Two of the industry’s most closely watched public operators — Life Time Group Holdings, Inc. and Planet Fitness, Inc. — didn’t just report strong 2025 earnings. They delivered a message about where the fitness industry is heading next.
Both brands posted double-digit revenue growth, expanded their footprints, improved profitability, and demonstrated that pricing power, member engagement and disciplined capital strategy are driving performance at scale.
These results provide a real-time case study in how two very different models — premium large-format athletic country clubs and high-volume, value-focused franchising — are navigating growth, margin expansion and development in 2026.
Here’s what their year-end results reveal and what it means for the broader industry.
Life Time Fitness
Life Time finished 2025 with record financial performance and a clear acceleration plan for 2026.
“I am proud of how our team delivered throughout 2025,” said Bahram Akradi, the founder, chairman and CEO in a statement. “With higher member engagement, increased dues per membership, and robust in-center revenue growth, we delivered another year of record financial performance. We enter 2026 with strong fundamentals and a clear plan to expand the number of our large-format athletic country clubs. We expect to add nearly as much new square footage in 2026 as we opened in the past two years combined. We remain focused on growing revenue and adjusted EBITDA by further increasing member engagement, optimizing our membership mix, and growing revenue per center membership.”
He went on to add, “I’m also excited to announce a $500 million share repurchase program approved by our board of directors. Our strong cash generation and healthy balance sheet give us confidence in our ability to fund our accelerated club opening plan and implement our share repurchase program while remaining at or below our target 2.0x net leverage ratio. We believe we’re now positioned to continue investing for long-term growth while further driving shareholder return.”
Full-Year 2025 Highlights:
- Revenue increased 14.3% to $2,995.3 million due to continued strong growth in membership dues and higher member utilization of in-center offerings, particularly in Dynamic Personal Training.
- Center operations expenses increased 12.7% to $1,568.6 million, primarily due to costs associated with new and ramping centers, higher expenses tied to increased usage in mature clubs, and additional investment to support growth in in-center revenue.
- General, administrative and marketing expenses increased 10.7% to $244.6 million primarily driven by higher incentive and benefit costs, expanded center support to enhance member services and experiences, increased marketing spend, additional corporate and IT expenses, and costs related to the secondary stock offerings completed in February and June 2025.
- Net income increased 139.2% to $373.7 million, driven by stronger business performance, $41.3 million in employee retention credits under the CARES Act, $29.2 million in proceeds related to legal claims, $12.6 million in tax benefits tied to the CEO’s stock option exercise, and $9.7 million in one-time gains from sale-leaseback transactions. The prior year included one-time gains from land and sale-leaseback transactions, partially offset by a $10.4 million write-off related to debt extinguishment.
- Adjusted net income increased 62.3% to $325.5 million and Adjusted EBITDA rose 21.9% to $825.2 million, reflecting improved flow-through from higher revenue.
Fourth quarter revenue increased 12.3% to $745.1 million, driven by:
- Increased average dues
- Membership growth in new and ramping centers
- Higher member utilization, particularly in Dynamic Personal Training
Memberships ended the year at 822,380, up 1.3% year over year.
Life Time generated $870.5 million in operating cash flow in 2025, up 51.4%, and produced positive free cash flow of $206.5 million.
Growth capital expenditures nearly doubled year over year to $656.5 million, reflecting aggressive expansion plans. The company opened 10 centers in 2025 and plans to open 12 to 14 in 2026, most large-format, ground-up builds totaling approximately 1.2 million square feet — nearly double the square footage of its 2024 and 2025 classes.
At the same time:
- Net debt leverage declined to 1.6x (from 2.3x in 2024)
- Total available liquidity reached $823 million
- A $500 million share repurchase program was authorized
For 2026, Life Time is guiding to:
- Revenue of $3.3 to $3.33 billion (10.7% growth at midpoint)
- Adjusted EBITDA of $910 to $925 million (11.2% growth)
- Comparable center revenue growth of 6.3% to 7.3%
- Net debt leverage at or below 2.0x
Life Time’s growth is being driven more by revenue per member and engagement than by pure membership count expansion. Pricing power, in-center monetization and disciplined capital allocation are the core levers.
Planet Fitness
While Life Time emphasizes premium positioning and square footage expansion, Planet Fitness continued to demonstrate the power of scale and its franchise model.
“We’re pleased with our strong performance in 2025 that was the result of our unwavering focus on our four strategic imperatives,” said Colleen Keating, the CEO in a statement. “We ended the year with approximately 20.8 million members, and a global footprint of nearly 2,900 clubs, reinforcing the quality of our member experience and our core conviction that anyone can get a great workout at Planet Fitness for an incredible value. Adding approximately 1.1 million net new members in 2025 — the first full-year of our 50% price increase for new Classic Card members — highlights the incredible demand for our brand. The progress we made on both our topline and new club growth is evidence of our powerful scale and reach. Our scale provides a foundation to introduce our brand to even more people looking to improve their mental and physical health globally. I’d like to thank our franchisees and team members for their passion and commitment that helped drive this strong performance.”
Full-Year 2025 Highlights:
- Revenue up 12.1% to $1.3 billion
- System-wide same club sales up 6.7%
- System-wide sales increased to $5.3 billion from $4.8 billion in the prior year period.
- Adjusted EBITDA up $63.9 million to $551.6 million from $487.7 million in the prior year period.
- 181 new clubs opened system-wide, In the fourth quarter alone, Planet Fitness opened 104 new clubs system-wide.
- Approximately 20.8 million members
- 2,896 total clubs as of December 31, 2025
For the year:
- Franchise segment revenue increased 10.6% to $468 million
- Corporate-owned club revenue increased 8.7% to $546.1 million
- Equipment segment revenue increased 21.1% to $310.1 million
Equipment remains a meaningful contributor, with higher sales to both existing and new franchisee-owned clubs driving growth.
For 2026, Planet Fitness expects:
- 180 to 190 new club openings
- Same club sales growth of 4% to 5%
- Revenue growth of approximately 9%
- Adjusted EBITDA growth of approximately 10%
Planet Fitness demonstrated that a 50% price increase for new Classic Card members did not derail growth, adding approximately 1.1 million net new members in 2025. Brand strength and value perception continue to support pricing flexibility at scale.
What It Signals for Health Club Operators
While these brands operate in very different segments, their results converge around several industry-wide themes:
1. Pricing Power Is Holding
Both companies increased revenue faster than membership growth, indicating consumers are accepting higher dues when value is clear — whether that value is premium experience or accessible affordability.
2. Engagement Drives Economics
Life Time explicitly tied growth to higher utilization and in-center offerings. Planet Fitness highlighted same club sales growth across its system. In both cases, revenue expansion is coming from deeper member engagement, not just top-of-funnel sales.
3. New Development Is Back — But Capital Discipline Matters
Life Time nearly doubled growth CapEx while reducing leverage. Planet Fitness continues aggressive franchise expansion while guiding manageable EBITDA growth. Growth is returning, but balance sheet management is central to the strategy.
The Bigger Picture
2025 results from Life Time and Planet Fitness show an industry operating from a position of strength:
- Double-digit revenue growth
- Expanding margins
- Strong cash generation
- Continued unit expansion
For operators, the lesson isn’t to replicate these models, but to understand the levers behind them: pricing discipline, engagement strategy, diversified revenue and balance sheet management.
The opportunity in 2026 isn’t just adding members. It’s maximizing the value of the ones you already have, all while building a capital structure that supports long-term growth.
