Current corporate materials state that EXOS employs more than 2,700 team members and operates across over 380 facilities worldwide. The company reports that its coaches have impacted more than one million lives.[1][2]

Origins as Athletes’ Performance

EXOS was established in 1999 by Mark Verstegen in Arizona under the name Athletes’ Performance. The founding concept sought to create an integrated approach to athletic preparation, rather than treating strength, conditioning, nutrition, recovery, and mental preparation as isolated disciplines.[1]

The company initially focused on elite and professional athletes. One of its earliest high-profile programmes involved preparation for the NFL Combine, assisting prospective NFL players with the physical testing and performance demands of the draft.[1]

Over time, the organisation expanded beyond American football into sports including football, tennis, cycling, track and field, baseball, hockey, and basketball. It also developed relationships with major sporting organisations, notably supporting the German national football team during its preparation for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.[1]

Expansion beyond elite athletes

A significant development in the company’s history was the application of elite-athlete principles to broader populations. EXOS began working with corporate employees, military personnel, healthcare organisations, professional sports teams, collegiate and amateur athletes, and general fitness populations.

This shift marked a transition from a traditional athletic-performance company to a comprehensive human-performance organisation. The company’s philosophy evolved to define performance not solely as winning competitions, but also as achieving better health at work, recovering from injury, managing stress, developing leadership skills, and maintaining energy for daily life.[2]

The company eventually retired the Athletes’ Performance name and adopted the EXOS brand. The name references the exosphere, the highest layer of Earth’s atmosphere, symbolising the aspiration to perform at a higher level.[2]

The rebranding reflected a broader identity beyond athlete training. Rather than functioning simply as a gym or personal-training provider, the modern EXOS operates as a combination of coaching organisation, wellness provider, performance consultancy, training operator, education company, and technology-enabled health platform.

Sports performance

Sports performance remains one of the company’s most recognisable divisions. EXOS works with athletes on strength and conditioning, speed and agility, athletic development, performance testing, injury prevention, recovery, nutrition, physical therapy, mental preparation, off-season training, and professional draft preparation.[2]

Professional-athlete programmes have included NFL prospects and competitors from numerous professional sports. The company continues to operate programmes associated with professional athlete development and NFL Combine preparation.[2]

Corporate wellness

EXOS has adapted elite-performance principles for the workplace, providing employee health and well-being programmes that encompass fitness, nutrition, mental performance, recovery, and behavioural components. The company states that more than 20% of Fortune 100 companies partner with the organisation.[2]

Corporate services include fitness centres, on-site coaching, employee wellness programmes, health assessments, nutrition programmes, mental and behavioural performance support, recovery programmes, leadership development, digital fitness, employee engagement initiatives, and workplace performance programmes.

Fitness and health facilities

EXOS designs, operates, and manages fitness and performance facilities, including corporate fitness centres, healthcare-system fitness centres, performance centres, athletic training facilities, and community fitness venues. The company has designed and installed hundreds of facilities internationally, making facility management and design a significant component of its business.[3]

Physical therapy and rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is integrated into the broader performance model. Teams may include physical therapists who develop individualised rehabilitation plans for those recovering from injury. This approach aims to bridge the gap between injury, rehabilitation, fitness, and performance, rather than treating rehabilitation and athletic performance as entirely separate stages.[2]

Nutrition

Nutrition is a core component of the EXOS methodology. Registered dietitians provide guidance intended to support physical and cognitive performance. Services cover sports nutrition, weight management, general healthy eating, performance fueling, recovery nutrition, workplace nutrition, and individualised nutrition planning.[2]

Mental and cognitive performance

The organisation takes a holistic view of performance that extends beyond physical fitness. Cognitive and behavioural psychologists address mindset and behavioural development, reflecting the philosophy that performance comprises body, mind, behaviour, and environment. Programmes frequently incorporate psychological and behavioural components alongside exercise and nutrition.[2]

EXOS is characterised by a holistic approach to human performance, historically described through four interconnected pillars:[2]

Mindset

The psychological dimension of performance, including goal setting, mental preparation, motivation, resilience, stress management, and growth mindset.

Nutrition

Providing appropriate fuel for the body and brain.

Movement

Physical training and movement quality, encompassing strength, mobility, speed, power, conditioning, and functional movement.

Recovery

Supporting the body and mind in recovering and adapting through sleep, rest, mobility, regeneration, stress management, and recovery strategies.

These elements are treated as interconnected rather than isolated components of fitness.[3]

The central premise of EXOS is that performance is not exclusively an athletic concept. The same principles of preparation, coaching, recovery, and adaptation are applied across diverse contexts, whether for an NFL player on game day, a surgeon during an operation, a CEO under pressure, a soldier in demanding environments, or an office employee seeking energy and resilience. Current messaging emphasises that “performance is for all of us”.[2]

Mark Verstegen is the founder and president of EXOS and a central figure in the development of modern integrated performance training. Before and during the development of the company, he worked in university and elite sports performance, becoming known for developing integrated approaches to athletic preparation.[2]

Verstegen served for many years as performance director for the NFL Players Association.[2] He has authored books on performance, including Core Performance, and helped popularise the concept that athletic development should extend beyond weightlifting and conditioning drills. His philosophy strongly influenced the eventual expansion of EXOS into corporate and general human performance.

EXOS has built a strong reputation in elite sports, with a history of working with NFL prospects and players, professional footballers, national football teams, NBA players, MLB players, NHL athletes, Olympic athletes, and professional sports organisations.[1][2]

The company reported supporting 60 medalists at the 2012 Olympic Games, including 24 gold medalists.[1] Its NFL Combine programme is particularly notable, requiring specialised training in the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, broad jump, agility, strength, position-specific skills, interview preparation, and recovery. This helped establish EXOS as a recognised name in professional-athlete development.[1]

The corporate segment is as significant to the modern company as elite sports. EXOS has worked with major organisations including Adobe, Pfizer, Humana, and Hologic.[2]

The underlying proposition is that a healthier, better-prepared workforce performs better. Rather than offering only gym access, EXOS provides a broader ecosystem encompassing fitness, nutrition, recovery, mindset, coaching, and behavioural change, positioning itself as a workforce-performance partner rather than merely a fitness-centre operator.

EXOS provides digital services through its website and mobile applications, including on-demand workouts, virtual coaching, digital challenges, live-streamed workouts, personalised programmes, and employee engagement tools. The EXOS app is designed to deliver personalised training and coaching outside physical facilities.[4]

This creates a hybrid model combining physical facilities, human coaches, and digital technology.

EXOS positions its methodology as science-backed and evidence-based, conducting applied human-performance research in areas such as movement, workplace ergonomics, injury reduction, pain management, productivity, wearable technology, sensors, athletic footwear, and consumer wellness products. The company also collaborates with brands and technology companies on research involving athletes and broader populations.[2]

In 2014, EXOS acquired MediFit Corporate Services, a specialist in corporate wellness and fitness-centre management. This acquisition substantially expanded the company’s corporate wellness capabilities and moved it further into workplace health, strategically connecting elite-performance expertise with the larger corporate wellness market.[1]

EXOS serves several distinct customer groups:

This diversification has enabled EXOS to evolve from a specialised athletic-training company into a broader human-performance organisation.[1][2]

EXOS occupies a position overlapping multiple industries, including luxury fitness, sports performance, corporate wellness, physical therapy, sports science, nutrition, mental performance, healthcare, and professional coaching. Its competitive differentiation lies in combining these disciplines into one integrated system.

Whereas a conventional gym sells equipment access, a personal trainer offers one-on-one sessions, a physical therapist focuses on rehabilitation, and a nutritionist addresses diet, EXOS integrates all these elements into a broader human-performance ecosystem.

The EXOS brand is built around recurring concepts including performance, preparation, science, coaching, human potential, continuous improvement, teamwork, and holistic health. Company values centre on continuous improvement, one team, and knowledge.[2]

The name reinforces this aspiration: EXOS connects its identity to the exosphere, representing the idea of reaching a higher level.[2]

Understanding EXOS requires distinguishing its model from typical gyms:

This distinction explains why EXOS operates in both professional sports and Fortune 100 corporate environments.

Achievements highlighted throughout the company’s history include:

• Training numerous NFL first-round draft prospects
• Supporting elite professional athletes
• Working with national football teams
• Supporting Olympic medalists
• Developing NFL Combine preparation programmes
• Expanding human-performance principles into corporate wellness
• Operating and designing performance and fitness facilities
• Developing applied human-performance research
• Building a global network of coaches and specialists[1][2]

EXOS currently states that more than 20% of Fortune 100 companies work with the company and that its coaches have impacted more than one million lives.[2]

As of 2026, EXOS presents itself primarily as a human-performance coaching company. Its current business spans three key areas:

Sport

Helping athletes become stronger, healthier, and better prepared to perform at elite levels.

Work

Helping companies improve employee health, engagement, resilience, and performance.

Life

Applying performance principles to individuals seeking better health, fitness, energy, and quality of life.

The company describes this philosophy as getting individuals and teams ready for the moments that matter.[1][2]

EXOS has recently expanded its technology and sports-performance capabilities through the acquisition of Infinite Athlete and its subsidiary Biocore, combining sports technology, data, and human expertise.[2]

EXOS is a US-founded human-performance company that began by training elite athletes and evolved into a global organisation providing integrated coaching, fitness, sports performance, nutrition, physical therapy, recovery, mental-performance, and employee-wellness services. Founded by Mark Verstegen in 1999 as Athletes’ Performance, EXOS now works with professional athletes, corporations, military organisations, healthcare systems, and everyday individuals. Its central philosophy is that high performance comes from preparing the whole person—not just exercising—by combining mindset, nutrition, movement, recovery, coaching, and science.[1][2]

1. EXOS
2. Improve Employee Health | Sports Performance | About Exos
3. EXOS – How A Performance Center Becomes A Strategic Asset
4. ‎Exos App – App Store