Could it be? Is it true? Are more and more people starting to get really, really serious about getting in shape? Could this trend lower our health care costs? (Don’t worry; I’m not going there.)

The continued growth of fitness-related franchises is pretty amazing. It’s nice to see. After two solid years of pretty negative small business news, seeing businesses with solid growth is quite energizing.

Fitness businesses have been around a long time. Lots of folks credit the emergence of gyms and health clubs to Jack LaLanne, since he opened what’s considered the first health club. Actually Vic Tanny was the one who is credited with starting the first chain of fitness clubs. How about Bally Total Fitness? They were once the largest fitness chain in the U.S. They were also known for some rather interesting sales practices.

Why are fitness franchises still growing? There are lots of reasons, for sure. I’ve highlighted five of them here:

1. Re-tooling

Gary Heavin, the founder of Curves for Women, a 9,000+ unit chain of franchises located worldwide, actually failed the first time he started a fitness franchise chain. His first go involved a women’s-only fitness center, but the centers had too much overpriced equipment. This created a situation of high costs and high overhead for his franchisees. The chain went bankrupt.

His second attempt worked out much better. He re-tooled. He focused on simpler, less costly equipment, and designed a 30-minute circuit-style workout for his customers. Newsweek did a short piece about Gary in its “Almost Failure’s” post.

2. Demographics

With more and more of our population aging, the timing seems perfect for fitness franchises to continue their growth. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), regular physical activity is one of the most important things people can do for their health. It can prevent many of the health problems that seem to come with age, and can help muscles grow stronger so people can keep doing their day-to-day activities without becoming dependent on others. Read about physical activity guidelines for older adults.

3. Franchisee expansion

Just last week, I read an update from a franchisee of Snap Fitness that I helped put into business. It said, “Installers arrive early Saturday to put down the rubber flooring and carpet border for Snap Fitness #3 in Reminderville, Ohio. Finally, some real progress. Plan to be open very shortly!!!”

If individual franchisees are hitting their membership goals, that means they’re busy. Most franchise owners that I’ve worked with over the years got into franchising in order to grow their businesses into something substantial. A multi-unit franchise operation can be just that. If franchisees all over the country are adding locations, franchising is growing!

4. Being different

Some people really want to lose weight and get in shape. They just don’t want to do it in a public setting where they’ll feel uncomfortable.
 

One fitness franchise that’s out to change that “uncomfortable factor” is New Hampshire-based Planet Fitness. They have a Judgement Free Zone® philosophy, which means that members can relax, get in shape, and have fun without being subjected to the hard-core, look-at-me attitude that exists in too many gyms.

The Planet Fitness philosophy seems to be working. They just scored $40 million from GE Capital to help them fuel their continued growth.

5. Technology

If you’re anything like me, your ears perk up with any mention of the word “automated.” Does the idea of an “automated workout” sound like something you’d be interested in? (No, there aren’t machines that are going to do the workout for you!)

At Koko FitClub, a franchisor out of Massachusetts, each workout is precisely customized to your body, your strength level and fitness level. Then it’s tailored specifically for their Koko Smartraining equipment, which in turn is stored on your own personal "Koko Key."  Each time you enter a KoKo FitClub facility, you just plug your key into one of their Smartrainer machines, and start exercising. Better yet, Koko automatically adapts each new session to all of your previous ones. So no two workouts are ever the same.

The fitness franchises that continue to innovate will be the ones that continue growing their franchises.