Why Fitness Operators Are Finding Growth in Community, Not Competition

Sweatpals explains how the line between communities and businesses in fitness is blurring and how operators can take advantage

Between muscle groups, modalities, workout splits and intensity zones, the fitness industry has made categorizing things a habit. However, consumers are far less concerned with sticking to neatly labeled boxes.

Regular gym-goers with a strength training routine are equally happy to find time for local run club events. Similarly, even the most dedicated Pilates enthusiast may be game for a fitness pop-up or festival. This crossover proves consumers’ focus on fitness extends beyond health to community.

Few understand this better than Sweatpals, the Austin-based fitness and wellness community platform. The organization helps fitness brands manage their businesses, host events and run experiences to further their reach and connect with consumers. It’s also prompting them to rethink what it means to operate a fitness business today.

“The old, mental model was a zero-sum fight for members,” said Salar Shahini, CEO of Sweatpals. “If someone joins the run club, that’s a workout they’re not doing at my gym. But what we actually see in the data is the opposite. Active people are active everywhere and the real competition isn’t the studio down the street; it’s the couch.”

Channeling Activity & Business

Sweatpals believes different fitness events, classes and experiences can actually empower each other. Shahini says people who dabble in one are actually more likely to try others. 

“The run club, sauna social, gym and festival all feed each other,” he said. “The festival introduces a thousand people to ten local operators at the event. The run club sends its members to the recovery studio next door.”

In some cases, one operation’s event can even generate the kind of lift for a partner or nearby business that might otherwise require a costly marketing campaign.

“Everyone’s customer-acquisition cost drops because discovery happens through people, not paid ads,” Shahini said. “For operators, the shift is from ‘how do I lock members in’ to ‘how do I plug into the flow of active people in my city.’ The ones growing fastest right now are showing up wherever their community already is.”

Feeding the Funnel

They’re also being assertive in their efforts to turn attendee interest into long-term memberships. To kickstart this cross-promotion between events, throwing a fun, interactive event is only half the battle. The brands behind them need to be ready to close prospects. 

“When a studio runs their own event program or does a pop-up at a festival, the mistake is treating it like a booth,” Shahini explained. “The operators who win treat it as a funnel. For anyone trying a class, there’s always a way to book a real one before they leave. When that path exists, we consistently see event attendees convert into class bookings, intro offers and membership rates that embarrass paid social because the person has already worked out with you, built trust and felt your community.”

Shahini also shared that with Sweatpals, which naturally makes establishing the “funnel” a priority, roughly 60% of all first-time attendees book again within 30 days.

“A great activation with no booking path is just an expensive brand exercise,” he added. “The infrastructure to capture the moment is the whole game and that’s largely why we exist.”

A diligent and more intentional approach to sales naturally generates direct revenue as well. In fact, Shahini stated that the impact is often larger than operators initially expect. 

“We work with studios where events went from a marketing expense to one of their top revenue lines,” he said. “This only works when the follow-up is instant and effortless.”

Capitalizing on the Experience Economy 

Shahini also believes fitness events surging in popularity is a sign of the times.

“Two forces collided,” he said. “The first is loneliness. We are the loneliest generation on record. The second is that this same generation cares more about health than any one before it. Fitness events sit exactly at that intersection: they’re the new social infrastructure. A fitness festival is what a music festival was 10 years ago, except you leave feeling better.”

Strava’s Annual Year in Sport Trend Report identified “making social connections” as the top motivator for exercise in 2025. Additional evidence supporting the growth of fitness events can be found all across the globe. 

“Race lotteries, such as the NYC Marathon, that used to accept one in eight applicants now accept one in a hundred,” Shahini went on. “Fitness racing went from a few hundred participants to over a million in under a decade by businesses such as HYROX.”

Shahini argues shifts in consumer behaviour have factored in as well, with younger consumers purchasing “experiences” rather than “things” today. 

“That’s why the demand feels insatiable,” he said. “It’s not a trend inside fitness. It’s fitness absorbing the experience economy.”

Looking Ahead

As things progress, Shahini expects the already blurred line between fitness businesses and fitness communities to disappear. 

“In five years, calling something a ‘fitness business’ versus a ‘fitness community’ will sound like distinguishing a store from its customers,” he said. “Every durable fitness business will have a strong and social community through classes, events, memberships, retreats or whatever formats its people want. The businesses that remain purely transactional will compete on price and location forever, and that’s not a winning strategy against operators whose members aren’t going to leave because their friends are there too.”

Shahini insists gym and studio operators need to look beyond their classes and focus on how they’re delivering on community. He acknowledges that might not be easy. Directing your attention away from something you’ve long perceived to be your main product never is. However, he also insists Sweatpals will be there to help them see it through. 

“Our evolution is becoming the infrastructure layer for that whole world,” Shahini said. “We started as the tool hosts run their communities on. Now, we’re becoming the network where all of it connects — where a consumer finds their people, and where every operator in a city benefits from every other operator’s gravity. Fitness is becoming the way a generation socializes. Someone has to build the rails for that. That’s exactly what we’re creating at Sweatpals.”