The hard truth: Over 80% of boutique fitness studios are not profitable. We went undercover and talked with studio owners in NYC about the challenges they’re currently facing. Here’s what we learned, and how we’re working closely with our current and future partners to address these challenges in how we’re building Arcana.

Challenge #1: There are a lot of fitness-obsessed people in NYC… but there are also over 1,000 places to work out.

The fitness sector is bustling, with boutique studios popping up at every corner, each offering unique workouts, from HIIT sessions to aerial yoga. Walk a couple blocks in the West Village or Flatiron and you’d pass 20 of them in a 10-minute span.

For the consumer, this is amazing. We have a lot of choice, and the competition among studios is driving innovation and raising the bar for what a quality workout looks and feels like. It’s more than just getting a good sweat that makes an excellent boutique fitness studio stand out. There’s an expectation of white glove service from start to finish, starting with the booking experience and flexible pricing options, right down to the products in your showers.

For studios, though, this competition puts real pressure to stand out and create something sticky that makes people want to come back. Marketing and branding matter a lot here, and that’s why so many of the city’s most successful boutique fitness studios have relied on the star power of their founders to drive continued excitement and loyalty.

Challenge #2: Traditional gyms are making moves to become the one-stop shop for your fitness routine.

Places like Lifetime, Equinox, and Chelsea Piers are adding more classes as part of their monthly memberships, offering variety to consumers who want more than just equipment access. Even Crunch came out with a reformer pilates option. The same way these places absorbed juice bars and smoothie counters, they now want people to get their full workout in without ever needing to leave the building.

Many of these gyms are actively poaching instructors from boutique fitness studios in an effort to grow their audience base, and that part makes sense, because people follow their favorite instructors.

Challenge #3: Not every instructor is the founder.

With multiple studio locations and a different set of staff at each, there are going to be classes that fill out every week and classes that don’t. This mix can lead to inconsistencies in service quality, ambiance, or training methods.

In our exploration of trying out the best boutique studios in NYC, we’ve made a point of taking class with the founders of these programs, and the difference is noticeable. From booking to the actual experience in the room, you can feel it. This isn’t to say that the other instructors aren’t good; we haven’t had a bad experience in any class we’ve taken. But the reality is, not every AARMY instructor is Akin Niko, and not every Soto Method teacher is Hilary Hofman. That gap is a real challenge for studios trying to scale what makes them special.

Challenge #4: People want variety in their workout.

Around 73% of boutique studios specialize in a single type of training, and that’s intentional. Specialization works. It’s genuinely hard to be excellent at more than one thing, especially when you as a founder or head trainer are certified in that one specific discipline.

Consumer behavior (and the science behind it) shows that people generally gravitate toward variety in how they move. I’ve talked to a hundred people who swear by [solidcore] but also Barry’s or Orangetheory on the side. Some studios have tried to respond by layering in non-core offerings, but it usually ends up feeling like a compromise rather than a strength. The studios that try to be everything tend to lose what made them worth going to in the first place.

Challenge #5: Demand fluctuates by the season.

Some workouts are more popular in summer, others not so much. Cole and I teach traditional hot yoga, where summertime is the least popular season. Understandably, because who wants to be in a room heated to 105 degrees when it’s already mid-90s and humid outside. Other modalities, like dance, have summer as their peak season. I was talking with one of the co-owners of 305 Fitness in Williamsburg, and she mentioned how a lot of people come in looking for something fun to do on a nice summer day when work isn’t as hectic. That behavior makes complete sense, but it means studios often have to reorganize their schedules and anticipate real swings in membership revenue at different points in the year.

What We’re Doing About It

These challenges aren’t secrets. Studio owners are living them. What surprised us most in our conversations wasn’t how many problems exist, it was how openly and honestly people talked about them. There’s real frustration, and there’s also real hunger for something better.

That’s exactly what we’re building Arcana around. Every design decision we’ve made: how members book, how we structure our partnerships with studios, how we think about commitment… has been shaped by conversations exactly like the ones above. We’re not building a product on top of the fitness industry. We’re building one that actually listens to it.

More on how that translates into practice, coming soon.

The price of a SoulCycle drop-in in 2016 was $30/class. I remember seeing the cost of premium studios and wondering what kind of people could afford that. I was a college student at the time so it was even more of a far-fetched thought. In my third year at school I was lucky enough to score a role as an ambassador for SoulCycle where I’d get free class packs for referring other classmates to join. It was a win-win, I got to work out for free, and I got to introduce people to the workout that I loved so much.

After graduating college, finishing my Master’s, and starting my first full-time job at a growing tech startup, I was so excited to decide how I was going to plan my workout routine with all of the money I had come into. As it turned out, even an above-average starting salary barely covered the cost of rent and weekend dinners out in NYC, let alone multiple $30 drop-in classes each week. So I turned to the only other solution that existed: ClassPass.

In the beginning, it was exciting to explore the studios across the city. So many options, almost too many, actually. I’d save places I wanted to try and take advantage of every intro offer out there, never paying more than $10-15 for a class. It felt like I was hacking the system. The problem was, though, I rarely ever went back to the same studio twice. Why would I, when there were so many places, and I wasn’t sure what workout I really loved (besides SoulCycle, which had then become my once in a while “treat” on birthdays or special occasions). And because I wasn’t doing any one type of activity consistently, I noticed I wasn’t seeing progress in how my body felt working out. I was staying the same. Despite working out 4-5 times a week, eating healthy, walking 10k steps, and doing everything “right.”

I was being consistent in the number of days I was working out. Unfortunately, consistency actually means more than just showing up. In order to see actual results, you need to be doing the same type of movement repeatedly to let your body feel the growth and benefit from what you’re doing.

After my ClassPass era came to an end, we were working at $35 per drop-in class. Great. The good news was: I had gotten a great job offer at a top tech company and they were going to pay me for a fitness reimbursement. I finally was able to afford premium group fitness! I took the lessons learned from my ClassPass trial behavior and picked one thing and stuck to it. Orangetheory unlimited. Just over $200 a month. I started to see changes in my body and it was incredible. But because it was strenuous, I decided I needed to supplement with recovery and became a founding member of Equinox Hudson Yards. Another $200 a month.

That was 5+ years ago. Flash forward to today and that same monthly Equinox membership costs over $300/month. Orangetheory unlimited $279. My fitness routine has since changed and I now have an unlimited yoga membership and buy class packs at places like Barry’s. I’m fortunate enough to be in a financial position where I can afford to do this without thinking about how much I’m paying.

But after a few months of trying different studios for research on what makes a good studio in NYC (will share findings soon), I decided to sit down and actually do the math on what it costs to work out in NYC. I’m not talking to the person who prefers running outside and paying $20/month for a budget gym. I’m talking to the people who want to see the results that only come from showing up consistently and being in rooms that push you to the edge of your limits. The reality is that some rooms are better than others when it comes to seeing results, not to mention building community to push you and hold you accountable. Those rooms are the premium ones.

An average fitness-obsessed person in the city in 2026 is paying over $650 a month. At least one unlimited membership for their favorite workout runs $250 or more. Sometimes two, which adds another $200. A regular gym membership for the sauna and cold plunge adds $230. Throw in additional class packs at $150 and you’re looking at $600-800 a month. This is not a sustainable, long-term strategy, no matter how much money you have to spend. Even if you do have the money, it’s a burden to have to coordinate between multiple different apps and booking systems.

I experienced this problem myself before I figured out a better way, and that’s why we’re building Arcana. To make creating a committed fitness routine attainable. Our members will be able to choose a select number of premium studios to attend each month on a consistent schedule, with bookings all in one place doing the hard work for you. All you have to do is show up and let strategic consistency do the work.

Let the record show: the price of a SoulCycle drop-in today is $42.

Before hot yoga, my relationship with exercise was pretty underwhelming. I ran track — hated it, was bad at it, and only did it to be social. I lifted weights, which was fun but casual and directionless. Nothing ever clicked.

The first time I tried a Bikram yoga class it was genuinely revolutionary — and I didn’t see it coming at all. My boss invited me and I only said yes to build a relationship with him. I had no idea what I was walking into.

The room was oppressively hot. For all 90 minutes I wanted to leave. My body couldn’t do half the 26 postures. I was sweating more than I ever had in my life and I was struggling just to stay in the room. But I stayed and I gave it everything I had the entire time.

Why? I’ve thought about this a lot. If someone had put me in that same 105-degree room alone with a YouTube video, I would have been out in five minutes. Even if you paid me $100 to finish it I probably would have walked. So what actually kept me there?

It was the instructor and the other students. We were in the foxhole together so to speak. Every experienced person in that room could tell I was struggling — but they didn’t lower their standards because of it. They stayed strong. They showed me without saying a word that what was being asked of us was completely possible. You just have to want it. Watching the person next to me hold triangle pose for the full minute while I was fighting to breathe didn’t make me feel defeated — it made me want to get there.

The instructor was something else entirely. Not the image you’d picture for a yoga teacher. But he commanded the room completely. He was locked in — fully aware of every person, every posture, every moment someone was about to give up before they had to. There’s 10 seconds left. You can do anything for 10 seconds. Hold it. That extra ten seconds sounds small. But those moments add up. They’re how you break through to a new level — physically and mentally. You hold something once that you didn’t think you could, and now you know you can do it again. That’s how you get better.

It all comes down to accountability. A strong room and a present instructor pull you toward a standard you wouldn’t reach on your own. What you put in comes back multiplied when everyone around you is operating the same way.

I’ve since had this same experience in a lot of different studios — cycling, strength training, Pilates, all kinds. The modality doesn’t matter. What matters is the quality of the room.

That first Bikram class changed what I thought I was capable of. And it compelled me to help enable as many others as possible to find the same.

That’s what Felicia and I have spent the last several months building. We’ve been doing boots-on-the-ground research — attending dozens of studios across New York, across disciplines, evaluating every one of them. Instructor quality, class intensity, the energy of the people in the room. We’ve selected the best of them to form our initial cohort of studio partners for Arcana. Because the right room changes everything.

I’ve lived in New York City for almost ten years now, and in that time, fitness has been one of the most consistent storylines in my life. Consistent in the sense that movement has always been there, even as everything else changed.

I’ve taken hundreds of classes across the city. Strength training, yoga, dance, pilates, boxing, running... almost every type of class you can think of. In basements, high rises, rooftops, and everything in between. And while each phase looked different, they all gave me something I needed.

Looking back now, I realize my own fitness journey mirrors the way the industry itself has evolved in New York.

When I first moved here, boutique fitness was built around identity. You found your studio, the place across the street from your building or on the way to your office, and that became part of who you were.

For me, it started with SoulCycle. AKA, the center of fitness culture in New York. That Monday morning drop was such a thrill and getting into the 6pm class felt like getting a reservation at the Corner Store today. Instructors built cult followings. People structured their schedules around their favorite classes. I remember on my 21st birthday dragging my best friends to a Soul class on the Upper West Side so I could blow out the candle.

What I learned then was that in a city as overwhelming as New York, there’s comfort in belonging somewhere. Even when I was budgeting my entry-level salary to be able to even afford SoulCycle in the first place. I never questioned whether it was worth it.

Then I entered my Orangetheory era. This was a different kind of fitness experience entirely: performance-driven, measurable, structured. I had the unlimited membership and went all in. It was the first time I really felt strong.

That was a major shift for me: fitness stopped being about looking a certain way and started becoming about building something deeper.

Then came hot yoga. And if strength training taught me how to push harder, yoga taught me how to slow down. It became an essential counterbalance to everything else in my life. Less about output, more about presence. At a certain point, it became clear that my relationship to movement wasn’t just physical anymore. It had become one of the most important tools I had for maintaining my mental health.

That’s something I think the industry has shifted toward as well. Ten years ago, the conversation around fitness was largely about results: burning calories, building muscle, transforming your body. And it still is, to some degree. But today, people are much more honest about what movement gives them beyond that: stress relief, emotional regulation, confidence, and community.

Somewhere in between all of that, there was dance. I found 305 Fitness at a time when I needed to reconnect with joy. It was chaotic, unapologetic, and brought me back to my formative years of being in dance class since age 3. But this time, there were no strict teachers, no metrics, no splits, no weights to track. Just music, energy, and permission to take up space.

And then, like many New Yorkers, I found running. Although sometimes it feels like this one was a little against my will. When I moved to Brooklyn in 2022, I started taking it seriously. Since then, I’ve run three half marathons and I’m hoping to run the full marathon this year (if anyone has a waitlist spot, send it my way).

Running introduced something different into my routine: autonomy. Unlike studio fitness, where community is built into the experience, running strips it all back. It’s just you, your thoughts, and the miles. And the occasional podcast. That taught me discipline in a completely different way.

What stands out most to me now is how each workout gave me access to a different version of myself:

Strength gave me confidence. Yoga gave me stillness. Running gave me discipline. Dance gave me self-expression.

Even the social side of it shaped me. I went from being too shy to talk to instructors to building real relationships with coaches and communities. I even had my first fitness crush on a trainer which feels like a rite of passage.

What changed over time wasn’t the importance of fitness in New York, it was the way people approached it. The old model was built on loyalty: one studio, one method, one community. You found your place, committed to it, and it became part of your identity.

Today, that model looks different.

People are more intentional and expansive in how they train. We strength train and do yoga. We run and recover. We box and stretch. We aren’t looking for one modality to do everything anymore because we understand that different forms of movement serve different purposes.

This realization is a big part of what inspired us to build Arcana.

Because after ten years of moving through New York, the biggest thing I’ve learned is that fitness here has never really been about the workout itself, it’s about what the workout gives you.

The studios will change. The trends always will. But New Yorkers will keep moving.

And maybe that’s the constant: in a city built on ambition, movement has become one of the ways people keep it real. With our goals, with each other, and with ourselves.

For most of modern boutique fitness, the model was simple: find your thing and commit to it. One studio, one methodology, one ritual repeated with enough consistency to produce results. It was an effective model because it aligned with how fitness was marketed and consumed…through identity. You were a runner, a lifter, a yogi, a cyclist.

That model still has value. The best studios in the world earned their reputations by being exceptionally good at one thing. But the consumer has evolved. What used to be a singular relationship to fitness has become a far more sophisticated relationship to performance.

People are no longer organizing their training around a single modality; they are organizing it around outcomes.

That distinction matters because outcomes rarely come from a single training input.

The human body is a system, and systems require layered stimulus. Strength training builds force production, muscular resilience, and bone density. Cardiovascular work improves endurance, metabolic efficiency, and heart health. Pilates develops core stability, control, and structural alignment. Recovery practices improve resilience and help sustain output over time.

Each modality serves a different physiological function, and together they create something far more comprehensive than any one discipline can provide on its own.

The science increasingly reflects this reality. A longitudinal study published in BMJ Medicine, which tracked more than 110,000 adults over a 30-year period, found that individuals who engaged in a greater variety of physical activities had a 19% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those who exercised the same total amount but across fewer types of movement. The significance of that finding is not simply that exercise is beneficial. We have known that for decades — but that variety itself appears to be independently beneficial. In other words, how you diversify your movement matters, not just how much you move. It’s like how we say “quality over quantity”, but for working out.

That principle is increasingly shaping consumer behavior. People who once centered their routine around one primary studio or discipline are now layering in other forms of training with more intention. A strength-focused consumer may integrate Pilates for stability and mobility. A runner may build in resistance work to improve durability and power output. Someone deeply committed to high-intensity interval training may add lower-impact conditioning or recovery modalities to improve longevity. This is not about abandoning a core practice. It is about building a more complete one.

The market is adjusting accordingly. Some of the most established boutique fitness brands have expanded their offerings in response to this broader demand. SoulCycle developed SoulAnnex as an extension of its ecosystem, broadening access to strength, yoga, and recovery-based programming. Barry’s expanded into cycling with Barry’s Ride, and [solidcore] is exploring heated Pilates concepts. These moves are not reactive; they reflect a broader industry recognition that fitness consumers increasingly value complementary training experiences and are building routines that extend beyond a single type of movement.

This shift is also supported by broader industry infrastructure. According to Hapana, 95% of studios now offer more than one modality, with diversification continuing to increase as operators respond to evolving consumer demand. That figure is telling because it suggests this is not a fringe trend or a niche preference among highly optimized athletes. It is becoming embedded into the mainstream architecture of fitness itself.

This is why the traditional single-studio membership model, while still relevant, is no longer the universal norm. The modern consumer is more educated, more intentional, and more precise in how they think about training. They are less interested in allegiance for its own sake and more interested in building systems that support performance, longevity, and progression. That often means seeking excellence across multiple forms of movement rather than expecting one modality to serve every purpose.

For studios, this evolution creates opportunity. The best brands remain powerful because expertise still matters deeply. People will always seek out the best-in-class experience for a particular discipline. But increasingly, those experiences exist within a broader training ecosystem, one where consumers are curating their routines with the same intentionality they once reserved for singular loyalty.

That is not a rejection of the boutique model. If anything, it is its maturation. Fitness is becoming less about identifying with one workout and more about understanding what your body requires to perform at a higher level. The consumer is not less committed than before. They are more sophisticated. And sophistication in training looks less like repetition for its own sake and more like precision in selection.

The question is no longer, “What workout do you do?”

The better question is, “What does your training system optimize for?”

Because increasingly, the answer to better performance is not more of the same. It is the intelligent combination of different demands, layered with purpose, and pursued with consistency. This is not trend-driven. It is simply a more evolved understanding of how progress works.