Every few months a new list of “hot workouts” appears. Most of them rank formats by buzz. Very few say what happened to the studios that bet on each format.
That gap matters if you own a studio or plan to open one. A format can be popular with exercisers and still be a poor business. Another can look tired in the headlines and still fill classes at a healthy price. If you want a broad list of workouts people try, the top fitness trends in America post covers that. This guide asks a narrower question: which boutique formats are earning their place, and which are losing it?
You will get a verdict for each format, the evidence behind it, and a simple way to test a format with your own numbers before you spend money on it. Participation surveys measure exercisers; franchise counts cover selected brands; and company results do not represent every studio in a given format. Carefully compare those measures before applying them to your market.
Why one trend number can mislead you
A single statistic can’t tell you if a format is a good bet. “Participation is up” says people like it. It does not say anyone is making money from it.
So this guide uses a three-signal check. A format earns a “growing” label only when the signals mostly agree.
- People: Are more Americans doing it? This comes from participation surveys.
- Operators: Are franchisors opening, closing, or selling brands in this format? Operators spend real money, so their moves are a strong clue.
- Money: Are sales per studio, retention, and profit holding up? This is the signal most trend lists skip.
On the people signal, the main source is the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). Its 2026 reports use 2025 data from a national participation study of 18,000 surveys, representing Americans ages six and older. The full reports are paid. So the format-level numbers below come from trade coverage of that data. Where a number comes from a company, a franchisee group, or a press release, the text says so.
The verdict, format by format
Here is the short answer. Each row is explained in the sections that follow.
| Format | People | Operators | Money | Verdict |
| Pilates | Up nearly 40% since 2019 | Many brands opening studios | Same-store sales softening | Growing, but crowding |
| Strength-led small group and personal training | Free weights and kettlebells grew | Several brands adding studios | Company-reported retention is strong | Growing, thin independent proof |
| Yoga and barre | Modest gains | Mixed | Part of a softer portfolio | Steady |
| Indoor cycling | Down 33.5% over five years (2025 coverage) | Brands sold off | Weak | Fading |
| HIIT and boot camp franchises | Declining in HFA survey | Closures and a bankruptcy | Franchisee profits squeezed | Fading, with exceptions |
| Recovery and stretch | No comparable survey cited | No comparable survey cited | Comparable profit data not cited | Pilot before expanding |
Growing, with a crowding warning: Pilates
Pilates has a strong participation signal. FITT Insider reports SFIA data showing Pilates up nearly 40% since 2019. Franchise Times also reports the same trend, with roughly 9.2 million participants in 2019 rising to about 13 million in 2025.
Operators agree. The Franchise Times piece lists Club Pilates at more than 1,200 locations. It also notes Jetset Pilates reached 44 studios by the end of 2025 after adding about 25 that year, and Bodybar Pilates grew from 48 to 75 locations. Xponential, the company behind Club Pilates, said that when it sold two brands in 2025, Pilates, stretching, and barre made up 85% of its sales.
The money signal is where the story gets harder. In Xponential’s second-quarter 2026 results, North America same-store sales fell 6.8%, compared with 2.4% growth a year earlier. Average sales per studio dropped from $686,000 to $659,000. That figure covers all five of its brands, not Pilates alone. A summary of the earnings call reports that Club Pilates’ same-store sales fell 5%, and that the company closed 39 studios in the quarter.
The CEO blamed “pressure at the top of the customer funnel,” meaning fewer new customers walking in, along with cautious consumer spending and heavy promotions. That is the company’s own explanation. A second reading is also plausible: when many brands open Pilates studios near each other, each studio gets a smaller slice. The data here does not prove that reading, so treat it as a question to ask about your own market.
What it means: Demand for Pilates is real, but growing demand does not guarantee that each studio grows. If you add reformers, plan for competition. For market-size figures on the format itself, see the Wellyx Pilates industry statistics guide.
Growing, with thinner proof: strength-led studios
Strength is the second format with a good story. SFIA’s 2026 findings, based on 2025 data, show growth in free weights and kettlebell training, stable participation in resistance machines, and weaker participation in bodyweight and calisthenics. Match your proposed studio format to the activity being measured.
Operators are betting on it. Franchise Times counts about 35 Discover Strength studios and about 90 Fitness Together studios at the end of 2025. Discover Strength’s own company press release says it now has 41 studios across 15 states, opened seven new studios in 2026, and kept 80% of members at its company-owned locations in 2025.
Be careful with that last number. It describes company-owned studios, not the whole franchise network, and it is a retention measure rather than a profit measure. Franchise Times quotes Discover Strength’s CEO saying a gym is either high-volume and low-price or boutique, with “no in between.” That is a useful way to think about positioning, but it is a view from someone selling the boutique model.
What it means: Selected strength formats show demand growth and operator expansion, but the evidence here does not establish studio profitability. Request revenue, costs, and profit for comparable locations, and check how retention was measured.
Growing participation, mixed business evidence: yoga and barre
Yoga and barre are not the headline stories, but they are not collapsing either. FITT Insider’s summary of SFIA data reports yoga up 23% and barre up 19%.
On the operator side, the picture is mixed. Franchise Times lists The Bar Method at 80 studios. Xponential still runs Pure Barre and YogaSix, and on its earnings call, said both brands are using data to coach studios on adding class types tied to higher new-member conversion. That hints at a format that must keep changing to keep converting.
What it means: Steady is not a bad result. A studio built on these formats can do well, but it should not expect the tailwind Pilates and strength enjoy.
Fading: indoor cycling
Group cycling shows one of the clearest participation declines among the formats reviewed. FITT Insider reports SFIA data showing group cycling down 33.5% over five years, and Franchise Times repeats the figure. The Xponential brand story fits. In July 2025, the company announced the sale of CycleBar and Rumble, a boxing brand, to Extraordinary Brands. It had also sold Row House in May 2024. The company said it would divest five brands over two years to focus on higher-performing formats.
A sale is not the same as a closure. Selling a brand can also reflect debt, management focus, or brand strength. Still, when participation falls by a third, and the biggest boutique franchisor walks away from the format, the signals agree.
What it means: If you run a cycling studio, the answer is not to panic. It is to measure class fill by time slot, and to add a second format that can share the room.
Fading, with exceptions: HIIT and boot camp franchises
Health & Fitness Business reports that the Health & Fitness Association’s 2025 consumer report found yoga and Pilates ascendant while HIIT, calisthenics, and boot camps declined. FITT Insider describes high-intensity training as “slipping as exercisers seek progress without burnout.”
The franchise numbers fit, but they are older and partly self-interested. A franchisee report on Orangetheory from 2024 said:
- Orangetheory ended 2023 with 1,333 studios, closed 22 in the year, and grew a net 31.
- Average four-wall profit (studio profit before corporate costs) in 2023 was down more than 50% from about $300,000 in 2019.
- A franchisee council poll found 19.4% of studios losing money at the four-wall level in March 2024.
That data comes from a franchisee association pushing for better terms, so it leans negative. It is also two years old. It shows pressure, not collapse, since the brand was still adding studios.
F45 shows why one failure is not a verdict. In August 2026, franchisee Mad Fitness Group filed for Chapter 11 and planned to close 15 of its 32 peak studios, according to Athletech News. The company blamed fast expansion, studios 20% to 30% larger than standard, and high rent and build costs. The same report says F45’s parent company reported record studio growth in 2025 and has not filed for bankruptcy.
What it means: The format is under pressure, but the failures trace to big boxes, high rent, and fast growth as much as to the workout itself. If you run HIIT, a smaller footprint and lower rent matter more than the next class concept.
Recovery add-ons: promising interest, limited financial evidence
Recovery is everywhere in announcements. Athletech News reports F45 added cold plunge tubs and infrared saunas in late 2024, and StretchLab brought compression therapy into at least 100 locations. Orangetheory was piloting recovery equipment at select clubs.
What I could not find is independent data on participation or profit from these add-ons. The same Athletech report quotes one industry executive advising studios under 3,000 square feet to skip cold plunges and saunas and focus on “what they’re really good at.” Treat recovery as a way to raise the value of a membership you already have, not as proof of a new growth format.
Test a format before you build around it
Trend data tells you where to look. Your own data tells you what to do. Run a short pilot for any new format, and judge it on the same three signals at studio scale.
- People: How many first-timers book, and how many return within 14 days?
- Operational fit: Can your staff teach it well, and do your rooms and equipment fit it?
- Financial Performance: What does each class earn after the instructor is paid?
Here is an illustrative example. The numbers are made up to show the math, not to serve as benchmarks. Say a class holds 12 people, a visit is worth $20, and the instructor costs $40 per class. You run 20 classes a week of each format.
| Format A | Format B | |
| Average attendance | 9 of 12 | 5 of 12 |
| Fill rate | 75% | 42% |
| Revenue per class | $180 | $100 |
| Contribution per class (after instructor) | $140 | $60 |
| Contribution per week (20 classes) | $2,800 | $1,200 |
Same room, same hours, more than double the contribution. The only difference is how well the format fills. A trend list cannot tell you that. A six to eight-week pilot can.
Self-audit: does your own data agree with the trend?
Answer these before you add or drop a format.
- Do I know the fill rate for every class type, not just total attendance?
- Do I know which formats first-timers choose, and which ones they come back for?
- Is any format filling in peak hours but sitting empty off-peak?
- Do I have a waitlist for any class? Does it convert to bookings?
- What does each format earn per class after instructor pay?
- Does a format depend on one instructor who could leave?
- Is a new competitor offering my main format within a few miles?
Owner action list
- Pull 90 days of attendance by class type and calculate fill rate for each.
- Rank formats by contribution per class, not by headcount.
- Pick one format to pilot, with a start date, an end date, and a pass mark such as a 65% fill rate.
- Cap pilot spending. Rent equipment or try it for a trial period before buying.
- Track first-timer return rate for the pilot against your current average.
- Decide at the end: expand, adjust, or stop.
- Review the whole class mix every quarter.
Where Wellyx fits
None of this needs special software, but it helps to count with the same system you run the studio on. Class scheduling in Wellyx supports custom capacity, waitlists, and conflict detection, which matter when a reformer class has a fixed number of machines. Its reporting tools offer more than 100 reports and KPI dashboards, which you can use to compare fill rate and revenue by class type. A walkthrough with the team can show how that would look for your studio.
FAQs
Which boutique fitness format is growing fastest?
Pilates has some of the strongest growth evidence among the formats reviewed. SFIA data reported by FITT Insider shows participation up nearly 40% since 2019, and brands like Club Pilates, Jetset, and Bodybar keep adding studios. The catch is that Xponential reported a decline in same-store sales in 2026, so growth in demand has not translated into growth per studio.
Is HIIT dead?
No, but it is under pressure. A Health & Fitness Association consumer report, as summarized by Health & Fitness Business, found HIIT and boot camps declining. Orangetheory still grew its studio count in 2023. The strain shows up in profit and closures, so smaller, lower-rent studios are in a better position than large boxes.
Why did indoor cycling decline?
The data shows the decline, not the cause. SFIA figures reported by FITT Insider show group cycling down 33.5% over five years, and Xponential sold CycleBar in 2025. Likely reasons include changing tastes and home bikes, but I found no study that proves why, so treat explanations as informed guesses.
Should my studio add recovery services?
Test it small before you commit. Trade press shows big brands adding cold plunge and compression services, but I found no independent data on how much they earn. One executive quoted by Athletech advises studios under 3,000 square feet to focus on their core format. A pilot with rentals is safer than a build-out.
How can I tell if a trend will last?
Check three signals together: participation, operator moves, and financial results. A trend that shows up in all three is more likely to last. A trend that appears only in headlines or only in one company’s press release warrants skepticism. Then test the format in your own studio with a short pilot.
Conclusion
Pilates and strength-led studios show promising demand, but neither guarantees a profitable business. Pilates is crowding, and strength still lacks independent profit data. Yoga and barre hold steady. Indoor cycling and HIIT franchises are fading, though the worst stories often come from oversized studios and high rent, not just the workout.
The most useful habit is simple. Never trust one signal. Check what people do, what operators do, and what the money says, then confirm with a pilot in your own studio. The formats that win will be the ones that fill classes at a price that pays the bills.
Ready to see how your class mix performs? Book a Wellyx demo and walk through scheduling and reporting for your studio.
