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A decade ago Megan Hill, a publicist in Los Angeles, was a member of a boutique fitness studio that offered Pilates. She liked the classes, but she felt she wasn\u2019t getting the results she wanted from that one exercise modality alone. So, she joined an Equinox to gain access to a weight room, cardio equipment, multiple types of classes, a pool, and more. \u201cI don’t think I would go back to a boutique, just because I don’t want to be limited to their practice,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Hill is not alone in this thinking. There are evident shifts happening in the fitness industry that reflect the modern exerciser\u2019s desire for a \u201cbundled\u201d offering.<\/p>\n
Boutique fitness studios, which are historically smaller spaces focused on one discipline\u2014like cycling, boxing, running, or Pilates\u2014are taking note and expanding their offerings. Rumble, for example, added a treadmill class with no boxing involved (their original focus), while OrangeTheory now has a floor-only strength workout and Hyrox training programs<\/a>. Meanwhile, big box gyms seem to be getting even bigger, offering everything from recovery rooms complete with saunas and cold plunges to GLP-1 prescriptions and beyond.<\/p>\n This reflects a larger business trend that happens in \u201cevery\u201d industry in which things bundle, then unbundle, then rebundle \u201cforever,\u201d says Jason Fiefer<\/a>, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine, podcast host, and keynote speaker. Here\u2019s a look at where the fitness space is right now in that cycle\u2014and what that means for your own workout options.<\/p>\n Meet the Experts:<\/strong> Jason Fiefer<\/a> is the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine, podcast host, and keynote speaker. Natalia Mehlman Petrzela<\/a> is a professor of history at The New School, and author of Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession. Anton Severin, is the vice president of research at the Health & Fitness Association<\/a>. Edward Hertzman is the founder and CEO of Athletech News<\/a>, a publication focused on fitness business and trends.<\/p>\n Gym Unbundling In The Early 2000s<\/strong><\/p>\n 20 years ago, taking a boutique fitness class was a true luxury, says Natalia Mehlman Petrzela<\/a>, professor of history at The New School and author of Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession. \u201cWhen boutique fitness first came on the scene, it was at a very high price point,\u201d she says, pointing to SoulCycle, which started in 2006, and Barry\u2019s Bootcamp<\/a>, which started in 1998, as early examples.<\/p>\n These niche studios were shiny and new compared to the gym concepts of the same era (such as Bally Total Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness), says Fiefer. The boutiques offered what felt like a secret that went against the conventional wisdom of the time, he says. While big box gyms had a bit of everything for everyone, SoulCycle<\/a> and Barry’s thrived in contrast to that: They offered a highly specific concept and attracted like-minded people, forging an era of customization and personalization, explains Feifer. And when concepts like cycling and bootcamp took off in popularity, a million copycats rushed in.<\/p>\n The influx of new studios made boutique fitness somewhat more accessible, both financially but also logistically, Petrzela says. After all, over time it seemed like there was an OrangeTheory, F45, or Rumble in every strip mall across America. In 2019, studio memberships hit a peak of 24.9 million, per Anton Severin, Health & Fitness Association vice president of research. But they weren\u2019t immune to business challenges, and thus began yet another shift in the fitness landscape.<\/p>\n Cracks in the Boutique Fitness Model<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2021, studio memberships fell to 15.8 million, the largest pandemic-era decline of any facility segment, per Severin\u2014although memberships have increased every year since, reaching 23.3 million in 2025, or about 6% below the pre-pandemic level.<\/p>\n While boutique fitness studios are still a \u201cvital and growing\u201d part of the fitness landscape, according to Severin, full-service gyms and health clubs currently have stronger momentum in both membership expansion and visitation. In 2024, fitness-only gym membership grew 7.6 percent year-over-year compared with 3.1 percent for studios, according to the association\u2019s most recent report. \u201cVisitation gains have also been led by traditional gyms this year,\u201d Severin adds, especially among locations with a high-volume of memberships, and lower prices (such as Crunch Fitness). In fact, between January and September 2025, average visits to this category rose 4.2 percent year over year, while studio visitation only increased 0.8 percent.<\/p>\n And even though people are increasingly willing to shell out to work out, only around 25 percent of the U.S. population<\/a> has a fitness membership, says Edward Hertzman, Founder and CEO of Athletech News. Why is this the case? Hertzman speculates it\u2019s likely that the boutiques and gyms are in direct competition for the same wellness-conscious clientele.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, Hertzman compares the boutique fitness scene to the club or restaurant scene. \u201cYou have successful restaurant groups that are hot for long periods of time, but the average restaurant or club has a short tenure,\u201d he says. \u201cIt’s hot and then it’s not.\u201d He points to a few boutique fitness concepts that have stood the test of time including Club Pilates, F45, and [solidcore]\u2014as opposed to others that didn\u2019t pan out, like modelFIT<\/a> and Flywheel.<\/p>\n Challenges for boutiques include, for the franchises at least, pressure to expand quickly before proper infrastructure is in place and payment model difficulties, Hertzman says. \u201cIf you and I travel this week for work, we don’t cancel our Equinox membership,\u201d he says, but if you don\u2019t take a studio class, you don\u2019t pay for it. While some studios have membership and package models, \u201chaving recurring revenue is proven to be a very important component of a successful facility.\u201d What\u2019s more, there are only so many hours a day that you can offer fitness classes and that people are going to show up to them, Petrzela says. \u201cIt’s very hard to fill a 2:00 p.m. class anywhere, even if you’re the hottest business in town.\u201d<\/p>\n The primary issue though, as Feifer sees it, is that there isn\u2019t one \u201ccure-all\u201d in fitness or one singular activity thing you can do to support your health. So people end up with fitness FOMO, or they \u201ccobble together some kind of complicated package where on this day you’re doing this thing, and on that day you’re doing that thing,\u201dFeifer says. \u201cNow you have a bunch of different memberships at a bunch of different places and it’s suddenly gotten very expensive.\u201d And from the business operators\u2019 perspective, boutiques are tricky because you\u2019re subject to the whims of fitness trends.<\/p>\n Petrzela flags another battle for studios: Big box gyms are coming for their lunch. \u201cSome of these boutique fitness businesses really thrived because of the communities that they created, and I think that’s still the case,\u201d she says. But now that many gyms are positioning themselves as wellness-focused \u201cthird space\u201d clubs that offer co-working spaces, restaurants, and more amenities in addition to a gym\u2014many people are flocking back to the big box, bundled model. \u201cWe’re seeing, like never before, gyms really leaning in to cultivating community as a core part of their offering,\u201d Petrzela says. It\u2019s tough for the boutiques to compete, purely from a square-footage POV\u2014\u201c[small studios] just don\u2019t have the real estate footprint to support that.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, one of the things that set boutiques apart was a social belonging aspect<\/a>. \u201cWith a lot of these brands, especially the brands that are successful, people identify with it,\u201d says Hertzman. \u201cPeople want to wear the t-shirt that says, \u2018Hey, I’m a member of this. I work out here.\u2019\u201d There\u2019s also an \u201cintangible value\u201d that the successful brands create by playing on emotions through aspects like lighting, music, and generally enticing vibes. But these are all things that the newer wave of gyms are catching up with and capitalizing on, as well.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s Consumers Want It All<\/strong><\/p>\n Today, rebundling is happening in a couple ways across the fitness industry, Feifer and Hertzman agree. \u201cIf I had to look into my crystal ball, I think we’re going to see massive consolidation over the next couple of years across all the categories, which means there’ll be consolidation in big box, luxury, boutique\u2014everywhere,\u201d Hertzman says.<\/p>\n One way is through mergers and acquisitions. For instance, OrangeTheory merged with Anytime Fitness last year, while F45 and iFIT announced<\/a> a partnership around digital fitness content. Much earlier, around 2016, Equinox completely bought out the SoulCycle founders (after purchasing an initial stake in the company in 2011). This consolidation will likely continue, Hertzman says, as private equity money comes in and those companies either need to build new locations or buy existing businesses.<\/p>\n A second way rebundling is happening is that gyms themselves are growing. Some include \u201cboutique-quality\u201d classes within their four walls, Hertzman says, including 24 Hour Fitness piloting a reformer Pilates concept. Other gyms are also jumping on fitness trends\u2014Gold\u2019s Gym, for instance, is adding turf spaces to support massively-popular Hyrox-style workouts<\/a>. Others are also investing in recovery rooms with massage guns, cold plunges, red light therapy, and more. While some boutiques are also adding some of these things (with OrangeTheory and F45 both offering Hyrox training, for example), it may be easier for gyms to continue expanding purely from a square-footage advantage.<\/p>\n Some spaces are even adding medical options, which makes sense given the rise of biohacking<\/a> and consumer interest in longevity: Life Time has MIORA<\/a>, an in-house integrative health clinic that offers everything from blood work to GLP-1 prescriptions; Equinox partners with Function Health<\/a> to provide comprehensive labs; and Love.Life<\/a>, a longevity club and gym in California, puts functional medical care at the center of their members\u2019 experience. \u201cThere’s a lot of talk about gym as clinic,\u201d says Hertzman.<\/p>\n Petrzela says that this shift of gyms into the wellness business makes sense particularly because of how GLP-1s<\/a> are changing how people exercise. \u201cIt makes complete sense that they\u2019re getting involved,\u201d she says, especially as doctors emphasize the importance of maintaining and building muscle on these drugs, and people look for specialized guidance.<\/p>\n What Does This Mean for the Future of Fitness?<\/strong><\/p>\n After this \u201cmoment of rebundling\u201d and consolidation, Fiefer predicts that, inevitably, it will all unbundle again\u2014likely because the more things bundle, the less personalized they feel. \u201cA new fitness trend will be introduced that feels totally different from whatever you’re getting at your big slow gym, and people will flock to it, and the flocking will inspire further niche services to be developed and introduced,\u201d he says. \u201cThose early successes will drive a bunch of copycats, and then we will have a whole other unbundling cycle, which will then exhaust itself and get rebundled.\u201d<\/p>\n Fiefer believes this presents an opportunity for smart entrepreneurs to build niche brands that they know will be swallowed up by larger brands. This is happening right now in the home services franchising space, he says, with niche companies like plumbers and window washers getting bought up and bundled. \u201cYou get these generally private equity-backed rollup companies, which is essentially a parent company with the purpose of buying up tons of smaller service franchises and then tying them together,\u201d he says. \u201cI wouldn’t be surprised if you see [people in] fitness launching these niche things specifically to get bought up five years later.\u201d<\/p>\n There are, of course, exceptions to every rule: Look no further than the YMCA, which started in 1844<\/a> in London, for an example of a \u201ctrend-proof\u201d fitness business, Petrzela says. \u201cThese continue to be really vital places and community centers decades and decades and decades later,\u201d she says. \u201cThey keep it affordable, they keep it accessible, it’s everywhere,\u201d she says. \u201cThat’s kind of beautiful, and better than, I think, a lot of these super exclusive places, which tend to get more ink, but none of them have proven the longevity of the YMCA model.\u201d <\/p>\n At the end of the day, this unbundling and rebundling of the fitness space has resulted in a lot of choices out there for people looking for a place to work out\u2014which is a great thing! While trends and demand will ebb and flow, there will always be places for exercisers to connect, break a sweat, and work towards a healthier lifestyle.<\/p>\n Find the Perfect Women\u2019s Health Training Program for You Caitlin is\u00a0a health and fitness journalist based in New York City. In addition to Women’s Health, she writes for publications including\u00a0The Wall Street Journal and Runner\u2019s World.\u00a0She’s completed 12 marathons, including the six World Marathon Majors, is semi-fluent in French, and volunteers as a greeter on The High Line. Follow her on Instagram<\/a> or LinkedIn<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Lettermark\"](\"https:\/\/www.womenshealthmag.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/womenshealthmag\/static\/images\/logos\/lettermark.f613c4d.svg?primary=%2523000\")
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