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Three days in Los Angeles covering the conversations reshaping fitness in 2026
The Connected Health and Fitness Summit ran February 18 through 20 in Los Angeles, its seventh year and still one of the few industry gatherings that earns its own momentum. The event brought together coaches, studio operators, investors, and technology founders under a theme that matched where the most pressing industry conversations actually live: uniting fitness, health, and technology for club and community success.
What the Summit does well is create space for both the formal session and the conversation it generates. A Networking Zone, Expo Hall, and Movement Zone ran throughout a packed but paced schedule, so attendees weren’t choosing between a panel and a meaningful introduction. That design is harder to get right than it looks, and it’s a large part of why the people who show up here tend to come back.
Here’s what coaches and studio operators should take from three days in Los Angeles.
The Summit assembled voices from across the operational range of the wellness industry, from boutique operators to enterprise brands to emerging technology. Each brought a perspective shaped by a different set of pressures, which made the programming more useful than a room full of agreement.
Hal Hargrave | The Perfect Step
Adaptive fitness and community-driven programming, relevant for coaches building inclusive client rosters and operators expanding their programming reach.
Charles Rosenblatt | Butter Payments
Payment infrastructure and revenue optimization for fitness businesses, directly applicable to studio operators managing subscription and membership models.
Jeff Zwiefel | Life Time MIORA Longevity and Performance
High-performance longevity programming at scale, relevant for coaches positioned at the premium health optimization end of the market.
Laura Wilson | Natural Pilates
Boutique studio growth and retention philosophy in a competitive urban market.
Ruth Sylvia | VP of Product Management, MyFitnessPal
Consumer behavior data and digital health integration, with implications for coaches managing client tracking and engagement outside the gym.
Steve Padis | CFO and EVP of Strategy, Barry’s
Financial strategy and brand expansion at franchise scale, with lessons applicable to any operator thinking about sustainable growth rather than fast growth.
A virtual keynote featuring Anthony Geisler and Gary Brecka extended the programming to remote attendees and added perspective on where the fitness and wellness industries are converging at the ownership and investment level.
The Summit’s panel programming covered four areas that map directly to decisions coaches and studio operators are making in 2026. Below is each topic with the practical implication that matters for the Coach360 audience.
| Panel | What It Means for Coaches and Operators |
| Designing Desire: The Next Evolution of Prestige in Fitness | Premium experience is being redefined beyond equipment and square footage. Coaches operating in the boutique or high-touch space need to understand what clients are willing to pay for now, and what they are comparing you against. |
| Adapting Your Offerings for the GLP Era | GLP-1 medications are already in your client roster, whether you know it or not. This session addressed how to program, communicate, and structure training for clients whose body composition is changing through pharmaceutical intervention alongside exercise. |
| The Business of Women’s Health: What Will Define 2026 | Women’s health is the fastest-growing programming conversation in fitness. Coaches who understand hormonal periodization, perimenopause programming, and life-stage-specific training are positioned ahead of a market that is actively looking for this expertise. |
| The Community Catalyst: How Connection Drives Retention, Revenue and Reach | The retention data is consistent: clients who feel connected to a community cancel less and refer more. This session examined what building that connection actually requires operationally, not just philosophically. |
GLP-1 medications have moved from a niche topic to a mainstream coaching reality in the past 18 months. The Summit dedicated a full session to it because the clients are already there. Coaches who have not developed a framework for programming alongside GLP-1 use are behind conversations their clients are already having with their doctors.
Coach360 will publish a dedicated GLP-1 programming guide in the coming weeks. If this is a gap in your current practice, it is worth addressing before clients bring it to you.
The Innovation Showcase is one of the most useful segments of Connected each year. Emerging companies pitch directly to a room of decision-makers and investors. For coaches and operators, it is a preview of the tools that will be part of standard conversations within two to three years.
Coach360 won the Innovation Showcase at the 2025 Summit, a recognition that validated FitHire and the Coach360 media platform as a meaningful development in how the fitness industry approaches staffing and talent. Watching the next round of companies step up carries specific weight when you have been in that position.
Related: Career Lab by Coach360 and FitHire by Coach360 built on the foundation that earned that recognition.
Jim Crowell, Eloiza Tecson, Eric Bormel, Nate Kline, and Alex Alimanestianu reviewed the presenting lineup, which brought five distinct approaches to the near future of fitness technology.
| Presenter | Company | Relevance for Coaches and Operators |
| Ivan Tchatchouwo | The Zone | Performance analytics and zone-based training protocols for group fitness environments. |
| Meridith Cass | Nix Biosensors | Real-time sweat biomarker monitoring for hydration and physiological load. Relevant for coaches managing high-output training populations. |
| Raj Sareen | Styku | 3D body composition scanning and data visualization. Directly applicable for coaches doing body recomposition work with GLP-1 and non-GLP-1 clients. |
| Scott Dickens | FORM Swim | Smart swim goggles with real-time performance metrics, expanding data-driven coaching into a significantly undertapped modality. This year’s Showcase winner. |
| Sukemasa Kabayama | Uplift Labs | AI-powered movement analysis for identifying compensation patterns and injury risk, with applications across performance and rehabilitation coaching. |
FORM Swim · Presented by Scott Dickens, VP of Global Sales Channels and Partnerships
FORM Swim’s win is worth examining beyond the recognition. Swim is the most underserved modality in coaching technology. The gap between data tools available for strength, conditioning, and cycling versus what exists for swimming has been significant for years. A wearable that delivers real-time metrics inside the water, without disrupting the session, closes part of that gap and opens the coaching conversation in a pool environment that has largely operated on feel and stopwatch timing.
For coaches who program multi-sport or triathlon clients, and for facilities with pool access, FORM Swim is worth evaluating before wider adoption makes it a standard expectation.
Three themes from Connected 2026 carry enough weight that they will show up in coaching conversations, hiring decisions, and facility programming decisions over the next year. None of them are speculative. Each reflects work already underway in the rooms that were in Los Angeles.
The Summit surfaces conversations that are already happening in the rooms most coaches and operators do not have access to. These three themes were not predictions. They were observations from the people building businesses around them right now.
Identify one of these three themes that applies to your current client roster. Spend 30 minutes this week mapping what you already know, what you need to learn, and what you would tell a client if they asked about it tomorrow.
FAQ · CONNECTED HEALTH AND FITNESS SUMMIT 2026
The Connected Health and Fitness Summit is an annual conference bringing together fitness coaches, studio operators, investors, and technology companies. The 2026 event was the seventh annual Summit, held February 18 through 20 in Los Angeles under the theme “Uniting Fitness, Health and Tech for Club and Community Success.”
FORM Swim, presented by Scott Dickens, VP of Global Sales Channels and Partnerships, won the 2026 Innovation Showcase. The selection committee included Jim Crowell, Eloiza Tecson, Eric Bormel, Nate Kline, and Alex Alimanestianu. Coach360 won the Innovation Showcase at the 2025 Summit.
The 2026 Summit covered prestige experience design in fitness, GLP-1 programming adaptation, women’s health as a business category, and community-driven retention strategy. The Innovation Showcase featured five technology companies presenting tools across performance analytics, biomarker monitoring, body composition scanning, swim coaching, and AI movement analysis.
GLP-1 medications are already present in active training populations. Coaches who have not developed a programming framework for clients using these medications are behind a conversation that is accelerating quickly. The Connected Summit dedicated a full panel session to GLP-1 adaptation, reflecting how central it has become to fitness business planning in 2026.
About Elisa Edelstein
Elisa is a curious and versatile writer, carving her niche in the health and wellness industry since 2015. Her lens is rooted in real world experience as a personal trainer and competitive bodybuilder and extended out of the gym and on to the page as a writer where she is able to combine her passions for empowering others, promoting wellness, and the power of the written word.
Powering the Business of Health, Fitness, and Wellness Coaching