Google just replaced one of its most popular Fitbits. Brace yourself for sticker shock.



Nearly half a year after the wild success of Fitbit Air, Google’s wearable division just released a second fitness tracker with even more features. Fitbit Edge slots directly between the sleek Air and Pixel Watch as a goldilocks option for many users, but its price could be a deterrent for some.

Fitbit has coasted along since Google acquired it in 2021, releasing iterative updates to its existing trackers but falling short of launching anything groundbreakingly new. That changed this year, when Google introduced the ultra-slim Fitbit Air. During my extensive trial period, I loved Air for its sleek, lightweight, and simple design, though the AI-powered Coach hallucinated too much to be reliable for anything other than a neat toy to play with.

At first glance, Fitbit Edge is poised as an upscaled version of Charge with a bit of design language borrowed from Pixel Watch.

One thing noticeably absent from Fitbit Air was a display. This was by design, of course. Fitbit Air was meant to be a no-muss-no-fuss tracker with as few distractions as possible. No bright lights. No notifications. Instead, it just sits on the wrist, silently collecting data and ushering it into the new Google Health app.

Some users aren’t happy with such a simple device. They want to be able to see their data without grabbing their phone, opening an app, and syncing their tracker. For those users, Fitbit Edge may be a better option.

Fitbit Edge is an entirely brand-new device from Fitbit. It slides directly between the simplified Fitbit Air and the more robust Pixel Watch in both price and features. It also replaces a long-time fan favorite device, the Fitbit Charge, that originally launched in 2014. Rest in peace.

At first glance, Fitbit Edge is poised as an upscaled version of Charge with a bit of design language borrowed from Pixel Watch. Unlike the plastic and fabric that makes up Air, Edge has an oblong aluminum frame that comes in four distinct colors — matte black, satin silver, satin pyrite, and champagne gold — paired with a silicone Active Band in obsidian (black), fog (light blue), olive, and canyon (coral pink). Continuing its partnership with Stephen Curry, Fitbit also offers a Stephen Curry special edition fabric band.

The user interface is extremely simple. There’s only one button on the side that can be used to wake the device, or start and stop workouts. As for the 1.3” AMOLED color display, it’s fully touch compatible, so you can use it to swipe through data as you would on a typical smartwatch.

Google claims Fitbit Edge gets a full seven days of battery life. This will need to be tested after the device launches, but if it’s true, that would put it on par with the Fitbit Air that also achieves approximately seven days per charge. This number is even more impressive with Edge, though, since it also needs more power to light the always-on AMOLED display.

RELATED: Google Health just dropped. Should you trust it with your data?

Zach Laidlaw

When it comes to data duty, Fitbit Edge collects the important metrics you’d expect from a Google fitness tracker — continuous heart rate, oxygen levels, and sleep quality, and it includes an entire array of heart health features, like AFib detection, irregular heart rate notifications, and high/low heart rate alerts.

Google unveiled several new features in August, collectively dubbed Health Guardian, that are built into Fitbit Edge. Insulin resistance trends use heart rate data to look for signs of early blood glucose complications, all without penetrating the skin or requiring a blood sample. Meanwhile, blood pressure trends also use heart rate data to search for potential signs of high blood pressure without requiring a dedicated blood pressure cuff. Health Guardian is coming to Fitbit Air soon, but it will launch on day one with Edge. To get the most out of Health Guardian, however, the entire feature set, with sleep breathing quality thrown in, is reserved for Pixel Watch.

Two things that Fitbit Edge has that Air doesn’t — a built-in GPS sensor and an altimeter. Both can be used during outdoor workouts to map runs and track elevation changes. To get this data with Fitbit Air, you’d need to bring your phone during a workout session, but Edge can gather these on its own.

All of this is meant to prop up Google’s AI-powered Coach that’s built into the Google Health app. After nearly half a year since it launched, Coach is still fundamentally flawed, in that it can occasionally misinterpret data or even hallucinate results, especially if there are gaps in the data. Presumably, Google will improve Coach over time, and while it remains an interesting tool to tinker with, I wouldn’t stake your health on it just yet. Take whatever it says with a grain of salt, at least for now.

If you love Fitbit hardware or software, and you like fitness trackers with built-in displays, Fitbit Edge might just be for you. If you walk or run outside often and you want to map your runs without bringing your phone, Fitbit Edge also might be for you. However, for the vast majority of people who just want a simple fitness tracker that gets the basics right, it’s hard to overlook Fitbit Air, especially at just $99.99.

If the latter sounds more like your speed, check out the latest entry in our long-term Fitbit Air review that covers the device as it ages, as well as any new features and bug fixes that roll out along the way.

As for Fitbit Edge, it’s currently available for preorder at $179.99 — almost double the price of Fitbit Air, just for the privilege of an added display and a couple extra sensors, and $20 more than the defunct Charge 6. Only you can decide if the price is worth it, but to me, it makes Fitbit Air all that much more appealing. Fitbit Edge is expected to ship later this month when devices hit store shelves on Tuesday, October 27.

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After a decade-long wait, Apple Watch just got the one feature it always needed most



In 11 years, Apple Watch evolved from a fancy timepiece to a robust health-tracking platform that also fields notifications, takes calls, and handles menial tasks on your wrist. This year, Apple aimed to revamp the Watch’s health capabilities and transform it into an AI-powered hub for the new Siri. Did it succeed? Let’s find out.

At first glance, the brand-new Apple Watch Series 12 looks a lot like the models before it. It maintains the same square design that has become a familiar staple of the brand, and it keeps the larger displays first adopted in the Series 10. In fact, if anything, the appearance of Series 12 actually reverted a bit, as the physical case (body of the watch) and bezels (black border around the display) are now slightly bigger than recent models, but most folks won’t notice that from day to day.

Series 12 is the first exciting Apple Watch in years.

The new larger case is said to account for a completely redesigned health-tracking system embedded within the watch. The existing sensor array to monitor heart rate, steps, oxygen saturation, and other vital metrics has been reworked and improved. Now dubbed the Health Sensing System, it provides continuous heart rate tracking with samples collected every five seconds instead of every five minutes and heart rate variability measurements every five minutes instead of two hours. This, of course, is a huge improvement, as the new rates provide a more rounded look at heart health and overall fitness.

Apple Watch Series 12 Heart Rate Sensor/Apple

In addition to continuous heart rate tracking, Apple also conducted a study comparing Apple Watch Series 12’s heart measurement accuracy against several other wearables, including Pixel Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch, Garmin, and Oura Ring, with a Polar chest strap used as the most accurate control option. According to Apple, Watch Series 12 most closely mirrored the chest strap, proving it to be the most accurate wearable, at least for heart rate metrics.

The new continuous heart rate sensor enables several new powerful features exclusive to Series 12. The Readiness app uses HRV, sleeping vitals, and overall fitness to estimate your body’s strain levels and indicate when you can push during your next workout or to hold back so as not to cause injury or fatigue. For the first time ever, Apple Watch also gets live step counts; in the past, the displayed number could lag behind, so this is a much-appreciated change. Finally, Series 12 is getting an AI-powered upgrade with Audio Intelligence, though we’ll talk about that more below.

RELATED: Someone else's Apple Watch might start spying on your conversations

bombuscreative/Getty Images

My impressions so far

I’ve had an Apple Watch on my wrist since 2015, starting with Series 0. I’m an early adopter and a longtime user, so I have witnessed the Watch’s evolution from a piece of expensive jewelry to a robust health-tracking platform.

Even before Apple execs fully understood what the Apple Watch could be, fitness always seemed like the logical route. It had a display for showing data, it had a built-in gyroscope and pedometer to track movement, and it had a heart rate sensor, though back then, it was even less useful, with measurements taken every 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Fitbit and, later, Pixel Watch — after Google acquired the company — had similar devices with continuous heart rate tracking that put Apple Watch to shame.

I’ve wanted Apple Watch to add this feature for 11 years, and as the device improved with every iteration, I was sure Apple would never actually do it. The battery trade-offs were too great, or maybe the company didn’t think the data was useful enough. Who knows the reason? So when Series 12 finally shipped the feature I’ve clamored for, I had to have it.

To be honest, though, it’s not like Apple had a choice. It has been stuck in a health feature drought for years. The last meaningful innovations Apple brought to the Watch were sleep apnea notifications and the Vitals app in 2024. Before that, it was sleep tracking and blood oxygen levels for Series 6 in 2020. Other than those, Apple Watch has treaded water to the point that sales have dipped.

Apple Watch Series 12 Readiness App/Apple

While Google brought interesting features like Loss of Pulse Detection and upcoming blood pressure trends to Pixel Watch, it was becoming clear that a lack of continuous heart rate data was part of Apple Watch’s fitness stagnation.

Not any more! So far, Series 12’s heart rate measurements have been reliable and accurate, as far as I can tell. I haven’t had a chance to test the Readiness app yet, since it requires a full week of fresh data before it activates, so I’m still waiting for that. But I can already tell that this is part of the missing link in Apple’s health tracking endeavors that could open up new innovations in the future.

Another set of features oddly missing from Series 12 is Audio Intelligence. This is an entire set of attributes that use AI and Siri to listen to the environment around you to detect songs, identify certain sirens and alarms, and even take transcripts from the conversations you have in real life. Creepy, right? Maybe, but I need to test it out before I know for sure. Those are expected to arrive in beta later this year.

RELATED: This super-popular wearable is new, improved — and flawed

metamorworks/Getty Images

A final note, to my chagrin: An early batch of Series 12 Apple Watches are suffering from crashes via a kernel panic, which usually indicates a hardware failure somewhere inside the device, but it could be software too. My own Watch has force-restarted itself twice so far — the first time occurred while sitting at my desk, and the second incident happened when I tried to end a workout.

Apple hasn’t issued a statement on the suspected cause yet, but there is a chance it is just a bad glitch that can be fixed with a future update. That is what I’m hoping, at least; otherwise, my Watch is destined for a warranty replacement.

Odd bugs aside, Series 12 is the first exciting Apple Watch in years. Its new health features will redefine Apple’s position in the fitness category as it takes on Google, Whoop, and whoever else plans to challenge its dominance, and that is great for competition. It is also good for us, as the Big Tech giants try to build the best health platforms to help all of us stay healthier longer in the age of MAHA.

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Aging is inevitable — catastrophic decline is not



You're likely familiar with the cultural script on aging.

It reads less like a list of life stages and more like a slow-motion obituary. Hit 50, and the back gives out. Hit 60, and the memory springs a leak. Hit 70, and sleep comes in seven installments, courtesy of the bladder. Hit 80, and people start congratulating you for standing up. Hit 90, and they congratulate you for waking up.

Consistency, the least marketable word in wellness, turns out to be the key to thriving well past retirement age.

The script is, and always was, a lie.

Boomer bashing

My Irish grandmother is in her 80s and still as sharp as a tack. She remembers names, dates, family scandals, who owed whom money in 1987, and every embarrassing thing any grandchild ever did. You don’t win an argument with her. If you’re lucky, you survive it. She runs mental laps around people half her age. She’s not an anomaly or some statistical freak. This is what a properly engaged human brain looks like in its ninth decade.

So why does society treat people like her as exceptions to a rule that isn't real? Because ageism remains the last fully acceptable prejudice in America and beyond.

Try selling a birthday card that mocks any other group. Now walk into any drugstore and count the ones mocking the elderly. There's a whole aisle. Sitcoms cast grandparents as lost souls who can barely use a cell phone. Tech companies build entire pitch decks around how hopelessly out of touch anyone over 40 has become.

"OK, Boomer" was marketed as a joke. In reality, it was thinly veiled contempt, aimed at the very people whose work made possible the lives of those mocking them. The bias is so normalized that it barely registers as bias, which is exactly how the worst ones operate. And ageism is the most destructive of them all. Every other prejudice targets a group most of us will never belong to. Ageism targets the group nearly all of us will join.

Brain boost

That casual contempt fuels the narratives about aging more than biology ever did. Tell a population for 50 years that decline is destiny, and the population obligingly declines. Tell people they become invisible at 60, and many will retreat into the shadows.

The trouble is that the data has stopped cooperating with the cruel, condescending script.

A recent study from the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas suggests it never should have. Researchers tracked nearly 4,000 adults between the ages of 19 and 94 across three years and found measurable improvements in brain performance at every age. People in their 70s and 80s improved. Some of the biggest jumps came from those who started with the lowest scores. The brain behaves less like a dying battery and more like a muscle. Train it, and it adapts. Ignore it, and it atrophies.

And by training, I don’t mean learning Mandarin or memorizing pi to a thousand digits. Small daily habits did most of the heavy lifting. A few minutes of intentional mental work: a crossword, sudoku, some journaling. Real conversation with real humans. No magic pills, no ice baths, no hyperbaric chambers in the garage. Consistency, the least marketable word in wellness, turns out to be the key to thriving well past retirement age.

RELATED: To lose weight, ditch the 'unisex' approach

ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images

Geriatric gains

Aging is real, of course. Time charges rent. But modern culture keeps confusing aging with abandonment, and those are entirely different events.

Consider muscle loss. The standard line is that getting weaker after 60 is simply nature taking its course. But research on resistance training in older adults keeps producing very different results. Nursing homes that add basic strength programs see residents regain and even improve their balance and mobility.

The brain, as the aforementioned study shows, follows the same pattern. Older cab drivers memorizing routes, musicians practicing scales, retirees picking up chess, grandparents who refuse to stop hosting Sunday dinner: These people keep their wits because their wits never get a day off.

Meanwhile, plenty of 35-year-olds are already mentally cooked. Screen addiction, sleep deprivation, isolation, ultra-processed food, chronic stress, and the dopamine slot machine in everyone's pocket are producing cognitive burnout in people who still rely on Mommy and Daddy for money. A 20-year-old flicking through TikTok at red lights may have a shorter attention span than a 60-year-old who reads two books a month and still finds silence tolerable.

Seasoned seniors

The myth that older people cannot learn is exactly that — a myth, and a lazy one. They process some things more slowly, then make up the difference with pattern recognition, emotional regulation, and the kind of patience that only comes from having already survived the worst version of yourself. Communities that lose their elders lose their memory. Civilizations that worship only youth end up run by impulsive adults trapped in permanent adolescence, which explains a great deal about the past few decades.

Emotionally, older adults often report more gratitude, steadiness, and perspective than they had at 30. After enough funerals and failures, trivial drama loses its grip. An 80-year-old who buried a husband and raised five kids on a tight budget has a much more grounded perspective on reality than a heavily medicated influencer melting down over a comment thread.

The brain stays dynamic longer than anyone assumed. The body stays trainable longer than anyone assumed. The real tragedy isn't aging but how early people are taught to give up on themselves.

There is your chronological age and your biological age, and the two are often barely on speaking terms. Plenty of 40-year-olds are running on fumes and ibuprofen. Plenty of 80-year-olds are operating with the energy and mental wattage of someone half their age. My grandmother certainly is.

Trump announces return to JFK-era policy that every president but Obama supported



Not everyone is a winner, and President Trump announced on Tuesday that he wants to put competition back at the forefront for American youth.

To prove this, Trump is reviving a nearly 70-year-old policy that was phased out by President Barack Obama in his second term.

'We want to make sure our kids have the best opportunity to succeed in life.'

The commander in chief brought a number of high-profile athletes, Cabinet members, and children into the Oval Office to sign a memorandum to bring competition back to kids all across the United States.

As part of an executive order signed last July that reinstated the Presidential Fitness Test, Trump announced at the White House that he would bring back the National Physical Fitness Award as well as the Presidential Fitness Award.

According to Harvard Health, President Dwight D. Eisenhower initiated the Presidential Physical Fitness Test in 1956. It included a one-mile run, pull-ups or push-ups, sit-ups, a shuttle run, and a sit-and-reach exercise for flexibility.

The test endured in different forms all the way up until 2013, when President Obama replaced it with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program.

Gone were the awards, once listed on a government website under the President's Challenge. The president's award recognized students who scored at or above the 85th percentile on all five activities, while the national award went to those who scored above the 50th percentile in all five activities.

RELATED: Make America Fit Again: Presidential Fitness Test returns after 13 years

- YouTube

President-elect John F. Kennedy is credited with popularizing the fitness craze in the 1960s after writing an article titled "The Soft American" for Sports Illustrated.

In his writings, Kennedy cited research he had come across that spanned 15 years, comparing the physical fitness of American children versus the fitness of children in Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. Kennedy wrote that for six tests evaluating muscular strength and flexibility, over 57% of American children failed one or more, while less than 9% of the Europeans did.

Kennedy later proposed the President's Council on Physical Fitness, which would later establish the awards program under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. referenced his uncle's article at the White House on Tuesday, calling the physical fitness program "an enduring right of passage for us that everybody in my generation remembers."

"It was a benchmark for measuring national physical fitness," the secretary continued, adding that he hopes Americans "help each other get in shape so that we can prepare for our great future that this administration is providing for this country."

RELATED: The left can’t handle Hegseth’s combat stance

- YouTube

Also joining the president in the Oval Office were former professional athletes, including NHL player T.J. Oshie, MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard, and golfer Gary Player, as well as current pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau.

DeChambeau's remarks were celebrated when he thanked the administration for prioritizing the physical health of American youth.

"We want to make sure our kids have the best opportunity to succeed in life. ... Their physical fitness is a huge priority in helping them become better human beings," he said.

Also in attendance were War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

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Could you pass Pete Hegseth's new Army Combat Field Test? Drop and give us ... 30!



The U.S. Army's about to get a massive fit check — and not the kind where you show off the latest fashions in camouflage.

Effective this month, soldiers will be expected to pass a new, more rigorous Combat Field Test, one Secretary of the Army Hon. Dan Driscoll says will make sure those in the most physically demanding roles to "have the specific fitness required to dominate on the modern battlefield."

'We're asking more of our combat arms Soldiers.'

The new requirements directly affect those designated under combat military occupational specialties, such as infantrymen or combat engineers.

Boot and rally

The annual test must be completed in 30 minutes while wearing the Army Combat Uniform, combat boots, and a brown T-shirt. It consists of the following:

  • A 1-mile run;
  • 30 dead-stop push-ups, which entail coming into direct contact with the ground, briefly lifting the hands, and then pushing up again;
  • A 100-meter sprint;
  • 16 lifts of a 40-pound sandbag onto a 65-inch platform — to simulate throwing a sandbag into a vehicle;
  • A 50-meter carry of two 5-gallon (40 lbs. each) Army water cans (jerricans); and
  • A 50-meter drill consisting of a "25-meter high crawl" and a "25-meter 3-5 second rush" — movements meant to simulate both crawling prone with a rifle as well as sprinting and dropping to the ground to avoid gunfire.

The test concludes with another 1-mile run.

If a soldier can complete this test, they are fit for a combat role in the U.S. Army. However, that is not the only fitness test they'll have to go through.

RELATED: Veterans shouldn’t have to worry about lawyers taking their benefits

- YouTube

Planks for the memories

Those enlisted in combat arms will also have to complete the current annual Army Fitness Test, which is a requirement of all active duty and reserve soldiers.

That test consists of the following:
  • Three deadlifts with the maximum weight possible;
  • As many hand-release push-ups as possible in two minutes — this involves the soldier extending both arms out to their sides when hitting the ground;
  • A "sprint-drag-carry" circuit, in which soldiers drag a sled (or weights) and then carry two 40-pound kettlebells;
  • Holding a plank position until failure; and
  • A 2-mile run.

"This isn't just about passing a test; it's a direct measure of our commitment to readiness and ensuring our warfighters can dominate in any environment," Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer said. "We're asking more of our combat arms soldiers, and this test validates their ability to meet that high standard."

For Pete's sake

Since assuming the office last year, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has made raising military fitness standards a priority.

"It all starts with physical fitness and appearance. If the secretary of war can do regular, hard PT, so can every member of our joint force," Hegseth said in a speech last October.

RELATED: Uncle Sam wants YOU — to obey immigration laws

U.S. Army

The Army notes that if it is determined that a soldier cannot meet the physical standards, they may request a voluntary reclassification to a non-combat role, in order for the Army to retain personnel.

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Lowering the bar doesn’t lift women up



For years, Americans have been told a comforting lie: Anyone can do anything, be anything, and succeed at anything, regardless of limits or differences. But ideological fantasies collapse on the battlefield, where physics, endurance, and human limits matter more than slogans.

After years of social experimentation, the military is rediscovering a basic truth: Equality of opportunity makes the force stronger, while equality of outcome weakens it. The return to gender-neutral standards announced last month by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth marks a long-overdue step toward restoring merit, discipline, and respect across the ranks.

Pretending that men and women have identical physical capabilities doesn’t empower women; it endangers them.

For most of our history, the armed forces held one clear principle: Anyone, male or female, could serve in any position if they met the same standard. The promise was simple and fair — the uniform didn’t care about sex or gender, only performance.

That began to change in 2015, when the Army opened all-male combat units to women. At the time, the Pentagon promised no dilution of standards. But in 2018, when the new gender-neutral Army Combat Fitness Test was introduced, 84% of female soldiers failed. Instead of maintaining expectations, the Army rewrote them.

By 2022, the ACFT 4.0 came with gender-based scoring — a quiet admission that standards had become negotiable. The result: Combat units staffed with soldiers unable to meet the physical requirements of their jobs. That puts missions, morale, and lives at risk.

Worse, it undermines respect for women who do meet the standard. When the bar moves, doubt replaces trust. Hardworking female soldiers — the ones who earned their places — are forced to prove themselves twice: once in training and again in the eyes of their peers.

Diversity by design, weakness by consequence

In 2021, U.S. Special Operations Command declared that “diversity is an operational imperative.” But this new “imperative” wasn’t about the real diversity already found across the military — people from every background, race, and income level serving side by side. It was about engineering statistical parity, even in elite combat units where performance alone must decide who stays and who goes.

That mindset has consequences. Combat units can’t afford ideological experiments. The job is to close with and destroy the enemy — not to serve as laboratories for social theory. Lowering standards in the name of inclusion doesn’t just weaken readiness; it puts soldiers in unnecessary danger.

And no woman who trains to fight wants pity disguised as progress. The women who seek out elite units don’t ask for special treatment — they ask for the same chance to prove themselves by the same rules. When standards drop, those women lose too.

Strength in truth

Gender-neutral standards don’t discriminate. They recognize that men and women are different and that most people — men included — simply can’t meet the demands of combat. That’s not “oppression.” It’s just reality.

Women who pass those standards have demonstrated extraordinary strength, skill, and resolve. They deserve admiration, not suspicion. And those who don’t — along with the vast majority of men who don’t — can still serve honorably in the hundreds of vital roles that keep America’s military functioning.

RELATED: How America lost its warrior spirit when it feminized its academies

Photo by Kevin Carter

A sex-neutral standard is an act of fairness, not exclusion. It’s a recognition that excellence demands truth, not ideology — that merit, not identity, keeps soldiers alive and wins wars.

Restoring purpose

The military’s duty is national defense, not social engineering. Pretending that men and women have identical physical capabilities doesn’t empower women; it endangers them.

Reaffirming one standard for all isn’t an attack on women — it’s a defense of every soldier’s dignity. It calls each person to rise to the challenge, to serve according to one’s God-given abilities, and to be judged by results.

If we want a stronger force — and a stronger nation — we must stop confusing fairness with fantasy. Let’s demand standards worthy of the uniform, and let every soldier, male or female, earn respect the same way: by meeting them.

Jillian Michaels Exposes the REAL Biggest Losers | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 271
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Jillian Michaels Exposes the REAL Biggest Losers | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 271

Male ‘Skinny Fatness’ Is A Moral Problem As Well As A Physical One

The frail condition that Millennial young men like Mamdani find themselves in should be a wake-up call to parents, educators, and policymakers to look for ways to encourage young men to lead, build, and — at very least — lift.

Woke gym charged white people double to achieve 'true inclusion'



A Canadian gym that claims the fitness industry is dominated by white people has removed a pricing structure that was based on race.

R Studios released a statement in response to online backlash after reports circulated that showed the company offering classes for "BIPOC ... Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour" at half its typical rate. Its usual rate was $30, but the "BIPOC" rate was $15.

'Our mission has always been to create spaces that feel safe.'

As reported by the Daily Mail, not only did the Halifax, Nova Scotia, studio offer a special "BIPOC drop in rate," but a screenshot of an alleged chat with the company revealed users could get a "reduced" membership cost simply for being "a black person."

"Yes, we offer a BIPOC membership option," the company allegedly responded, according to the image.

In response, the fitness studio posted a series of statements to its Instagram account, seemingly admitting to the pricing program.

"Our mission has always been to create spaces that feel safe, inclusive, and welcoming for all people," the post began.

The statement then immediately positioned the company as implementing diversity programs as a method to fight bigotry. Not only did R Studios claim that the fitness industry has "long been predominantly white and often inaccessible," the company seemed to state it has engaged in race-based hiring practices as well.

"We have taken pride in being leaders who actively promote diversity through our hiring practices, in-studio equity and inclusion training, and the creation of our IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility) Committee."

Further cementing that customers are to "feel seen" at the business, R Studios then addressed "feedback and criticism" surrounding its efforts to create a "discounted membership" created by its "BIPOC team and IDEA Committee to help foster diversity and inclusion."

RELATED: DEI in space? How Biden hijacked NASA for a woke agenda

City of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2023. Photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

The post continued, claiming that while R Studios' "initiative was built from a place of compassion and community," the company said it understood that some have interpreted the pricing tiers to be "exclusive."

The company then justified the decision by saying part of its work means recognizing "true inclusion," which involves creating "intentional space for those who have been historically marginalized or excluded."

R Studios further announced that it would be removing all discounted memberships and replacing them with an allegedly "even more inclusive" program to provide memberships for those who face "financial or systemic barriers" but "regardless of background."

On the final page of the post, the company said it remains committed to DEI.

This commitment is still displayed proudly on the R Studios website, where it boasts a land acknowledgement.

"The Rstudios community is currently working to be more inclusive," the statement reads. The company also declares in the acknowledgement "that we are in Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People."

It adds, "This territory is covered by the 'Treaties of Peace and Friendship' signed in 1725."

The Mi'kmaq have been noted as being scalpers for pay who tortured prisoners of war from other tribes, which was of course common at the time.

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R studios in Nova Scotia charges double for white people, in violation of Sections 5(1) of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act.

The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission disgracefully made our human rights a fraud during COVID. CEO Joseph Fraser even made up his own extrajudicial… pic.twitter.com/gvfZSV3L7h
— Jeff Evely (@JeffEvely) October 5, 2025

Local political candidate from the People's Party of Canada Jeff Evely commented that he felt the fitness studio was in violation of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act.

"R studios in Nova Scotia charges double for white people, in violation of Sections 5(1) of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act," Evely wrote on X.

Notably, the studio's owner, Connie McInnes, was celebrated by national Canadian bank TD Canada in 2019 for her efforts to create "safe spaces for women."

R Studios did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment regarding race-based pricing and hiring practices.

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Memo to Hegseth: Our military’s problem isn’t only fitness. It’s bad education.



Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivered a bracing address Tuesday to the nation’s generals and admirals on restoring the warrior ethos and “unwoking” the military. His words hit their mark. But if the United States wants real warriors, the work starts with education — and ends with the National Guard.

The collapse of military education

Mr. Secretary, I have taught at the National Defense University and the National Intelligence University since 1992. Over three decades, I have watched the steady decline of military education, especially in American military history.

The rot deepened after 2021, when NIU was shifted from the Defense Department to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The move made little sense, and the result has been worse: a pipeline of “graduates” sent into your War Department who bear the marks of the politicized training they received.

What good are polished bayonets and perfect push-ups if our enemies own the digital battlefield?

Until last year, NIU’s executive vice president, Patricia A. Larsen, pushed a cartoonish form of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Imagine Rube Goldberg and Cruella de Ville designing education policy after a bender, and you get the idea. She maximized DEI, minimized rigor, and turned classrooms into therapy circles for “sensitive” intelligence students — while riding roughshod over her faculty and staff.

The result? A crop of intelligence officers shaped by Larsen’s priorities: officers less like warriors and more like the “less-than-warriors” you warned about. And no amount of push-ups or rifle drills will fix that mindset. Bad intelligence has destroyed the best warfighters before — Pearl Harbor, Chosin Reservoir, Tet. It can happen again.

Citizen soldiers and information war

If you want a different kind of warrior, look to the citizen soldier. Men like Gen. Dan Caine, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Or like yourself.

Citizen soldiers carry the heart and soul of warriors into the non-kinetic fight: information warfare. China fields armies of hackers and propagandists who corrupt American culture, flood social media with poison, and wage psychological war around the clock. They don’t need to fire a shot to weaken us.

What good are polished bayonets and perfect push-ups if our enemy — say, China — owns the digital battlefield? Unlike the kinetic fight, information war shifts daily. By the time the Pentagon recognizes a problem, builds a school, and launches a course, the enemy has already moved on.

That’s where the Guard excels. Citizen soldiers live in this world every day — coding, marketing, designing, working AI prompts and hardware. They bring practical knowledge the active-duty military cannot match.

I know this firsthand. Years ago, I organized and trained an experimental National Guard unit for the Pentagon. In their world, physical fitness matters less than mental agility. Discipline, imagination, and technical mastery were the weapons they carried. And they were lethal.

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Photo courtesy of Chuck de Caro

Back to the Roman model

The founders understood the power of the citizen soldier because they themselves defeated the world’s strongest army with farmhands who knew terrain, seasons, and the hunt. Today’s equivalent may be a Guardsman in sunglasses, leaning against a Corvette, laptop and phone in hand — ready to beat Beijing in the digital fight.

As you purge the woke and the unfit, Mr. Secretary, think about a new standard for an old class: the citizen soldier.

You like to quote the Romans. Let me remind you of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, the farmer who left his plow to lead Rome to victory, then refused power and returned home. He wasn’t just a warrior. He was a victor.

That’s the model America needs now. Not just warriors — but victors who know when to fight, when to win, and when to go home. The Roman way. The American way.