84: The AI takeover. Why coaches can no longer compete (and what to do about it)
The Business of Fitness Podcast
Release Date: 10/21/2025
90: Do sales and offers make you feel dirty? There’s a better way to grow.
The Business of Fitness Podcast
In this episode, Dan Williams explores why traditional sales and discount-driven marketing make fitness business owners feel uncomfortable, and how shifting to an experience-focused approach can create trust, authenticity, and lasting client relationships. 5 things you’ll learn: Why the ‘sales and offers’ model feels inauthentic and unsustainable for fitness professionals. How the most trusted brands win by creating experiences, not chasing sales. What an ‘experience-focused approach’ looks like in a fitness business, from first enquiry to ongoing service. How to design remarkable...
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89: 9 leading business owners share their biggest lessons from 2025
The Business of Fitness Podcast
In this episode Dan Williams sought out nine of the most successful fitness and health business owners of 2025. He asked each of them to share their one biggest lesson that will carry them to more success in 2026. You’ll hear from Emily McPhillips, Jason Lim, Sam Cassells, Jake Morgan, Emily Moore, Jade Webb, Grant Hancock, Scott Hook, and Ben Luckens, as they share the lessons and decisions that shaped their year in business.
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88: How Ben is building a fitness empire & how Dan thinks about the world.
The Business of Fitness Podcast
In this episode, Dan is a guest on Ben Lucken's podcast, where he sits down for a really wide ranging conversation about business mindset. Benny asks Dan about how he thinks about building a life that aligns with your own definition of success. They also discuss some of the frameworks Dan uses to think about the world, including: Why mindsets are trainable skills. The magic of 3-hour deep work blocks. The 7 words that define business success. The 4 Archetypes of happiness. How to balance journey vs destination. Why experience always beats technology. They dive into Benny's journey with...
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87: How to plan a marketing photoshoot for your gym
The Business of Fitness Podcast
Summary: In this episode I explore how a professional photoshoot can transform your fitness business marketing, with practical steps to plan, capture, and use high-quality photos that attract the right clients. 5 things you’ll learn: Why professional photos are one of the most effective marketing tools for fitness businesses. How to choose photo subjects that reflect your target clients and build connection. The types of scenes and interactions that create powerful, versatile images. Why staged photos deliver better marketing results than spontaneous action shots. How to plan and run a...
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86: Solving Exercise Physiology’s Identity Crisis
The Business of Fitness Podcast
In this episode Dan Williams explores how goal dilution contributes to the identity crisis in Exercise Physiology and shares how defining what EPs don’t do can help the profession stand out. 5 things you’ll learn in this episode: Why Exercise Physiologists struggle with public recognition and a clear professional identity. How goal dilution weakens the perception of Exercise Physiology for clients, referrers, and allied health partners. Why defining what you don’t do creates stronger positioning and clearer boundaries in a crowded industry. How choosing a niche and sticking to it leads...
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85: Building a Career as an Exercise Physiologist - lessons from 20 years as an EP.
The Business of Fitness Podcast
Today we bring you an episode of the Kinetic Careers podcast with Jeremiah PEIFFER. Dan Williams was lucky enough to be invited by Jeremiah for the very first episode of his podcast, which helps sport and exercise science students and graduates to develop their career. Jeremiah and Dan had a wide ranging conversation where they covered: Dan's pathway through exercise and sports science How the EP profession and ESSA have evolved The way Dan has designed his businesses around being a present dad and building a lifestyle not just an income The role of failure, networking and lifelong learning...
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84: The AI takeover. Why coaches can no longer compete (and what to do about it)
The Business of Fitness Podcast
If you are an online coach, or you program for your clients, this is for you. In this episode, Dan Williams talks about the very real threat that AI is bringing to people who provide programs for their clients. Dan explores how AI is transforming exercise programming, why online coaches face potentially career ending risks, and how fitness professionals can pivot to protect their careers in the AI-driven future. 5 things you’ll learn in this episode: Why AI-powered exercise programming is advancing faster than most fitness professionals realise. How real-time data from wearables,...
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83: How my business earns me 23 hours a week
The Business of Fitness Podcast
Summary: In this episode Dan explores why business owners should stop measuring success only by money and start valuing time as their true currency, helping you design a more profitable and balanced business life. 4 things you’ll learn in this episode: Why revenue and profit can be misleading measures of business success How tracking hours worked reveals your true hourly rate and workload What it means to switch from 'dollars as currency' to 'minutes as currency' Practical ways to redesign your business to earn time, not just money Transcription: I think just about every single...
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82: How to turn your website into a lead generating machine
The Business of Fitness Podcast
In this episode Dan Williams explores the six essential sections every fitness business website needs and the psychological strategies you should include to convert more leads into paying clients. Let Dan help you build a beautiful, one-page website that generates leads for your business: . 6 things you’ll learn in this episode Why your website should be the centre of your fitness business marketing The six must-have sections that guide visitors towards taking action How to write customer-focused website copy that speaks directly to your audience Psychological principles like...
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Quick thought: Is your work becoming your identity?
The Business of Fitness Podcast
In this 'quick thought' Dan asks us to rethink identity, not as what we do for money, but as how we actually live and spend our time.
info_outlineIf you are an online coach, or you program for your clients, this is for you.
In this episode, Dan Williams talks about the very real threat that AI is bringing to people who provide programs for their clients.
Dan explores how AI is transforming exercise programming, why online coaches face potentially career ending risks, and how fitness professionals can pivot to protect their careers in the AI-driven future.
5 things you’ll learn in this episode:
- Why AI-powered exercise programming is advancing faster than most fitness professionals realise.
- How real-time data from wearables, sleep, mood, and recovery can reshape training sessions instantly.
- The limitations of empathy and human connection as a defence against automation.
- Why online programming is becoming a commodity and what that means for pricing.
- How to pivot your business towards unscalable, in-person experiences that AI cannot replicate.
If you are in the business of exercise programming, everything is about to change. You may think that empathy and human connection is going to save you, but in this episode Dan shares a story that shows how difficult it will be to compete with AI.
Your action steps:
- Reassess whether online programming is your long-term career plan, given AI’s rapid advances.
- Explore ways to integrate AI tools into your business as a facilitator, not a competitor.
- Build in-person, non-scalable experiences that prioritise connection and value beyond what AI can deliver.
- Educate clients on the unique benefits of human-led training and the experiential side of fitness.
- Begin shifting your offers towards services that are harder to commoditise, such as bespoke coaching or community-driven experiences.