2025 wasn’t the easiest year for gym owners—but it was a year of progress.
And if you zoom out and look at the data from our annual “State of the Industry” guide, the trends tell a clear story:
👉 The fitness industry offers more opportunity right now than at any point in the last decade.
Here are 10 reasons to be optimistic in 2026.
1. Revenue Is up Across Every Gym Type
The industry isn’t shrinking. It’s growing.
Median monthly revenue growth from 2024 to 2025:
- Big Group: $17,000 → $18,750
- Small Group: $11,000 → $16,667
- 1:1 PT: $13,000 → $16,000
- Other Models: $14,000 → $21,172
People are still paying for fitness—they’re just more selective about where they invest. The market rewards gyms that are delivering value and coaching, not just access.
2. Personal Training Is Recession-Proof
When money gets tight, people cut the optional stuff—but they keep what feels essential. A client will feel that PT is essential if it’s delivered at an A+ level by an outstanding coach who is working in a world-class business.
In downturns:
- Gym memberships get canceled.
- PT revenue holds or grows.
Your play for 2026:
Stop trying to be the cheapest gym. Be the most personal gym. Build your PT and small-group PT streams now, while everyone else is racing to the bottom on price.
3. Hyrox Makes Competition Accessible (and Profitable)
CrossFit’s programming and movements get people incredibly fit—but that genius never translated to competition. Constant variance makes events inaccessible for most members.
Muscle-ups are great, but Phil, Jen and Sam from your noon class can’t do them, and they’re not going to sign up for a competition where they just stand there looking at the rings and feeling miserable.
Hyrox fixes that:
- Its known movement list makes it easy for people to train for events (this also reduces anxiety).
- Its formats offer lots of options that allow greater participation (such as doubles and relay divisions).
- It delivers intensity without complexity.
- Most of your clients can do a Hyrox competition.
The popularity of Hyrox—and its inexpensive affiliation fees—provides many benefits for gyms:
- Client acquisition is easier because people are actively looking for gyms that offer Hyrox.
- Hyrox is a retention booster when members are asking “what’s next?” around they one-year mark: “Hyrox is next. Let’s get you ready for that race in six months!”
- Hyrox is a revenue multiplier: You can sell Hyrox classes and offer PT and nutrition/habits coaching around that anchor service.
- It will provide clear ROI: affiliation is about US$130 per month, depending on payment plan.
Hyrox isn’t a fad—it’s a system you can build a real business around.
4. MetFix Could Save CrossFit
CrossFit lost its unifying mission after 2018. MetFix brings one back: Fight metabolic disease.
What’s different this time?
- The genius isn’t coming from a guru—it’s emerging from the community.
- Affiliates are building tools, graphics and simplified messaging at the grassroots level.
- It feels like the beginning of a real movement.
Greg Glassman said it himself: CrossFit covers the fitness piece; MetFix covers the metabolic piece. Together, they form a complete package.
Movements succeed when people feel ownership—and MetFix gives gym owners exactly that.
5. Small Group PT Economics Work Better Than Expected
This year’s data delivered a huge surprise:
Lead generation (median per month):
- Small Group: 19.5
- Big Group: 13
- 1:1: 10
- Other: 22.5
Set and close rates (nearly identical):
- Small group—30.3% set, 60.6% close
- Big group—33.3% set, 62.5% close
👉 The key insight: Price isn’t the objection. Gym owners just think it is.
Clients seeing the same ads book at the same rate and buy at the same rate whether the program is $158 or $240 per month.
That means small-group training wins because:
- It can be done in a smaller space with lower expenses.
- It requires fewer staff.
- It has a much higher average revenue per member ($240 vs. $158).
- It has the same ability to attract and close clients.
This is the clearest, simplest business model many owners have ever had.
6. Even the Struggling Gyms Are Doing Better
In our annual report, we divided gyms into three tiers: below average, average and above average. Here’s the bottom-tier revenue growth from 2024 to 2025:
- Big Group: $11,499 → $13,499 (17% increase)
- Small Group: $7,599 → $11,999 (58% increase)
- 1:1: $6,499 → $9,799 (51% increase)
The floor is rising: Instead of just clinging to life, these gyms are actually doing OK, which means the market is supporting better businesses at their actual value. That’s a huge reason to be optimistic.
7. Gym Owners Are Finally Charging What They’re Worth
Average revenue per member (ARM) is up everywhere:
This isn’t greed—it’s sustainability.
Higher ARM enables:
- Better wages for coaches.
- More stable operations.
- Better service delivery.
- Less stress.
And remember this: It’s easier to earn $10 more from each client than to get 10 new clients.
I’m really fired up about this change because it means a mindset shift has finally happened: Owners are now charging for value, not trying to be the cheapest option—and the market is accepting it.
8. We’re Keeping Clients Long Enough to Change Their Lives
Huge milestone: Two-Brain gyms just crossed 24-month average length of engagement (LEG) for the first time.
This is a critical number because behavioral science says it takes about two years to truly hardwire habits. Gym clients are now staying long enough to change their lives.
And industry retention is at 93.8% monthly.
These numbers show we aren’t selling short-term fitness anymore—we’re delivering long-term health outcomes.
9. The Business Knowledge Gap Is Your Biggest Opportunity
Here’s critical annual owner profit data:
- Big group median: $52,200 per year
- Big Group mean: $97,656 per year
The gap between mean and median shows what happens when owners treat their gyms like businesses.
Get this: Two-Brain’s top owners crush the median and boost the mean by earning $20,000+ per month ($240,000+ per year).
These elite entrepreneurs aren’t working 80-hour weeks.
They’re:
- Looking at numbers.
- Training staff.
- Using mentorship.
- Building systems.
- Taking a scientific approach to growth.
The takeaway: professionalization = opportunity.
You don’t need to be the best coach; you need to be a good business owner. And if you do that, you can earn a great living.
10. AI Is Your Tool, Not Your Competitor
AI use jumped from 41% to 68% in one year, but consumer trust in data privacy is dropping: Only 17% trust organizations with personal data.
Only 48% of consumers think online services are worth the privacy tradeoff, and older adults—your ideal clients—want more human interaction, not less.
The winning strategy:
1. Use AI behind the scenes for marketing, ads, messaging, programming assistance.
2. Use the free time you create to show up as the human in front. Your clients want to know you checked the plan and tailored it to them. Show them.
The fitness industry is uniquely positioned because AI can’t replace human accountability. AI makes coaches more effective—not redundant.
Your clients don’t want a robot coach. They want a human who’s smart enough to use robots to deliver better coaching, and that’s you.
We’re not just selling workouts, we’re selling human accountability, connection and expertise. And AI should make us better at that by taking the other stuff off our plates.
The Bottom Line: 2026 Is a Year of Opportunity
Here’s what the data says:
- Revenue is up.
- ARM is climbing.
- Retention is at an all-time high.
- Small group personal training is outperforming expectations.
- Hyrox and MetFix are creating real energy.
- Professionalized owners are pulling ahead.
- AI is a multiplier, not a threat.
2026 could be your best year yet if you’re willing to:
- Charge what you’re worth.
- Use modern tools wisely.
- Be the human your clients need.
- Learn the business. (For help with that, book a call here.)
Here’s to a year of growth, clarity and momentum!
