 

Always gotta finish the week with Cody!  It was a weak news week with the holiday.  Next week will be the week when companies brag or cry about their Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales.

Top Fitness Stories Of The Week - Nov 6 - 12

This week it's all about the earnings and looking towards the next quarter. Let's look at some heavy lifting:

Rep 10. PELOTON AND ECHELON ANNOUNCE SETTLEMENT OF ALL PENDING LITIGATION via PRNewswire

Rep 9. Carly Rae Jepsen Joins Peloton Instructor Cody Rigsby For His New Series, "LOL Cody" via Popsugar

Rep 8. For Fitness Buffs and Landlords, Gyms Are Hot Again via NYTimes

Rep 7. Mindbody Conducts Layoffs as it Cites Economic Uncertainty via Athletech

Rep 6. The Beachbody Company, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results via BusinessWire

Rep 5. Gyms and at-home fitness battle for prominence this holiday season via CNBC 

Rep 4. Nautilus, Inc. Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2023 Results via BusinessWire

Rep 3. Xponential Fitness, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results via Xponential Fitness

Rep 2. Life Time swings to surprise profit in latest quarter, while revenue comes up shy of expectations via YahooFinance

Rep 1. Planet Fitness posts record membership, earnings beat in Q3 via YahooFinance

Had to add in one about Cody!  One can't go a week without a Boo Crew shoutout!

my17cents - “Bricks and Clicks” Planet Fitness Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings

1. Membership was up in Jan 2021 over Dec 2020.
2. Jan 2021 usage was 70% of Jan 2020 usage.
3. 4% of new joins come from gyms that have closed.  
4. 41 new Planet Fitness stores were opened system-wide during the period, bringing system-wide total stores to 2,124 as of December 31, 2020.
5. 130 new Planet Fitness stores were opened system-wide during the year, bringing system-wide total stores to 2,124 as of December 31, 2020.
6. 18 month extension for Franchises on re-equipment investment obligation.
7. Current view 75 - 100 new stores guided for opening in 2021 but fluid due to Covid.  New development will be modest.  Back up to 200 per year hopefully in future, a question of when and not what if?
8. System-wide same store sales decreased 10.6%. By segment, franchisee-owned same store sales decreased 10.6% and corporate-owned same store sales decreased 11.7%.
9. Mobile App is in the Top 3 for Health and Fitness App Stores.
10. 41% of Membership has downloaded the app. Driving usage due to membership.
11. Service the Members at home in a full circle wellness journey.  Trying to be a one stop shop for app usage adding yoga, meditation and nutrition.  Geared content for the people who are first time gym goers.  
12.  App Usage for those using the QR Codes on Machines, workout time length, visit usage providing data to help track journey of Members and will be able to guide future signups in their journey by using this data.
13. PF+ app 20% subscribers are non-PF brick and mortar members.  25% of those joined a brick and mortar member.
14. PF+ taking this time to see what content/trainers are being consumed the most.  It’s real time learning for them as they add more content over time.
15. Acquisition through app with conversion rates and upgrades to Black Card via app.
16. Revenue share for the app is still being worked out with the franchisees so it’s a win-win.  All or portion of app revenue.
17.  The opportunity for merchandise sales through the app i.e. bands for exercise, nutrition items and other merchandise is being looked at.

*These are quick takeaways from listening in on the Earnings Call and Press Statements.  Forward-looking statements are not assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on the Company's current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of the business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of the Company's control.   

https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/news-releases/planet-fitness-inc-announces-fourth-quarter-and-year-end-2020-results-301231290.html

my17cents - Why the Technogym Bench will fail.

In concept the Technogym Bench is perfect for home workouts.  Weights, bands and everything you need in a somewhat small, somewhat stowaway package. Let’s watch the video..

Perfect, right?  You can even workout to the app!  Over 200 exercises. What don’t I like about it?

1.  The COST!  Technogym home products have been costly in the past.  Way above the cost of a Peloton or Bowflex.  For example the cost of the Technogym Run Now Treadmill goes for $11,995!  The Technogym Excite Bike goes for $5,995!
2. The MUSIC.  Did you listen to that video?  Like that song?  Hope so cuz’ that and tunes like that is what you’ll be listening to with the app videos. Music is expensive and most companies don’t get the rights to the music we work out to.  Companies like Peloton pay a huge price to have the right music for your workouts.  Will Technogym?  I doubt it. Go back to YouTube and watch a few of the OrangeTheoryFitness Home Workout Videos.  Did that?  Did you like those five songs?  Hope so because every video contains those five songs.  Technogym needs to merge with the likes of Peloton or maybe even Les MIlls to bridge the music gap.

So cost and music will be the end for the Technogym Bench except for at a few hotel gyms around the world.  Great concept, bad execution.