"We've gotten really good at setting boundaries on our time. This is so important if you're a husband and wife duo or if you're working with a partner, you really need to iron this out."
Justin and Taylor Norris are the Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of LIT Method, the company behind the proprietary Low Impact Training workout designed to build bodies, not break them. Justin holds a diverse resume of business, sports medicine, and physical therapy expertise with more than twelve years of experience in the health and wellness space. After suffering a life threatening injury by severing an artery, he took an interest in physical therapy and personal training, and a passion for helping others navigate their injuries. is among a small group of female fitness founders touting a diverse resume of technical, artistic, and sports medicine expertise.
With a background in product design and branding from Parsons School of Design, Taylor has always been energized by the idea of using design and innovation to help people feel and function at their very best. These visionary creators of the patent pending LIT Strength Machine — an all-in-one rower, reformer, and strength trainer — have garnered a cult following around their singular combination of personal training, physical therapy, and injury prevention. With their method, machine, and movement, they are leading a legacy of ‘inclusive innovation’ in fitness for people of any age, physical disadvantage, disability, or circumstance, to better sustain their long-term health and well-being.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Justin Norris: We are the Co-Founders and Co-CEOs of LIT Method, the company behind the proprietary Low Impact Training workout designed to build bodies, not break them. I had a life threatening injury where I severed my main artery. During physical therapy, I was really inspired by the idea that for so long, when we navigate physical challenges, the standard line is, “Here’s what you can’t do.” My wife and I began developing a system with resistance bands, which was the only equipment I could use without sustaining a new injury to my wrist or shoulder. We started combining the resistance bands with rowing to create Low Impact Training, which is a combination of personal training, physical therapy, and injury prevention. Over the last several years, we’ve opened a flagship studio and we’ve launched our direct to consumer product line, that has really taken off.
Taylor Norris: My background is in product design, so this is where our teamwork really excels. Justin is great at identifying the functional needs of a piece of equipment. He’s sustained these injuries himself and he’s worked with client after client who come in hoping to find a workout that, as we say, “will build you, not break you.” It’s not easy to come back from injury or to get back into fitness without a fear of making the same missteps. The method we designed really taught people to focus on longevity and on doing exercises with little to no impact on their joints. And in 2018, we began prototyping the LIT Strength Machine, the world’s first and only all-in-one rower, reformer, and strength trainer. It’s really taken off. People want a minimal footprint. They want something they don’t have to plug in and that they can store upright. That’s what we’re doing. Our products are user friendly, injury prevention-focused, and don’t require electricity. Low impact on your body. Low impact on your wallet. Low impact on the planet. It’s all part of this Low Impact living ecosystem we are creating.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Justin Norris: Humility. The pandemic was a humbling time for everyone, right? I think because we are a husband and wife duo, we were already living and working together…so in terms of time spent together and giving each other the needed space for both our personal and professional commitments, we’d already navigated a lot of those challenges. But I say humility because there’s always more to learn. There’s always more to give to other people. When you work in health and wellness, and we see ourselves as a wellness and tech company that is navigating a lot of these everyday obstacles with and for our clients, you have to expect curveballs. This is a once-in-a-century crisis, and we know now that it will probably happen with more frequency. And that means we have to learn to be even more nimble and more adaptable than we already were.
Taylor Norris: Absolutely true. I think we were very fortunate in that we had been prototyping our at-home fitness machine two years before the onset of the pandemic. So we were already thinking ahead. But you never know when you are going to have to move faster, to change, and to adapt to a crisis, etc. I think I would add to humility that we learned the value in future proofing some of our ideas. We learned that what we thought might be good in the short-term could be improved, could be bettered for our community. And there was something very special about slowing down in our public life, and being able to really hone in on that creative time and keep iterating the long-term products and projects that are going to make a difference in people’s lives. Standing still in that way we were able to in 2020 really let us think ahead. It’s kind of crazy, but it’s true.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Justin Norris: I don’t think there is one size fits all advice for this one. But I do think that what Tay just said is a good first step. In reality, nothing is ‘future proofed,’ right? But you can come close. You can come damn close if you care about the needs of your clients, if you really listen to what they’re thinking about when they consider how their bodies and needs are changing over time. Future proofing sounds like such a product driven statement, and she’s right. But product design is all about people.
Taylor Norris: Exactly. Who are you designing it for? Our next release this Summer lives up to all of these principles and more and we’re just thrilled to keep evolving the method and to offering people the chance to get LIT in a variety of different ways. I mean, our LIT Strength Machine is used by everyone. Pregnant women. Professional athletes. Recreational rowers or pilates enthusiasts. Swimmers. People new to any kind of fitness. Veterans. People in almost every age demographic. It’s pretty remarkable. So yeah, I would say, taking into account that each business is different, the idea of achieving accessibility and greater approachability, all while not losing your brand identity or commitment to your mission is the best advice we can give.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Justin Norris: Gyms closed in 2020. There’s no way to sugarcoat that. In person fitness in a landscape without vaccines was not an option.
Taylor Norris: Again, we were very fortunate that we had already been prototyping the LIT Strength Machine. We were already in development on an on-demand app.
Justin Norris: We wanted to give people that option of at home or in-person, so fortunately, we were already well on our way.
Taylor Norris: When we had to shut our studio doors, of course it was nerve-racking. But we tried to make it as seamless as possible for our members. We have offered classes of all sorts on the platform. All with a focus on low impact training. You will never run, jump, or use weights with us. But the beauty is that we do bodyweight classes, as well as equipment specific classes. No one is excluded. Again, that accessibility piece was pretty key for our ability to adapt.
Justin Norris: Helping as many people adapt to the challenging time was at the top of our list. We were all going through this for the first time. There was no manual, but we knew we could bring them something unique at a pretty lonely period in all of our lives. So our advice would be to figure out a business or business model that is, as we always say, “elite, but not elitist.”
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Justin Norris: Yes. Start advertising immediately.
Taylor Norris: Don’t do it through word of mouth and social channels only. Find out how you’re going to serve the customers. Also, in all honesty, I wish we had a better understanding of supply chain issues. If we had the advice we have now on expecting ongoing challenges in this space, it might have been less of a start advertising immediately.
Justin Norris: Totally. We’re lightyears ahead of where we were in terms of being able to anticipate difficulties on that front, which is helpful for the rest of this year and beyond.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Justin Norris: Direct to consumer is everything.
Taylor Norris: It’s where we are focusing a tremendous amount of energy. People are redesigning their lives in the wake of the pandemic and we are building products for those changes.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Justin Norris: We’re not proud of it. But lately, it’s been more than half the day.
Taylor Norris: Ugh. Yep, it’s true unfortunately.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Justin Norris: Customer acquisition costs and rising CPMs. That’s a challenging space at the moment.
Taylor Norris: So true, because everyone is trying to market direct to consumer e-commerce spaces.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Justin Norris: Oh, this is a good one. I wish we had photographic memories.
Taylor Norris: It would be the dream to remember everything we read and learn every day. We really take a lot of it in, but Justin has said that one before. And it would certainly be convenient.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Justin Norris: Balancing our personal and professional lives.
Taylor Norris: We’ve gotten really good at setting boundaries on our time. This is so important if you’re a husband and wife duo or if you’re working with a partner, you really need to iron this out. It’s important to value personal time as much as what you’re working on. Otherwise, none of it comes together.
Justin Norris: I’m proud of us making that a priority and we would suggest to anyone out there that they zero in on their idea of success with that in mind.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Justin and Taylor Norris for taking the time to do this interview and share their knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Justin and Taylor Norris or their company, you can do it through their – Linkedin Page
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