We’re on the ground at the 2025 ATN Innovation Summit, streaming live insights, product unveilings and conversations with the boldest minds shaping the future of fitness, wellness, and technology
Welcome to Athletech News’ live coverage of the 2025 ATN Innovation Summit, where the biggest thinkers, disruptors and decision-makers in fitness, wellness and technology are in one location to help shape what’s next. From AI-fueled advancements and connected fitness breakthroughs to new business models and the future of consumer engagement, this is where innovation meets impact.
Our Athletech News editorial team is updating this live feed in real time, bringing you key takeaways from panels, product launches, founder insights, investor perspectives and everything in between. Whether you’re watching from your office, your gym, or on the go, consider this your all-access pass to the most important ideas driving the industry forward.
Scroll down for the latest—and check back often. We’re just getting started. Writers: Josh Liberatore (JL), Collin Helwig (CH), Elizabeth Ostertag (EO) and Courtney Rehfeldt (CR).
NEW: 10:07am (JL): During a panel discussion on the “Fitness Industry’s Role in America’s Healthcare Crisis,”
The “fitness as healthcare” movement might be real, but a lot of work remains to be done.
Anthony Geisler, the CEO of Sequel Brands, and Calley Means, a special adviser to the White House, called on fitness industry leaders to do a better job at prioritizing advocacy efforts and making their voices heard in Washington, D.C. This is especially important amid the “Make America Healthy Again Movement,” regardless of your personal political views, they added.
“The fitness industry needs to actually step up and defiantly and aggressively state that ‘we are frontline healthcare workers,’” Means said, pointing to the fact that bars and drug stores were often open during the COVID-19 pandemic while gyms were forced to shut down.
Geisler, who recently attended a MAHA report release event held by the White House, called on his industry peers to join him in future visits to DC.
“When we were there at the White House a couple weeks ago, there (weren’t) a lot of people from the fitness industry,” Geisler said, noting that other industries, like nutrition, were better represented.
Means, who was a lobbyist before he co-founded telehealth platform Truemed, noted that other industries are highly active on Capitol Hill while the fitness industry essentially sits on the sideline.
“The industries that profit from people being sick are flooding donations, they are in DC all the time,” Means said. “The CEOs of pharmaceutical and insurance companies essentially live in DC these days, and they are letting their voice be heard.”
9:55 am (JL): Fitness and wellness brands looking to thrive in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) must invest in data and consumer insights, says Josh Walker, the co-founder and CEO of the Sports Innovation Lab, a data analytics firm that works with the world’s top sports leagues and media properties.
“If you get any heebie-jeebies about AI and what’s coming next, you should, because AI is going to change everything,” Walker said.
“What I tell the NFL, what I tell ESPN and what I tell everybody in the sports media and entertainment world, is if you don’t know your customer you can’t talk to them. … And AI is all about having a conversation. … You have to be collecting this data; you have to be studying what your customers are doing, and that will prepare you for the future,” Walker added.
9:15 a.m. (JL): To kick off the ATN Innovation Summit 2025, Athletech News founder and CEO Edward Hertzman called on the industry to come together – but also to think bigger about what it means to be a fitness and wellness company in a rapidly changing, more highly connected world.
“This Summit marks something bigger – a new kind of industry gathering,” Hertzman said.
“When I look out right now, I don’t just see fitness brands. I see doctors, I see wellness operators, I see tech founders, real estate executives, med spas, apparel execs, data scientists, hotel groups, and consulting firms. And I think: what do we even call ourselves anymore?”