Gen Z’s interest in fitness should grow the overall market for high-value, low-price (HVLP) gyms in the years ahead, analysts say

The Gen Z fitness boom is here, and low-price gyms figure to be among the biggest beneficiaries. 

According to a research note from TD Cowen, Gen Z is expected to expand the market for high-value, low-price (HVLP) gyms in the years ahead, leading to even more growth for the red-hot category. 

Personal training is also likely to drive growth for HVLPs – again, thanks in part to Gen Z.

Gen Z Loves Gyms, Especially HVLPs

Gen Z might not be the most active generation of all time, but the Gen Z-ers who are active tend to love going to the gym, data has shown. 

“Longer-term, Gen-Z’s focus on fitness should grow the addressable market despite greater competition,” TD Cowen analysts Max Rakhlenko and Amanuel Seife wrote in a research note that was based on a panel discussion featuring executives from HVLP chain YouFit Gyms and CR Fitness, the top franchisee in the Crunch Fitness system.

“Both operators pointed to a study which cited that 38% of Gen-Z have a gym membership vs. 25% for all age groups,” Rakhlenko and Seife noted. 

To win over Gen Z consumers, HVLPs are investing in adding strength training equipment, turf areas, group fitness classes and recovery modalities, all of which are highly popular with young gym-goers. 

According to TD Cowen, YouFit president and chief operating officer Josh Rider estimated that the cardio mix at YouFit clubs is now under 40%, with strength taking the lead. Other HVLP gym brands are making similar moves, including category leader Planet Fitness, which has made a big push to add more strength equipment.

“Importantly, shifting to strength and functional training is economically advantageous as it is cheaper,” the analysts wrote. 

Small Group Classes, Personal Training On the Rise

Personal training is also on the rise at HVLP gyms. Here again, operators might want to thank Gen Z, at least in part. Gen Z is highly interested in small group fitness classes, which could serve as a gateway to personal training. 

“Small group workouts remain a growing part of new gym models as younger gym goers look for community in their fitness experience,” the TD Cowen analysts wrote. 

As more and more Gen Z-ers engage in small group classes, there’s hope that they’ll decide to also purchase personal packages, which is a key revenue driver for clubs. 

YouFit reported that it’s seen a 10% conversion rate from group classes to personal training, according to TD Cowen. Overall, both YouFit and CR Fitness reported that they’re seeing a strong year-over-year growth in new sign-ups for personal training (so much so that YouFit has removed childcare rooms and converted them into personal training facilities).

“The growth is attributed to strong execution anchored on proper compensation structures for staff, diligent assessments bookings, and less ‘sales-y’ tactics,” the analysts wrote. 

See Also

If Congress passes the PHIT Act, which would allow Americans to use pre-tax HSA and FSA funds on fitness expenses, personal training sales could really blow up. 

“Having specific funds available for personal training would be the next catalyst for growth,” Rakhlenko and Seife wrote. 

What the Rise of HLVPs Means for the Gym Industry

The TD Cowen report is the latest bit of good news for HVLP gyms, which offer everything from saunas to group fitness classes to massage equipment for prices that typically range between $10 and $30/month, making them attractive to young fitness consumers, especially amid recession fears 

Private equity firms are betting big on the future of HVLPs: in April, Leonard Green & Partners acquired a majority stake in Crunch Fitness, a fast-growing HVLP brand with over 500 locations. The value of that deal wasn’t disclosed, but reports said Crunch was being valued at around $1.5 billion. 

Last month, TSG Consumer Partners acquired EoS Fitness, an HVLP chain with over 175 locations open or in the pipeline. That deal came on the heels of a report that EoS had been exploring a sale valuing the company at around $1 billion, including debt

The rise of HVLPs isn’t good for the entire gym industry, though. Mid-priced gyms, which typically charge between  $40 and $70/month for a membership, are finding it increasingly hard to differentiate themselves from HVLPs in terms of equipment, amenities and overall member experience. As a result, experts expect to see some mid-priced clubs get swallowed up by HVLPs in the years to come as the fitness industry consolidates around fewer, but larger, gym brands.

Apple unveiled Workout Buddy, a major new fitness feature powered by AI in the upcoming watchOS 26, at WWDC 2025. Tailored to enhance everyday workouts—like running, walking, cycling, HIIT, and strength training—it brings a virtual fitness coach directly to your wrist.

Real‑Time Spoken Motivation

Utilizes heart rate, pace, distance, and workout history to deliver timely audio insights—celebrating achievements like “Your last mile was your fastest yet!”

Authentic Trainer Voices

Employs voice profiles modeled on Apple Fitness+ trainers, giving a natural, human feel to your workout guidance

Milestone Alerts & Summaries

Announces real‑time progress (e.g., splits, reps), and offers end‑session summaries like pace, heart rate, and whether goals were hit.

Seamless Music Integration

The Workout app now offers quick-access buttons for music control, with Apple Music suggesting personalized playlists matched to your workout and tastes

Privacy‑Focused On‑Device AI

All data processing happens on the watch, ensuring your heart rate, pace, and fitness history stay private.

Fresh User Interface & Gestures

watchOS 26 debuts the “Liquid Glass” redesign, improved Smart Stack intelligence, and a wrist flick gesture to dismiss notifications without breakpointing your flow.

Release Timing: Public beta in July, full release expected this fall.

Supported Devices: Apple Watch Series 6 or newer (including SE and Ultra) paired with iPhone 11 or later. Wrestling with AI features requires Series 9 or newer with Apple Intelligence on iPhone.

Language Support: English at launch, with workout type coverage expected to expand over time.

Workout Buddy elevates the Apple Watch from a passive fitness tracker to an active coaching companion. Whether you’re a casual exerciser or training for milestones like a 10K run, having real-time encouragement, milestones-based feedback, and workout recaps can significantly boost motivation and adherence. Operated privately and powered by advanced AI, it reflects Apple’s strategy to integrate intelligence deeply across its devices.

With Workout Buddy, Apple Watch brings a smart, privacy-first personal trainer right to your wrist—pushing, praising, and tracking you through every stride, rep, and beat. Alongside refreshed UI, gestures, and Apple Music integration, watchOS 26 proves to be a robust fitness and lifestyle update.

Four years after the launch of the Whoop 4.0, Whoop finally launched two new health trackers, the Whoop 5.0 and the Whoop MG. last month. 

While Whoop is mainly considered a health tracker used by pro athletes and fitness enthusiasts, the launch of the new wearables caters to a more general, health-minded customer base willing to pay a high price for cutting-edge health tech. 

Also: Garmin unveils its Apple Ultra Watch 2 competitor, the Venu X1

The latest health bands track your sleep, activity, and recovery like the rest of the health trackers on the market. However, the bands also deliver innovative new features, like a blood pressure monitor that provides data right from your wrist, an ECG monitor that detects atrial fibrillation, and clinician-reviewed reports for blood testing and vitals monitoring. 

It seems like Whoop picked its favorite features from other smart wearable devices, like Apple Watch, Withings, Oura, and Samsung Galaxy, to create its latest lineup. 

Functionalities differ based on the band, with the 5.0 supporting more general activity and health tracking and the MG, which stands for Medical Grade, supporting features like ECG and blood pressure monitoring. 

Also: I tested an AI-powered glucose monitor against a traditional monitor for two weeks. Here’s my verdict

The most interesting feature of this launch is Advanced Labs, which allows users to schedule blood tests and interact with a clinician for reports and recommendations using the data collected through the device. Advanced Labs has an additional cost and is not available at launch. 

Those interested in trying the feature out upon launch will be added to a waitlist. The feature is similar to Withings’ Cardio Check-Up feature, which allows members to connect with a doctor who evaluates their heart health data and sends back a personalized report.

The patent-pending blood pressure monitoring feature is similar to other health trackers with this functionality. Using a traditional arm blood pressure monitor, the Whoop calibrates data with the band three times. Then it begins monitoring systolic and diastolic ranges from your wrist, with no armband needed. 

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 7 has the same capability and calibration requirement, while Huawei’s Watch 3 includes an ambulatory blood pressure monitor, with no calibration necessary. 

Whoop also introduced Healthspan, a feature developed with the Buck Institute’s Research on Aging’s CEO, that assesses your overall health through nine biometrics to quantify your physiological age. 

Healthspan will tell users whether their physiological age is lower, higher, or on pace with their actual age for a holistic picture of their health and habits. Oura has this feature in the form of cardiovascular age, and I enjoy checking to see if my habits are helping or hurting my longevity.

Also: Your next Apple Watch could have a feature that transforms healthcare

The Heart Screener feature adds ECG monitoring to the Whoop MG. This feature can detect high or low heart rates, and atrial fibrillation, an often undetected condition. Users can take this collected data to their doctor for diagnosis and condition maintenance. Other health trackers, like the Apple Watch, Google Pixel Watch, and Samsung Galaxy Watch, already have this feature. 

The newly added health features reflect a growing shift in fitness trackers as they become health companions. Oura recently launched a continuous glucose monitor integration for users who want to track their glucose and other biometrics all in one app. Meanwhile, Withings launched its Cardio Check-Up service to connect people quickly and directly to a clinician. 

Other improvements include a 14-plus-day battery life, a smaller, sleeker build, updates to sleep-tracking for a more accurate picture of bedtime quality, a ten times more efficient processor, and enhanced data capture. 

The price breakdown

Whoop offers three subscription tiers: One, Peak, and Life. One is the most affordable and least feature-rich. The tier offers sleep, strain, and recovery tracking, and features V02 max and heart rate zone monitoring, alongside hormonal health insights. 

Peak is a mid-tier option with all the aforementioned features, plus Whoop’s new Healthspan and Pace of Aging feature, a Health Monitor feature, and stress monitoring.

Also: Bose re-enters the premium earbuds game, promising small but mighty upgrades to its Ultra earbuds

Life tier is the most expensive tier, adding blood pressure and ECG monitoring, and advanced health sensor tech, which is why it comes with the Whoop MG band, unlike the One and Peak tiers, which come with the Whoop 5.0 band. 

The health band brand has always been more expensive, and the latest launch is no different. The Whoop One subscription tier costs $199 per year, Whoop Peak costs $239 per year, and Whoop Life costs $359 per year.

New Delhi: Apple is about to make working out with your Apple Watch a lot more fun and inspiring. With the forthcoming watchOS 26 update, Apple is introducing a new feature called Workout Buddy. Here’s a simple breakdown of what it does, how it works, and what you’ll need to use it.

What Is Workout Buddy?

Workout Buddy is a brand-new feature for Apple Watch users, launching later this year with watchOS 26. Think of it as your own personal fitness coach that talks to you during your workouts. Using Apple’s latest AI technology, called Apple Intelligence, Workout Buddy gives you real-time encouragement and feedback based on your workout data and fitness history.

For example, when you start a run, Workout Buddy might say something like, “Way to get out for your run this Wednesday morning.” As you continue, it’ll let you know when you hit milestones—like running a certain distance or picking up your pace. At the end, it will recap your stats, such as your heart rate and average speed, and congratulate you on your achievements.

How Does Workout Buddy Work?

Workout Buddy uses Apple Intelligence to analyze your workout stats—like heart rate, pace, distance, and your progress on Activity Rings. It then uses a text-to-speech AI model to create a voice that sounds like a real coach, inspired by voices from Apple’s Fitness+ trainers. This voice gives you individualize feedback and motivation throughout your workout, making the experience feel more human and encouraging.

All of this happens right on your device, so your data stays private and secure.

What Workouts Does It Support?

At launch, Workout Buddy will work with the most popular types of exercise, including:

Outdoor and indoor running

Walking

Outdoor cycling

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Traditional and functional strength training

The feature will be available in English first and will expand to more languages in the future.

What Devices Do You Need?

To use Workout Buddy, you’ll need:

An Apple Watch that supports watchOS 26

Bluetooth headphones (for the voice feedback)

An iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence (required for the AI features)

Supported iPhones include:

iPhone 16 series (16e, 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max)

iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max

The Apple Watch and iPhone need to be near each other for Workout Buddy to work.

What’s New in watchOS 26?

Apart from Workout Buddy, watchOS 26 brings a fresh new look with the Liquid Glass design, smarter notifications, and more personalized music suggestions for workouts. The Workout app itself is getting a simpler interface with bigger buttons and easier controls, plus automatic music suggestions based on your workout and listening habits.

The Apple Watch’s fitness features have been getting consistently more impressive in recent years, between new running metrics, the recent addition of Training Load, and integrations with third-party apps such as TrainingPeaks. And yet, despite these advanced tools at my fingertips and as someone who tests the best Apple Watches as part of my job, I’m still lacking in the running department.

After a long day of work, as a man in his mid-thirties with a very active six-year-old, the last thing I feel I want to do is get my shorts and underlayer on and head out the door, and that’s even with some lovely running routes nearby.

Jason Droege is a seasoned technology executive and entrepreneur. Before joining Scale, he was a Venture Partner at Benchmark, an investment firm focused on early-stage venture investing in consumer, marketplaces, open-source, AI, infrastructure, and enterprise software. He joined Benchmark in 2021 to collaborate closely with portfolio founders, leveraging his extensive experience in building consumer businesses.