As Gym Membership Grows, Understanding Why People Stay May Matter as Much as New Leads

Growing participation in fitness is bringing renewed attention to what people want from their gyms. According to the Health & Fitness Association, 81 million Americans held a fitness facility membership in 2025, a 5.2% increase from 2024. Those figures suggest a growing audience, although they cannot explain what persuades someone to choose a particular gym or remain a member.

The same research points to an increasingly varied membership base. Adults aged 18–24 had the highest membership penetration, while membership among people aged 65 and older grew fastest. These national patterns provide context for local businesses, whose members may have different expectations, interests, and reasons for exercising.

Technology is receiving attention. The American College of Sports Medicine's 2026 fitness trends survey, involving 2,000 clinicians, researchers, and exercise professionals, ranked wearable technology first and mobile exercise apps fourth. The findings reflect professional perspectives on industry trends, rather than evidence that adopting a particular tool will improve an individual gym's performance.

ACSM's accompanying guidance emphasizes the importance of interpreting information. It notes differences in wearable accuracy and highlights the role of exercise professionals in helping people understand their data. That emphasis raises a broader question for gym businesses about how additional information can support decisions and relationships within the facility.

Collin Charles, founder and CEO of Enoch Marketing, approaches that question through his work with CrossFit affiliates and fitness businesses. He believes growth requires attention to how prospective customers become members and what encourages them to return. In his view, increasing inquiries may have limited value if owners have not examined the experience that follows.

"Understanding members' needs, how often they attend, and the type of training that suits them can help a gym support those relationships," Charles explains. He considers that understanding is essential to both attracting members and retaining them. Attendance, membership arrangements, and training preferences, he suggests, can help owners identify where their offering fits people's needs and where adjustments may be useful.

Charles connects retention with consistency. He cautions that changing direction primarily to chase fitness trends may unsettle members who value a familiar experience. His concern is whether or not change reflects the community a gym serves. Refining an established offering with better information, he believes, may be more appropriate than introducing another program.

"Marketing begins with understanding the people in your area and what they need from your business," Charles notes. He views advertising as one part of that work. Research into local interests, age profiles, and income levels, he explains, can inform discussions about membership options, positioning, and pricing before a gym decides how to promote itself.

For Charles, AI can assist with gathering and organizing information, provided someone checks its relevance. In one prospecting exercise, he found that an AI-generated list intended to identify CrossFit gyms also included dance studios and unrelated healthcare businesses. He treats that experience as a reason to review results carefully before using them to guide outreach or business decisions.

"AI can help us work more quickly, while human review helps us keep the information relevant to the business," he observes. His preference is to combine automated assistance with people who understand the gym's context. That approach, he believes, gives owners a way to explore technology while retaining responsibility for how its output is used.

Charles connects this thinking with Gym Recon, an offering he presents as an effort to make business information and support more accessible to smaller gyms. He notes that independent operators may face budget constraints when seeking outside help. His stated aim is to help them understand their markets, members, and operations more clearly.

The purpose of that support, in Charles's view, extends to the coaching floor. "A coach can observe someone during a workout and recognize when they need guidance, encouragement, or a moment to ease off," he explains. He believes those interactions should remain central as owners consider where technology belongs in their businesses.

Charles sees the longer-term opportunity in connecting better business information with attentive coaching. Understanding why people join, what helps them participate, and where their needs change could give owners a clearer basis for decisions. For him, the value of technology ultimately rests in whether it helps a gym sustain the relationships that give members reasons to return.