Planet Fitness Adds Reformer Pilates to Australia Gyms

Planet Fitness, the HVLP gym operator least associated with boutique frills, is entering the global Pilates race through a partnership with Your Reformer

Planet Fitness Australia has partnered with the Melbourne-founded Pilates company Your Reformer to add reformer Pilates to its national network of 32 clubs, following a pilot launched earlier this year. 

The deal folds Your Reformer’s commercial machines and its KioskPro digital platform — which features on-demand, instructor-free classes cast on a screen mounted to each reformer — into the chain’s clubs, offered to members who are Planet Fitness Black Card holders. 

Every future Australian club will include reformer Pilates, the company said, as it works to retrofit rooms in existing gyms.

“We’ve seen strong usage as well as growth and retention within our Black Card membership, which gave us the confidence to make Reformer Pilates part of our future club model in Australia,” Planet Fitness Australia managing director Danielle Monroy said.

The high-value, low-price (HVLP) fitness chain first expanded into Australia in 2020 following an area development agreement with Bravo Fit Holdings. Franchise Equity Partners, a private investment firm, acquired the joint venture group in July, fueling future growth in the region. Bravo Fit Holdings holds exclusive area development rights for up to approximately 100 clubs across Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland, and the Australian Capital Territory. 

In the States, low-price gym chains have increasingly added the popular boutique modality to their clubs, among them Crunch Fitness, Vasa Fitness, Amped Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness.

Planet Fitness — globally — has been the HVLP brand least associated with boutique frills, favoring a stripped-down, judgment-free floor, save for the modest perks of its Black Card, which offers massage beds, tanning and red light therapy. Simplicity has paid off for franchisees, who own about 90% of clubs, according to one analyst.

For its part, Your Reformer is having the kind of run founders daydream about. Emma and Ben Stallworthy, a married pair of former Melbourne gym owners, built a company that now serves more than 1,000 businesses across 50-plus countries.

The Stallworthys singled out Australia earlier this year in an interview with ATN, noting HVLP operators there had moved well past weighing whether to add Pilates.

Some operators, after seeing the metrics on a 24/7 reformer Pilates studio, have been quick to give it a whirl — pairing Your Reformer’s equipment and tech with roaming instructors, or leaning entirely on the digital component.

The Stallworthys added that Pilates has led lower-paying members to trade up to the highest tier for reformer access, then stick around. 

“It wasn’t like people were just trying it and not staying with it,” Ben Stallworthy said. “The more people are trying [Pilates], the more they continue to stay. It makes sense — it’s going to continue to expand and grow because of the benefits.”

Whether reformer Pilates will ever reach a Planet Fitness in the U.S. remains an open question. But the low-price giant isn’t standing still, piloting a handful of new recovery amenities for Black Card members, including a dry cold plunge.