In this episode of Getting Raw, host Richard Mark Toutounji interviews Ruth Pirihi, the master franchise owner for Radical Fitness in Australia and New Zealand. Ruth explains the origins of Radical Fitness, a group‑fitness brand founded in Argentina by Nathan and Gabby, and describes its diverse portfolio of ten programs, highlighting flagship offerings such as K‑Max (a freestanding‑bag class that removes step‑touch timing) and the Intelligent Music Format (IMAX) that gives instructors a structured yet flexible choreography framework. She details the franchise footprint—nearly 200 clubs across Australia and NZ, with sub‑franchises in Victoria and Western Australia—and outlines the licensing model that serves both traditional gyms and independent “Official Trainers” (OTs) who can run programs in mobile venues. Ruth discusses the company’s product‑release cadence (new content every three months) and introduces the upcoming Factor F, a dual‑program that combines circuit and suspension training. The conversation also covers challenges in a competitive market, the importance of continual innovation, and Ruth’s personal background, including her 30‑year industry experience and prior work designing Body Jam for Les Mills. The interview closes with a look toward worldwide expansion, brand extensions like Rad Kids and apparel, and contact information for interested clubs.
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Welcome to Getting Raw. It's Richard Mark Toutounji, and today I'm with Ruth Perry. How are you?
I'm really well, thank you.
Did I pronounce that right?
Wasn't too bad for an Aussie.
Alright, I'm not an
Aussie. Oh,
what? Okay, so Ruth, if you don't know Ruth, you've been in the industry for how long, Ruth? Oh, far too long. Yeah, about 30 years. And Radical Fitness is your game. Yes. Tell me a bit more about Radical Fitness because I guess group fitness has changed so much over so many years.
It has.
And you're always at the forefront, always inventing new, bringing out new classes, new technology.
Sure. Well, Radical Fitness is based in Argentina from Nathan and Gabby. So I'm the master franchise owner for Australia and New Zealand. And the most unique thing about Radical Fitness fitness is the diversity of the programs that we offer. We have 10 programs currently, but we cater for everything that's new and exciting. So one of our most popular programs is Keymax, which revolves around a freestanding bag. And the best thing about it is you don't have to keep in time with the music.
Oh, so that's good. So there's actually no— so guys can use it?
Yeah, they love it.
And there's no step touches? No step touches.
No, hell no. You can just hit the thing at your own
So you just go for the music and just hit it when you want.
Yeah. So K-Max has been great for us because it's attracted men to the floor, and women love it because it's a major stress release.
So you just get out there and— Smash it. Without having to time the music.
No, the instructor leads it. It's got a different dynamic. You know, in a traditional group fitness class, the instructor's on the stage leading, whereas with K-Max, they're on the floor. So they're basically a motivator. They set up the moves.
So they're moving around with the class. Yeah. Okay, so it's not like, I'm the leader, you're the instructor, you keep us It's
a different feel, it's
great. So you've got 10 of those different programs in. So the main difference to Radical is no exact music tempo?
Well, there is music and you do have to— Keymax, you don't have to keep in time with the music. It's not a, you know, there's no step touches, that's what I mean. The other programs all have music and choreography. The most unique thing about our programs is what we call IMAX. Intelligent Music Format.
Oh, that's cool.
Yeah, I know, it's very cool, like everything else we do.
That's cool.
Yeah, it's very cool. And it's basically each program has its own blueprint that can't be changed but creates a really good structure that makes things easier for the instructors to learn. And our programs are flexible in that when we train the instructors, they learn the rules for each program.
Great.
So if you didn't like doing a back kick in Fight Do, for instance, you could create your own version. So we actually train them to be choreographers.
That's cool. So every class is slightly different then?
It can be. I mean, a lot of, you know, realistically, a lot of instructors, it's a lot easier for them just to learn the DVD because then it's done and dusted. But if they have that desire to put their own personal stamp on it, they can create their own around the rules. And the format's there, the IMF's there with sound effects and the music. So
what happens if your gym does not have Radical in? What do you
do? You ring me up really quickly.
Okay, and then—
0297 136822.
Don't worry, we'll put it at the bottom. Then you push to get it into the club, yeah?
Yeah. That's the aim. Yeah, we make—
How many clubs across are you now in Australia?
We've got Australia and New Zealand, and with combined total, we've got nearly 200.
Okay.
Yeah. We've got sub-franchise Victoria is run by Melty. Yep. And WA is run by Ben and Louise who have Genesis Health.
Why did you want to bring Radical into Australia and New Zealand for?
Why not? They needed some variety.
So then there was an opportunity and you thought, let's find the best out there?
Absolutely.
You didn't want to start your own or what? You just brought someone back down?
Yeah, look, I just, I've known Nathanael and Gabby for many years and I really loved what they had created. Nathanael is probably the most He's the most gifted program designer and choreographer I've ever met, and I've met a lot. And just the whole concept of the way they package their programs. And previously there was only one group fitness provider that I was very, you know, I knew very well. And it was like, come on, there's got to be more options than that. There just has to be.
So you're the pioneer, bringing them all out.
Yeah.
That's good. What has been the struggles of bringing out, like, in It's Getting Raw we like to talk about the ups and downs in business. What's been the struggles of getting Radical to the success it is today?
Struggle is, you know, competition's always great, but if someone's been sitting on the top on their own, they want to stay there. So there's that underlying, you know, that not so nice side about business that goes on where people will close doors. So that's been a challenge. But, you know, we've always been of the philosophy that where there's a will, there's a way. You know, if you can't get through the front door, take a little walk around the side.
Love it. Yeah. Love it. This is the great— whenever I talk, it's that motivation that you need to continue to push.
Oh, you have to.
To get your product out there.
You absolutely have to. And, you know, for a lot of club owners, you know, the thing that we can do for them obviously is save them some money for sure and offer them something new and exciting. But a lot of club owners, it's an effort to do that. And then, you know, you've got to get your group fitness instructors retrained or trained initially. Yeah, it's a never-ending constant.
Is there a lot of clubs out there that just do not— they want to design their own programs and they refuse to have programs coming in?
There are quite a few clubs that I've come across that prefer to just run freestyle or set up their own. You know what, good luck to them. That's all I can say. It's a lot of work.
It's a lot of work?
It's a lot of work.
Do you guys supply— I mean, obviously the choreograph, the marketing, lots of stuff, do you?
Yeah. Every 3 months there's a new So, we've got a new release in 10 programs, and we're just about to launch Factor F.
Factor S?
Factor F.
F? What's Factor F? Can we know now?
Yes, you can. I can tell you now.
Okay.
It's, um, it's— there's 2 programs in one. So every quarter there's, within the release that you get, there's a 30-minute training program based around circuit training. Alright? And then there's a 30-minute program based around suspension training.
In one? That's good. In one. Well, there's 2 different.
So if you're a club owner and you're launching Factor F, you can have the circuit class as well as the functional training, the suspension class. So you get 2 programs to market at once.
And that's the cool thing about your program is that you said before that you're always on the front foot, you always bring out the latest stuff.
Yeah, very much so. And we're very different. Like, we don't have, you know, your traditional step class.
Step, I mean, is step still going?
No, there are some people But, you know, we don't have a traditional step class. We have X55, which is a toning class that utilizes the step top. Do you know what I mean? And everything that we've got has its own stamp. It's not a clone of an original, if you know what I mean.
It's its own.
Absolutely. It's cool. It's cool.
It's cool to do it.
It's radical.
I got it. Never heard that name, Radical. I love it.
Yeah.
I love it. So what were you doing before Radical Fitness? Like, what were you doing? What was I doing? Obviously teaching, I'm sure. Oh yeah, taught for a long time.
I actually used to work for Les Mills International. Right,
okay.
Yeah. I designed Body Jam for them, and, well, actually it was my program, and I used to run all the choreographers and do a bit of clothing design and run, you know, the group fitness at one of their largest clubs.
Because Radical now has clothing as well, I know.
Yep, we have clothing, we have everything. Children's programs.
Children's programs too?
Children's programs. We have Rad Kids.
Rad Kids.
The Radically Cool Kids.
And that goes into, again, just Gyms who run programs for kids?
Yep, schools can run it. We even have mobile OTs, instructors.
Oh, so you don't have to be a gym now, you can be mobile? Like personal trainers can use it?
Yeah, we do. We have personal trainers that hold a license to run Keemax. We have instructors, we call them OTs, official trainers, who have— they run a license to run whatever programs they want. It has to be out of a set venue, they can't just go wherever they want. Yeah, but it gives them, you know, for the instructor that's entrepreneurial, that wants to, you know, get themselves out there and maybe earn more than $50 or $60 a class. You know, if they believe in themselves, they can have the opportunity. They can do that? Yeah, and they can just, they pay a license like a club would, and they get, you know, a hall and advertise themselves. We've got quite a few doing that.
That's very ingenious. It's getting out to the people.
Absolutely. And it's giving a group fitness instructor that wants to be, you know, their own bosses, like a PT, the opportunity to have a quality product that they can market.
That's good. Are you guys trained to be group instructors?
Yes. Oh yeah, we do. That's one of our main businesses. We train instructors.
And you don't have to be a personal trainer to be an instructor? You can go straight into it?
You can go straight into it. You need to be— you can do group fitness, you know, be group fitness qualified. Or we have more and more PTs coming on board wanting to be trained in Keymax in particular.
Where's the future for Radical? Where's it going?
Worldwide.
Is it worldwide?
Well, it is worldwide, but you know, just more.
Just more of the good stuff.
Just more of the good stuff and, you know, coming up with new and exciting things for people to do, management training. You know, we just— yeah, it's just having no boundaries really, no limits and no boundaries.
That's good. I think it's, as you were saying before, sometimes that's the, you know, being radical and being different and being unique, you can actually You can actually do that in a speedy process, it sounds like.
Well, you can. You know, we still have guidelines and rules that everyone has to adhere to for instructors and training, but, you know, we— I think we think outside of the square a lot more freely than others. Yeah.
Awesome. On that note, we'll leave it. Thank you. So to get more information, we'll put your website at the bottom, but radicalfitness.net. I always gotta check because we've got .com, we've got .net, we've got .co.
Yeah, we've got .net.
.net. radicalfitness.net. And you can find more about Ruth's programs.
