The Society Pod
Dave Appel is challenging the fitness industry to rethink its role in health by confronting the stigma around peptides and embracing integration. In this episode, we discuss the intersection of fitness, wellness, and emerging medical trends like peptides and GLP-1s. Dave shares insights on telehealth, industry convergence, and the future of personalized health solutions. One in eight Americans are now on GLP-1 therapies, and research shows these patients are twice as likely to join a gym and more likely to stay if they feel supported. Yet too often they are judged, dismissed, or ignored. Dave frames this as the single greatest growth opportunity fitness has ever seen, and one the industry cannot afford to miss. At KORB Health, he is proving the model. By embedding medical weight loss, hormone optimization, mental health, and longevity programs directly into gyms and health clubs, Dave shows how telehealth can move beyond prescriptions to become coaching, education, and sustainable lifestyle change. For Dave, this is bigger than business. He sees the stigma around GLP-1s and hormone therapies as a repeat of past battles over creatine and TRT, tools once vilified before becoming mainstream. More from Dave: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-appel-8211305/ KORB Health: https://www.korbhealth.com/ Bio: After earning a degree in exercise science and physical education, Dave began his career as a PE teacher, where he became known for experimenting with tools like heart-rate monitors in the classroom years before wearable tech became mainstream. While most teachers clung to dodgeball, Dave was teaching kids to measure effort and recovery, convinced that physiology mattered more than games. He carried that mindset into entrepreneurship, founding one of Austin's premier CrossFit gyms. For more than a decade, he coached athletes of every shape and ability, logging thousands of hours on the floor. To Dave, the gym was more than a place to train; it was a lab for movement, recovery, and behavior change. During COVID, when the gym was forced to close, he handed out every barbell and dumbbell to members so they could keep training at home. Nearly the entire community kept paying dues through lockdowns, and when the doors reopened, the gym exploded. That lesson, that people rally when they feel trusted and supported, has shaped how he leads today. After thirty years in the fitness industry, coaching revealed something deeper. Dave watched people train hard, eat clean, and still lose the battle with weight or metabolic health. When he learned about GLP-1 therapies, he recognized the same pattern of resistance he had seen with creatine and testosterone replacement. Every real breakthrough in performance is branded as cheating until it becomes obvious it works. For Dave, the stigma around medical therapies is not just misplaced, it is dangerous. If someone is finally motivated to take control of their health, that moment should be met with support, not judgment. That conviction led him to KORB Health, where he now serves as Chief Health and Wellness Officer. His focus is on bridging the divide between fitness and medicine, ensuring that patients who begin with clinical therapies are guided back into movement, nutrition, and community instead of being left on their own. Dave has spent decades earning trust, understanding what drives adherence and change, and applying those lessons to the integration of fitness and medicine at scale. More from Jessica: Jessica has spent the last 25 years promoting and protecting global franchise brands such as Gold’s Gym, Club Pilates and Burger King. Currently, Jessica is starting a new chapter as President of Squeeze Massage. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicayarmey/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicayarmey/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessicaYarmey
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