This Week in Fitness: Presidential Test Returns, Crunch Expands, Xponential Sells Brands

This Week in Fitness delivers the top fitness business headlines in under 5 minutes with host Krissy Vann. In this episode:

– President Trump reinstates the Presidential Fitness Test and revamps national fitness council
– Brian Hibbard’s Fitness Ventures invests $75M to expand Crunch Fitness in Portland
– Eight Sleep’s Alexandra Zatarain leads launch of Hot Flash Mode and Women’s Sleep Initiative
– CityPickle founders Mary Cannon and Erica Desai announce Times Square flagship and HQ
– VASA Fitness opens new Colorado Springs gym with cold plunge, led by CEO Rich Nelsen
– Xponential Fitness COO Tim Weiderhoft partners with Morrow Hill for real estate strategy
– CEO Mark King announces Xponential’s divestiture of CycleBar and Rumble to Extraordinary Brands
– Gold’s Gym celebrates 60 years with new clubs in Austin and Los Angeles, and HYROX partnership
– Life Time CEO Bahram Akradi expands access to AI wellness tool L•AI•C via free app

Stay fit, stay informed, and keep your fitness business in shape.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:15 Presidential Fitness Test reinstated in new executive order
• 1:10 Crunch franchisee Fitness Ventures announces $75M expansion in Portland
• 2:05 Eight Sleep launches Hot Flash Mode and Women’s Sleep Initiative
• 2:44 VASA Fitness debuts new Colorado Springs gym with cold plunge and wellness upgrades
• 3:22 Xponential Fitness partners with Morrow Hill to streamline real estate
• 3:59 Xponential divests CycleBar and Rumble to Extraordinary Brands
• 4:36 Gold’s Gym expands with new flagship clubs and HYROX partnership
• 5:15 Life Time rolls out AI wellness tool L•AI•C to all app users

Transcript

0:06

welcome to This Week in fitness where we crunch the latest fitness business headlines all in under 5 minutes I'm your host Chrissy Van and here's what's making news the presidential fitness test is officially making a return President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order reestablishing the decades old assessment while restructuring the President's Council on Sports Fitness and nutrition the move is part of a broader push to address declining youth fitness which the order describes as a threat to the country's economy military readiness academic performance and national morale the revitalized council will include up to 30 appointed members and will advise on strategies to promote physical education expand youth sports access and set updated fitness goals for American children the test originally introduced in the 1950s and later phased out will now fall under the department of health and Human Services with support from the department of education the announcement comes as the US prepares to host a series of major sporting events including the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games from federal fitness mandates to franchise market moves crunch is making its own commitment to revitalizing regional access to fitness Fitness Ventures is expanding its Crunch Fitness footprint with the acquisition of three existing clubs in Portland Oregon and plans to invest 75 million to bring 15 new locations to the region CEO Brian Hibbert called Portland underserved when it comes to high quality fitness centers and confirmed the company's intent to deliver a new generation of crunch 3.0 gyms each ranging from 40 000 to 50 000 square feet the three acquired locations were built under the older crunch 1.0 model Fitness Ventures is currently evaluating whether to remodel or relocate those clubs to bring them in line with the 3.0 standard no timeline for the new builds has been announced but the company continues to rank among the fastest growing crunch franchise operators nationwide while Fitness Ventures is scaling up square footage 8 sleep is narrowing its focus right down to temperature regulation during sleep 8 sleep is tackling a gap in sleep tech with the launch of Hot Flash Mode a new feature for its pod system designed to provide on demand cooling for women experiencing menopause related hot flashes the feature is part of the company's broader Women's Sleep initiative according to pre launch data 80% of women reported relief within 10 minutes of using hot flash mode and 78% said it was more effective than other solutions they'd tried the initiative also includes hot flash tracking within the 8 sleep app and expanded research into how temperature needs shift across women's life stages from big city buzz to recovery in the Rockies Vasa Fitness is making wellness more immersive in Colorado Springs Vasa Fitness has opened a new 48,000 square foot club in Colorado Springs its 15th location in the state and first to include a cold plunge tub the Recovery Zone also features red light therapy a sauna steam room and massage chairs reflecting growing demand for wellness offerings beyond the workout floor additional amenities include a performance lifting area turf zone half court basketball and Vasa's Studio suite of classes memberships at the new location start at 1499 per month in other expansion news Exponential Fitness is tightening operations behind the scenes with a new real estate strategy Exponential Fitness has entered an exclusive partnership with Morrow Hill to manage real estate strategy across several of its brands including Pure Bar Club Pilates Stretchlab and BFT the move is aimed at supporting domestic and international growth by centralizing site selection and lease negotiation through a single commercial real estate partner the CEO of exponential said the collaboration will allow the company to expand with greater speed and precision while giving franchisees access to best in class real estate services that operational focus is also reflected in Exponential's recent portfolio decision streamlining toward profitability Exponential Fitness has divested two of its boutique fitness concepts Cyclebar and Rumble transferring ownership to Extraordinary Brands the move aligns with the company's strategy to concentrate on higher margin concepts within its portfolio exponential stated that it will support a smooth transition for existing franchisees and emphasized its ongoing commitment to enhancing operations franchisee success and the member experience financial details of the transaction were not disclosed another legacy brand making a strategic play is Gold's Gym with its 60th anniversary marked by bold openings and a new performance focused direction Gold's Gym is marking its 60th year with a wave of new openings the brand has launched new facilities in Austin Los Angeles Washington DC and Northern California including its largest investment in Texas Today a 30,000 square foot flagship in Austin featuring Cryo Lounge recovery hit zones and functional training turf the company also unveiled the first High Rocks Performance Center near Dallas in partnership with the global fitness racing brand offering competition grade training and coaching and finally lifetime is scaling its digital offerings with a tech forward tool designed to accompany users wherever they go lifetime has expanded access to its generative AI tool Lacy now available for free to all users of the lifetime app the wellness companion delivers on demand personalized recommendations across fitness nutrition recovery and lifestyle drawing from the company's proprietary content and 30 years of experience in health coaching building collaboration with Microsoft and powered by Azure AI Foundry the tool responds to prompts like help me build a strength program or what supplements should I consider future updates will incorporate wearable data for even more tailored guidance with the global AI wellness market projected to exceed 30 billion by 2030 Lifetime is positioning Lacy as a digital companion that evolves alongside its members that's a wrap on This Week in fitness by ATF W I'm your host Chrissy Van stay fit stay informed and keep your fitness business in shape