F45 went from a $1.4B fitness darling to a cautionary tale, as rapid expansion collided with changing workout trends and Pilates took over.
Background:
F45 started in a single Paddington studio in 2012. The format? A 45-minute functional High-Intensity Interval Training workout. Because it was circuit-based, you didn't need a massive floor.
And people loved it.
By 2015, F45 had 250 Australian franchises. By March 2021, it had nearly 2,250 studios across 63 countries. Then, in July 2021, F45 listed on the New York Stock Exchange at a valuation of US$1.4 billion.
The plan? "We want to sprint past Planet Fitness and be bigger than McDonald's."
That's exactly what F45's CEO Adam Gilchrist told Bloomberg... on camera.
But then it all started going wrong.
F45's IPO was in July 2021. Exactly one year later, the company issued profit warnings, slashing new franchise sales guidance… and the CEO stepped down.
The share price fell from an all-time high of US$17.28 to $1.35 in 12 months. Because the post-COVID land grab caught up with them. Too many studios, too fast, in markets that weren't ready.
Add to that accounting mistakes in F45's 2021 and 2022 financial statements, which meant the company couldn't file its quarterly earnings reports on time.
So, the NYSE got involved and issued a non-compliance notice in May 2023. By August 2023, F45's stock was trading at $0.18. So they voluntarily delisted from the NYSE.
Where we're at today:
Fast forward to 2026. Australia now has roughly 8,000 gym and fitness businesses generating around $3.8 billion in annual revenue.
Get this: around 15% of the Australian population holds a gym membership, which is ninth globally, behind Sweden and Norway at 22%, and the US at 21%. Australians spend around $95 a month on gym memberships. That's roughly $28 more than Americans.
Boutique fitness studios, like F45, Pilates studios, and CrossFit boxes, now account for 21% of total industry revenue. A decade ago? That number was basically zero.
F45 is still operating around 1,600 studios globally, including 235 in Australia.
But the boutique fitness model only scales beautifully up to a point. So if the HIIT boom is cooling and F45 stumbled, what is actually growing?
Pilates. Reformer Pilates specifically. Australia ranks second globally in per-capita search volume for the word "Pilates." And ClassPass data shows Pilates has been the most-booked workout for three consecutive years, with reservations on the platform up 66% between 2024 and 2025.
Meanwhile? The big-box players like Anytime Fitness, Jetts, and FitnessFirst are under pressure.
Traditional gym revenue has been declining, with the industry CAGR running at around -2% between 2020 and 2025.
Where to from here:
Australia's fitness market declined at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about -7% over the five years to 2025, according to business researcher IBISWorld.
Despite the decline, the premium is winning. And Pilates and yoga are coming out on top. Boutique studios have identified that when Aussies buy a gym membership these days, they want the community that comes with it.
And while we might appear to be a nation that takes gym life very seriously, the research actually shows around half of gym members visit less than once a week.
And the industry understood this before most people did.
F45 sold you an identity and a sense of belonging. That's why it worked. It's also why boutique fitness grew so fast.
The more interesting question now is whether the next generation of Australian fitness brands is smarter about scale. The Australian fitness economy is real, and the consumer demand is genuine.
So hopefully the next era of boutique Aussie studios takes the lessons from F45... before announcing plans to be bigger than McDonald's.
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