FITRADIO is proud to partner with Honors Holding, LLC – Orangetheory Fitness. Ryan Tong, Director of Music at Honors Holding, understands that a successful gym needs these 3 elements to thrive: “a great location, a great coach, and a great playlist”.

Read on to hear how FITRADIO has helped Ryan take Honors Holding’s music experience to the next level.

What if we told you that after surveying over 7,000 members of gyms and studios, 95% said that music is just as important as fitness instruction or coaching in a class. Queue: FTIRADIO PRO.

FITRADIO and Honors Holdings, LLC, Announce Music Partnership 

The music curation service will assist the leading global franchisee of Orangetheory Fitness studios in playlist creation 

ATLANTA (June 23, 2021) – Leading a premium fitness experience requires a coach’s full attention, especially for the fast-paced, small group interval training classes at Orangetheory Fitness. In this high-energy atmosphere, coaches are laser-focused on leading workouts, correcting member form, and motivating the class. While they do their best to craft high-energy playlists, it can often be time-consuming to find and program the right music mix for Orangetheory Fitness classes. When the team at Honors Holdings, LLC, realized a vast majority of their coaches were already using FITRADIO’s DJ-curated playlists, the choice was clear for the Atlanta-based operator. 

Breis Gordon has a passion for exercise and music, which makes him the perfect fit for the FITRADIO! Breis has been DJing in and around Pittsburgh for 6 years, working “every gig imaginable” at impressive venues and a wide variety of audiences. He is a DJ at F45 Training in Pittsburgh, where he spends time and effort creating mixes full of recognizable and motivating tracks that cover lots of genres for all to enjoy. Read on to get to know Breis and hear about his process behind curating mixes for classes. 

The quality of music curation matters—and we have the numbers to back it up.

As a digital fitness provider, we know you invest a great deal of time and energy to bring a game-changing product to market. Our years of combined experience in the fitness and music industry have demonstrated that music plays an indispensable role in your product’s success. Investing in a curated music experience for your users is just as important as investing in elite instructors to build an engaging fitness program. To prove this fact, we partnered with UserTesting.com to conduct a survey. Read on to learn what we discovered (Spoiler alert: We confirmed our theory).

There’s no doubt about it: Jason Khalipa is making bold moves in the virtual fitness space.

Jason is a CrossFit Games Champion, pediatric cancer advocate, and FITRADIO partner who’s dedicated to improving his own fitness and helping others do the same. After graduating from college in 2008, Jason opened CrossFit Santa Clara, which he eventually renamed NCFIT. His years of experience in the conventional health club industry helped Jason recognize areas for improvement. Focused on enriching his members’ lives through excellent coaching, community, and workouts, NCFIT evolved into a trail-blazing digital fitness product and international program for NCFIT partner gyms.

We’re excited to welcome a new DJ to the #FITRADIOFam, DJ AJAXX! Based out of Scottsdale, Arizona, AJAXX DJs for several F45 gym locations. We had a chance to catch up with him to ask him more about why he does what he does and what inspires him. Here’s what he had to say.

In light of our new NCFIT x FITRADIO collab, we got to hear from the founder of NCFIT, Jason Khalipa, about his fitness coaching and FITRADIO journey. You will get to learn about Jason’s experience with FITRADIO and about what inspires and motivates Jason in the fitness community. Keep reading to hear what Jason had to say!

I am a 39-year-old mom to 6-year-old twins, the Director of Operations of Fresh Smiles Foundation, a local non-profit helping children, and a Dancefit Instructor. I taught First Grade in the Council Rock School District in PA for nine years before having my twins. I grew up as a competitive dancer training in ballet, jazz, hip hop, tap, and acrobatics and traveled to various locations in the U.S. to compete. I received a scholarship to dance on the Towson University Dance Team, a multi-winning National Champion team and I helped the team win the NDA National Championship in Daytona, Florida three years in a row. I danced in the halftime show of the Pro Bowl in Hawaii and was chosen to be a dancer/entertainer at the Indy 500 Post Race Party in Indiana where I performed for racers, models, and celebrities. I was invited to perform acrobatic skills at a National Sales Motivational Kick Off Meeting in Baltimore where I did backflips to begin the meeting. I was a featured dancer in Music Mountain Theatre’s Mamma Mia in Lambertville, NJ. I have taught Zumba at local gyms and schools and have choreographed dance competition routines for studios in PA and MD. I have made my way in the fitness industry by training in Dancefit, HIIT classes, running, yoga, barre, and kickboxing. I competed in the MS Health & Fitness Competition in the summer of 2020 and was a featured trainer for FITRADIO where I collaborated with DJ Cazes from Miami on a Dancefit mix. 

My energetic, upbeat workouts combine dance fitness and strength-based combinations that create a high calorie burn that activates your smaller and larger muscle groups. I mix sexy with strength, offering a unique blend of moves and routines for all levels of fitness. You will move your hips and shake and twist your whole body, but also expect to perform a few push-ups, mountain climbers, squats, lunges, and a few jabs. Not a dancer? No problem. Just listen to the music and let loose. Doing your own moves and variations is encouraged and applauded. You do what your body, mind, and fitness level can handle. It is all about having fun, moving to hot music, and feeling like you are in a club instead of a gym. Music will vary from pop to hip hop to Latin and island beats. Turn on your watch app and HR monitors and watch the calories burn, your heart rate rise, and your step count to reach between 5,000-7,000. While taking class I want everyone to remember my favorite quote, “Put music to our troubles and we’ll dance them away.” 

I typically workout 5-6 days a week and I do a variety of workouts. Each week I do about 3-4 HIIT classes, 2-3 jogs or runs, 2-3 Dancefit classes (I dance hard in my own class), and I try to add in a yoga or barre class. Some weeks I will take two rest days and some weeks I workout 7 days a week. I take it week by week sometimes day by day based on how I am feeling and what is going on around me. I wake up around 4:45/5:00 a.m. 5 days a week so I can get in a workout before my twins wake up and before I begin any non-profit work, teaching, errands, cleaning, etc.  

I use FITRADIO on a daily basis. I have my favorite playlists for runs and I have my favorites for dancing in my kitchen or in my Dancefit classes. I will also throw some FITRADIO playlists on in the car as I am always car dancing. I was introduced to FITRADIO during an Orangetheory class when I got goosebumps to a song running on the treadmill and I HAD to ask my coach where he found his playlist. Thank you, Austin Kim for introducing me to FITRADIO! My HIIT trainers at my current gym, Bria Method use some FITRADIO playlists during their classes as well. I am currently being trained to teach kickboxing and HIIT so I am now looking for playlists for those types of classes.

I have so many fitness goals and FITRADIO has helped me reach those goals because music is and always has been a huge part of my life. I have loved music since the age of 2 and that is why my parents enrolled me in dance and singing lessons. Music runs in my veins and in my head constantly. It is my therapy.  I have always used music to motivate me in everything I do from dancing to running to getting ready for a night out when I am exhausted. I play FITRADIO playlists when I am choreographing Dancefit combos and I do so by just blasting the music and dancing in my kitchen or at the gym. I video the dances and then take moves I did and turn them into repetitive fitness moves. I have to say the biggest accomplishment FITRADIO has been a part of is my recent running successes especially with me being a new runner. I cannot run without music and FITRADIO’s playlists being non-stop, fluid, and upbeat help me get through long runs. I have messaged a few of the DJ’s thanking them for their mixes because I was able to run far lengths because the music kept my adrenaline going. My last long run was 10 miles and I listened to two FITRADIO playlists during the entire run. I reached a new Personal Record and the music motivated me to keep going! 

My favorite FITRADIO feature is being able to search for a playlist based my goal running tempo. The rate of the beat is spot on with my speed and that is a big deal to me because I have to run on the beat due to my dance background and doing everything to beats. I also love being able to search for playlists based on my mood or activity. 

My absolute favorite thing about FITRADIO is the fluidity of the songs and the remixes that the DJs find and add. I begin to find favorite DJs based on my personality, mood, style, and preferred activity. I love being able to click on a playlist and it is non-stop so I do not have to mess with music during a workout or run. 

I have so many fitness goals for 2021. I create my goals yearly, monthly, and weekly. My goals for this year are to bring more Dancefit classes to the Bucks County, PA area. Another goal I have is to get certified and trained in kickboxing and HIIT so I can begin to teach those classes as well. I am currently working on this! Another goal is to run at least 500 miles by December and run a 10k (without focusing on speed). My most important fitness goal this year is to motivate others to move and get healthy at any age, especially us women who have had kids or have had health difficulties and need an extra push to get back into it or get started. I am working on how I want to do this but for now I do my best through social media and at the gym. OK, ok, one other goal is to keep growing the muscles in my glutes. 

Instagram: katinanatale

Meet our newest Strength Trainer, Chelsea! Always inspired by travel, Chelsea is bringing quick, 30-minute travel-friendly workouts for all fitness levels to the Fit Radio App! We had a chance to catch up with Chelsea and ask her a few questions so you could get to know her better.