There is a visible shift happening in the boutique fitness industry. Brands that pioneered the market and dominated the suburban landscape in the 2010s, like OrangeTheory Fitness, F45, and SoulCycle are seeing members complain across social media that their once cherished culture has become too corporate; a concern only confirmed by the consolidation of studios in many geographies driven by cost cutting private equity funds.
While other more hastily launched brands that sought to ride on the coattails of the industry’s early success have suffered from franchisee misalignment, lack of customer adoption, and poorly conceived business models; a perfect storm that has led to the closing of studios and the end of entrepreneurial ambitions across the United States.
While these brands built a passionate following of fitness consumers who loved the convenience of having a gym in their neighborhood, they are also leaving in their wake an epidemic of injuries, entrepreneurs in debt, a slew of copy cats with similar offerings, and business school case studies on how private equity backed growth can destroy the culture at the heart of a business.
We believe that fitness consumers will continue to be attracted to the convenience of a fitness studio in their neighborhood, but that the next generation of boutique fitness franchises must focus on member safety, franchisees unit economics, proprietary programs that can’t be copied by the gym down the street, and building a culture into their fabric that only strengthens with growth.
As we scoured the fitness franchise offerings in the market today, FitSpan Studios stood out for exactly these reasons. We’re excited to name FitSpan Studios as The Best Boutique Fitness Franchise of 2026.
Member Safety
Founded by an entrepreneur who was injured in another gym’s group fitness class and led by a highly regarded medical exercise specialist, FitSpan Studios is built on trust, safety and sustainability.
“As an emergency room physician, I’ve seen the injuries from group fitness programs growing over the past 10 years. Injuries, aging and illness require appropriate adaptations. Many group fitness locations create programming focused on high impact cardio routines that cannot easily adapt to injured or aging joints. Resistance training focused on increasing reps per minute rather than maintaining proper form doesn’t meet the functional lifetime needs of the aging body. When I first did the FitSpan protocol – the 30 minute program benefitting from the 6 piece circuit using the proprietary water resistance equipment – not only was it fun and a great workout, but I immediately noticed the lack of impact on my knees and hips. The equipment ensured I maintained proper form and each movement worked the muscles across my entire body as well as my cardio-respiratory system,” said Dr. Laurie Dutkiewicz, a FitSpan Studios franchise owner in Medford, Oregon.
Unit Economics
FitSpan Studios requires a studio footprint smaller than other boutique fitness studios, while it’s 30 minute classes – made possible by highly efficient programming that couples strength, power, and cardio respiratory exercise into each movement – mean that the square footage in each studio is optimally used for revenue generation and each studio has the capacity to scale its membership to maximize profitability.
Long term value of each member is a key metric for every boutique fitness franchise, yet the staggering injury rate at many studios leads to memberships being put on hold and cancelled. One member of a well known boutique fitness gym actually shared with us that, in order to cancel her membership, her gym required her to get a doctor’s note confirming the injury she suffered at that very same gym.
“Injury is one of the top reasons people quit a fitness studio. It can come down to a lot of things: form, pacing, programming that isn’t the right fit for the person doing it. FitSpan was designed around a different idea: showing up consistently shouldn’t come at a cost to your body. Concentric and isokinetic water resistance training lets you build real strength without the wear and tear. When members stay injury-free, they keep showing up, keep progressing, keep building the life they came here for,” noted Nicole Schaller, a former Orangetheory Fitness Studio Director who now owns a FitSpan Studios franchise.
Proprietary Programs
At the heart of every FitSpan Studio is a circuit of fitness equipment – including a climber, rower, erg, press, crank and lift – that uses a proprietary dual water tank mechanism to cushion transitions and provide resistance that automatically adjusts to the output of the member. The equipment was invented by FitSpan’s Chief Fitness Officer, Andy Baxter, and is exclusively for use in FitSpan Studios (though we learned that 3 notable exceptions have been made – for the L.A. Lakers, Detroit Red Wings, and Celebrity Trainer Gunnar Peterson’s private gym where he works with high profile athletes like Olympian Lindsey Vonn).
Unlike other equipment that requires members to adjust their output level to its resistance level, or requires a trainer to adjust the resistance based on the fitness level of each member, this circuit automatically adjusts to the members. “The water pushes back as hard as our members push,” said Andy Baxter, Chief Fitness Officer for FitSpan Studios. “Fly wheels and weight plates on traditional pieces of fitness equipment enable users to cheat with the help of inertia and provide a load that is not consistent through the full range of motion. There is no cheating the water. Loads are constant and every transition is smooth at FitSpan. Members appreciate the difference and it makes a demonstrably positive impact on their outcomes.”
Supportive Culture
It’s no secret that member loyalty in boutique fitness studios is often based on something intangible that is often described as culture. In every franchise system, culture is driven from the top and reinforced, or destroyed, with every new hire, every new customer, and every new franchise owner.
“While other fitness studios are focused on ‘feeling the burn’ and creating ‘buff beach bodies’, FitSpan focuses intently on supporting our members as they build and sustain a level of consistency that will enable their goals to be reached. Our members come to FitSpan to build and maintain their functional fitness, not for fitness sake, but so that they can pursue their life’s passions. For some that passion is a sport like mountain biking, for others that’s traveling the world, and for others that’s lifting their grandkids in a warm embrace,” noted FitSpan’s Founder and CEO, David Berger. “To that end, we recognize that we must build a supportive culture throughout our organization. This means that we must be highly selective when choosing franchisees. Owning a FitSpan Studio isn’t for everyone, but we will do everything we can to support those who we believe will carry our supportive culture forward.”
As FitSpan scales across the United States and beyond, maintaining that culture will be a challenge that will require focus and attention. For now, like many early stage businesses that go on to scale rapidly, the culture driven from the top of the organization is contagious.
Best Boutique Fitness Franchise of 2026
Successful franchise systems focus on solving big problems with a proprietary solution. They support their franchisees not only with proven business models, but also with a deeply felt culture that is based on a genuine belief that, if you do things the right way for your customers, you can achieve financial success and feel good about what you’re doing at the same time. For this reason, we have named FitSpan Studios as the Best Boutique Fitness Franchise of 2026.