For the past decade, the fitness industry in the US has boomed thanks to the growth of boutique studios such as Barry’s Bootcamp, SoulCycle, Pure Barre, and CorePower Yoga, which were competing with traditional big-box gym chains like Planet Fitness and Gold’s. Worldwide, industry revenue topped $96.7 billion in 2019, with 184 million members globally belonging to 210,000 health clubs.

But when COVID-19 struck, gyms were hit particularly hard. Small enclosed spaces full of people breathing heavily and dripping sweat quickly became unappealing, let alone unsafe.