ClassPass has been one of the most argued-about forces in boutique fitness for years — praised by some operators as a customer acquisition engine and criticized by others as a discount treadmill that erodes pricing power and brands the studios who rely on it as secondary options. Matthew Januszek and Mohammed (Mo) Iqbal decided to host the argument directly, bringing in two informed and opposing voices for a structured debate on the LIFTS Podcast, moderated by Jack Thomas of Fitness Business Asia.

Jeff Bladt, who has worked inside ClassPass (now operating under the Playlist name), and Rachel Hirsch, studio owner and founder of Wellness Growth Ventures and The 2% Club, each bring real operational experience to the question. The episode doesn't resolve the debate — it probably can't — but it gives studio owners a far clearer picture of what the data shows, what the risks look like in practice, and what strategies reduce overexposure to any single aggregator platform.

What This Episode Covers

Jeff Bladt brings an insider's perspective on ClassPass: its origin story, how it has shaped consumer behavior in fitness, and the revenue data that supports the case for operators using the platform as a growth lever. His argument centers on ClassPass as a discovery engine — a way for boutique studios to reach consumers who would otherwise never find them, and a platform that has consistently driven new-to-category participation in fitness.

Rachel Hirsch's perspective comes from the studio owner's seat, and it is more cautionary. As founder of Wellness Growth Ventures and The 2% Club, she works closely with boutique fitness operators — including many who are women-led — and she has seen firsthand how over-reliance on ClassPass can compress margins, weaken direct booking habits, and leave studios exposed when platform terms change. Her argument isn't that ClassPass is always harmful; it's that dependency is the risk, and that too many studio owners treat ClassPass revenue as a foundation rather than a supplement. Jack Thomas of Fitness Business Asia joined as a guest co-host to moderate the exchange, bringing an Asia-Pacific market perspective to a debate that is largely framed around North American dynamics.

LIFTS is the weekly fitness-industry podcast hosted by Matthew Januszek and Mo Iqbal of SweatWorks (https://www.liftspodcast.com/). The decision to run a debate format reflects the show's commitment to honest industry conversation rather than consensus-building, and it connects to Matthew Januszek's broader focus through Escape Fitness USA on helping operators build businesses with durable economics — not just strong top-line numbers driven by third-party platforms.

Key Moments from the Conversation

• The origin and evolution of ClassPass is traced from its founding premise — making fitness accessible through a flexible subscription — through its impact on consumer expectations around pricing, variety, and commitment.
• ClassPass is compared to aggregators in travel, dining, and delivery to examine whether the dynamics that have shaped those industries — and the operator relationships within them — offer any predictive insight for fitness.
• Free trials and discounting are debated directly: Hirsch argues that ClassPass pricing power erodes studios' ability to charge full rates to direct members, while Bladt presents revenue data showing studios that use the platform strategically see net positive outcomes.
• The 'discovery engine' argument is one of the strongest in Bladt's case: for studios in crowded urban markets, ClassPass exposure to users who would otherwise never book a class directly represents real marketing value that is difficult to replicate cheaply.
• Hirsch's counter-case focuses on behavioral habituation: ClassPass members who discover a studio through the platform often continue booking through ClassPass rather than converting to direct members, which limits the studio's ability to build its own relationship with those clients.
• Women-led boutique studios are examined as a specific category where ClassPass dependency patterns may create particular risk, with Hirsch drawing on her work with The 2% Club community to illustrate the dynamics.
• Strategies to avoid over-reliance on ClassPass are discussed practically — from capping platform availability to creating direct-booking incentives to using ClassPass as a deliberate acquisition channel rather than a revenue base.
• The episode ends with a shared call from both sides for better collaboration between aggregators and studios: the industry-wide goal of growing participation is better served by partnership models that protect studio economics than by a dynamic where operators feel forced to choose between visibility and margin.

Why This Conversation Matters

The ClassPass debate is a proxy for a larger question every boutique fitness operator faces: how much of your business should run through platforms you don't control? The aggregator dynamic in fitness mirrors what has happened in hospitality, food delivery, and media — and the operators who build resilient businesses in those categories are the ones who use platforms intentionally rather than drifting into dependency. This episode makes that lesson concrete with real data and real operator voices.

Matthew Januszek and Mo Iqbal bring exactly the right perspective to moderate this kind of debate through LIFTS: neither cheerleaders for any platform nor reflexively skeptical of technology's role in growing the fitness market. The goal is helping operators make informed decisions — and this episode delivers that more directly than almost any other format could.

▶  Watch the full episode on YouTube

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