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

The ground is shifting under your feet

While you were busy programming next month’s classes, two very different stories were playing out in the same industry. On one side: boutique operators are going massive. The LIV Method is expanding its NYC footprint with its largest studio yet, and Toronto-based Lagree concept Reformd is planning what would be the world’s largest Lagree studio as it enters the US market, according to Athletech News. On the other side: Mind Gym PLC just reported a 15% revenue drop in H1 FY27, blaming corporate HR budget cuts, and has revised its full-year forecast downward, per Kalkine Media.

Same industry. Completely opposite trajectories.

The difference isn’t luck. It’s where the revenue is coming from.

Corporate wellness is a leaky bucket right now

Mind Gym’s numbers are a canary in the coal mine for anyone whose business leans heavily on B2B or employer-funded wellness contracts. When companies tighten HR budgets, your invoice is one of the first things that disappears from a spreadsheet. That’s not a critique of the model — it’s a structural vulnerability worth understanding.

Meanwhile, the boutique operators scaling hard are betting on something more durable: direct consumer loyalty. People who choose to show up, pay out of pocket, and come back aren’t doing it because their employer told them to. That’s a fundamentally stickier relationship.

Gym membership trend data from Quartz reinforces that the fitness consumer is still active — the audience isn’t shrinking. The question is who captures it and how.

Legacy matters more than you think

Here’s the part that gets overlooked in expansion conversations: culture compounds. Jazzercise founder Judi Sheppard Missett is being inducted into the 2027 HFA Hall of Fame, a reminder that the brands with the longest runways were built on identity, community, and a coach people trusted. And the fitness world’s recent remembrance of Eric Von Frohlich — honored by Athletech News as an innovator, beloved coach, and friend — points to the same truth. The coaches and concepts that last aren’t just selling movement. They’re selling belonging.

The studios now opening their biggest locations yet didn’t get there by accident. They built something people wanted to be part of, then scaled the container.

Do this now: audit your revenue and your reason

Before you draft your next growth plan, run this two-part audit:

1. Revenue source check. What percentage of your revenue depends on corporate contracts, employer stipends, or B2B relationships? If that number makes you nervous given what’s happening to Mind Gym, start actively building your direct-to-consumer channel now — not when the contracts dry up.

2. Community depth check. Could your members describe why they train with you, not just what they do there? If the answer is no, you have a retention problem disguised as a marketing problem. Fix the culture before you fix the funnel.

The studios expanding boldly right now have one thing in common: they’re not confused about who they’re for. Get clear on that, and the size of your next location becomes a much easier decision.