Where to find Dan: https://www.instagram.com/danielsan

Where to find Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-reyes21

Where to find our free community for gym owners: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PushPressUsers/

7:20: Gyms have always fought the ‘easy buttons’ of weight loss

11:58: Align your gym with Ozempic users’ needs

13:08: Insurance companies are covering fewer people’s Ozempic

14:30: What happens to patients who can’t continue taking Ozempic?

16:18: Gyms deliver the lifestyle, education, and community to maintain weight loss

18:38: Gym owners have to understand Ozempic to promote overall health

Dan Uyemura: [00:00:00] If you think you're going to fight the easy button, good luck. You are now listening to the PushPress Podcast, 

Nick Reyes: helping gym owners succeed one episode at a time. 

Dan Uyemura: Today's PushPress Podcast episode is brought to you by 365 Whole Foods Market Grass-fed Beef Jerky. 80 calories, 11 grams of protein, and 6 grams of added sugar.

Dan Uyemura: Oh, Whole Foods. And there's actually, um, we're not going to get sponsored by them because there's quite a long list of, uh, ingredients, too. Oh, man. So, I mean, it's good when you're traveling and you need a quick bite, but maybe better options out there for you. 

Nick Reyes: 100%. 

Dan Uyemura: Whew! Speaking of 

Nick Reyes: options. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, that beef jerky might help you lose some weight.

Nick Reyes: Yeah, and the, uh, the market has some options when it comes to losing weight now. Some healthier than others? Some healthier than others. Let's talk about it. All right. [00:01:00] Uh, the semaglutides are coming. Is your business ready? 

Dan Uyemura: I was going to make a joke about full, full glutides, but I, it couldn't come to me.

Dan Uyemura: Never go full glutide. Never go full glutide. There it is. There it is. Never go full glutide. Wrap that as a hook. All right. Yeah, man. Um, to be honest, I had, I had put some thought into this a little while ago and I feel like this is one of the ones where I've actually reversed course on how I thought about it.

Dan Uyemura: But I'm curious, like I'll just throw the ball right back at you. Like, what are your initial thoughts on this? Reactions. How much thought have you put into this? 

Nick Reyes: Uh, a little bit. It's, you know, you hear things from all angles, right? So my, my wife is in healthcare, so she has an opinion. It gets discussed over dinner where obviously we see it in the industry.

Nick Reyes: And so there's, you know, uh, various people in the CrossFit space that have been, you know, very much, uh, prepare your business, batten down the hatches, as well as maybe from the other side of, [00:02:00] you know, how can we help these people? Right. And so I have. What's your, what's your saying? Uh, loose convictions. No.

Dan Uyemura: Oh, strong convictions, 

Nick Reyes: loosely held. Loosely held. Yeah. So I think I could sway either way. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. I think, uh, I kind of swayed myself back in a different direction again today. So, I mean, this is, this is where it's going. This thing's so fast moving and evolving. It's, it's, uh, the health and medicines version of AI, if you will.

Dan Uyemura: So, um, I would expect a lot of turbulence in this area. Yeah. 

Nick Reyes: Well, let's talk about maybe why they are getting, let's just summarize why they are getting the traction that they are. I, I think generally, you know, the thing that we would touch on is the effort to success ratio. It's, it's no secret that training in a gym is pretty damn hard, takes time, eating well, takes time, takes effort, takes energy.

Nick Reyes: Results are slow. Results are slow. And also there's, I think there's a, there's a percentage of the population that have tried to some degree [00:03:00] to eat better. Whether it was like, oh, I tried Weight Watchers in, you know, You know, Zumba, or I tried CrossFit and I got hurt. Or like, there's a million different things that people have tried.

Nick Reyes: And there's literally millions of people that are home right now, like. I tried the whole nutrition and fitness thing. It didn't work for me, right? And so I think that's the, the, the, the base of people that are maybe more apt to say, show me a better path. Show me a path that, that won't fail me. Yeah. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah.

Dan Uyemura: I mean, in the end, whether it's, it's hard because we all have our own life experience and we all walk in our own shoes. So we don't know. Um, what I've heard from people is they have this insatiable. thing in their head that makes them want to eat a lot, which, I mean, knowing how big food has manufactured food to be addictive and how, you know, we, we live in a, in a society of consumption, quite honestly, there's all kinds of, [00:04:00] I guess, um, energy forces that are pushing you towards consuming not just food, but Shit to buy, cars to lease, you know, bigger TVs to get, everything.

Dan Uyemura: Um, and you know, if you, if you ever want to know how prevalent food and alcohol is on our society, go on a diet or tell yourself you're not going to drink for a while and watch what, watch your social circle. Like, You'll notice everything is rooted around food and drink. Everything. Of every social magnitude.

Dan Uyemura: Birthday parties, fucking weddings, even celeb like, anniversaries, like everything is food and drink. So 

Nick Reyes: yeah, food science is a big industry or is a big business and making you make manufacturing foods that are just like make you salivate, you know, taste and want to be addicted to that next doughnut, that next thing, whatever it is, 

Dan Uyemura: crunch, like the science of all this has been, it's, it's [00:05:00] almost like gambling, like they have.

Dan Uyemura: I would wager food science is probably one of the most studied addictive, you know, manufactured behaviors that there is in the world. Like people talk about apps on phones and stuff for kids and all this other stuff and even, even gambling, but shit, food science has been around for a while. Right. 

Nick Reyes: And so what we're asking people to do when we say, you know, step into our gyms, um, you know, hire a nutrition coach, you know, let's, let's change the way that we think about our health.

Nick Reyes: We're asking them to fight. All of that, that the rest of the world is programming against them. It's no easy task. Right. Uh, hell, even as I say it, I'm thinking. I'm so thankful to have been somehow connected enough earlier in, you know, in my youth to a path where at least I have a fighting chance. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah.

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. I mean, it's, for anyone who hasn't been exposed to a different way of thinking, it's like a reprogramming of all, like a Matt, do you remember when you first learned [00:06:00] about, you know, nuts and seeds, grains, eat lean meats, you know, vegetables to support, you know, an act, I butchered the shit out of that.

Dan Uyemura: But, but, you know what I'm saying? Like the minute you heard like proper nutrition. You're like, well, wait a minute. What about the food pyramid? What about my pasta base? You know what I mean? Like I have been programmed for 30 years to, to think like, we start with rice. We start with pasta, we start with breads.

Dan Uyemura: And it's just so backwards that like, yeah, if you don't have an inquisitive mind and you're not willing to look beyond what you've been told, like you're pretty doomed, a hundred percent. Anyway, how does this, how does this all tie into Ozempic? Yeah. Like blue tides. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah. So I think generally the, the, the way that I think about it is just people are out there looking for.

Nick Reyes: Um, a quick when they're looking to change their lives. They don't want to be overweight on the couch. So it's how can I decrease that effort to success ratio? How can I, uh, sacrifice less to get a better outcome? Because, you [00:07:00] know, walking around as I sit today is not fun. And medicine, much like medicine does, big pharma, much like pharma does, produce something that allows that to happen.

Nick Reyes: Now, what we want to talk through here are As a gym owner, what do you do about it? Yeah. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, let's do that. Let's tackle that. Again, made a list. We got a few things we want to talk about in terms of Ozempic and how it affects our gyms and our industry. And, um, I think, I think the first thing we have to consider, I'll tell you this much.

Dan Uyemura: Like, when it first came out, I was super against it. Super against it. And, um, I would say that's probably a less empathetic approach than I would be proud of, but at the same time, coming from where we come from, it's like, we already know where this is going to go. This is going to end up in a massive class action.

Dan Uyemura: This is fen fen of 2024. Like we've seen this book before, right? Yeah. But, uh, I went to my guy, Tim Lyons events and he got on stage and he talked about this and he completely changed my mind in about three seconds. And he [00:08:00] just basically said like, look, if you think you're going to fight… Good luck. 

Nick Reyes: Oof.

Dan Uyemura: Right? And, and this ties into what you're saying, right? The, the amount of effort you have to put in to get the success that you want is completely like, um, completely linear to the amount of people who are going to adopt it. And like you said, showing up at a gym every day and doing hard work and then leaving the gym and fighting all the resistance of the things that the society has programmed around us to do is not the easy button.

Nick Reyes: It's not. It's not. Yeah, I know I mentioned this earlier, but I'm going to, I'm going to rehash it here, which is that The fitness industry has failed millions of people around the world. Millions of people in America. 

Dan Uyemura:Oh, we can debate this. I don't know if it's the fitness industry. 

Nick Reyes: I would say… it's more than that. But I do believe fitness has. From the days that I worked at Gold's Gym and everyone was hard sold on a two year contract. [00:09:00] And not let out of the office till they signed the deal. Like when the fitness industry doesn't have the most wide opening arms, you know, uh, unselfish past, and I think there are, there's a percentage of the population that is soured on it in some way, shape, or form.

Dan Uyemura: I think, I think fitness industry is rolling it. And this is my opinion only is fitness industry. If you go back to the history of it has been one fad scam after another, and it's a hard sell, and it's a. You know, 24 easy installments of $19.99 infomercial. And the, you know, if you truly look across the fitness industry, there aren't that many brands that have had the longevity that an Apple or a Ford or an Intel have had, because everyone's just looking to make their big cash up front and get out.

Dan Uyemura: So that's where I agree with you that they haven't played. They played their role in this, but at the same time, I think it has to do with the easy button problem. Like fitness at some point realized, like, we're [00:10:00] selling the hard button. So let's just start making easy buttons. Let's start making promises on infomercials to give people a six pack by rolling around on the ground.

Dan Uyemura: No, man. It's seven minute abs. Yes. Eight minute abs. One of those, the minutes go down. 

Nick Reyes: So I think, but, but your point is very well taken, right? It's like. We are trying to fight as gym owners, the easy button of, I can take this pill and 

Dan Uyemura: life's 

Nick Reyes: good. 

Dan Uyemura: The difference here though, is this, it's like, um, the way we fought the easy button before as an industry, and I won't even say, I'm not gonna include myself in it cause I wasn't part of it, but we made at home DVD, like we made things that were the easy button, right?

Dan Uyemura: And I think the shift here is to complement and say like, we've actually got an easy button that society's going to want, that the demand's going to be there and people are going to mass adopt. That we can slide in next to and say, like, let us support your easy button in a way that actually will help you when the easy button’s over.

Dan Uyemura: Cause that easy button can't last forever. 

Nick Reyes: Correct. [00:11:00] Correct. And correct me if I'm wrong here, but there's already people that have said, maybe they're not getting the extreme results that the easy button promise. So like, I don't, Isn't there something around like a percentage of the population, might be small, but isn't getting the complete throughput, and they are maybe abandoning six months in, nine months in?

Dan Uyemura: I think, yeah, I think, I think, um, there's always the, the results factor of it. There's all kinds of different reasons why people are quitting, but the point is like, there could be the, the reason of like, hey, I just don't want to inject myself every so often for the rest of my life. Right. Right. You know, like I would rather find a way off of this medication.

Dan Uyemura: It could be a cost factor. It could be like, there's a million reasons why people are quitting, but the point is like people are coming on, people are coming off and or people are faced with the reality that this is a lifelong drug. If you want to keep these results without doing the actual work. And my positioning is like, and this is where a point number two can come [00:12:00] in.

Dan Uyemura: Rising the tides is. If we align with the easy button and the, and there's more people who actually need the demand, if we can educate those people that like, look, there's a way to either own this yourself, like you've already done some of the work, like you're bought into this. Now you see the results.

Dan Uyemura: Now we can start to pull this back and own it ourselves. Or we can complement this. And instead of like some of the negative results that can come with Ozempic, we can mitigate while you're still on these, these drugs. These are both ways that you can position. With a, uh, much higher demand in the marketplace to service these people that are out there.

Nick Reyes: Yeah. It was equinox. Right that started at least I think they were working through potentially embracing a program and that's kind of what you're suggesting here to some degree is walk the path with them. Don't ostracize them. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, exactly. If you position yourself as like, these are a bunch of losers who can't control themselves, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is like, okay, well, there's there might be 5000 people right now in [00:13:00] your community.

Dan Uyemura: Who are on those drugs who are like, well, you just call me a loser. So I'll go work with equinox in, I'll go spend my money there. 

Nick Reyes: Right. Yeah. Why would you do that? Now, a minute ago, you mentioned the cost, uh, and I hadn't, you know, until you were kind of briefing me on this a little bit earlier, I hadn't immediately considered exactly what the price of some of these drugs were.

Nick Reyes: And, uh, It sounds like it's quite expensive. Fairly expensive. I mean, I guess that's 

Dan Uyemura: relative to how much someone makes. Fair. Yeah, yeah. 

Nick Reyes: Fair. 

Dan Uyemura: Uh, put it this way. It is more than expensive than a gym membership. Uh, by, by multitudes. Yeah. Right. Even the most expensive gym that I can even think about going to, we're talking like 3x.

Dan Uyemura: Wow. Yeah, the cost. So yeah, it's not uncommon for this to cost someone $1000. And you know, a lot of times, um, it's, it's recently been, uh, Um, like insurances have stopped taking this as a, as a reasonable, like something they'll cover for most people now. Um, so because of [00:14:00] that, it's like the people, the, the tele, tele meds or whatever they're selling are trying to give discounts to get people into it, but it's still expensive.

Dan Uyemura: Like we're talking $1000 a month or so. 

Nick Reyes: Right. And so if insurance isn't covering it, that's a bit of a red flag, right? Like if you have someone that is considered. And then insurance is saying, there is a drug that you can take that will fix it, but we're not going to cover it. There's something there. 

Dan Uyemura: The, I admittedly have to do a little bit more research on this, but from my understanding of this is these GLP 1 drugs were not specifically designed to be weight loss drugs.

Dan Uyemura: Like, they were designed to actually, I think, have something to do with diabetes or something a little bit more like disease-related. And not to say like obesity or, or, or, you know, being overweight isn't, it is a disease. It's, it isn't, it's a malady, right? Um, but the point is like these drugs were so effective at weight loss, people started just [00:15:00] taking them for weight loss.

Dan Uyemura: And that's when the insurance companies started pulling back and say like, Oh, like, you know, We were approving these for people with diabetic conditions and some other things where it was like a medical necessity that they had to lose weight. As opposed to just like, as a societal thing, you've just decided you want to lose weight.

Dan Uyemura: Because it gets real gray. Like I'm overweight. I consider myself 10, 15 pounds overweight. Like, should I, if, if I get on it, will insurance cover me? Just like someone who's 300 pounds overweight. It's, it's a, it's a gray area that, uh, insurance has drawn the line on. Right. Or starting. Okay. That makes sense.

Dan Uyemura: That makes sense to me. Yeah. So, so in that lens here, here's the difficult things that happen. It's like your insurance covers it today. Great. You get on them. Great. You lose a bunch of weight. Great. What happens in a year if your insurance goes like, okay, well, we can't do this anymore because, uh, like we talked about in our insurance episode, like they're not going to do stuff that's not profitable for them.

Dan Uyemura: Right. And they're going to cut back on cost centers and Ozepic is going to be one. If it gets mad, it's, it's the, uh, self fulfilling prophecy, right? If this becomes the miracle drug that makes everyone lose a [00:16:00] bunch of weight. Everyone's going to get on it, and insurance won't cover it, right? These drug companies did not design these drugs to be charities, so there still has to be profit baked into them, and where does the funding come from?

Dan Uyemura: So it's like, you could get on these drugs, and your insurance can yank it, then what? And I think that's where Jim's come in, because it's like, the reality is, It could get yanked if you are lucky enough to be on insurance. And if so, you're going to develop the lifestyle and the, the, the education and the community and everything you need to maintain this on your own.

Dan Uyemura: And if it doesn't get yanked, then we're going to fight the negative repercussions, which would be like the muscle loss and, you know, some of these, some of these other things that happen when you run at calorie deficit, uh, to the magnitude that you would on Ozempic, 

Nick Reyes: right? Right. Right. So, I mean, as a general theme, it sounds like your position that you, uh, have said that you've changed is.

Nick Reyes: Uh, less anti and a little more, let's embrace it and let's, no surprise with [00:17:00] knowing what I know about you as a human, like, let's have some empathy and let's see if we can help someone on their journey, even though it's maybe not the journey that we would walk on, choose to walk ourselves. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Dan Uyemura: I mean, just because. Um, you know, we don't face certain things don't mean other people don't face those and that we can't support them. And it doesn't mean that those aren't viable people who could find their way into our gyms. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah, 

Dan Uyemura: yeah. I mean, the ironic thing is, as we were talking about it leading up to this show, I'm beginning to think like, there is a world also where Ozempic just implodes.

Dan Uyemura: Where like, we start to see some, like, this is new still. Like, I was joking, like, half joking telling you that I actually know somebody who signed up for Ozempic. And he told me like one of the main drivers was because he wants to be on the class action lawsuit that it will invariably come any year now.

Dan Uyemura: That is mind boggling. Right? But when he said that, I'm like, that makes sense because every single, like, you know, Easy button weight loss program. We ended up finding out later on is like, Oh, well that's basically methamphetamines. [00:18:00] Oh, that's basically this. Oh, that carried all kinds of crazy risks that people didn't really understand when they took it.

Dan Uyemura: And now they're suing the companies that made them. So there's still a little bit like this feels a little too good to be truism to me out there. So now I'm kind of like, I don't even know where I stand. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think generally if, if it does, you know, the point still will received, right.

Nick Reyes: Walk along, be there to help, um, you know, embrace it as if, if you have anyone in your community that's training, talk to them about it, uh, be a resource for them, you know. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, I would say get educated on it. Here, here's, here's my, if I owned a gym right now, this is my thing. I would get educated as hell about it so I could talk about it.

Dan Uyemura: I wouldn't, I would understand the, the movement on it. GLP ones in fitness and health. Is like AI and tech. Like we have to understand the daily iterations of AI so that we know [00:19:00] where the puck is going and where it can head to. I would do the same into the gym. Um, and that way you can offer consulting services about it.

Dan Uyemura: But you know what I would do now that I'm thinking about it, I would build a program and build a landing page and try to, uh, local SEO optimize on a GLP one assisted strength and strength and conditioning program for you. Right. And I would see, can I get one lead a month? Do I get three phone calls a month?

Dan Uyemura: What do I get? Because I will bet you that's, it's gonna be a number greater than zero right now. 

Nick Reyes: Ooh, we should need some research on that. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. Like I think we should actually see this with some of our gyms and test it, but I would, I would make the 1 bet with you right now that if someone did that and did it to some degree of excellence, they would get a lead like the next month.

Dan Uyemura: Just from 

Nick Reyes: that two leads and he got a 

Dan Uyemura: dollar bet. So the over under is one and a half. Over under is one and a half. Okay, I'll still take that. Deal. I think you can do it. Deal. All right. I need a gym. I need a gym out there to test this with me. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah, so if you are interested in testing this, message [00:20:00] Dan or message us at podcast at pushpress.

Nick Reyes: com. And also, if you have anyone that is currently training in your gym, uh, and Working on getting a better outcome and they're taking Ozempic, uh, reach out to podcast at pushpress. com. Yeah, yeah. If you want to hear the story. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, yeah. Help, help us because this, this can be future episodes, right? So if you're training someone at your gym.

Dan Uyemura: Who is on Ozempic and you found a, you know, a path to success for them or a way that you can work with them better or attract more people that work with them. Like any learnings that you've had, email us at podcast. pushpress. com and like, let's chat about it because we can definitely learn more and share this with the community.

Dan Uyemura: That'd be great. Awesome. Thanks everyone. Cool. See you guys. Thanks for listening to another episode of the PushPress Podcast, where we help gym owners, entrepreneurs, and fitness enthusiasts thrive with actionable insights, inspiring stories, and strategies for growth. 

Nick Reyes: Don't forget to follow the show to stay updated on new episodes.

Nick Reyes: And if you're ready for more, join our free Facebook community for gym owners. Check the show notes for the link, and we'll see you next time. Keep [00:21:00] raising the bar for your business and community.

‍