Planet Fitness adds more weight equipment as lifting gains popularity

Planet Fitness is redesigning club layouts to add more strength equipment as weightlifting grows in popularity, CEO Colleen Keating said during a tour at the company’s headquarters in Hampton, N.H. Ms. Keating said the chain is now dedicating “about half the gym floor to strength and about half the club floor to cardio.” The changes come as Planet Fitness, which has nearly 2,800 locations and about 21 million members, responds to increased interest in resistance training.

Ms. Keating, who took the top job in June 2024, said Gen Z is the fastest-growing segment of membership and stressed the company’s “judgment-free zone, no gym-timidation” message. The membership fee rose to $15 a month in the summer of 2024, a 50 percent increase from decades of $10.

Company results so far have not suffered from the price change: in the most recent quarter total revenue increased 13 percent, and the share price has risen by more than 30 percent over the past five years, the Times reported. Ms. Keating said Planet Fitness aims to be a place where members can get comfortable with strength training, noting clubs will have trainers on hand to help members acclimate even though paid personal training is not broadly offered; the chain is testing paid personal training in a number of clubs.

Ms. Keating said the company does not capture medical data on members but suggested that some people taking GLP-1s may feel more agile and consider joining a gym.

Key Topics

Business, Planet Fitness, Colleen Keating, Hampton Nh, Strength Training, Gen Z