The Growing Longevity Movement

Once viewed as a niche area of medicine and research, longevity has quickly become one of the biggest forces shaping healthcare, wellness, and fitness—but what does it really mean for fitness operators?

In a recent HFA Pod episode, “The Business of Longevity with Brad Inman,” HFA Senior Director of Communications Pamela Kufahl discussed with Inman the movement that's influencing everything from healthcare and technology to exercise, nutrition, and preventive wellness. (HFA Pod is sponsored by Hapana.)

In 2023, after he turned 70, Inman realized he hadn't taken care of himself over the years, creating health issues that led to him having three stents inserted into his heart. That’s when he founded Livelong Media to help people—including himself—to understand what it really means to live longer and better.

“I had a lot of mending to do,” he says.

Inman’s research exposed him to both promising science and a lot of misinformation, conflicting advice, and inaccessible experts. He sought to fill the gap between rapidly advancing longevity research and the public's ability to figure out what is actually credible.

Today, his company publishes articles, newsletters, and podcasts, and produces events focused on healthy aging, nutrition, exercise, and wellness. It aims to provide independent, science-based information and does not sell supplements or medical treatments.

Inman understands the importance of physical activity in improving health and longevity. HFA partnered with Livelong Media on the media brand's Livelong Women’s Health Summit to help raise awareness of the importance of exercise for women's preventive health and overall wellness.

An Expanding Marketplace

Longevity isn’t about chasing the fountain of youth; instead, it’s a long-term commitment to health. Medicine, research, treatments, and what we do every day with this in mind—such as show up at the gym or on the hiking trail and in the kitchen—those are the things that help us live a better life, Inman says.

The health and fitness industry, of course, has long been in the business of longevity. Inman says the physical presence of fitness facilities in communities and neighborhoods is a huge opportunity. Many gyms have members who are physicians, and gyms could have trained health advisors going forward, for example. Gyms have the physical footprint to try all kinds of services, whether to improve sleep, nutrition, or something else entirely, he says.

Gyms also provide an important social aspect. Inman notes that many studies show that those who socialize are going to substantially lower their risk of cancer and other chronic diseases in contrast to people who are isolated from social contact.

Despite the growing awareness of longevity, Inman warns anyone trying to make a quick buck off the concept to stay in their lane. He suggests that companies should be very careful when marketing services or products like nutritional supplements, which he says are still largely unregulated. He worries that people may buy a supplement and then find out two weeks later that they shouldn't be taking the product or that it was manufactured in China and not approved in the US.

Inman believes the opportunity to target different demographics is growing, and it has the potential to expand the marketplace in fitness and wellness spaces.

“This is a huge wave,” he says. “So, you've got to get out there and get on board, because you never know how long it will last.”

The episode was released on September 17, 2026.