Active Overwatch 057

Here’s your weekly roundup of news, trends, and stories in the health and fitness space. A list of what’s happening, new innovations, interesting finds, and more.

This week we’re covering:

• Fjord’s floating sauna and plunge experience.
• Life Time planning fitness competition series.
• HYROX has turf issue at World Championships.
• And more...

Hope you enjoy!

Recent Headlines

Life Time is planning a new fitness competition series. Fitness classes that are competition based, hosted in different cities, and lead up to a national championship event. Aiming for a debut in October.

• This could be a really smart move. HYROX has exploded the last few years, but it was also built completely from scratch. Difficult to do. Life Time already has the gyms, the members, and the instructors - now they’re layering in the competition. They have a massive infrastructure that makes a ton of sense to build this on top of. If done right, this could be a real challenger in the fitness competition space.

HYROX has turf issue at the World Championships in Chicago. With several athletes saying certain sled lanes had more resistance, making it harder to move the sled. Leading to HYROX releasing a statement and taking immediate action by replacing affected sleds.

• This is what happens when a niche fitness race becomes a real sport. When the stakes get higher, the pressure to deliver a consistent, fair experience does too. The sled issue sucks, but it’s also a natural growing pain. HYROX is learning in real time how to scale globally, and moments like this are what push brands to build stronger systems. If anything, it shows they’ve hit a new level.

Fjord unveils floating sauna and plunge experience in San Francisco. Creating an escape from climate controlled comfort zones and uninspired routines. Featuring 2 Finnish-style saunas and plunges directly in the bay.

• I needed to highlight this because it just looks spectacular. The build is so well done. Bathhouses and contrast therapy clubs have become really popular the last couple years. And it looks like Fjord is taking that concept and turning it into something more unique. Raw, outdoors, and vacation like. It’s beautifully built and feels like a true escape from the routine.

Two big moves in wellness travel & hospitality dropped this week. Equinox Hotels announced plans to expand to Nashville. Marking its first new location since opening in NYC. And Hotel del Coronado is partnering with longevity startup Lumati. Offering biomarker testing, breathwork, and personalized health tools as part of the guest experience.

• Wellness travel continues to level up. And these aren’t just signals that it’s growing, but that it’s evolving. One brand is expanding its footprint, the other is expanding what’s possible during a hotel stay. It’s not just about beautiful spaces anymore. It’s about purpose built experiences that help you sleep better, recovery faster, and leave feeling more optimized than when you arrived. Flipping the script on travel, which usually wrecks your routine.

INTVL running app launches 3.0 update. The viral territory capture running app is now more focused on being a “game” and improving user experience. With updates to the tracking screen, live territory capture, a local battles feature, new unlockable rewards, and more.

• INTVL hit the scene back in December of 2024. I did a breakdown video at that time and they ended up going pretty viral - getting 60K+ downloads and becoming a top 15 fitness app. And while this was great for them, they admitted they probably weren’t quite ready for that level of mass adoption. Fast forward 6 months and they’ve done a full overhaul of the app. To their credit, they built fast, listened, and leveled up their experience. Really impressive and still one of the most creative running apps in the game right now.

ICYMI On Social

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• Last week’s health & fitness news roundup.