TruFit Athletic Clubs, a Texas-based high-value, low-price (HVLP) gym chain, opened its 40th club and fourth Tennessee location, touting its “affordable luxury” approach to club memberships. 

The opening of the latest TruFit location in Murfreesboro, Tennesse, included a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month, with the TruFit executive team presenting a $1,500 check to Tennessee Alliance for Kids (TAK), a child welfare service provider.

The new TruFit Murfreesboro location boasts affordable access to amenities such as state-of-the-art equipment, fitness trainers, group fitness classes, a turf field, basketball court, a women-only workout area, childcare services, a sauna, HydroMassage and personalized wellness solutions. Virtual personal training is also available, and a TruFit app lets members book group classes, track progress and consult personal training plans.

In addition to its family-friendly approach with its childcare services, TruFit clubs also promote wellness to older children and teens with low-impact, non-spine-loading programs.

The HVLP brand offers tiered memberships (Basic, Essentials and Results+) starting at $10/month. It operates 36 locations in Texas and four in Tennessee.

NewSpring Mezzanine invested subordinated debt and equity in TruFit Clubs last fall, with the financial firm noting that fragmented gym markets in smaller, non-metro areas provide “ample opportunity” for TruFit.

“Through a data-driven approach to analyzing potential new markets, the company has wisely identified its next geographic area for expansion, and we’re excited to help this business reach new levels of growth,” said NewSpring Mezzanine general partner Anne Vazquez.

Last month, TruFit announced the promotion of Aaron McFarland to the position of COO. In a statement regarding his new role, McFarland noted that over the past two years, TruFit has experienced “explosive growth” with a 45% increase in its member base. 

“TruFit is establishing itself as a significant player in the fitness industry, and I am enthusiastic about enhancing our commitment to nurturing a stronger, more empowered community,” said.

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Infinity, beyond fitness, a Miami-based wellness brand encompassing training, nutrition and recovery, has added Dan Monaghan as an investor and advisor as it bolsters its franchising expansion endeavors.

Monaghan, who will accelerate Infinity’s next growth phase, comes to the brand with a high level of franchising expertise, serving as chairman of the International Franchising Association’s IFA Foundation and a board member of the IFA itself.

“It’s a privilege to join the Infinity team during such a transformative phase,” Monaghan remarked. “The wellness sector is ripe for innovation, and Infinity’s comprehensive approach to health is exactly what the market needs. I’m eager to apply my franchise knowledge to amplify Infinity’s reach, bringing its groundbreaking wellness model to communities nationwide.”

Diego Guimaraes, CEO and co-founder of Infinity, says onboarding Monaghan is a milestone moment for the wellness brand.

“His proven track record in scaling businesses and his passion for making a positive impact align perfectly with our vision,” Guimaraes said. “As we embark on our franchising journey, Dan’s strategic insight will be invaluable in bringing our holistic wellness philosophy to a wider audience, transforming lives one community at a time.”

Hitting on holistic health trends, Infinity, beyond fitness, offers a comprehensive approach to wellness, with personalized plans including Variable Intensity Interval Training (VIIT), nutrition guidance, recovery solutions and community support.

The brand’s Cocowalk location in Miami boats an extensive group training schedule and allows members to access the training studio at any time, even when classes aren’t in session. There is also a recovery zone with an infrared Cocoon Pod, HydroMassage Lounge, zero-gravity massage, Hyperice Normatec compression therapy and other Hyperice recovery products. 

Infinity’s Miami flagship studio is just the beginning, as the health and wellness brand looks to scale and attract franchisees looking to support wellness seekers while enjoying a boutique studio revenue model and multiple revenue streams. The initial franchise fee is $50,000, with a total initial investment of $550,570 – $1,284,250. 

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Offering a dedicated recovery and wellness space has become table stakes for fitness industry operators. Over the last few decades, facilities have evolved from exercise clubs into the health and wellness clubs they are today. 

For modern-day clubs, if the wellness piece is missing, so too will be acquisition and retention.

When we think about creating wellness spaces from a business perspective it’s not just about bringing in new equipment, it’s about generating ROI. If done properly, the wellness space will become a highly desired destination for self-care – a destination that keeps members coming back and that can be monetized.

“Members expect to see strength and cardio in every club, and wellness/recovery has joined that list as well, said Kevin Conaway, President of WellnessSpace Brands. “It is non-negotiable now. And the good news is in addition to increasing retention and acquisition and creating a new revenue stream, you can build a space that doesn’t require additional staff, so it won’t be a drain on your time and resources.”

Conaway has been with WellnessSpace Brands for twenty years. The company – previously called HydroMassage – offers multiple products that seamlessly integrate into gyms to support members’ physical and mental health.

“We develop products that are innovative, easy-to-use and highly desirable to drive repeat usage and therefore engagement over the long term,” Conaway says. “WellnessSpace products are designed to swiftly facilitate multiple members with no assistance needed, creating a high return on value for clubs.”

Where To Start

Conaway says the biggest challenges for gyms include discerning exactly what their wellness space should entail, including which equipment and services should be offered as well as placement.

“A good way to start is to ask members what they desire, and then gain an understanding of the options,” Conaway explains. “Kick the tires, try things out and get out in front of what your members want and need.”

Next, he says it’s critical to understand how different concepts might work – or not work – within the gym’s model.

“Hands-on massage is wonderful but may not be practical to administer to multiple members,” he says. “Conversely a HydroMassage Lounge facilitates a full-body massage in ten to 15 minutes with no staff necessary. In that same vein, cryotherapy chambers are great, but they require a full-time team member to administer the service, while the CryoLounge+ offers a smarter self-guided option for comfortable cold therapy.” 

Location, Location, Location

“Give your wellness space the maximum amount of visibility and awareness possible as a focal point in your club,” Conaway recommends. “Allow everyone to see the great things taking place… the rejuvenated, relaxed happy users. It’s like a restaurant … if you drive by and there are no cars in the parking lot, you keep going until you find one with the line because you know that’s the one that’s going to be good.”

Monetizing Your Wellness Space

Conaway says there are a couple of ways gyms can generate ROI.

“By far the best strategy I’ve seen clubs use is to create a premium package for members that includes access to the space and all of the equipment and services,” he explains. “When members or prospects understand that they can work out and get massages, cold therapy, mindfulness, and more, it’s not a hard sell. In this scenario, I typically see 50% to 60% of members opting for the premium package.”

Other clubs choose to offset the cost by adding a small increase in each membership package, then offering the space to all.

In either scenario, operators add value to their offering while increasing ROI.

Your Wellness Space Will Market Your Club

“The most effective marketing for any club is when members advertise for you,” notes Conaway. “When others see your members posting on social media about their fabulous HydroMassage after their workout, they take note.”

He also smartly suggests positioning your staff as influencers. 

“Give your trainers and staff free access to the HydroMassage and CryoLounge and they will become your biggest advocates and influencers,” says Conaway. “Imagine the cycle instructor in front of a 40-person class raving about how his massage relieved his tight legs and is helping him to cycle more miles and get even more fit. That’s hugely impactful.”

Supporting members on their journey to total wellness alone speaks volumes.

“Even if you don’t get a single new person in the door, your wellness space illustrates to current members that you are investing in their overall health, and that will help drive retention rates,” Conaway notes.

Lastly, Avoid This Pitfall

Conaway points to an important pitfall some operators make when getting into wellness.

“I’ve seen clubs try to ‘dip their toe’ in with only one piece of equipment, and that’s a mistake,” he says. “No member wants to go and use the one piece of equipment in the corner by themselves. Plan properly for the space, support your member’s needs, and your wellness space will become a destination with a great ROI for your club.”

The post How Gyms Can Build Winning Wellness & Recovery Spaces, With WellnessSpace Brands appeared first on Athletech News.

Amped Fitness, a Florida-based gym chain, is touting that its ample fitness amenities and offerings align with 2024’s top health and wellness trends. Known for its positive gym ethos, blue mood lighting and content-friendly areas designed for fitness content creators, Amped Fitness recently opened its first Sapphire location in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

The location marks one of five new Amped Fitness gyms in the southern region of the Sunshine State that is part of the brand’s corporate expansion.

Amped Fitness’s Sapphire spots offer sparkling new facilities with luxury-style amenities and a touch of exclusivity that ensures the comfort of its members. Along with its Fort Lauderdale location’s grand opening, Amped Fitness plans to launch Sapphire facilities in Sarasota, Tampa, Plantation and Daytona Beach. 

Guests at Sapphire locations can expect strict enforcement of an 18-and-over- age policy and state-of-the-art equipment from Core, Amped, Prime, Total Gym, Booty Builder and specialty machines such as the Reverse Hyper Extension, Standing Abductor and Horizontal Leg Press. Other amenities include instructor-led and virtual group classes, a recovery zone, tanning, saunas, a women’s only Babe Cave and a Functional Freedom Zone.

“We are stoked to continue our Florida takeover with these 5 new locations,” said Travis Labazzo, CEO of Amped Fitness.

Aligned With 2024 Trends

As for its in-gym offerings and recognizing the popularity of group fitness and hybrid workout options, Amped Fitness re-introduced its popular AX3 Group Training this year for VIP members to access free HIIT and strength training classes. Members can also work out in the Functional Freedom Zone, an open turf area with fitness equipment and accessories or work with one of the certified personal trainers for a results-driven and time-efficient 30-minute training session.

The fitness franchise has also begun focusing on promoting a mind-body connection, with the addition of yoga classes that integrate deep breathing and meditation and a fun dance fitness experience with Zumba. Virtual on-demand classes are also available to satisfy members who prefer a hybrid approach to fitness.  

Post-workout, Amped Fitness members can head to the Recovery Zone to use massage guns, enjoy HydroMassage beds and CryoLounge+ chairs from WellnessSpacee Brands, Normatec Boots from Hyperice, or use a Body Composition Scanner to keep themselves on track to meet their health goals.

Aside from scaling in Florida and its two locations in Alabama, Amped Fitness is headed to Indiana in the new year, a result of its first franchise partnership with Matt and Kyana Carrico. 

The low-cost, high-value fitness franchise offers 24/7 access for a no-contract monthly base membership price of $9.99 with a capped $26.99 VIP tier, providing flexibility and affordability — ideal for busy consumers in a challenging economic landscape.

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This article is part of ATN’s DISRUPT 2023 video series, which features key conversations with executives from the most successful brands in fitness and wellness. To watch more videos, click here

Many of the newest products and services that are helping the fitness industry recover from the COVID-19 pandemic had their origins, ironically, from a surge in interest in how to recover from workouts.

Post-exercise and injury-prevention treatments like massage, heat, cold, infusions and electronic stimulation, as well as products and apps for mental wellness, nutrition and stress reduction, are outperforming other modalities and channels in the fitness and wellness business today. 

During a panel discussion entitled “The Business of Recovery,” part of Athletech News’ DISRUPT 2023 video Series, a trio of executives driving growth in this booming space talked about the spike in interest in recovery (and its alter ego, prevention), and their predictions about the future of this fascinating category. 

Ryan Duey, co-CEO and co-founder of cold plunge brand Plunge, said that the industry’s longtime focus on the actual act of working out is starting to change.

“Now we’re getting a more holistic understanding of what goes into being a healthy body,” Duey said. “We know now that sleep is the time we’re actually growing our muscles that we tear down during the workouts, so they go hand in hand. A lot of studies and information are coming out. There’s an acceleration of awareness, and a better understanding of the holistic picture of how to be a healthier, more active human. It’s not just the act of working out.” 

Plunge introduced its first product, an affordable in-home cold plunge tub, 3 years ago during the COVID pandemic. Primarily a DTC product, it tapped into the increased interest in cold plunge as an energy enhancement, immunity builder and recovery therapy with a unit that people could install and use conveniently in the comfort of their homes.

Restore Hyper Wellness director of research and wellness Dr. Rachel Pojednic is a muscle physiology scientist who specializes in the intersection between exercise and nutrition, and an expert on the impact that stimulus, or working out, has on muscles. 

“We know that when you exercise really hard, your muscles are going to be broken down and you need to give yourself some time in order to recover,” Pojednic said. “And if you’re a good strength trainer, you know you can’t do that kind of effort over and over again. And there is growing recognition that we need stimulus plus recovery in order to have long-term adaptation.”

Although the interest in recovery seems to have come out of nowhere, it’s actually been brewing for a while, said Paul Lunter, founder and CEO of WellnessSpace Brands, previously known as HydroMassage, whose flagship product is a bed or lounger chair inside of which jets of warm or cold water pulsate and move, giving the user a targeted massage (think hot tub without getting wet or having to change position).

“When we launched our products to the fitness market 15 years ago, recovery was the focus,” Lunter noted. “At first everybody asked ‘Why are you here? Why is HydroMassage a product that we should be looking at in fitness?’ It took a lot of education. In the beginning, we were talking about tear and repair, it was all about recovery. And over time people understood that having a wellness product rather than a recovery product is where the benefit is.” 

Gyms and studios that offer HydroMassage as part of a premium membership or add-on service have had little problem monetizing once members experience the products. Some find that it increases member engagement in unexpected ways. 

“In every conversation we have, they say at some point and always a bit sheepishly, that they have people that don’t even work out, but come in before work or on their lunch break,” Lunter said. “We do a lot of tracking and our products are being used on a regular basis at three o’clock in the morning in some of the 24/7 clubs.”

The Restore Hyper Wellness business started with cryotherapy, which remains, along with heat and red light therapies, its most popular products, but interest is starting to shift more toward prevention, according to Pojednic. 

“As people start to think about this proactive and preventive space, they’re experimenting with a lot more of our medical therapies, so we’re seeing that the I.V. micronutrients, NAD, and injectables are also really important for this type of self-care,” Pojednic noted. “We see interest in products that you need a prescription for from our medical team increasing and certainly not slowing down anytime soon.”

Regarding the market potential of the wellness segment, WellnessSpace Brands’ Lunter feels it will “triple in size between now and 2030,” thanks to Gen Z, a cohort that is rapidly gaining in importance to the fitness and wellness industry: 

“They’re not as much into getting a new house as they are about ‘What can I do today to make my life or my day better?’” Lunter said. “And so the products of all three of our companies are fantastic and right in line with that.”

Plunge has several growth initiatives underway. 

“We’re now getting into the sauna category, and that was directly from our customers,” Duey said. “They were emailing us asking us for recommendations, and asked if we were planning to build one. We surveyed them, and 40% were in the market to buy right now, giving us the ability to readdress our existing customers.” 

B2B is a key focus of Plunge moving forward. With 90% of its business in residential, there is a big opportunity in the commercial sector which, until now, has been handled opportunistically. Duey noted the release of the Plunge All-In Commercial, a new product that’s specifically built for commercial facilities.

“It’s app-enabled, and maintenance is much more seamless,” Duey said.

For Restore Hyper Wellness, the importance of personalization, technology and data to the customers at its 200-plus franchised locations is driving many of the company’s new initiatives. 

Pojednic said that increasingly, people are looking for a hyper-personalized journey and quantifiable results. 

“They’re looking for the data to show them that what they’re doing is working,” she said. “So as they have a child, suffer a stressful event, or change their exercise regimen, they want that feedback so that their journey can change. What we’re thinking about for the future is how can we help people understand what’s going on with their body with their own data, and really personalize their day-to-day with all that information to effect change, and show them evidence that their body is in fact responding rather than just giving them gimmicks and headlines.”

“I’m a scientist, and this is why I’m at Restore,” Pojednic added. “For me, data is destiny.”

The post These Brands Are Driving the Booming Business of Recovery appeared first on Athletech News.

OneLife Fitness, a health and fitness club operator partly owned by Josh Harris, a private equity investor and sports team owner, is in the early stages of a reported sale process that could value the fitness operator at approximately $700 million, including debt.

The McLean, Virginia-based fitness brand, which owns over 55 locations in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Georgia, is working with Jefferies Financial Group and North Point Advisors, according to Reuters. 

The publication, citing anonymous sources close to the matter, reports OneLife Fitness has informed potential buyers that it estimates it will generate roughly $260 million of revenue and $70 million of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization this year.

US Fitness Holdings LLC, which owns and operates OneLife Fitness, is itself majority-owned by Delos Capital and HRS Management, the family office of Harris, who also has majority stakes in the NFL’s Washington Commanders, NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

The fitness brand has created a high-quality club experience incorporating gym equipment alongside experience-elevating amenities such as pools, saunas, whirlpools and childcare. 

A specialized training program, Explosive Performance, allows members to take fitness to the next level, and several OneLife locations feature boxing studios, basketball courts, tennis and pickleball courts. Recovery tools, such as HydroMassage and Hyperice Hypervolt and Normatec compression equipment, are also available for OneLife members.

OneLife also offers a robust menu of group fitness classes in categories such as cardio, cycling, HIIT, mind/body, seniors, strength, aqua and signature classes. 

Last month, OneLife opened a new location in Clinton, Maryland — a 55,000 square foot facility with a saltwater pool and spa, Strike Studio (a boxing studio), Cardio Cinema, 100 pieces of cardio equipment, group studio classes, Kids Zone and recovery studio.

OneLife Fitness did not immediately respond for comment.

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HydroMassage, known for its water massage technology, has officially rebranded to WellnessSpace Brands, signaling its expansion of total mind and body wellness product lines.

In addition to its former namesake HydroMassage lounger, the Tampa, Florida-based company now offers CryoLounge+ Chairs and RelaxSpace Wellness Pods, promoting recovery and mental fitness — with more products expected in the future.

The RelaxSpace Wellness Pod is the first new product developed by WellnessSpace Brands, offering an immersive experience with visuals, audio, temperature, and scent controls for a 15-minute relaxation session. The second product, CryoLounge+, gives consumers a chance to recover aches, pains and sore muscles with its advanced recovery chair, complete with cold and heat zones. 

Acknowledging the demand for health and wellness services, WellnessSpace Brands is ready to use its innovative technology to bring its experiential wellness products to fitness clubs and beyond. 

WellnessSpace Brands recently captured a big fitness fish: Life Time. The luxury lifestyle operator is now treating its Dynamic Personal Training members to HydroMassage, CryoLounge+ recovery chairs and RelaxSpace Wellness Pods. The partnership will give WellnessSpace Brands a sizable footprint, expanding its wellness tech into most Life Time facilities across North America by the end of 2024.

Aside from fitness clubs, WellnessSpace Brands’ products have a broad reach and can be found in spas, hotels, universities, chiropractic offices, apartment communities and workplaces.

“Especially over the past several years, it’s been very clear to see how much the conversation has changed in regards to wellness and recovery,” said Paul Lunter, founder and CEO of WellnessSpace Brands. “For health-oriented businesses like fitness clubs, we now see almost all major operators making wellness spaces a standard part of their model to help clients live more active, healthy lifestyles. That is really exciting, and we’re pleased to now have a suite of wellness solutions to help fill that need.”

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