What have been your biggest achievements?
Rachel: In five years, we’ve gone from a small, digitally-native startup with a single studio, to a fitness leader with digital members in 70 countries and studios in four major US cities – Los Angeles, New York, San Diego and Chicago. We’ve also launched a franchising initiative that will result in 250 studios being open around the world by 2025.
More importantly, our method continues to evolve. We’re not just about fitness, but also about how it connects with health and wellness throughout life. We’re constantly working with our trainers, our clinical advisory board and university researchers to refine our method, expand our workout portfolio and identify new ways to meet women’s needs at all stages of their lives.
What was the impetus for starting P.volve?
Rachel: Like a lot of people, I used to believe in ‘no pain, no gain.’ I went through high-impact workouts that produced short-term results, but also damaged my body. On top of that, I was diagnosed with scoliosis.
I was searching for answers and was introduced to functional training. After beginning to train my body functionally, I felt stronger, was getting the physical results I desired and was left feeling amazing in my body for the first time in a long time – my discomfort was going away and I felt open and free.
All this gave me greater confidence in myself. At the same time, I saw a way to help others move towards their own health and wellness goals while enabling them to share in the same sense of strength and belief in themselves. The method we developed does that – it helps everyone listen to their bodies and gives them what their bodies are asking for.
What’s the elevator pitch?
Julie: P.volve is a new-to-market modality that combines low-impact movement and resistance training for a sustainable workout that not only tones and strengthens the body, but also helps to improve posture, balance and flexibility.
By practicing functional fitness movement, women are supported through all stages of life.
What’s your method and what makes it special?
Rachel: Unlike many other fitness methods, we believe getting results shouldn’t come at the expense of your body and you shouldn’t have to choose between looking good and feeling great.
We pair low-impact, functional movement with resistance-based equipment to activate and strengthen multiple muscles at once. It’s a workout that works harder, shaping and toning the body while improving mobility, stability and balance.
We use the principles of functional movement to mirror how the body moves in daily life, which prioritises the body’s function and reduces the potential for injury. We also teach people how to engage muscles in ways that work with biomechanics to sculpt the body, while leaving it happy and feeling strong and energised.
Tell us about your programmes
Rachel: We offer a wide range of classes focused on specific goals – Strength and Sculpt, Cardio Burn, Progressive Weight Training, Mat Definition, Recover and Stretch and Meditation and Mindfulness. These are incorporated into purpose-driven programmes in our Movement Therapy category, such as our Moving With Menopause and Moving During Fertility Treatment series that are aimed at women’s life needs.
We’re constantly working with our trainers and medical experts on new applications for our method, new ways it can benefit women in every stage of life. For example, in early 2022, we launched Progressive Weight Training to support the changes women experience in muscle mass and bone density throughout their lives.
During the second half of 2022, we launched two first-of-their-kind workout programmes, one around menopause transition, helping women manage the many symptoms they experience during this life stage and the other, Moving During Fertility Treatment, helping those undergoing ovarian stimulation keep up a workout routine as they go through fertility treatments such as egg freezing, IVF or egg donation.
We’ve also got a number of new classes in development we expect to launch in the coming months.
We see P.volve as empowering women to work out when and where they want, which fits their busy lives. With its foundation in functional fitness and physical therapy it has broad applications for other needs in a woman’s life – everything from managing their menstrual cycle to menopause, back pain and beyond. Its low-impact movements work well for women of all ages.
Tell us about your Clinical Advisory Team
Julie: This board is composed of medical doctors and experts in the fields of health and fitness. They collaborate with the management team to create workout series’ with our trainers, advise on equipment, conduct clinical studies, lead research and develop new products.
The four current board members each covers a specific area of direct relevance to our work – Dr Amy Price Hoover, our chief physical therapist, is a doctor of physical therapy specialising in the pelvic floor, Dr Nima Alamdari is a doctor of physiology and Dr Suman Tewari is a doctor of gynaecology. The fourth member, Dr Shannon DeVore is a doctor of reproductive endocrinology. They’re the foundation of our evidence-based, science-guided approach to fitness and are all passionate about what we’re doing.
How do you accommodate differing fitness levels?
Rachel: The P.volve system is easily accessible for all, from beginners to the most advanced. The movements in their most basic form can be done by almost everyone because they’re based on functional training, which works with the body’s biomechanics.
Doing our workouts not only strengthens muscles, but also allows people to move with more ease, strength and balance, no matter what level they’re starting from. The more advanced someone becomes, the more challenging the workouts can become.
As they become more aware of their body and learn how to activate the right muscles, they can continue to challenge themselves and break through plateaus. In that sense, we’re different from some other fitness modalities in that people continuously make progress and see and feel results.
How does the hybrid element work?
Julie: We’ve always believed in the power of a true hybrid model, with in-person and digital working together.
We’re a portable, at-home workout, as well as having studios, so our members can fit their workout in no matter what life hands them. This has been very attractive to our franchisees.
What are your growth objectives?
Julie: We’ve spent the last five years building the foundation of a business model designed to scale. We always knew that building a new-to-market modality was going to take time and having 100-200 locations in the market was the key to organic growth and we plan to have 250 studios open by 2025.
How are you organising your global rollout?
Julie: From our base of digital members in 70 countries and four studios in the US, we’ll have multiple locations in Canada by the end of 2023. We’ve also had a huge interest from the UK and plan to expand there this year. This is in addition to global growth in digital members, since the two work hand-in-hand.
Are you adjusting the model to accommodate cultural differences?
Rachel: Cultural differences have not yet become an issue for us, although we recognise they could become so as our physical footprint expands. We’re committed to respecting cultural differences in each nation in which we have members.
How much is a franchise and what catchment does each get?
Julie: An owner needs to be able to show a US$250,000 minimum in liquid capital and a US$750,000 minimum net worth.
The estimated initial investment is between US$399,950 and US$724,500, based on location.
Franchisees can generate revenue from in-person memberships, on-demand subscriptions (for some packages), equipment and apparel sales and more.
The protected area of each franchise has a population of approximately 50,000 people and varies in radius depending on population density, ie, whether it’s urban or suburban.
Why did you make P.volve female-focused?
Rachel: P.volve isn’t a woman-only company – it’s a workout method that can benefit anyone.
While we’re led by women, operated primarily by women and designed with the female body in mind, we also have men who are trainers and male members who find great value in our method – especially those who may have injuries, are supporting other sports or workout methods or are simply looking for a method that’s going to help them feel great in their bodies. We welcome and support all types of people in our studios and online.
How are you working with people who are transgender?
Julie: Among our core principles is that we are inclusive and respectful of everyone’s gender identity regardless of their assigned sex at birth. We honour their right to fully and equally participate in our fitness experience and also be part of our team.
Who’s driving the business forward on the top team?
Rachel: I’m thankful for the passionate and bright minds across our leadership team. Julie, as our president, is responsible for spearheading P.volve’s overall vision and growth strategy, achieving financial objectives and setting investment priorities. Antonietta Vicario is our VP of talent and training – she’s a former dancer turned fitness trainer with a history of building training programmes for international franchises and is absolutely critical to the continuous development of our method and the training of our amazing credentialed trainers.
Rebecca Weisbart, our VP of growth, data and analytics, came to us from Goop and Tone it Up and has a data-focused approach to growing our business, continuously monitoring our key performance indicators and pushing us to constantly fuel the entire purchasing function.
Jill Brand, our head of brand, leverages her fitness business experience to develop creative ways of communicating our brand and reaching our audience through social media, PR and digital media, as well as by working with fitness influencers.
On the studio side, as VP of studio and franchise operations, RJ Krone brings years of franchise experience to help us continuously scale our studio footprint both nationally and internationally.
What are your dreams for the business over the next five years?
Rachel: We’re changing the conversation around fitness and want women to learn that they don’t have to sacrifice feeling good for looking good and vice versa. We see P.volve as expanding globally, giving women increased greater choice in how and when they work out and providing an ever-greater connection among fitness, health and wellness – one that continues to be evidence-based and incorporates the latest in scientific inquiry.
