We talk a lot about the importance of getting in shape – especially at the beginning of a new year or before hitting the beach — but do you know what it really means to be in shape? And how, exactly, do we get healthy? It’s a question local businesses and entrepreneurs are helping their clients better understand using new technologies, and new approaches to fitness.

Tiffany Stewart is a clinical psychologist and the director of the Behavioral Technology Lab at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Tifffany’s work focuses on breaking the illusion that looking healthy—which is to say skinny or sexy—is not the same thing as being healthy. In her work Tiffany uses technology – apps and games that she has helped develop – that aim to improve health and performance. 

Hayden Clark is owner of Irontribe Fitness, a local boutique health club that focuses on getting its clients healthy through 45-minute high-intensity, group workouts, paired with one-on-one style coaching. Irontribe is a Birmingham based company with some 50 franchise-owned studios around the country. Hayden opened Baton Rouge’s first Irontribe in 2017 and has seen its membership grow as customers today are increasingly turning to boutique health clubs over traditional all-purpose gyms to get in shape.

Photos over lunch at Mansurs On The Boulevard.