{"id":772878,"date":"2026-05-04T15:43:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/772878\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T15:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:43:16","slug":"why-the-gen-z-son-of-planet-fitnesss-co-founder-is-straight-up-targeting-the-gym-giant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/772878\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Gen Z Son of Planet Fitness’s Co-Founder Is ‘Straight Up Targeting’ the Gym Giant"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 25, Justin Grondahl is building a 63,000-square-foot gym just 600 yards from the first-ever Planet Fitness. He believes the concept will breathe new life into a gym industry he views as stagnant and too worried about cutting costs<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an irony playing out in Dover, New Hampshire. It\u2019s home to the first Planet Fitness location, which opened in 1992 and has since become the top dog in the high-value, low-price (HVLP) segment.<\/p>\n

The fitness giant has been on a tear attracting Gen Z fitness consumers, and is already setting its sights on Gen Alpha, a cohort that Planet Fitness CEO Colleen Keating has said is expected to be even more focused on health and well-being<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Justin Grondahl, a 25-year-old Gen Z-er, is looking to become a competitor.<\/p>\n

His upcoming facility, Traene Fitness & Pickleball<\/a>, sits just 600 yards from the first Planet Fitness at 831 Central Ave, breathing new life into a building that has been unoccupied for more than 30 years and is situated next to a Hannaford Supermarket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hard to ignore, the 63,000-square-foot gym offers 10 indoor pickleball courts, more than 20,000 feet of fitness equipment outfitted by Life Fitness \/ Hammer Strength, locker rooms with 3-tier saunas, cold plunges, red light therapy beds and even walls, tanning and massage beds, rooms for megaformer Pilates and circuit classes, a lounge space for members to work or socialize and plans for a peptide and hormone clinic.<\/p>\n

To add to the irony, Grondahl isn\u2019t just any young entrepreneur. He\u2019s the son of Planet Fitness co-founder and former CEO Michael Grondahl, who parted ways with the franchise more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"credit: Traene Fitness & Pickleball<\/p>\n

And when asked who Traene is for, the younger Grondahl\u2019s answer is immediate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re straight up targeting Planet Fitness,\u201d he said of the club, which is aiming for a fall opening.<\/p>\n

Closer Than You Think<\/p>\n

The location alone makes for an interesting narrative, but it goes deeper than that, as Grondahl won\u2019t just operate his gym 600 yards from Planet Fitness\u2019s original location.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually own the building that they\u2019re in, too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Justin Grondahl (credit: Traene Fitness & Pickleball)<\/p>\n

The build-out, which Grondahl is overseeing himself down to every detail, represents the chance to course-correct what he\u2019s seen as an issue for nearly ten years: that the fitness industry has stopped innovating and adopted a copy-and-paste model that has grown tired across both HVLP and the luxury space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only things that change in these scenarios are the freaking colors,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are also meaningful touches that Grondahl is incorporating into Traene that perhaps speak to his generation \u2014 and noticeably ones that few others are doing.<\/p>\n

The facility\u2019s water system will filter out chlorine, heavy metals and toxins from every water source in the building, spanning showers, cold plunges and hand-washing sinks. Towels will be 100% cotton, free of microplastics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a more expensive thing to do, but nobody\u2019s doing it because of that,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we think it\u2019s worth doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Priced To Disrupt & Built for Her<\/p>\n

Traene will presell gym memberships, with fitness offerings and most recovery amenities, including three-tiered saunas, in-ground cold plunges and filtered water systems, at $19.99 per month. Memberships with pickleball and group fitness classes will presell at $99.99 per month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to basically become the new Planet Fitness of the pickleball and class industry,\u201d Grondahl said.<\/p>\n

Traene\u2019s primary target demographic is women in the 30+ range, and has ensured that the layout is comfortable for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the most well-thought-out equipment layout that there is, because we were essentially thinking of a 35-year-old woman the whole time as we laid this equipment out,\u201d Grondahl said.<\/p>\n

To make sure he got it right, he turned to those who knew best and enlisted the help of his girlfriend, sister and mother to guide that portion of the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just a bunch of dudes thinking about it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Unplug To Connect<\/p>\n

It may come as a surprise that while Grondahl grew up in a digitally native generation, he bristles somewhat at the notion of needing to be entertained 24\/7, hoping instead to cultivate human connection within Traene.<\/p>\n

What that looks like, he said, is no TVs hanging above cardio equipment, though there will be some in the lounge and pickleball areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes you invest in the people around you more and clears your head, because we\u2019re constantly just filled with so much negativity on the news,\u201d he said. \u201cI just don\u2019t really want that in there. You come here and you kind of get a break from all this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The community focus doesn\u2019t stop there. Every month, members will have the chance to drive a Traene-wrapped Audi R8 around a racetrack, enjoy a date night that includes $250 cash and a limo, or score tickets to a Bruins or Celtics game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be doing that every month, just to keep the community active and social and rewarding people essentially for being good people throughout our community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Long Way Here<\/p>\n

Grondahl once pursued professional golf seriously enough to reach a competitive level, before a severe injury sidelined him for a year and a half and led to deeper reflection on his purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still felt like I was supposed to do something else with my life,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like professional golf was really it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"credit: Traene Fitness & Pickleball<\/p>\n

The foundation was already there. He\u2019d been working alongside his father in various capacities since his late teens, trying, as he puts it, to be \u201ca sponge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five-year goals include 100 Traene locations. He\u2019s open to franchising or partnership. He\u2019ll know more once presales begin, he said.<\/p>\n

But the numbers aren\u2019t really what drives him, and he\u2019s candid about why.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very lucky to not be in a situation where I need to do this for money,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s hopefully a product of this, because it\u2019s a business and it needs to function. But I don\u2019t think many people in my shoes would necessarily do this. It\u2019s just what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

What he wants to do, distilled, is prove that a gym can be generous with space, pricing, attention, community and still work as a business. And that perhaps an industry that races to cut costs and sacrifice quality or charges a premium for anything remotely upscale or boutique\u00a0left an opening that nobody, until now, seemed willing to fulfill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen quality goes down, that\u2019s when there\u2019s, quite frankly, opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a lot of opportunity right now, and people might not think it or see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to be able to have this opportunity and hopefully change the fitness industry,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 25, Justin Grondahl is building a 63,000-square-foot gym just 600 yards from the first-ever Planet Fitness. He…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":772879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[1198,3991,31241,210,26608,14968,63914,316800,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-772878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-gen-z","10":"tag-gyms","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-high-value-low-price-gyms-hvlp","13":"tag-pickleball","14":"tag-planet-fitness","15":"tag-traene","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116517077719312536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}