If you’re a gym owner or trainer in the US, you’ve probably felt this shift already, even if you haven’t seen it in numbers yet.
Sociologists call it a “third place”, somewhere that isn’t home (your “first place”) and isn’t work (your “second place”), but a space you go to just to be around people and feel like you belong. Cafés, bars, and community centers used to fill that role for most Americans. These days, a lot of them are struggling to.
Gyms, it turns out, are quietly stepping into that gap.
According to ABC Fitness’s Fall 2025 Wellness Watch Report, 57% of surveyed consumers say social interaction and connection are the main reasons they join a fitness community. That’s more than half the people walking through your door telling you, without saying it out loud, that they’re not just there for the equipment.
Bill Davis, CEO of ABC Fitness, put it plainly: “members who feel connected stay longer, spend more, and bring others with them.” For gym owners and trainers, that’s not just a nice sentiment, it’s a retention and revenue strategy that’s been sitting in plain sight the whole time.
Who This Blog Is For
This post is for gym owners, studio operators, and trainers across the US who want their gym to be more than a place people check into and leave. If you’re thinking about how to turn casual members into a genuine community and why that’s worth doing in the first place, this one’s for you.
What This Blog Covers
- What Is a “Third Place” And Why Your Gym Might Already Be One
- How Are Gyms Evolving Into Social Hubs Beyond Just Fitness Centers?
- What Types of Gyms Foster Strong Community Connections?
- What Strategies Do Gym Owners Use to Create Community Spaces in Their Facilities?
- Building the Physical and Programmatic Foundation of Community
- How Can Gym Owners Design Their Space to Encourage Social Interaction Among Members?
- What Are the Top Services Gym Owners Add to Attract People Looking for a Social Environment?
- What Amenities Do Gym Owners Add to Make Their Gyms Attractive as Communal Gathering Spots?
- What Marketing Techniques Do Gym Owners Use to Promote Gyms as a Lifestyle and Social Venue?
What Is a “Third Place” And Why Your Gym Might Already Be One
Back in 1989, sociologist Ray Oldenburg wrote a book called The Great Good Place, and in it, he gave a name to something people had felt for years but never had the words for. He called it the “third place”, a public place where people gather regularly, informally, and happily, outside of the realms of home and work. Cafés, bars, barbershops, and community centers were the classic examples.
The problem is, Oldenburg also pointed out that America’s third places were already disappearing back when he wrote the book, and that decline has only continued since. Fewer people attend church regularly. Neighborhood bars are closing. Even coffee shops, in a lot of towns, feel more like quiet laptop offices than places where people actually talk to each other.
Bryan K. O’Rourke, CEO of Vedere Ventures and former CEO of Core Health & Fitness, made this exact point in his June 2025 “Future of Fitness” keynote in Singapore. One of his slides put it plainly: “experiential fitness communities are all the rage.”
It’s a short line, but it captures something real, the fitness industry itself is noticing that people aren’t just showing up to burn calories anymore. They’re showing up for something closer to what a third place used to offer.
How Are Gyms Evolving Into Social Hubs Beyond Just Fitness Centers?
For a long time, gyms sold access. You paid your monthly fee, got a key fob or a membership card, and what happened inside the building was entirely up to you. That transactional model is quietly being replaced by something else: gyms that sell belonging.
Will Orr, CEO of The Gym Group — one of the UK’s largest gym chains — has watched this shift happen in real time among younger members. His company’s own research found that more than a third of Gen Z members now see going to the gym as a way to socialise and make new friends, replacing pubs and alcohol as their go-to place to hang out. As Orr put it, “If we can replace alcohol with gyms that’s got to be positive.”
It’s not just a UK story. Across the industry, gym owners are noticing the same pattern: people aren’t just walking in, working out, and leaving. They’re lingering. They’re bringing friends. They’re treating their membership less like a subscription and more like a membership to something bigger than the equipment.
This shows up in a few concrete ways. Gyms are building cohort-based classes and team training formats that give members a shared identity beyond just showing up and lifting alone. Many are adding cafés, lounges, and co-working corners so people have a reason to stick around after their workout ends. And a growing number of operators are treating community tools — apps, events, group challenges — as a core part of their retention strategy, not a nice-to-have bolted on the side.
What Types of Gyms Foster Strong Community Connections?
Different training formats build community in completely different ways and understanding why matters, because a lot of what makes them work can be borrowed by a traditional gym, even one that doesn’t specialize in any of them.
- CrossFit boxes. These run on built-in accountability and a bit of shared suffering. Everyone in the room does the same brutal workout at the same time, which naturally creates a kind of camaraderie that’s hard to fake. You can’t help but root for the person next to you when you’re both just trying to survive the same set of burpees. Other gyms build community more deliberately, through how they design their programming.
- Run and cycling clubs. These are social-first, fitness-second by design. A lot of members show up more for the group chat and the post-run coffee than for the mileageitself, the workout is almost the excuse to gather, not the main event.
- Boutique studios. Brands like F45, Barry’s, and Orangetheory built their entire business model around cohort-based classes, same time slot, same instructor, same faces every week, which naturally breeds familiarity.
Take VRTUS, a community-based gym in Bondi Beach, Sydney, co-founded by Rawson Kirkhope. Instead of just offering solo workouts, VRTUS builds team and partner-based training into its programs on purpose, the goal is for members to support each other, not just share a room.
“We design our programs to build community,” Kirkhope explains. It’s working: he says the cafés near VRTUS are consistently packed with members before and after their sessions, and that watching those friendships grow beyond the gym floor is what the founders are proudest of.
Then there are gyms that build community through sheer scale and structure.
GymNation, a fast-growing gym chain across the Middle East with more than 110,000 members, takes a different approach. Rather than treating its members as one undifferentiated group, it deliberately supports dozens of smaller communities inside itself, built around things like LES MILLS classes, HYROX training, and strength-focused programs.
- Climbing gyms. These are naturally social just by layout. Climbers spot each other, trade technique tips between attempts, and spend as much time chatting on the mats as they do on the wall, the sport itself often requires a partner for safety, which builds in interaction a solo treadmill session never will.
What all four have in common isn’t the sport, it’s the structure. Shared struggle, cohort scheduling, built-in partnership: none of that is exclusive to CrossFit boxes or climbing walls. A traditional gym can borrow any of these mechanics without needing to become a boutique studio itself.
What Strategies Do Gym Owners Use to Create Community Spaces in Their Facilities?
It starts with onboarding.
Will Orr of The Gym Group, whose retention strategy we touched on earlier, has said the first 45 days of a new member’s life at the gym are the most critical window for building a lasting habit.
That window matters for the community too, it’s when new members either start recognizing familiar faces and settling into a routine with people they know, or quietly drift away before any of that has a chance to form.
Gyms that treat the first few weeks as a deliberate onboarding period, rather than just a sign-up process, give that social habit a much better chance of sticking.
ABC Fitness’s Fall 2025 Wellness Watch Report found that 43% of active consumers say they’ve become more active in their fitness communities this year, with nearly one in three Gen Z and Millennial members now engaging with their fitness community on a daily basis.
That kind of daily engagement doesn’t happen by accident, it usually comes from regular, predictable touchpoints: challenges, socials, themed workout nights, anything that gives members a reason to be in the room together outside of their usual class time.
Recognition matters too.Whether it’s a PR board, a shoutout in class, or a simple “welcome to the crew” moment for new members, small recognition rituals like this are what make people feel seen, not just scanned in at the front desk.
And finally, none of this works without staff who see themselves as community builders, not just trainers. The best coaches don’t just correct form, they remember names, notice when someone’s missing, and make introductions between members who’d probably get along. That’s a skill gym owners can actively hire for and train, not just hope happens naturally.
Building the Physical and Programmatic Foundation of Community
Community doesn’t just happen because a gym has good energy. It gets built across three layers: how the space is laid out, what the gym actually offers inside it, and what extra touches make people want to stick around a little longer.
Let’s start with the physical layer, the layout itself.
How Can Gym Owners Design Their Space to Encourage Social Interaction Among Members?
A gym’s layout does a lot more than direct foot traffic. It quietly decides whether members ever actually talk to each other. Design specialists at LifeFitness point out that a clear, intuitive layout lowers the barrier to entry for members and shapes how welcome someone feels the moment they walk in. A few ways gym owners are putting that into practice:
- Zone the floor with purpose. Instead of treating the whole gym as one big equipment room, split it into clear areas like a cardio zone, a strength zone, a space set aside for group and social workouts, and a calmer corner for stretching and recovery. When people know where to go for what, they start running into the same faces in the same spots, week after week and familiarity is how friendships start.
- Keep sightlines open. A layout where members can actually see each other training, rather than being boxed into isolated stations or separate rooms, makes the gym feel like a shared experience instead of a row of individual appointments.
- Build in spaces to linger. Dedicated social spaces all play a role in how a gym feels, a stretching area near the entrance where people naturally pause to chat, or seating close to the front desk where members hang around before or after class instead of rushing straight to the car.
- Cluster class times instead of spreading them thin. When popular sessions run at consistent times, members are more likely to see the same group session after session and that repetition is really the whole engine behind community.
What Are the Top Services Gym Owners Add to Attract People Looking for a Social Environment?
If there’s one service that consistently comes up as the single biggest driver of community inside a gym, it’s group exercise.
Dr. Paul Bedford, founder of Retention Guru, has spent over 20 years studying retention across more than 4.5 million customers and 4,000+ clubs worldwide and his conclusion is consistent: group exercise is always going to have a role to play in the club environment, and the community it builds may take on greater significance at a time when memberships are trending towards shorter tenure.
Beyond the class schedule itself, a few other services show up again and again in gyms that build a real social environment:
- Group exercise and team-based training. Bedford’s research is clear on this one, it’s still the most reliable way to turn strangers into regulars who know each other’s names.
- Workshops and educational sessions. Nutrition talks, recovery clinics, or guest speaker events give members a reason to show up outside their normal workout window, and a reason to talk to each other while they’re there.
- Member socials, challenges, and competitions. Anything with a shared goal — a step challenge, a lifting competition, a charity workout — turns individual effort into a group experience.
- Flexible, co-working-friendly hours. Some gyms are opening up lounge or communal areas during off-peak hours so members can work, chat, or just stay a little longer without feeling like they’re overstaying a workout slot.
What Amenities Do Gym Owners Add to Make Their Gyms Attractive as Communal Gathering Spots?
A gym doesn’t need to feel like a hangout spot to build community, but the right amenities make it a lot easier for one to happen naturally. People don’t cancel gyms where they have friends, and amenities are often what gives those friendships a place to actually form.
A few amenities that consistently show up in gyms built for community:
- On-site cafés, smoothie bars, or coffee stations. Even a small lounge area near the entrance with a coffee station creates dwell time and conversation, it gives members a reason to stay five extra minutes instead of leaving the second their workout ends.
- Recovery zones. Saunas, ice baths, and stretching areas have become one of the fastest-growing amenities in gym design. As Life Fitness puts it, a well-designed recovery zone tells members, “we care about your whole journey, not just the working out part,” and that message tends to keep people around longer, both in the room and as members.
- Upgraded locker rooms and showers. It’s an unglamorous amenity, but a clean, comfortable locker room is often the difference between a member who rushes in and out and one who’s comfortable enough to linger and chat.
- Childcare or family-friendly zones. Research shows 59% of women prefer gyms that offer childcare options, and gyms that add this are opening the door to an entire segment of would-be members who’d otherwise skip the gym altogether, often turning into some of the most loyal, community-minded members once they’re in the door.
What Marketing Techniques Do Gym Owners Use to Promote Gyms as a Lifestyle and Social Venue?
Matthew Januszek, co-founder of Escape Fitness, made an interesting comparison on his site while reflecting on a conversation with nightlife veteran Peter Marks: the same reasons someone picks one nightclub over another are, at their core, the same reasons someone picks one gym over another. Consumer trends shift constantly, but the underlying motivations — belonging, identity, status, wellbeing — are stable, and gyms that market to those motivations tend to outlast the ones chasing whatever’s trending that quarter.
In practice, that shows up as a few specific marketing moves:
- Sell the identity, not just the equipment. Instead of leading with “24-hour access” or “state-of-the-art machines,” gyms built around community lead with who their members are and what it feels like to be one of them.
- Lean on user-generated content. Member spotlights, workout stories, and real photos from real sessions do more to sell a social environment than any polished stock photo ever could. People trust what other members post far more than what the gym says about itself.
- Market the events, not just the gym. Open houses, free community workout days, and themed social nights give people a low-stakes reason to walk in the door before they’ve committed to a membership and a taste of the community before they’ve paid for it.
- Frame referral programs around belonging, not discounts. “Bring a friend” campaigns land differently when they’re pitched as “come train with your people” instead of “get $20 off.” The first invites someone into a community; the second just moves a price point.
Final Thoughts
Everything in this post points back to the same idea: community isn’t something that happens to a gym. It’s something a gym owner builds, one deliberate decision at a time — from how the floor is laid out, to what’s on the class schedule, to the quiet decision to add a coffee station near the front desk.
The data backs up why this is worth the effort. Les Mills’ 2026 Global Fitness Report found that 64% of people say they’re more likely to work out if the environment has a good vibe, and Gen Z now make up the largest share of new gym joins, a generation that, as we’ve seen throughout this post, is looking for a place to belong just as much as a place to train.
Phillip Mills, executive director of Les Mills International, put it about as simply as it can be put: “No one ever left a gym because they had too many friends there.”
If there’s one takeaway from all of this, it’s that the third place your members are looking for might already be sitting inside your four walls. It just needs someone to build it on purpose.
