"Climbing" is reshaping the gym business.

Under the upsurge of national fitness, the most popular areas in gyms are undergoing changes.

On an ordinary weekday night, 10 treadmills in a large gym in Beijing are running simultaneously, and 8 of the users are climbing. Several people go home right after climbing and show no interest in the strength equipment beside.

The same popularity can also be seen on social media platforms. On Douyin, 582,000 people have shared the physical changes brought about by climbing. On Xiaohongshu, the "golden formula for climbing" summarized by fitness bloggers has almost every post with over ten thousand collections. Even the official couldn't resist getting involved and launched a 30 - day "Climbing Enthusiasts" event.

The interface of the "Climbing Enthusiasts" event on Xiaohongshu

Low threshold, easy to stick to, and visible feedback - these simple and straightforward experiences exactly hit the psychology of countless ordinary people who want to exercise but are afraid of trouble.

In an environment where consumption is becoming more rational and users are pursuing a better experience, more and more gyms are getting rid of the business model of betting on users "not coming after getting a membership" and are turning to find new ways out.

1

It's not embarrassing to get a membership just for climbing

The starting point of breaking the situation may be to focus on "people" first.

The "2025 China Sports and Fitness Industry Data Report" shows that compared with 87.525 million people in 2024, the number of fitness members nationwide in 2025 decreased by a full 3 million. Although in the existing market, users' willingness to pay and the total scale of the consumer market show an upward trend, in the long run, for the industry to bring back the lost users or attract new people to the gym, it needs to find a new entry point for trust.

For a long time, the image of gyms has been highly associated with a "hard - working" lifestyle. But today, this marketing logic that always emphasizes "delayed gratification" will only push potential users who are just a little interested further away.

For today's users, what they need is no longer a hardcore physical transformation right from the start, but an entry point with a lower threshold, more freshness, and a more lifestyle - oriented approach.

Take Leke Sports, which has seen a continuous increase in registered users in recent years, as an example. In their membership system, about 40% are "novice" users. When talking about this data, Tang Xin, the general manager of the urban division of Leke Sports, shared that the team once conducted a survey and found that the underlying reason why users couldn't stick to it was actually very simple - "it's too troublesome."

"Many people think that fitness goes against human nature because most users don't like to be forced deep down," Tang Xin analyzed. "If the gym is just downstairs from home or the office, and people can spend half an hour or an hour in it during their leisure time every day, most people are willing to do it."

In addition to the geographical convenience, "reducing the burden" in content supply is also very important.

Simple running or anaerobic training can be boring, but it may be different if it's a less tiring climb or a group class with a great atmosphere. When the lights are on and the music is playing, how well one is exercising no longer matters. The self - awareness of "I'm exercising" is the motivation for users to walk into the gym voluntarily.

Group classes at Leke Sports

From this perspective, whether it's the recently popular "half - hour climb" on social media, low - impact and low - threshold exercises like the elliptical machine, or group classes like pop - music aerobic dance, trampoline, and barbell, they are all essentially selling the same concept: This is a lightweight physical and mental relaxation after work, a part of a healthy lifestyle, rather than a competition that aims for results right from the start.

This logic is indeed becoming the main operation line for many small and high - quality venues. Snow, the person in charge of the Beijing Anteater Activity Center, chose to name the venue an "Activity Center" instead of a "Gym." In his view, providing diverse training methods and diverse lifestyle choices is the way to attract long - term users.

If you click on the group - class schedule of Anteater, courses suitable for different groups, such as "Comprehensive Training," "Competition Day," and "Joint Maintenance," are clearly presented. Here, the annual training progresses season by season, and each season is divided into three stages: early, middle, and late, with the training intensity gradually increasing. At the same time, the design of changing the training focus every two weeks also keeps the courses interesting.

"Of course, the main function is sports, but we think it should have more possibilities," said Snow. In the Anteater venue, in addition to the fitness equipment that occupies one - third of the space, there are also bleachers for watching movies and a spacious and open multi - functional training space. It can not only host tactical seminars for frisbee teams but also offer various options such as dodgeball, rugby, and archery.

The scene of Anteater's group class

Only when the entry is more convenient and less burdensome can a fitness venue no longer be a "training camp" full of pressure when you walk in, but a more functional part of the community.

And when the space changes, the trading method must also change accordingly.

2

Open small stores, open the stores you need more

In 2026, even salespeople promoting swimming and fitness on the street won't ask you right away if you want to buy an annual membership.

Long - term transactions in units of years still scare away users who have just shown interest in today's consumer environment. Selling small course packages, promoting monthly payments or single - time payments is becoming an inevitable operating trend in the fitness industry.

The transparency and simplicity of transactions are the keys to users' long - term trust. Tang Xin admitted that in the traditional gym ecosystem, users often have a gambling mentality when they enter the store: "I don't know the lowest price of this gym. Even after talking to the salesperson for a long time, I'm not sure if the price I get is the best."

This uneasiness caused by price - gambling essentially increases users' decision - making costs. In contrast, in today's market, whether it's Leke, Super Gorilla, or 24/7 FITNESS and other chain brands, the transparent prices and standardized service quality across the network have established a very user - friendly decision - making path, making the transaction focus on sports itself rather than a psychological battle between customers and institutions.

Leke Fitness chain stores

However, this change is not only reflected in the bills. The deeper driving force is the reshaping of the fitness demand by the times.

Today, people who enter the gym have a clearer understanding of "what they want to practice" than ever before. Some people only want to do low - intensity climbing without hurting their knees; some people want to leave all the problems to personal trainers; some people just want to put on their headphones and lift weights as soon as they enter the gym. Even with the popularity of HYROX, there are many people who only take classes in officially - partnered gyms.

The fission of these personalized needs directly forces the operation thinking of gyms to change. On the one hand, chain brands are closing large - scale, heavy - asset flagship stores and opening small stores in the corners of the city. By connecting the general rights and interests of different stores, they increase user stickiness.

On the other hand, in addition to all - around comprehensive venues, small - area iron gyms, group - class gyms, personal - training gyms and other more functionally - segmented venues are starting to seize the market. Taking iron gyms as an example, the growth rate of fitness iron gyms nationwide in 2025 was as high as 166.5%, far exceeding the total growth rate of fitness venues.

In the view of industry insiders, this data is not surprising. In recent years, with the increase in the penetration rate of fitness, the needs of Chinese fitness enthusiasts have also shown obvious stratification. If a decade ago, general - purpose brand venues were enough to meet the basic fitness needs of most people, then as the market matures, almost all chain institutions have found that a single product can no longer cover all groups.

Super Gorilla has extended to various store forms such as personal - training stores, training stores, comprehensive - training stores, and comprehensive - training centers; in addition to its self - operated fitness studios, Zhongtian Fitness also owns brands such as Qihang Fitness, Fanzhu Yoga, Zhongmeng Pilates, Qingge Boxing, and Leshi Stretching; Leke has also launched sub - brands such as FEELINGME Personal Training Gym, the professional iron gym LOVEFITT, and FitTribe which focuses on physical - fitness training.

FEELINGME Personal Training Gym under Leke

"As time goes by, we found that users will progress from basic fitness needs to the pursuit of personal 'athletic performance,'" Tang Xin explained. In this process, the original comprehensive store type of Leke Fitness can no longer meet the needs of this part of users. The value of sub - brands is to allow users to find their corresponding positions within the same ecosystem even at different fitness stages.

3

Is it worth opening 9 more hours for 7% of the people?

As more types of stores open one by one, a practical problem is in front of all practitioners: After users are accurately "caught," how much premium space can these segmented venues bring to the brand?

A few weeks ago, Leke's first 24 - hour self - service sports space, "Vitality Tomato," opened in Hangzhou. As an early brand in the industry to implement 24 - hour operation, Leke's data shows that actually only about 7% of people choose to enter the venue between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Is it worth paying the high night - time operation cost for these 7% of people? Many practitioners give a positive answer.

This positive answer comes from two - level judgments. From a business perspective, whether it's the night owls who are willing to choose the 24 - hour self - service sports space or the fitness enthusiasts in segmented venues such as iron gyms and physical - fitness gyms, the payment willingness of this group of users is much higher than that of ordinary novices, and the value - added space of the customer unit price is naturally more considerable.

From the perspective of actual operation, operating 24 hours a day is not only for those 7% of users but also for the brand to be deeply integrated into the surrounding environment and achieve fitness equality for more ordinary people. Tang Xin introduced that one of the highlights of "Vitality Tomato" is a high degree of self - service: "Compared with traditional stores, it only needs 150 to 200 square meters, has stronger sinking potential, can be more flexibly integrated into living communities, and cover more daily scenarios."

The store space of "Vitality Tomato"

The brand's exploration has received real feedback from the front line. Not only has the Leke team observed that the proportion of late - night fitness in China is increasing, but statistical data also shows that in 2025, the year - on - year growth rates of 24 - hour gyms and women - only fitness venues nationwide were 53% and 43.95% respectively.

Chinese fitness enthusiasts are shifting from "casual workouts" to consciously pursuing "advanced performance" and "emotional value" in fitness.

More interesting changes are also reflected in the details of fitness venues. At Anteater, female users can enjoy a 7 - day automatic extension of their fitness cards during their menstrual periods. When entering chain institutions such as Leke, 24/7 FITNESS, and Jiawubang, self - service water dispensers, alcohol disinfection after equipment, and sports supplements like corn, boiled eggs, and even sweet potatoes have become standard in gyms.

In conversations with practitioners, we found that almost no one regards these services as so - called "premium means." The industry consensus is that these details have become the basic requirements for practitioners in this era.

The public service area in a Leke store

Snow shared that although the Anteater Activity Center is not large in area, while providing basic services, they are also constantly optimizing the service quality based on users' experiences. "Many fitness equipment is designed according to the body size of adult men. In practice, we found that some women can't reach the rings. So we changed the rings to three stepped positions, which can be freely used by fitness enthusiasts of different heights."

These small adjustments in details may not be used as a means to raise prices or attract investment, but they are the strongest bond between fitness venues and real users. When a fitness venue changes from a cold equipment warehouse to a warmer community and a third - space, the issues of payment willingness and membership renewal will no longer be an embarrassing question that needs to be repeatedly asked.

The survival logic of fitness venues should not be a "one - time deal" based on information asymmetry. Looking at the long - term, returning to the essence of the retail and service industries, when more and more fitness brands start to pay attention to the needs of each ordinary individual, gyms can truly become a long - term business.