Stride Fitness Pilots Open Gym Access Using On-Screen Coaching

The new “Open Studio” offering marks another step in Stride’s comeback strategy, which has seen the brand lean more into strength training and recovery. It also comes as other boutique concepts innovate beyond just offering instructor-led coaching

Stride Fitness is opening its doors beyond scheduled classes, the latest step in the boutique brand’s comeback strategy under new ownership. 

The treadmill and strength-based concept has launched Open Studio, a new initiative allowing eligible members to use its Huntington Beach, California, flagship for independent workouts during designated hours when classes aren’t taking place.

Members can create their own workouts or follow a Workout of the Day displayed on in-studio screens, with access to the same equipment used during Stride’s coach-led classes, including Woodway treadmills, custom BeaverFit benches, dumbbells, slam balls and resistance bands.

The offering is included with Stride’s premium Elite Membership, alongside unlimited classes and access to its Recovery Room.

For Stride, the move gives members more ways to use their membership while allowing the brand to get more out of its physical footprint outside of scheduled class times.

It’s also the latest step in a broader overhaul of the formerly Xponential Fitness-owned brand under CEO Shaun Grove and president/chief operating officer Anthony Badalian.

Stride’s Comeback Takes Shape

Earlier this year, Grove told Athletech News that Stride was mounting a comeback centered around some of fitness’ biggest trends, including strength training, recovery and fitness racing.

As part of the redesign, Stride removed half of the treadmills from its previous studio model and installed custom weight benches, shifting away from its historical identity as a treadmill-centric concept.

The brand also added dedicated recovery spaces with self-guided stretching, antigravity chairs and Hyperice compression therapy, while becoming a Hyrox affiliate.

Open Studio brings another component to that strategy, allowing members to use the strength and cardio equipment outside of Stride’s signature 55-minute coach-led workouts.

The Huntington Beach flagship, which opened in February and doubles as Stride’s corporate headquarters, was designed specifically to facilitate that kind of experimentation. Grove previously described the location to ATN as a “test kitchen” where the company could trial new strategies before potentially bringing them to franchise partners.

Open Studio is currently being piloted exclusively at the flagship as Stride evaluates member engagement and demand before deciding whether to expand the offering across its system.

Boutique Fitness Gets More Flexible

Stride’s experiment also comes as some boutique fitness operators rethink one of the category’s defining characteristics: workouts built around a fixed class schedule.

Australian boxing franchise UBX moved in that direction in 2023 with its extended access model, allowing members at select locations to enter outside traditional staffed hours and complete screen-guided boxing and strength workouts. 9Round Kickboxing has similarly experimented with around-the-clock access through its 9Round 365 concept.

More recently, Founders Row unveiled All Day Pilates, a reformer Pilates concept built around 24/7 access and virtual instruction. Set to open its first locations in 2027, All Day Pilates lets members reserve reformers and choose from more than 1,000 on-demand workouts from Xtend Barre founder Andrea Rogers, allowing the concept to operate beyond the constraints of instructor availability and scheduled classes.

Stride isn’t going quite that far, yet. Open Studio is currently limited to designated hours rather than 24/7 access, and the brand is keeping coach-led classes at the center of its experience.