F45 Eyes Booming Wellness & Recovery Market To Drive Growth
Partnership
Sponsored By F45 Training
The fitness franchise has launched wellness brands like FS8 and Vaura Pilates. It’s also planning to embrace recovery as a complement to its core HIIT offerings
F45 Training’s turnaround under new CEO Tom Dowd has been something to behold over the past few months. New and exciting programs from the brand have brought members everywhere from the mind of Mark Walhberg to literal mountain tops. However, the functional fitness franchise’s renaissance is just getting started.
By staying true to its core principles as a brand while simultaneously keeping an eye out for what’s trending in fitness and wellness, F45 is moving forward with a disciplined approach to expanding its offerings in 2024.
Innovations already underway or in the works include Pilates, yoga, and recovery.
“Across the organization, we have a deep pipeline of new products, innovations, and other initiatives that we are actively driving forward,” said Ryan Mayes, F45 Training Chief Operating Officer. “The fitness industry is constantly evolving, and, as a global leader in the boutique market, we recognize the need to evolve with it.”
Embracing Pilates, Yoga & More
While F45 mainly features functional HIIT-style workouts built around a cardio and weight training blend, the brand doesn’t handcuff itself to those modalities and call it quits. F45 recently launched its FS8 and VAURA brands. The former involves a Pilates, tone, and yoga hybridization that fosters its own unique workout style. The latter features a new take on athletic reformer Pilates using a super premium, multi-sensory experience.
“We saw an opportunity to bring to market two new concepts that are each unique and complementary to F45,” said Mayes. “It’s no secret that the Pilates and yoga categories have experienced remarkable growth as consumer interest in these modalities has grown. These categories are also quite fragmented, which creates a compelling opportunity for us to grow market share through two distinct and proven brands.”
F45 launched its first US-based VAURA studio in Manhattan in January with a key franchise partner. Mayes notes that they’ve been “thrilled with the early momentum” following the debut.
The brand also continues to round out ancillary components pertaining to its original F45 workout modalities. This includes creating new class formats, enhancements in resistance strength training, new warm-ups and cool-downs, as well as a FLEX “train on your time” feature in select studios, which gives members added convenience by allowing them to visit the studio for the workout-of-the-day during off-peak or non-class hours.
These additions to F45’s arsenal of offerings align with the brand’s central goal of making its workouts more accessible to the masses.
“One of our key strategic goals for F45 is to attract new members that don’t already know about F45, or historically haven’t considered F45,” Mayes explained. “In most markets outside of Australia and New Zealand, there is still a significant opportunity for us to grow brand awareness. In some markets, there is a perception that F45 is only suited for more skilled or experienced fitness consumers. This couldn’t be further from the truth! While a segment of our membership consists of die-hard fitness enthusiasts, F45 is meant to be for everyone, no matter where they are in their fitness journey.”
Riding the Wellness Wave
F45 isn’t turning a blind eye to its members once they complete their workouts, either. In fact, the brand is concentrating on that aspect of the fitness journey now more than ever.
“One key area that you should expect to see more from F45 is recovery,” said Mayes. “There is a ton of opportunity for us to evolve our offering and the way we operate to benefit from these trends.”
“At F45, innovation has always been a core part of our DNA,” Mayes added. “As we look at the industry today, there are some major themes building momentum – gamification, data tracking, and focus on longevity, for instance – which are all closely aligned with our approach to fitness. There is no time like the present to innovate.”
Recovery continues to pick up steam in the fitness space. While F45 is following that trend, the brand is doing so carefully and strategically.
“We strive to promote an environment that embraces new ideas with respect to the ways we can improve our offering or drive efficiencies in the ways in which we operate,” Mayes said. “We absolutely look to make decisions that are informed by data, which we invest into our own commissioned research and/or feedback from our franchisees and members.”
Mayes adds that F45 looks to “test new ideas before pushing go, particularly when you consider the global scale of our network and nuances across different markets.”
F45’s meticulous approach will set up the brand for success as it rolls out additional offerings in the second half of 2024. Innovations won’t be limited to new fitness and wellness modalities, either.
“Based on the pipeline today, I certainly expect that we’ll deliver more innovation and ‘newness’ in general this year,” Mayes said. “This includes everything from tech upgrades to new ways to support our network. I believe 2024 will prove to be a very productive and important year for F45 as we add fuel to the fire!”