During the pandemic, a lot of people couldn't go to the gym. Those days are now behind us with Orangetheory Fitness Co-Founder and CEO Dave Long telling Yahoo Finance Live that though digital is "not going anywhere," gym-goers still want the "in real life" experience.

On the topic of pricing, Long says that Orangetheory has done more promotional activity such as free classes to show the value the fitness company offers in a bid to take "price out of the mix."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Video Transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

- Thanksgiving yesterday has many of us feeling just a little bit sluggish and maybe starting to think about the holiday season, getting back to the gym. Well, the gym and fitness industry, we know, is entering a very critical time. It's worth about $7 billion, with several franchises and companies vying for consumers. So do hiring practices and also locations of those gyms impact consumer experience. Like many fitness franchises, Orangetheory has been innovating its classes and adding locations to push a growth this year. For more on this, we want to bring in Dave Long. He's a CEO and co-founder of Orangetheory. Dave, it's good to see you.

So first, before we get into some of those growth plans, I'm curious. Just taking a step back a bit, where does the fitness space stand today? We talked about so many of the changes that took place during the pandemic. How is what you're seeing today compare to what we saw three years ago?

DAVE LONG: First of all, happy Thanksgiving. Great to see you. And you know, it's been-- I think it's been a consistent shift back to understanding what consumers want in real life fitness. It's a really important part of them getting the results they want, being accountable to show up, and also the communities that surround great-- great fitness studios. Although, you know, digital is still alive and not going anywhere. I think there's always going to be a blend. But what we're seeing is a cornerstone for most of our consumers is the in real life portion of this.

- Dave, I always love getting your insights on the fitness space here. Because when I think about my own experiences-- and I've been to a couple Orangetheory sessions. I went to one in-- most recently and our team knows this very well-- Birmingham, Alabama. And it's amazing how replicable the experiences across locations here and what your staff is able to do.

But all of that considered, when you think about pricing mechanisms, especially in some of these different regions where consumers are thinking about how much they're paying for a single class or if they're getting a package or you know, just how much they're spending into that experience, have you seen that have to moderate, especially given the fact that many consumers perhaps around the Thanksgiving table this year inflation might have been a topic of conversation?

DAVE LONG: Yeah, it's a great question. It's been very top of mind for us. And we-- we've even gone through some small price increases over the last few years. I would say we're probably still behind the curve of what a lot of pricing is for studio. And we have done a little bit more promotional activity. What we really understand is that we need to show the value to the consumer.

And so offering a trial class to come in and try it or even a promotional offer for the first period of time has been really effective. Because once the consumer comes through, and they see how effective and different what we have to offer is, it kind of takes price out of the mix at that point. Whereas if they don't know what Orangetheory is, and they're just looking at a price point, I think in their minds that could be very different.