Active Wellness Co-Founder and Chairman discusses personalized wellness, the future of senior living, preventive healthcare, and why movement and strength training are essential to healthy aging.
BELLEVUE, WA — Longevity Academy is pleased to feature Jill Kinney, Co-Founder and Chairman of Active Wellness, in the latest installment of the Longevity Leaders Project, an interview series highlighting the people, companies, and innovations shaping the future of human longevity.
In a conversation with Longevity Academy CEO Rick Diamond, Kinney shares insights from her decades of experience in the fitness and wellness industry, including her work with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and Active Wellness’s efforts to bring personalized wellness programs to senior living communities.
The discussion explores an important shift in how we approach aging. Rather than waiting until health problems develop, Kinney believes the future lies in helping people take a more active role in their health through movement, nutrition, sleep, preventive care, and community engagement.
From Fitness Clubs to Personalized Longevity Programs
Jill Kinney has spent much of her career helping people live healthier, more active lives.
She originally founded Club One, a fitness company that grew to more than 100 clubs, approximately 3,000 employees, and nearly $100 million in annual revenue.
Today, as Co-Founder and Chairman of Active Wellness, she is helping bring that experience into a new era of personalized health and longevity.
Active Wellness develops and manages customized fitness and wellness programs for commercial health clubs, healthcare organizations, workplaces, and senior living communities throughout the United States and Canada.
One of the company’s most exciting initiatives is ACTIVATE, a personalized wellness program designed to help individuals improve their health through a combination of fitness, nutrition, recovery, coaching, and social engagement.
Originally developed to support healthcare clients and individuals managing chronic conditions, ACTIVATE has expanded into the senior living industry.
The program pairs participants with personal health coaches, specialty trainers, and wellness professionals while monitoring progress through regular assessments and biomarkers.
For Kinney, the opportunity is about much more than adding fitness classes to senior living communities. It is about rethinking what healthy aging can look like.
Rethinking Senior Living Through Fitness, Wellness, and Community
As baby boomers enter their later years, expectations surrounding senior living are changing.
More older adults want access to programs that help them maintain strength, independence, and quality of life.
Kinney explains that Active Wellness is responding to this demand by introducing comprehensive wellness programs into senior living environments, with approximately 15 locations in development at the time of the interview.
Rather than limiting physical activity to traditional senior exercise classes, ACTIVATE incorporates progressive strength training, personalized fitness plans, nutritional guidance, sleep support, and cognitive wellness.
Another important component is community.
Social isolation can become a significant challenge as people age. Kinney emphasizes that creating opportunities for meaningful relationships and social engagement is just as important as supporting physical health.
Some ACTIVATE programs are also available to older adults who live outside participating senior living communities, allowing these facilities to become wellness destinations for the surrounding community.
This approach represents a broader change in the senior living industry, where wellness is increasingly becoming a central part of the resident experience.
The Future of Healthcare Is Personalization and Prevention
One of the most interesting parts of Kinney’s conversation with Diamond centers on the limitations of traditional healthcare.
While modern medicine has become highly effective at treating diagnosed conditions, Kinney believes the next major opportunity lies in identifying potential health risks before serious problems develop.
Advances in genetics, biomarker testing, predictive analytics, and artificial intelligence are creating new possibilities for personalized preventive healthcare.
Kinney discusses how researchers are beginning to examine the complex relationships between metabolic health, cognition, immune function, mobility, recovery, and other factors that influence healthspan.
She also highlights ongoing research at the Buck Institute investigating how biological measurements can change throughout the day and under different conditions.
These findings could eventually help healthcare professionals better understand an individual’s health trends rather than relying exclusively on population averages.
Kinney envisions a future in which physicians have access to more comprehensive personal health data, allowing them to identify risks earlier and develop more individualized recommendations.
Why Strength Training Matters for Longevity
Throughout the interview, Kinney and Diamond return to one of the most practical longevity strategies available today: maintaining muscle and physical strength.
For older adults, strength training can play an important role in preserving mobility, balance, independence, and metabolic health.
Kinney explains that building strength has become a major focus in her own wellness routine, particularly as she has learned more about the relationship between muscle mass and healthy aging.
The conversation also touches on the growing use of GLP-1 medications for weight management and the importance of protecting lean muscle during significant weight loss.
At Active Wellness, strength training is being incorporated into programs supporting individuals who use these medications.
The underlying message is simple. Healthy aging is not just about living longer. It is about maintaining the physical ability to enjoy those additional years.
Women’s Health Research: An Overlooked Longevity Opportunity
When Diamond asks Kinney where she would invest one billion dollars to improve human healthspan, her answer is immediate: women’s health research.
Drawing on her experience with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, where she previously served as chairman and remains a member of the board of trustees, Kinney discusses the historical gaps in scientific research involving women.
She points to the need for a better understanding of ovarian aging, hormonal changes, menopause, and the relationship between reproductive health and longevity.
Kinney highlights the Buck Institute’s growing efforts to advance research into healthy aging in women, including foundational work examining the ovaries and their connections to other biological systems.
She believes these investments could produce discoveries that benefit both women and men by improving our understanding of the aging process.
Simple Habits That Can Make a Difference
Despite the growing sophistication of longevity science, Kinney’s advice for people who want to begin improving their health is refreshingly straightforward.
Move more.
She encourages people to find simple ways to incorporate additional activity into everyday life, whether that means taking a walk after dinner, spending more time outdoors, or establishing a consistent exercise routine.
Kinney also shares several habits she personally prioritizes:
- Strength training: Maintaining and building muscle to support long-term mobility and physical function.
- Sleep quality: Using wearable technology to monitor sleep patterns and focusing on consistent, restorative rest.
- Nutrition: Paying attention to protein intake and experimenting with meal timing.
- Movement: Making daily physical activity a regular part of life.
- Recovery: Recognizing the importance of rest, stress management, and healthy routines.
Her perspective is that people do not necessarily need complicated longevity protocols to begin making meaningful improvements.
Sometimes, the most valuable strategies are the familiar ones: move regularly, eat well, and get enough sleep.
Part of the Longevity Leaders Project
The Longevity Leaders Project, created by Longevity Academy, features conversations with entrepreneurs, researchers, executives, innovators, and thought leaders working across the rapidly expanding longevity ecosystem.
The series goes beyond individual products and technologies to explore the people behind longevity innovation, the challenges they are addressing, and their vision for helping people live longer, healthier lives.
Kinney’s conversation offers a valuable perspective on how fitness, personalized wellness, scientific research, and preventive healthcare are coming together to reshape healthy aging.
Her work with Active Wellness also demonstrates how the longevity industry can translate emerging scientific knowledge into practical programs that people can incorporate into their daily lives.
Watch the Full Longevity Leaders Project Interview
Watch Rick Diamond’s conversation with Jill Kinney to learn more about Active Wellness, the ACTIVATE program, women’s health research, and the future of personalized longevity.
About Jill Kinney and Active Wellness
Jill Kinney is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Active Wellness, a fitness and wellness management company providing customized programs and facility management services for healthcare systems, commercial fitness centers, workplaces, and senior living communities.
Previously, Kinney founded Club One, one of the country’s prominent fitness management companies. She has also served as chairman of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and continues to support its scientific mission as a member of its board of trustees.
Through Active Wellness, Kinney and her team are working to make personalized fitness and wellness programs more accessible across a variety of settings, with a growing focus on healthy aging and longevity.
Learn more about Active Wellness at ActiveWellness.com.
About Longevity Academy
Longevity Academy is an educational platform focused on helping people understand the science, technologies, companies, and individuals shaping the future of healthy longevity.
Through educational resources and initiatives such as the Longevity Leaders Project, Longevity Academy connects audiences with innovators working to extend healthspan, improve quality of life, and advance the emerging longevity economy.
Learn more at LongevityAcademy.us.