Reinvention in Action

To Survive and Thrive — in the health and wellness industry as in life — is to adapt.

It’s why innovation is a core tenet at Life Time and one of the things we’ve been most committed to over the past 30-plus years. Whether it’s optimizing our club layouts for improved flow, reinvigorating our fitness offerings with custom formats, or expanding beyond fitness to become a healthy-lifestyle brand, we have countless examples of reinvention in action.

These adaptations have been key to our growth and progress. They’ve helped us weather challenges and thrive when opportunity knocks.

Without this mindset, we risk becoming irrelevant or nonexistent. So when we see the potential for something to be more or better, we do something about it.

Take pickleball: When it began to grow in popularity a few years ago, we saw an opportunity to lead, so we quickly transitioned existing spaces into courts to meet the grow­ing demand. We now have nearly 800 courts and an ever-expanding pickle­ball community that’s both recreational and competitive.

I’ve spent a lot of time playing on those courts, and about two years ago, I found myself getting frustrated with the pickleballs themselves. The balls bounced randomly when placed in the same spot and seemed to crack or wear out quickly. It was maddening.

So I took a closer look through an engineering lens — and I saw a clear opportunity for improvement.

Most of the pickleballs had holes that were inconsistently sized or spaced out. And because some of the edges of the holes weren’t smooth, they would catch on the court’s surface, causing the ball to bounce unpredictably.

These weren’t minor design flaws — they were design disasters. Yet we were tolerating a mediocre ball because “that’s just how pickleballs are made.”

So, we decided to do something about it. With a concept and the directive to design a ball that plays true and consistent every time, Life Time’s engineers began recreating it from the inside out.

While every other ball on the market has 40 holes or fewer, our ball would have 48 small holes of equal size and spacing. We chamfered the holes’ edges to improve bounce predictability; this solves for durability, too.

We then sent the redesigned ball to our clubs, where the feedback from members and pros was resoundingly positive. We shared it with professional pickleball players, who touted its consistent bounce and sturdiness.

We hosted major pickleball competitions at a handful of Life Time locations, where our pickleball was the ball for professional play.

And as of late this summer, the patent-pending LT Pro 48 pickleball is now the official ball for the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA). It will be used at the inaugural LT Open — a professional tournament for singles pickleball — in October.

But this isn’t just about the ball. It’s about our ability as humans to innovate and reinvent. It’s about having the courage to question the status quo.

Every breakthrough starts by refusing to accept what is. The telephone was invented to improve upon telegraph communication. The ­development of video streaming made movies and shows more accessible and readily available.

So, ask yourself: What do you accept as an inconvenience or problem that you might actually be able to do something about? What do you tolerate because “that’s just the way things are”?

With those questions as catalysts, irritations can become opportunities. Consider the following framework for turning your own frustrations into reinvention:

Reflect daily. Take the time to consider what’s working in your life — and what isn’t. Think about how you are uniquely positioned to change the things that are falling short.

Find solutions. If something is broken, figure out a way to fix it. Seek out partners with the knowledge, skills, and abilities you need to create change.

Test — and test again. Put your solution to the test, then iterate as you identify problems or gaps. Repeat testing as necessary.

Protect your innovation. Defend it, patent it, trademark it (if needed).

What problem are you uniquely positioned to solve? The world has plenty of people who settle for things as they are. It needs more of us who are willing to look at what is and envision what could be.