Gym Retention and Member Experience Archives

How a young franchisee grew his Plus Fitness franchise memberships by 40% in 15 months

When Joshua Thomas took over Plus Fitness Katoomba in 2025, aged 25, the Blue Mountains club had been trading since 2013 and was due for investment. Fifteen months later, memberships are up 40% and monthly visits have risen 75%, from around 4,000 to 7,000. The turnaround came from a rapid refit, a policy of putting

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J.I.M Infrared Fitness Review: What 21 Days at Joy In Movement Taught Me

Fitness Franchising, Gym Retention and Member Experience, Health & Fitness, Wellness Modalities / November 6, 2026

Why I Wanted to Try J.I.M Infrared Fitness When Joy in Movement (J.I.M) offered me a complimentary trial, I jumped at it. I’ve trained in gyms for more than 25 years and I’ll never say no to a sauna, so a workout that combines movement with infrared heat sounded right up my alley. I’ll admit

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Jess Curl co-founder of Project Better a community gym in Melbourne

No Mirrors, Dogs Welcome: How Project Better Built a Gym Members Won’t Leave

Gym Retention and Member Experience, Staffing, Hiring and Team Management, Startup Founder Interviews / October 30, 2026

When COVID lockdowns forced gyms to close, more than 100 Project Better members kept paying anyway. Co-founder Jess Curl explains how a community-first model took the brand from a garage to a fifth Melbourne site, and what other gym owners can learn from it. Almost 10 years ago, Jess Curl set out to build a

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creating inclusive spaces for wheelchair users in gyms

Inclusive Gym Equipment: Are You Ready to Be First?

Commercial Equipment Suppliers, Gym Fitouts and Facility Design, Gym Retention and Member Experience, Injury Aware Training, Strength Fitness Equipment, Training Aids & Tools / September 25, 2026

Sport England’s Active Lives Adult Survey found that one in five people live with a disability, and that group is almost twice as likely to be physically inactive as the general population, with the gap widening further for people with multiple impairments. The picture in Australia isn’t dramatically different. Two products on our radar this

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Could Your Facility Become an Official RUN X™ Centre? Inside the First Treadmill World Championship

Australian Fitness Industry News, Cardio Fitness Equipment, Events, Gym Retention and Member Experience / August 18, 2026

A landmark partnership between Technogym and World Athletics is turning connected treadmills into a global competitive stage, and Australian fitness centres have a front-row seat. Running is already Australia’s most accessible sport. Parkrun draws tens of thousands of participants every Saturday morning. City2Surf sells out in minutes. Fun runs fill up months in advance. Australians

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Follow the Money: Where Suppliers Are Betting in Australian Fitness

Australian Fitness Industry News, Commercial Equipment Suppliers, Equipment Buying Guides, Events, Gym Fitouts and Facility Design, Gym Retention and Member Experience, Recovery and Wellness Equipment, Strength Fitness Equipment / August 7, 2026

Interview conducted July 2026. Everyone in the fitness industry has an opinion on what’s trending. Fewer people are in a position to say where the money is going. Shaun Krenz is one of them. As co-founder of AusFitness Expo and AusFitness Industry, he spends most of the year building relationships with the suppliers, brands and

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BFT PODIUM Series: The Event Model Driving Franchisee Revenue and Member Retention

Australian Fitness Industry News, Events, Fitness Franchising, Group Fitness, Gym Marketing and Lead Generation, Gym Retention and Member Experience / August 5, 2026

Body Fit Training (BFT) held the global launch of its PODIUM Series last weekend, on Sunday 2 August 2026, across 300+ studios in 10+ countries. The in-studio event series is designed to open up new revenue and improve member retention for franchise owners, with more than half of that global footprint based in Australia. To

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Fitness Cartel Maroochydore Reopens After $3.6 Million Rebuild

Australian Fitness Industry News, Gym Fitouts and Facility Design, Gym Retention and Member Experience, Startup Founder Interviews / July 30, 2026

Fitness Cartel officially reopened its Maroochydore club on Saturday 25 July, capping off a $3.6 million refurbishment. Founder and CEO Nathan James spoke to What’s New in Fitness about the reinvestment, the new demographic it’s already drawing in, and what smaller gym operators can take from it. “Phenomenal,” is how James described reopening weekend. “We

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Marketing to Millennials For Gym Owners in Australia

Fitness Business Management, Gym Marketing and Lead Generation, Gym Retention and Member Experience / July 25, 2026

Millennials are one of the largest and most commercially important audiences an Australian gym can reach. But a lot of the marketing advice built around this generation still pictures them as 20-somethings chasing the newest boutique class and posting about it. That’s a narrow slice of who this audience actually is today, and it leaves

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australian boutique fitness studio member retention

Why Australian Boutique Gym Members Leave… And What Owners Can Do About It

Booking and Scheduling Software, Gym Retention and Member Experience / June 15, 2026

Acquiring a new fitness studio member costs significantly more than keeping an existing one. Most estimates put the ratio somewhere between five and seven to one. And yet the average boutique fitness studio in Australia spends far more on marketing and acquisition than it ever does on retention. The result is a leaky bucket. Studios

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What Aussie Gym Owners and Fitness Professionals Should Know About Technogym BioStrength

Commercial Equipment Suppliers, Fitness Technology, Gym Retention and Member Experience, Strength Fitness Equipment / June 10, 2026

Your members are showing up wanting to do strength training. Most of them have no idea how to do it properly for their goal. They pick a machine, do three sets of ten, scroll their phone during rest, and repeat. The rep range is arbitrary, the rest period is a guess, the tempo is an

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Boutique Fitness Trends in 2026 and What They Mean for Australian Studio Owners

Australian Fitness Industry News, Billing and Payment Platforms, Booking and Scheduling Software, Fitness Technology, Gym CRM and Member Management, Gym Marketing and Lead Generation, Gym Retention and Member Experience / May 31, 2026

New research from boutique fitness management platform bsport surveyed more than 550 studio members globally to find out what drives discovery, loyalty and growth. The findings have significant implications for how Australian fitness businesses operate, market and grow. Running a boutique fitness studio in Australia has never been more competitive. New studios are opening constantly,

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