With the new year barreling toward us, it feels appropriate to look back at the past year to identify fitness trends. Sure, people are still obsessed with lifting weights and running marathons—but new trends in the fitness studio arena emerged in 2024. Nine types of studios opened, rising above the rest, according to Mariana Tek, a boutique fitness business management software company.
In the last few years, the number of Pilates enthusiasts has skyrocketed, be it with just a mat or on the reformer. Maybe it was the pandemic that forced everyone to find ways to work out from home or maybe it was viral TikTok influencers like Pilates instructor Bailey Brown who made reformers popular again. Either way, it's a fitness modality that yields major dividends to all involved. According to Mariana Tek's 2024 Boutique Fitness Trends Report, Pilates studios accounted for 27 percent of boutique openings in 2024. Given it was also the most popular modality among new studios in 2023, this year's news isn't exactly shocking.
Related: These Core-Crushing Pilates Workouts Will Level Up Your Fitness
Spin, yoga, and barre have always been popular options for individuals looking to burn calories and gain strength without the strain that comes with lifting heavy weights. Yoga especially, has become the go-to for individuals looking to promote their health and better their mental well-being.
About 1 and 6 adults in the U.S. practice yoga, according to a 2024 survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With new CYCLEBARS and Pure Barre studios popping up in small and large cities nationwide, it doesn't come as a surprise that spin (15 percent), yoga (14 percent), and barre studios (14 percent) are still among the top five popular options.
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If you think back to the world of fitness studios five to 10 years ago, you probably remember the rise of bootcamp fitness (think Barry's). Every man and woman was dying to get the coveted abs of every Barry's Bootcamp instructor. According to a 2024 L.A. Times article more than 3 million people have tried Barry's intense workouts since its inception in 1998. However, according to this year's data bootcamps made up only 1.45 percent of new studios in 2024.
As with anything in fitness, the ways in which we try to get healthy changes by the day. While yoga and Pilates might be in this year, bootcamps may very well make their comeback in 2025.
Regardless of what's trending this week (or year), fitness is all about finding ways to better your health—there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
