All Things Fitness and Wellness

How Wearables Will Shape Fitness and Healthcare in 2025 with Rook CEO Marco Benitez

• Krissy Vann

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The wearables market is booming, with nearly 50% of U.S. households owning and actively using devices like Apple Watch, Whoop, and Oura, according to Parks Associates. As fitness and healthcare increasingly intersect, the data from these devices is becoming a valuable tool for improving wellness outcomes.

In this episode of The ATFW Podcast, host Krissy Vann sits down with Marco Benitez, CEO and Founder of ROOK. Marco shares his journey from Tae Kwon Do champion to biomedical engineer to entrepreneur and discusses how wearables are reshaping the fitness industry.

We’ll explore why wearable data is critical for health club operators, how technology like ROOK simplifies the integration of multiple devices, and what this means for the future of fitness and healthcare. Plus, Marco offers practical advice for entrepreneurs looking to make an impact in 2025.

#fitnessbusienss #fitnessindustry #fitnesstech 

Unknown:

I can see a world where everyone is going to use one wearable for track your health. Definitely could be a peel. Could be something that you are going to implant for yourself. Could be a tattoo. Everyone is moving to the healthcare space because one to be medical prize.

Krissy Vann:

This is all things fitness and wellness, uniting industry thought leaders and fit influencers on the mission to inspire innovation and encourage people to live a life fit and well, Apple, watch, whoop, aura. The wearables market is rapidly growing. A 2024 study by Parks associates shows that nearly 50% of US internet households now own and use wearable devices. The study also found that 92% of those planning to buy a wearable are willing to pay extra for features like blood pressure monitoring, highlighting their role in preventative health care and managing chronic conditions. On today's episode, we're joined by Marco Benitez, CEO and founder of rook Marco's background as a taekwondo champion, biomedical engineer and entrepreneur, gives him a unique take on how wearables are reshaping fitness and healthcare. On today's episode, we'll explore the future of wearables, why health club operators should embrace this technology and how they can make better use of wearable data, plus Marco shares practical entrepreneurial advice to kick start your new year before we get to it, be sure to hit like and subscribe. We have new podcast episodes weekly featuring industry thought leaders and influencers. I'm your host, Krissy Vann, and this is ATF debut. Marco Benitez joining me from rook or rook, depending on your preference here. And I'm so happy to have you, because at time of airing, we're going to be at the start of 2025 and once again, topping the list is the conversation around wearables. They are not new, but they are advancing at a rapid pace. Adaptation amongst consumers continues to grow and grow and become this interwoven part of people's lives and your job, as I understand, has been making sense of the data. Because data is great, but it's all well and fine until you don't know what to do with it. So tell me a little bit first of all about how your company came to be. Yeah,

Unknown:

well, first of all, thanks so much for this opportunity. Very excited to be here in your podcast. Yeah, well, first of all was, I think, as every company is like looking for the try to solve a problem. And the first problem was for our previous company, we have a company that work in the fitness centers before, so we streamlined before the heart rate and effort zone to real time, like my zone, more or less like this type of platform. And we used to do that. And then when pandemic hits, we realized that because before we have a hard hardware so we have before a heart rate monitor for chest and another one for for Dr biomedical engineers. So we created, we love to build things, so we built before medical devices. So for us, was okay, let's do a heart rate monitor. So before we have this platform. And was very successful in Latin America and in the south of us. But then again, when the pandemic hits, we saw that the end users want to use not our wearables necessary. They want to use the wearables that they have already, like the Apple watches or even the whoops or the auras or whatever, right? So we start to integrate the wearables for our own purpose, for our own platform, and we sell the mess that every single wearable. It's difficult to integrate at same time. It's very difficult to make sense of all this information and then deliver that data in a very specific way. It's it's very complex. So we thought those days like, Okay, what do we have to do? Because our platform is good. We are Bootstrap. We are doing great. But this specific thing, it's quite interesting. So with that idea, we join text, the accelerator program, and that gave us the opportunity to expand our network. And they told us, like, this is a no brainer. It's a lot of data that you are, you know, putting all together for your clients that's massive. And then we have a interesting meeting with in the healthcare space, with too many companies that are interested in this data, and that's when we are realized that, okay, this is a big deal here, so let's continue building on top of that. So all

Krissy Vann:

of a sudden you realize the pivot and what direction you need to go. So biomedical engineer, all of a sudden becoming absorbed in a wealth of data. Tell me a little bit about what sectors you found the wearable data to be applicable to you. Because before the conversation you and I spoke, obviously I speak more to the fitness industry side of things you're mentioning healthcare. So talk to me a little bit about this intersection that we're seeing and where the value of this information and these data points really serve.

Unknown:

Definitely, our first assumption was on the fitness industry and sports, and we were right. I mean, today, fitness fitness centers, clubs, are very interesting and willing to consume this data, because it's really great data. They can engage with the end user. They can customize. They can, you know, personalize. They can do a lot of very good stuff. However, something that we are looking in the market, it's like healthcare and fitness are all together, and they need to work together, because it's not once it was. It's not like in different places they are in the same level. One is preventive and the other was reactive, and fitness is 100% preventive. It's not just look good and have muscles and, you know, this type of things. It's, it's, it's more than that, and you can prevent, you know, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, also oncology, diseases they started in in, you know, with this type of problems. So there is a the willingness to use wearables are in both places, not only in the fitness industry, but now, you know, it's this intersection between fitness, wellness and, of course, insurance companies, insurance companies are willing also to start working with fitness industry. We have a lot of very interesting, interesting conversations between the insurance companies. All of them told us, like, we want to be a little bit more close with the fitness industry, but they don't know how to do it. That's really good insight for me, because it's like, it's like, leave different languages at the same time, but everyone wants to do the same thing. So So yes, different verticals trying to use the wearable data. And also a big pharma, I can tell you, also the Big Pharma, Big Pharma for clinical trials, or pharma for safety reasons. Once you have the drug inside you. It's like track the real time, real, real world evidence we did wearables data. It's very interesting.

Krissy Vann:

Well, and I appreciate what you're saying on the insurance half, because especially anyone that's had to deal with insurance, all their decisions need to be backed up and evidence based. And to your point, the fitness industry, not that long ago, people just viewed it as the place for shredded ABS losing weight. New year, new me. People drop off. Cycle continues, and the narrative around that, from an industry perspective, we know, has changed so greatly, and it's so refreshing, and the trickle down of the consumer understanding is changing, and so not only does it make sense for insurance companies to get involved, but I think the consumer demand of wanting support for these preventative measures is also really changing slowly, but it is certainly changing. But for yourselves, because of your platform, I saw stat in your site that you process over 1 billion wearable data points annually, which I don't think anybody can mentally picture and quantify that number. So I'm curious, like, what are some of the biggest trends or surprises that have emerged from this data? And really, how can owners capitalize on this information? Yeah,

Unknown:

that's that's a really, really, really good question. And well, first of all, one of the biggest trends we have seen is the demand of the personalized fitness journey. So if we are talking about clubs, fitness centers, end user want to have a more personalized experience. So if you have the data from these the end users, you can start to customize the exercise on top of your stress levels, on top of your sleep, on top of, you know, your nutrition. You can be more precise on which type of food you will need. I know that you can, we have books around that, we have science around that. But at the end of the day, when you you run a clinical trial, it's just with a specific type of people, but not everyone. It's it's the same way we have outliers all over. The places. So having this information from the club centers have this information from different apps that want to customize. I think that's very important. Also the apps, you know, after pandemics, there is a lot of apps outside, like sweat, like center, from Chris Hemsworth, from, you know, fit, body fit, whatever. There is a lot of fit apps outside which are great. And then it's complementary with the clubs and trying to bring wearable since in the middle, it's like bringing that customer side, personalized thing for, for, for the end users. So they are looking for that definitely 100% everyone is looking for how can you personalize the experience?

Krissy Vann:

Well, I know one of the conversations that came up very often, I was at the fitness Technology Summit in the fall, and it's a sentiment that I hear time and time again, that the fitness industry in particular tends to be late adopters with new technology, sometimes there's a little bit of resistance or lack of understanding of how the investment will really impact the return of investment down the line. Do you feel that? And this is kind of a blanket statement, so it can be a little bit individual, but for health club operators as a whole, do you think that they understand and are capitalizing on the power of the fact that their members generally are wearing all the info that they need to know. Or is there some low hanging fruit here that they're missing?

Unknown:

Definitely, definitely they are missing something here, because, you know, data is the new oil. So definitely, gyms owner moves are moving from one size, fit, old model, to a truly personalized experience for the end user. Once you have this personalized experience, it's where you can you know they are not going only to be there all the time, but also they are going to bring new users. So definitely, it's something that will work only if they use the data that they have from the end users. Not only that they have they can have experience, or they can have the data outside of the gym, inside, outside, you know, behaviors. So I mean data. It's power data. It's very important. So now it's like you can find data all of the places you can go Web. In fact, you have the cookies in your web. Yeah, that tracks you everything. If you, for some reason, can see, I don't know, a desk you will see in your I don't know, in your Instagram, in your Tiktok, in your whatever, in Facebook and Twitter, all around desks. So it's the same thing. If you have this type of information about your end user and behaviors, he's a runner. He's a guy that likes the weights. He's a guy that love I don't know CrossFit, you can start modeling everything and personalized experience for them. So yeah, can you

Krissy Vann:

kind of talk me through like, what that actually would look like in regards to your relationship with your member? Because I know we hear about hyper personalization, but let's say they implement a service such of your such as yours, how does that exactly change their member experience? Is this a situation where all of a sudden they're getting a different type of push notification? Or what does that relationship look like? Because I think sometimes there's a disconnect that we hear, yay, there's data. And then you have all these data points, and then you're like, how does that actually help the person?

Unknown:

Yeah, it's it's very complex. What we do is very abstract, because we are a data science company, so basically we are behind the scenes. So let's say that these club have an app, or they have a platform to manage the end user's experience, whatever that means will be, I don't know how many times you go to the club or payrolls or whatever. So if the end user has one app or a platform to join the club, we are behind. They only have to copy paste our code, and then they will have access to this information of the end user. Of course, the end user has to authorize everything. It's a consent there is a Terms and Conditions how we are going to use the data, how they are going to use the data, as all the platforms, like Facebook, like Instagram, whatever you join, there's terms and conditions around your pictures, about your data, about your comments, about your everything, right? So it's the same thing. They integrate our platform, our code. They have access to the end user and the experience of the end user. We help them to build that experience. We have a health score. We have different type of things that can bring insights to the end user, but not only. The end user, also the business the club, they will have experience around which churns, or which ones are going to take, what will be a churn, or how can you acquire new type of end users, depending on the type of exercise you have in your club? So there is, like, a different type of things that you can do with our information, with our platform, that they are going to be have embedded in their own

Krissy Vann:

well. And so, as you said before, hyper personalization is the goal of almost every operator at this point. If not, it needs to be, because, especially when it comes to the Gen Z population, which we know are very engaged in our spaces. They're demanding these types of experiences. It's an it's becoming very quickly an expectation, not an add on. And so you don't want to get left behind, but you kind of brought up a point. You're like, data is power, which absolutely it is, especially, I mean, for a health club operator to know the signs of a member that might be canceling, and being able to intersect that beforehand, incredible from a retention standpoint, but with great data also comes great responsibility, and I know that that's a big conversation as well. Of we're collecting all this information. Yes, there are terms and conditions, but talk to me a little bit about the importance of protecting that data as well, and what that looks like from a company such as yourselves and the considerations that have to go into place, because this is very I mean, a hyper personalized experience means hyper personalized information.

Unknown:

Yeah, 100% so for us, that type privacy is critical for us, and we prioritize everything. That's why we are HIPAA compliant, GDPR compliant, ISO SOC two, we ensure that members data is handled and with the highest level of security. So definitely, once everything is is it's very clear in the terms and conditions, but on top of that, we do a lot of stuff, because also we work with a clinical or we work with a big pharma, we work with insurance companies, we work with fitness clubs. So data is super important. So we handle everything with all the conditions, with all the the laws that are in the in the market, to to, yeah, to help to the to manage all this information, yeah.

Krissy Vann:

I mean, obviously you want to do that from a business perspective. It would be a public relations crisis if you didn't. And it goes that way. But it is an important consideration for especially people that are obtaining these types of services, to kind of understand the responsibility that we have if we are asking for people to share this information, which ultimately is going to amp up their experience. But that is definitely something that needs to be strongly considered for yourself. I'm curious about AI. I know it's like nobody can not talk about AI, but you said that this whole pivot happened post pandemic. So I imagine your platform building being built without the aid of that, and then it was the very quick pivot societally, of artificial intelligence being a partner in technology. So talk to me a little bit about how that might have changed your workflows, because I can't imagine it's not something that's being utilized on your end. Maybe I'm wrong. No,

Unknown:

no, yes, definitely. This is something very important. Ai, is it's It's massive. It's really massive. And we have previous experience before, before rook. We create another company, and 2003 we we build a machine learning for hospitals, very so 2003 Yeah, we were in the college. In fact, my previous co founder, he was my co founder. Right now, right now, it's again, my co founder. Sorry. So he's a very good friend, and we know each other since college. So we built that company before, and we get an exit, uh, web, big franchise in Latin America, both our our company, incredible. Was a hospital, yeah, was amazing. And we learn, we have a lot of learnings over there, because before there was no AI, yeah, was machine learning, and that's it, right on 2003 in fact, we sold the company in 2006 but yeah, to your point, AI is, it's very important. It's try to create the algorithm. The problem with the AI is that you need very standardized and normalized information so you can use it, because outside there is a lot of noise, and this is something that we learn. That's why we first built our algorithms, helping to normalize. And standardize and take out all the noise of the data that we receive from all the devices. So once we have that, we can clean the data and we deliver very specific things only that standardization and normalization, we build an AI tool that's for us. That's the first thing that we did. Then we are going to start bringing insights and more predictions for our clients. But this is something that we are going to release later. But definitely this is it's massive. It's very important right now. I think it's a really good tool to help you to improve and be more like, quicker, be more precise, be more again, talking about customization, it's everything is all around that. So, so, yes, this is something that definitely it's on top of minds for us. That's

Krissy Vann:

interesting, though. That's why I said I was like in 2003 because it must be so fascinating for you to go from what it was. I mean, I say not that long ago, but I guess this is now where, like, wait, that was 20 years

Unknown:

ago. Yeah, exactly 20 years ago, right? But it is kind

Krissy Vann:

of wild to see where we are at and how accessible these tools are. But obviously it's impacting everyone from front end to back end, and if you aren't playing in the space, you're really missing out. Because, to your point, it adds an exponent on a human being. And I understand there's a lot of fears there, and some of them well warranted. I think any type of new tech that we incorporate needs to be respected. But at the same time, it makes us exponential human beings, because it's like machine and human working in tandem. 2024 who would have thought, but for yourself, on that note, we're in I mean, at time of airing, it will be 2025 and I kind of started the conversations being like wearables have been around for a hot minute. I mean, I remember when the basic Fit Bit came out, and they've evolved so greatly along the way. What do you think the future of wearables look like? I mean, we have seen such great adoption, so I don't think they're going anywhere.

Unknown:

I love this piece. I'm very enthusiastic about the wearables I have. My first wearable was a polar. Was the first one, if I remember well, between polar and Garmin, maybe, and only measured before the steps and some heart rate more or less. And then the other one, I was very, very keen and very excited. Was we, things, we thinks, is our, you know, is a French brand, and then was bought by different companies, but they were doing something very interesting. And to your question, it's like everyone is moving to the healthcare space, because one to be medical device. And in fact, we start to see after pandemic, FDA clearance from some features for some wearables. And today we have some wearables outside, like DGMs, which are the continuous glucose monitors. And some of them are, they are wearables. It's like and there are medical devices. Yeah, wild. It's wild. And definitely they are. Everyone is going to that to that area, everyone is going to be on that place. So I can see a world where everyone is going to use one wearable for track your health. Definitely could be a pill. Could be something that you are going to implant for yourself. Could be a tattoo, if I remember, I can tell you the name. But when I worked before in the pig pharma, because my also I work in the pig pharma, there was a clinical trial with one tattoo, right? And the tattoo, you know, the tattoo, show you your your glucose level. So what's amazing for me was, Okay, that's great. And now I can see the CGMS, how is moving. Now there is a little chip that is going to be implanted on yourself, and that will track you, 24/7, hours the whole year, the whole year, not only 33 weeks, yeah, three days, it's going to be the whole week, the whole year. So things are moving forward in that place, and I'm very, very excited to see what's going to happen. And, yeah, yeah. I think everyone has to will have one wearable in their own body.

Krissy Vann:

Yeah, it's wild to think, but to your point, you're like, trials like this have already been in existence, and it's one of those things we know with technology, whatever, as a consumer side that you're aware of that exists and is in the market. Well, the testing and the innovations are. Already well underway. They may already be five years, 10 years underway. So it's a very exciting time, especially playing in a place as you are, where, as you mentioned, like data is the new gold. So I'm curious. You've obviously had an incredible founders journey from even a very young age, and a lot of success. So kind of shifting gears here. But what have been some of your biggest lessons along this journey? Especially because, as you mentioned, we were putting one company together, and we realized that we needed to do a pivot, which you have executed. So what have kind of been the biggest milestones or challenges within that you've overcome?

Unknown:

That's a very good question. I will say that the biggest challenge is to find your the correct people to work. It's always around like

Krissy Vann:

made that mistake before. Where was it? No,

Unknown:

no, no, definitely. But yeah, I mean, I think that's a big challenge for everyone. I I find, I found my the correct team, my co founders. I love, I really love my co founders really, believe me, they are the best, the best of the best. They everyone. It's very everyone has their own thing to put in the table. So it's like, it's like have a brother. It's like have also like a wife. I'm married, by the way, so my wife and myself, we are complimentary. The same happened with my co founders. So this is not the first time that I build something with them. It's the second time, in fact. So that's the reason, when you find someone and you admire that person, that's where you know the magic happened. So I will say that the most is not around the technology is not around the business is be with the correct people and also with investors. Because in our case, we are in startup, and we raise money with different investors and also have the correct investors. Is very difficult. It's like, first of all, fine money is not that easy. Is it sounds very fancy to build on a startup and have raised money and build something. It sounds super fancy and rock star and whatever. But it's not like that. You know that someone put $1 in your idea, it's very difficult. So then find the correct investor. That's the other part, which is very difficult. And I found them, and I have a very good conversations with each one, so that's why I love to have conversations with all of them. They they always tell me that I am spending too much time with them, but it's for me. It's not spending it for me, it's like creating this big relationship with them. So I'm a fan, believer of creative relationship with your investors, with your people, with your founder, co founders, with your team, with everyone. I will say that that's because pivots in your company doesn't matter. You can pivot, you can change, but you have the correct people. If you don't have the correct people, you will fail on that pivot. I kind

Krissy Vann:

of love that that's your point, because just talking earlier about artificial intelligence and all the fears that people have, and what you're saying is really a testament to the fact that the end of the day, the human relationship can't be replaced, and that is what is pivotal when you are building something. I'm curious with you, just bringing up the investment side, because we do talk a lot about that from a health club standpoint, and consolidations, mergers, acquisitions, etc, but for yourself, like in regards to the wearable and data science space, do you feel that there's a strong appetite heading into 2025 for investors to grow this space? Do they have a firm understanding of where the space is going. Or do you think that there's still a lot of education on your part for them to understand why this is the innovation of the future?

Unknown:

I think everyone understand the powerful of the data. There is a lot of appetite. In fact, if you can see now, like, what was it like two weeks ago, Dexcom invest in aura. That was massive, massive. Yeah, so big pharma, it's looking the wearables today. That's the answer. I will say yes. That's

Krissy Vann:

very fair, especially anyone that knows Big Pharma has big in front of it for a big reason. That's like, there's a lot of dollars and cents. So it's going to be fascinating. But lastly, before I let you go here, obviously, our audience here are a lot of fitness industry executives. And I'm sure heading into 2025 there's many that are looking to streamline. And their operations finally hone down that hyper personalization that they heard spoken about at every conference throughout 2024 so what would be your overarching message to those that maybe have because technology, any new tech, it's an investment. And yeah, you might be a huge enterprise operator and have the dollars, but some of the smaller players that may be a significant consideration. So why is it something that they should not ignore as they're heading into this next year?

Unknown:

Definitely they should not ignore the small ones, the small companies, the small fitness clubs, because they are building very quickly, and they are on on, they want to be successful, and they are looking for the wearables data. That's the first thing. If you go to any, any event, everyone talk about wearables and connections with the hardware. You know, personalized, customize the experience. That's super important. So the small ones eventually is they are going to grow a lot. So they need to keep the eyes very open. It doesn't matter that you have a big franchise, have you have to, you know, update everything. Because if you want to take the new generations, as you said before, they are looking for that they are, they are they see that these type of things, all of the places they have, if they open the the Safari or the Google, everything, it's customized. Everything, your your your purchase, you, whatever you are looking for, everything is personalized. So if you are not doing this, please, you have to do it, because, if not, something is going to happen in the future, and the future is not so far. No, as we

Krissy Vann:

learned when I said 2003 that was yesterday. No, it was 20 years ago. Well, Margo, I so appreciate you taking the time. I'm really excited to have this type of information as well to kick off the new year, because, to your point, I mean, it's made almost every top trending list of this year, wearables, every single conference that we've attended, wearables. And I think that there's just all this conversation data, this data, that. But making sense of the data is a completely different ball games. So I appreciate you taking the time to educate us further and give us a little glimpse of what the future may hold. Thank you so much.

Unknown:

Thank you so much for this opportunity. Very again, very excited. Thank you very much for time and yeah, hopefully, hopefully see you in the next one.

Krissy Vann:

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