Matthew Januszek sits down with Lee Matthews, Managing Director of Fitness First, for an honest conversation about what the pandemic revealed — and what it permanently changed — about the gym industry. Few people have had a better vantage point on these shifts than Lee, who has been steering one of the UK's most established fitness brands through one of its most turbulent periods.

The conversation covers the evolution of the boutique gym concept, the large-scale changes reshaping traditional gym models, how leaders can guide their teams through a crisis, and why rethinking layout and equipment is now essential to meeting members where they are.

About Lee Matthews

Lee Matthews serves as Managing Director of Fitness First, a major UK gym chain with a long history of bringing accessible fitness to a broad membership base. In his role, Lee oversees the strategic direction of the brand as it navigates a rapidly shifting landscape shaped by changing consumer expectations and the lasting effects of the pandemic.

Under his leadership, Fitness First has been actively redefining what it means to be a traditional gym — not by abandoning its roots but by incorporating the lessons learned from boutique fitness trends and the operational pivots forced by the pandemic. Lee's perspective is grounded in both the scale of a large-box operator and the nuance required to serve a diverse, evolving membership.

What Lee Matthews and Matthew Januszek Talked About

• The pandemic accelerated changes to the gym industry that had been building for years, and many of those changes are now permanent fixtures of how people train.
• Traditional gyms like Fitness First are not disappearing, but they are being fundamentally reengineered to stay relevant against boutique concepts and at-home fitness alternatives.
• The boutique fitness model has itself evolved during the pandemic, and understanding that evolution is essential for any operator trying to compete in today's market.
• Leading a team through crisis requires deliberate communication, clear priorities, and the kind of steady presence that builds trust when uncertainty is high.
• Gym layouts and equipment selections can no longer be static — operators must continuously reconfigure their floors to reflect how member expectations are shifting.
• In-person training and group fitness retain strong demand, but they must be delivered in a way that reflects what members experienced and valued during the period when gyms were closed.

Why This Conversation Matters

For Matthew Januszek and Escape Fitness USA, conversations like this one sit at the heart of understanding where the gym of the future is headed. Equipment design, gym layout, and member experience are deeply intertwined, and hearing directly from a Managing Director navigating these changes in real time sharpens that understanding.

The pressures facing traditional gyms are also opportunities — for operators willing to evolve, for equipment brands building products that serve new training formats, and for leaders like Lee Matthews who are willing to share what they're learning along the way.

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