Xponential Flexes Its Strength To Capitalize on a Healthy Trend

From BFT to Pure Barre, boutique fitness brands are creatively integrating strength training to meet consumer demand

When it comes to fitness trends, strength training is a consummate force, and post-COVID it’s experiencing a resurgence with unprecedented demand.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, strength training ranks among the most popular fitness trends, just behind wearables.

Recent research has highlighted the benefits of incorporating strength training into workouts. A large-scale study involving over 400,000 participants found that people who regularly combined strength training with cardiovascular exercise experienced a reduced risk of mortality compared to those who solely engaged in cardio. The study found three hours of weekly aerobic activity reduced mortality risk by 27%, with strength training once a week adding an 11% reduction).

Further supporting this notion, a review of 16 previous studies found that consistent strength training correlated with a notable decrease (10% to 17%) in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes and lung cancer, as well as overall mortality.

Given this, it’s no surprise that the largest curator of boutique fitness brands globally, Xponential Fitness , is leaning into it in a big way.

Strength Training Pervades

Case in point is the company’s Body Fit Training (BFT) brand. Acquired in 2021, this rapidly expanding franchise takes a sports-science, yet completely accessible approach to group fitness.

Created by Cameron Falloon, a strength and conditioning coach for the Australian Football League (AFL), BFT aims to democratize elite-level training principles like progression, periodization and program design for group fitness formats, tailored to varying abilities and fitness levels.

Steve Stonehouse, VP of Education & Programming, emphasizes the importance of one such principle: “Progressive overload is a strength training methodology that gradually increases the intensity of workouts to avoid a plateau in muscle mass and strength. It can also be applied to other types of training such as cardiovascular endurance. One primary benefit of programming this way is that it helps prevent a person from reaching a point where their exercise regimen is no longer challenging or effective.”

The idea behind BFT, Falloon says, was to give everyday people access to the same strength and conditioning tools as athletes, scaled for ability level and time constraints.

It’s working. The brand quickly spread across the globe with 300-plus studios and 730-plus franchise licenses sold across several continents.

Creative Integration

Beyond BFT, Xponential’s brand offering spans many diverse fitness verticals including Pilates, barre, cycling, dance, yoga boxing, stretching and metabolic health. The one thing they all have in common? You guessed it – the integration of strength training.

One brand that’s getting it right is Pure Barre.

At its essence this low-impact, accessible workout packs a punch when it comes to strength training. The modality borrows practices from Pilates, ballet, yoga and traditional strength training, focusing on isometric movements that target specific muscle groups and require participants to work them in new and different ways.

Until recently, the brand delivered three unique class types: Classic, focused on isolation and definition; Empower, a cardio and endurance class; and Align, highlighting balance and flexibility training.

Responding to consumer and member demand, the brand added a weight-centric class, Define, which launched in July of 2023.

“As consumer needs and preferences shifted last year toward recovery and strength training, Pure Barre developed and piloted “Define”, a new class format which utilizes heavier weights to integrate traditional dumbbell strength training into our proprietary barre technique”, said Michelle Ditto, VP of Training and Technique at Pure Barre.

Within one year, Define has become a favorite class of members, with utilization rates hitting 77% in Q1 of 2024 and specifically 80% in March – an all-time high for the format at that point.

The success of Define has not only enhanced member retention but also driven a 15% increase in same-store sales for North American franchise owners in 2023.

“The class is helping retain members by delivering on the coveted modality of strength training,” said Ditto. “The brand is better positioned to meet the goals of these consumers in a bigger and better way.”

Adding a Round of Strength

Another Xponential brand leveraging strength training is Rumble . Acquired by Xponential in 2021, Rumble combines boxing-inspired workouts with strength training elements.

“The original Rumble Boxing full-body, signature class was designed with five rounds boxing and five rounds strength training because we knew the importance of combining strength and conditioning to create a fun, dynamic, and efficient workout,” said Andy Stern, Co-Founder and VP of Talent and Programming at Rumble Boxing.

Amping it up, the classes now include sub-focused strength routines around full body, upper body, and lower body days, and the brand has added strength-only classes as well.

“The variety in class types, focused on both strength and boxing, have added so much value to our members because they have the choice to target or do full-body workouts,” said Stern.

Realizing the burgeoning interest in strength training, YogaSix decided to capitalize on the trend and further lean into the strength-building aspects of its workout types.

“YogaSix has always offered at least one strength-focused fitness class, and yoga in general has always been an amazing strength-building exercise,” said Kelly Turner, SVP of Operations for YogaSix.

“In a Y6 Power class, participants often integrate numerous yoga poses that directly translate to fitness exercises — think triceps push-ups, lunges and squats. In the yoga world, we call these chaturanga yoga push-ups, warrior poses and chairs.”

The brand’s approach to strength training has evolved over time. “We evolved from a bootcamp style in the early days to Y6 Sculpt & Flow, and it’s become one of the most popular classes we offer,” Turner added. “That encouraged us to expand our strength offerings.”

Building on this foundation, YogaSix Founder Lindsay Junk decided to further capitalize on the strength training trend. “We decided to add TRX as a new entry point to yoga,” she explained. “We knew a big part of the population knew TRX and would be more comfortable coming to Y6 with modalities they knew.”

The class integrates the equipment throughout numerous yoga poses and draws significant participation.

“Believe it or not, our TRX class is going to help members get a better stretch and work on mobility while our other Y6 classes focus on different aspects of strength,” Turner noted.

Additionally, YogaSix has incorporated three other strength-focused classes: Power, Slow Flow, and Sculpt and Flow to its schedule.

“The ability to remain nimble and adjust offerings based on consumer demand is critical in this competitive boutique fitness market,” said Sarah Luna, President of Xponential. “All of the brands in the Xponential portfolio do this well, and it’s that synergy that has helped drive us to become one of the largest health and wellness franchisors in the world.”

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