School’s out and it’s time for the high school student in your life to use this summer to get fit, educated and mentally ready for next semester. Our pal Justin Drummond of Planet Fitness tells Nestor about another Summer Pass of getting our youth motivated and energized at a club in your neighborhood.
Justin Drummond of Planet Fitness discussed the summer pass program for youth aged 14-19, which allows free access to Planet Fitness clubs from June 1 to August 31. The program aims to promote health and well-being among young people. Drummond emphasized the ease of sign-up through the Planet Fitness app or website, requiring only parental consent. He highlighted the benefits of the program, including physical and mental health improvements. Drummond also mentioned the expansion of Planet Fitness, including new gyms with advanced amenities like hydro massage beds and cryo loungers, and the affordability of the black card membership, which offers reciprocity across all Planet Fitness locations
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Planet Fitness, summer pass, youth program, fitness industry, mental health, physical health, accessibility, black card membership, recovery, functional training, Gen Z, Maryland lottery, crab cake tour, Vicki Brick, Ohana group.
SPEAKERS
8
Nestor Aparicio, Justin Drummond
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 task of Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We’re positively into the summer months here. And I have a summer promotion for you. People come up and they’re like, hey, ness you look pretty good. 57 what’s going on? I’m like, Planet Fitness has been behind me for two decades. We’re gonna be doing the Maryland crab cake tour in and around Planet Fitness locations. They have a fun Planet Fitness AC, DC story. That’s got to be a part of this conversation as well. We have the Back to the Future scratch, also in the Maryland lottery. The crab cake tours on the road, green mount station in Hampstead this week, next Friday, back at faith needs at the mothership downtown, at Lexington market. If you haven’t been down to the new market, please stop by. We would love to see you. And a whole litany of places we’re doing it. Readers, crab ass, we’re going to be in Reisterstown later in love. We’re going to be at the Y in Randall stand at the pool for Juneteenth later on in the month. That’s going to be awesome as well. And we’re getting back out to 1623, brewing in Eldersburg. All of it. Brought to you by the Maryland lottery. This guy is one of our great sponsors and a friend to the show, and we’ve had tragedy since the last time we got together. We always kind of get together around the holidays, because that’s January 1, and that’s when people get in shape at Planet Fitness. And we do get together, of course, every time, I think he said his child, his fifth graders, about to get out of school about 215 today, I drove through Catonsville the other day. I got behind the school busses up on Bloomsbury, and I’m like, What are these kids even learning in June? Anyway, they should all be in the gym. Justin Drummond joins us now for Planet Fitness. He is the president of the Ohana group, which is a near and dear and very special group of people. To me, we’ve lost Vicki brick. And every time I drive by padonia, where I know you are, and there’s a ROFO there, there’s been a beautiful sign up. And it gets me because I drive up and down padonia All the time. We welcome Justin Drummond back onto the program. First things first, we have summer program. We have all of that. My heart to you, to everyone in the extended brick family of just what has been unthinkable.
Justin Drummond 02:04
Yeah, thank you, Nestor for having me back on the show. And you’re absolutely right. The loss of Vicky brick is something that you know hits home, obviously for us at ohana, but obviously closer to the Brick Bodies family, obviously Lynn and Victor and John brick, all of those being family members of mine and of the company, of course, that they started and ran here for so long, and continue to do so. But you know, Vicky was a trailblazer in her own right in the fitness industry, so the loss of her has definitely shaken a lot of us in the fitness industry, especially here in
Nestor Aparicio 02:38
Baltimore, one of my absolute favorite people. So that’s all I could say. Planet Fitness, I’m I’m a mess already. Here we go. Summer Program, you and I get together, and it’s like, I always laugh about the Bally’s holiday spa in 1983 and memberships and clubs and how much money and what a you know at this point for for young people. And the summer program I come on every time this year we talk about it. This has become a bedrock part of Planet Fitness and everything that you do, which is to take young people and start plant that seed early, so they can be 56 and try to be as healthy as I am at this point, but, but really not taking this on as a hobby, but taking it on as a lifestyle, taking it on as something that is going to serve young people well, and while other people may close out some young people and not allow them in in various places, Planet Fitness has an incredibly welcoming policy in summer. And I want you to talk about this program, because it really is kind of an amazing thing when I think about how much my dad had to pay for me to go to the gym back in the 80s. You know,
8Justin Drummond 03:45
yeah, this is, this is something remarkable, and something that no other brand really does. I mean, you just mentioned that there are businesses or entities that keep teams out, but we want to welcome them in, especially in the summer months they’re out of school. We don’t want them restless and just not having anything to do. We think that this is a great opportunity for them to focus on their health and well being and or start that journey right. Some of them are going to be brand new to this, because it starts at age 14. So we do 14 to 19 years old. They get to work out and free at the clubs all across the country from June 1 until August 31 so there’s a lot that they can accomplish in that summer period. But more than just the summer period is, you’re right, it kicks them off for a lifestyle change, or continuing the lifestyle of being healthy, being fit. And not only does it, it benefit their physical nature and being but they’re mental as well.
Nestor Aparicio 04:41
Well, you know, I think we’ve talked about this a lot, and I first things first is, my kid is that of that age, or have a neighbor? I have a neighbor as some beautiful boys down the street to get them in the gym. What’s, what’s the barrier to entry? Name, ID, I don’t know about what a 14 or 15 year old young person. Would have for ID. I just had to make sure I had my real ID. So I go through the airport a couple weeks ago, but just on a level of parent guidance, bringing a young person in, what’s what’s typical in in the Baltimore area, you have gyms all over the area, Planet Fitness, yeah.
Justin Drummond 05:18
So all they have to do, really, is download the planet fitness app. They can sign up right on the app. They can sign up on the website. They can come into the club. We want to make it as accessible as possible for any team to come in and sign up. Obviously, they’ll need to have a parent or a guardian sign off on the waivers that we have because they are minors. But also the attractive piece too is that the adult or the parent will be able to work out with their kid, and we have specials running for them too. So it can be a family type of adventure through the entire summer months, but we make it as easy as simple as possible. It is free for the kids between 14 and 19 to come in. Ease of Access is kind of what we’re going for to make sure that they have opportunities this summer.
Nestor Aparicio 05:56
8I always love having you on out in front of this and Q and Teddy before that. Every you know, everybody that’s been a part of this has their own journey about health, and I have a lot of friends. I was eating some ice cream in an event recently, and had a friend she said, You know, I’m limited. I you know, I grew up. I was a little overweight when I was young, and so was I right, I mean, and I said to her, Oh, they called me meatball. They called me Dough Boy, those were my those were the things that stuck with me. Dundalk, 1978 8283 84 and getting in shape, and being in shape, and what I ate, and learning about fitness and learning about health and good food and all that, that has been a journey of a lifetime for me. I can’t imagine for young people today to have this opportunity to come in and we talk about mental health, and I know you did mental health in May, and it’s June, but I’m not gonna let this get away. We’re five years removed from me having you on masked up saying, workout at home. We didn’t even have gyms that were open. Where were we now? We’re here, and a lot of young people had spent a year and a half and tender times of their life, whether they were eight years old, 10 years old, 12 years old. And I think we’re seeing whatever that Gen X, Gen Y and whatever the Gen Next is, whatever this is getting acclimated, social skills, all these things that I don’t have any problem with my social skills. I’m not an introvert, you know, at this point in my life, but I do feel for young people that have been through whatever these hardship of this last decade has been in regard to necks being down on phones and something that we didn’t we weren’t distracted by. And I know anything that contributes to young people’s mental health, physical health, you know, these are the ones gonna be taking care of me in a few years. I hope we do it, right?
Justin Drummond 07:41
Yeah, and it’s great that we’re starting to see a lot more of the Gen Z population and even younger just be more knowledgeable about health and fitness and their well being. There’s a lot of things that they have access to, whether it is looking online to learn about nutrition, whether it is looking on certain fitness apps to just get themselves moving, and that’s the best thing, right is just to move your body. Do something for 2030 minutes a day, and that’ll go a long way for you. One of the things that we like to say, and it kind of in a joking matter, but in real seriousness, is, what is the best workout that somebody can do? And quite frankly, the answer is, anything that they’ll do if they want to walk for 20 minutes or 30 minutes, if they want to go in and ride on a bike in the gym, if they want to do some more functional training. And these are all elements that we had in the gym, but we definitely promote it outside of the gym too. It’s just being active. There’s so much research that goes into just moving in, the benefits that it has on your body, your mental well being and your overall overall health and life. These are just things that if you get them started at age 14, it sets them up and puts them on the right path for the rest of their life. And if Planet Fitness is going to be that brand that they recognize and welcomes them in, we’re all for it. That’s why we do this, is to get them really acclimated, introduce them in a judgment free way to anything and everything that they want to accomplish, whether it’s Fitness, Health, well, being so on and so forth, that’s what we want to do. Now
Nestor Aparicio 09:10
we always talk about the PF black car. You can join for $1 down. You cancel anytime. It’s so easy, but this summer pass is just an amazing thing. We talk about it every, summer. It’s for for high schoolers, primarily 14 to 19 years old, just download the app. You can make this thing happen. It’s all sorts of things on the app too. And sort of the gaming part of being able to measure what you do. I wanted to ask you, I always joke about wanting to sign up at the holiday spa over at North Point. I was just really wanted to go to the pool. That’s all I really want. You know, I I didn’t really want to see any of the equipment, but I remember seeing Nautilus equipment for the first time and seeing hard weights in my high school gym at Dundalk High School with other than in basements where I lived in the neighborhood, there were a few people that had, you know Joe weter and weights. I’m talking 1975 78 here. You. Where was your entry way into running a company like ohana, planet, Planet Fitness. And I would think that you had a first experience too. And I would think it’s probably not the planet fitness experience. I mean, this thing’s come a long way. Fitness in America, it really
Justin Drummond 10:12
has, yeah, it’s come a long way. I mean, me growing up as a youth athlete is kind of where I got my introduction to health and fitness, right? And it would first start with, you know, running on a basketball court, up and down, and doing sprints and things of that nature. And then moving into high school, is when I really first got introduced to all of the things, and, quite frankly, the toys, if you will, that you could play with in there, whether it’s dumbbells or kettlebells or cable towers and things of that nature. But it has definitely evolved. And I think that that’s the great thing about the planet model too, is that we continue to evolve as we sit here and look at the analytics behind what are our members doing? What do they want? How do they want to work out? We understand that it isn’t always just going to be cardio. Cardio obviously has a lot of benefits, but moving to functional training and strength training, training and things of that nature. That’s where a lot of the population are going, especially the Gen Zs, and those are the things that we want to make sure we have in the club. So I don’t know if you noticed the marketing lately for Planet Fitness is we’re all strong on this planet because we are, no matter shape, size, age or anything. You’re all strong in your own regard. And so that’s what we want to promote it’s coming in. We have the strength training. We have the cardio we have the black card spot where you can really focus on your recovery, because that is a piece of working out too. You put all the time into actually lifting the weights and running and things of that nature. But you have to be able to recover. Your body builds the muscle your body has to recover in order for you to continue to grow on this journey of fitness. So all of that is what we have in there. Well,
8Nestor Aparicio 11:46
I can say, as a guy who has fallen apart a few times in my lifetime, including during I talked about 2020 sitting in this chair too much so as losing my center of just a lot of core training I’ve been doing the last five years to get back to where I need to be. Planet Fitness helps keep me looking as good as I can look at this point. I mean, I am a used model or pre owned at this point, but everybody can get out and work out. There’s a Planet Fitness right around the corner from you. We talk about it all the time. So many ways to access this, and really, affordability was always at the key to this, Justin, I mean that whenever I’ve pitched this, it was $10 a month, forever inflation and wherever we are, but certainly affordable. And also the commitment part of you’re going to come in and you’re going to like your experience, and you’re going to get, at my age, better at laundry, dishes, getting the groceries, functional thing, taking a walk with your wife, being able to pick up your grandkids, things that people my age aren’t like I’m going to be in a Schwarzenegger contest. It’s more, it’s very much functionality. Because, man, I know what it was like to hurt. You know, once you get injured and having to come back, there’s that they say physical therapy. I prefer, you know, I prefer to do that on my own watch, as opposed to in a medical watch. And for me to get stronger again, over the last four or five years, I’m indebted to sort of modern medicine science and also just things like your app to tell you what to do, what not to do, and then people inside the gym that have just great, great wisdom about doing these things the right way so you don’t get injured. Yeah, there’s
Justin Drummond 13:25
a there’s a lot of things, right? So what you just mentioned is just quality of life working out for quality of life, like you said, taking a laundry basket up or down the stairs, playing with grandkids, things of that nature. It’s just that’s what you need to have your health and well being and focus on there. And it’s not so you can go out there and be in some type of competition and show off all your muscles and abs and everything. It’s just to do the basic necessities of life without being in pain or strain or struggling or things of that nature. And you’re right, by
Nestor Aparicio 13:53
the way. Can I say this? Because I gotta throw pickleball in here, because the kids don’t stop listening, and then I’ll talk about pickleball. Buddy of mine, I played tennis. I was a catcher. I played a ton of tennis, you know, like swinging. I’ve golf club my l4 and, like, there’s no Pickleball for me. So I’m, you know, I’m saying, like, there’s things that I know I can do to your point, things that where I know where my limitations are at this point, for being injured, re injured, strained, or whatever. And I know my limitations. And I also know you Planet Fitness is every way possible to get me stronger without doing silly things that I shouldn’t be doing, like hitting a golf ball right now, that I know I shouldn’t
Justin Drummond 14:32
8be. Yeah, you’re right. And I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s great, because movement is a wonderful thing. Movement lets you do all of those things, whether it’s pickleball, whether it’s golf, whether it’s walking, etc, etc, people
Nestor Aparicio 14:42
get hurt doing that because they don’t come in and get get stronger. First is what I’m you
Justin Drummond 14:46
gotta prepare yourself. Yeah, you gotta prepare yourself for and so whether it’s for you, looking out for you, or you looking out for other people, it is what you need to do is get into a gym, start moving your body. And you know one thing that limb brick always says. It’s kind of like when you’re on the airlines and they talk to you about the oxygen mask, right? The steward has always come through and they say, Hey, put your oxygen mask on first so you can take care of the other person. That’s what the gym does. The gym is you taking care of yourself so you can take care of other people, the people you’re wise in the world, like my children and my wife and my family things like that. You have to go to the gym to take care of yourself.
Nestor Aparicio 15:20
Now, how’s your kid? Fifth grade? I mean, 1110, 1112, I have 11 and an eight year old. Alright? Already asking about the three years Dad, I’m 14, right? Maybe, oh yeah, right. He knows
8Justin Drummond 15:32
all about it. He knows all about it. He’s ready to come in and work out.
Nestor Aparicio 15:36
Justin Drummond is here. He runs things for ohana. They are the local group here that runs all the Planet Fitness is in the area, by the way. Shout out. I got to shout this out because, you know, I remember back in the days with Jerry and Vicki and, you know, everybody that was involved, there’s a planet fitness right at the foot of what used to be FedEx field, northwest, whatever the land over Largo route, John, whatever you call it, it’s my parking lot. When I go to AC DC, don’t tell anybody. I don’t want the secret to get out. But it’s, you know, I started parking there when we would do the bus trips with the Ravens playing the R word that’s now the commanders down there 1520, years ago. And so just super shout out that that plan of fitness is maybe my favorite planet fitness of all time. But,
Justin Drummond 16:18
oh yeah, they’re still rocking. They’re still rocking down there. Ease of location,
Nestor Aparicio 16:21
8location, location. Tell me about locations for you, because you’re, I mean, you’re going through a real growth spurt there for a little while, even after COVID. Opening up new gyms. I mean, and not just here locally. I mean, you have a wing in Australia that I’m aware of, and all over the country. And I think now people see outfield signs. Even when the Orioles are on the road. You’ll see a Planet Fitness sign in other places, and here with local sports teams as well. It’s just such a big brand. And when you join PF black, you go on vacation, you’re at California, you’re in Florida. I was in Vegas couple weeks ago. You can really work out anywhere in the world. Kind of, sort of, really, no,
Justin Drummond 16:58
absolutely. I mean, that is what we’re what we’re doing as the Ohana group, but as Planet Fitness at large is we’re continuing to grow. We want to make it as accessible as possible for anybody domestically or domestically or internationally to find a planet fitness to be able to work out. So the black card membership is going to be your best option, because there’s reciprocity. You can go anywhere when you have that membership, and it’s only 2499 so it makes it it’s affordable, it makes it easy for you to go anywhere whenever you’re traveling, whether it’s for work or vacation. Like you just mentioned, Nestor, it’s, it’s what you want to have, because all of the gyms realistically look the same, operate the same, have the same equipment. And as we continue to evolve and reach more and more people. That means everybody has the opportunity to be healthy, right?
Nestor Aparicio 17:45
Well, I went to one of your special new gyms a year and a half ago, and I know you were putting him into other places with light machines, massage stations and machines and water massage just, you know, I can’t afford the four seasons, but I felt like I was there for a little while. Tell folks about that experience a little bit. I experienced it. I know it’s not every location, but I know it’s coming online a lot of locations. You got them on the east side now as well. There’s a whole different kind of experience as well. Just that has other benefits that I felt as well. Oh,
Justin Drummond 18:22
for sure. And again, that comes with the black card membership. Not only is it the reciprocity, you get to bring a friend with you for free every time you come into the gym, so you don’t have to work out alone. A lot of times, people have a little bit of fear because they feel like they don’t know what they’re going to do when they get to the gym. They don’t have a gym buddy yet. But with this membership, you can bring them with you every time you come in, and then you talk about that black card spa area, which is the spa and recovery. So you have hydro massage beds and lounges where you can get in there. You have the warm water Jack shooting up on your back, and you can isolate it to certain parts of your body. We have a cryo lounger, which helps with cold temperature to put on a sore spot. So it helps with the recovery as well. You have the red light therapy beds too, that’ll help with your skin. You also have tannin beds, and you have massage chairs. So there’s a number of accessories, perks, et cetera, that come with that membership. And you’re right. They’re in the majority of all the clubs across the country, definitely here in the Baltimore, Maryland area, where you can go in and again, get the workout, get the recovery. Or, quite frankly, we have a lot of people who come in who just want to get that spa treatment right. Just like you said down at the Four Seasons they come in here, spend a good half an hour to an hour back there in that spa, and they feel relaxed, and they’re better off for it. Well,
8Nestor Aparicio 19:35
I did like the the light therapy was really cool. It’s the only time I’ve ever done it. And the hydro. Now, I had a water bed in the 80s because I was that guy, and so I slept in a water bed. But that hydro thing that’s next level. Imma tell you right now. Planet Fitness folks, they got it all figured out. They’re all over the area. And this summer, if you have anyone young in your life, 14 to 19 years of age, they’re doing the summer pass. They’re doing it every single summer. I’m gonna grab Q in a couple weeks, and I’m gonna grab some lunch. I’m gonna try to get you guys out when I’m doing my crab cake. Or you allowed to eat crab cakes. I mean, you figure running gyms, you gotta burn calories. You gotta make calories to burn them, right?
Justin Drummond 20:11
Oh yeah, we love crab cakes. Invite us out. We’ll be there. All right, that’s what I like
Nestor Aparicio 20:15
to hear. Justin Drummond’s here from the Ohana group, again. My heart and thoughts to everybody out there who ever loved Vicki brick, and if you met her, you loved her. If you knew her, you loved her even more. As we began with that, since the last time we got together, every time I drive down padonia, I see that, and my heart goes out to everybody out there. But in her honor, let’s all get in the best shape of our lives and get out there. Maybe shoot some hoops in her honor. I don’t know. See, I can shoot hoops. It’s just the back thing with, like, the tennis, pickleball thing. I had a doctor come to me recently and a PT person saying Pickleball is creating more injuries than anyone. So before you pickleball, get Planet Fitness. And I’m so old that I remember when they said Planet Fitness, I’m like, it’s not all over the planet yet. Well, it is now, right, working on it, working over absolutely appreciate you. Justin John joining us here. The summer pass is available. Download the app. Get out support our friends at Planet Fitness. I got my little water bottle and my PF I am Nestor. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, making you hungry for crab cakes and then giving you a place to work it all out and get shake, carry them back in we are Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
