Your members want options — are you actually giving them?

The era of ‘just show up and suffer’ is over

Your members don’t want a one-size-fits-all class anymore. They want a Tuesday spin session that skips the move that aggravates their dodgy knee. They want a gym that also has Pilates. Maybe a soft play area for their kid while they work out. Sounds like a lot? It’s already happening — and the facilities building for it are the ones filling their books.

This week handed us three data points that, read together, tell one very clear story: the gyms and platforms winning right now are the ones treating member preference as infrastructure, not an afterthought.

What’s actually happening out there

Start with Peloton. According to Pelobuddy, Peloton has added Movement Preferences — a feature that lets riders flag specific exercises they want to avoid in classes and recommendations. Not “make it easier.” Not “skip the hard bits.” Avoid specific movements. That’s granular. That’s the platform saying: your body has a history, and we’ll work with it, not against it.

Now zoom out to Northampton. Padel Power — a five-star rated facility — is opening a new gym and Pilates studio this weekend, with soft play in the pipeline, per the Northampton Chronicle. A padel club. Adding Pilates. And soft play. On the surface that sounds like a random bundle. Look closer and it’s a precise answer to a precise problem: parents who want to train, members who want variety, a community that wants a destination, not just a court.

And then there’s apparel brand Gildan, whose investor story — covered by Kalkine — is being built around brand integration and recovery in the broader apparel market. Even the kit companies are betting that a coherent, connected experience sells. Fragmented doesn’t.

The thread? Integration beats isolation. In product, in programming, in studio design.

Your do-this-now move

You don’t need Peloton’s tech budget or Padel Power’s square footage. You need one conversation with your members — this week — that you probably haven’t had yet:

Ask them what they want to avoid.

Not what they love. Not what their goals are. What they want to skip, modify, or never see in a session again. Burpees on a bad back. Overhead pressing with a shoulder history. High-impact anything during a recovery week.

Then do three things with that information:

1. Tag your sessions. Even a simple system — low-impact, knee-friendly, no overhead — in your booking platform or WhatsApp group gives members the confidence to show up instead of opting out.
2. Brief your coaches. Share what you’re hearing. If three members in Thursday’s HIIT class have flagged jumping, your coach should know before the warm-up, not during it.
3. Build a complementary offer. It doesn’t need to be a Pilates studio. It could be a monthly mobility workshop, a recovery-focused class, or a referral relationship with a physio. Padel Power is spending on bricks and mortar — you can start with a calendar slot.

Personalisation isn’t a premium feature anymore. It’s the baseline expectation. The facilities ignoring that aren’t just behind on trends — they’re leaving members with a reason to look elsewhere.

Give them a reason to stay instead.