Fitness industry mergers and acquisitions on the rise in 2025

especially for the younger generation—Gen Z—they value experiences, community, and getting out of the house.”

The data backs up the idea that people are no longer sticking to the at-home exercise bike as they did during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, San Francisco–based exercise-tracking app Strava saw a 25% increase in uploads of weight-training activities by women, while uploads of yoga or Pilates activities by men increased 15%, according to the report. The increased activity has led Strava to get in on the M&A game—in April, it bought U.K. tech company Runna, and in May it acquired The Breakaway, a training app for cyclists.

“We continue to see more of those integrated performance apps into workouts,” Hirsch tells FOS. “People want to know that what they’re doing is working.”

Hirsch says more people are taking their health into their own hands, pointing to recent research showing that the percentage of U.S. adults who say they drink alcohol is the lowest it’s been in decades, if not ever. In lieu of after-work drinks, people are networking while going for walks or working out. While at-home fitness still has a place, it’s mostly as a convenience play.

“Maybe you’re working from home and you want to squeeze something in,” he says.

From an investment standpoint, Hirsch estimates the fitness market is already 85% consolidated, with most of the current action centered on large-scale players. That means the next major wave of exits likely won’t come until the early 2030s, when today’s private-equity buyers cycle out. Not every investor is cut out for it, because clubs demand consistent capital expenditures, and, as Hirsch put it, “the moment your club starts to feel old and tired, you’re toast.”

Still, there remain smaller plays that will eventually be up for grabs, and new players will always enter the market. Given strong membership trends (memberships at fitness facilities increased 5.8% from 2023 to 2024, according to the Health & Fitness Association), upselling opportunities at gym chains, and cultural tailwinds at its back, the fitness industry appears primed to stay hot in the deal market for years to come.

“People want to get out of the house, people want to go to the gym,” Hirsch tells FOS. “It’s becoming a bigger part of lifestyle and personality.”