When $22K Memberships Are Selling, Why Are You Still Discounting?

The Market Is Splitting in Two — Which Side Are You On?

Phil Lowe is reportedly paying $22,000 for a gym membership, per the AFR. A new Brisbane ‘super gym’ is opening at Queen’s Wharf with memberships at $1,000 a week, according to realestate.com.au. Meanwhile, you’re probably staring at a Canva promo offering a free first month just to keep the doors open.

This isn’t irony. It’s a signal. The fitness market is bifurcating hard — ultra-premium at the top, discount aggregators at the bottom — and the studios stuck in the middle are the ones feeling the squeeze.

Group Classes Are Not a Business Model

Athletech News put it plainly: if group classes are the bulk of your revenue, it might be time to rethink your business model. They’re a great acquisition tool. A terrible moat. When your entire P&L depends on heads in a room, you’re one slow month away from a crisis.

Look at where the smart money is going. The Wellness Company just raised $1.6M CAD seed to build an AI health companion called Tempo, per Dealroom. Cradlewise pulled in $12 million for AI-first consumer health, per Indian Startup News. Investors are not betting on more classes — they’re betting on personalised, continuous, high-perceived-value health relationships.

And on the supplement side, cbdMD’s acquisition of legacy brand Twinlab, flagged by WholeFoods Magazine, is another sign that consolidation is coming for every layer of the wellness industry. The brands with loyal, high-value customers survive. The commodity players get absorbed or disappear.

The pattern is the same everywhere you look: generic is dying, specific is winning.

Do This Now: Build a Premium Tier Before Someone Else Does

You don’t need a $30 million facility to charge premium prices. You need a premium offer. Here’s how to build one this week:

1. Stack value around the outcome, not the session. A group class is a session. A transformation is an outcome. Package your coaching around a specific result — strength in 90 days, post-partum recovery, executive performance — and price it accordingly. Outcomes command multiples of what sessions do.

2. Add a high-touch, low-volume tier. Look at your current member base. Identify your top 10% — the ones who show up, refer friends, and actually care. Build a small-group or hybrid coaching product just for them. Charge more. Serve them better. This is your proof of concept for a premium line.

3. Use tech to extend your reach without adding headcount. The AI health companion plays highlighted by Dealroom and Indian Startup News aren’t threats to coaches — they’re infrastructure. App-based check-ins, automated habit tracking, async video feedback: these let you deliver a high-touch experience at scale without burning out your team.

4. Stop discounting cold leads. Start qualifying them. If someone won’t pay your real price, they are not your customer. The super gym in Brisbane isn’t running a flash sale. Neither should you.

The fitness industry has a pricing courage problem, not a pricing ceiling problem. The market is telling you — loudly — that people will pay serious money for serious results. The only question is whether you’re positioned to capture it.