Few platforms have reshaped how consumers discover and commit to fitness like ClassPass. By connecting members to thousands of studios and gyms across 2,500 cities globally, it has become one of the most important data-rich windows into how fitness behavior is actually evolving — who is showing up, where, and why.
Matthew Januszek sits down with Shari Castelli, Director of Industry Development at ClassPass, to dig into what the platform's model has revealed about the fitness and wellness trends pulling people back to in-person experiences, and what the future holds for boutique fitness as a category.
About Shari Castelli
ClassPass operates as a monthly fitness membership that gives members flexible access to thousands of studios and gyms spanning 2,500 cities around the world. That scale puts ClassPass in a unique analytical position — the platform sees aggregate behavior patterns across an enormous range of fitness categories, formats, and geographies, making it one of the most informed observers of where consumer demand in fitness is actually heading.
Shari Castelli serves as Director of Industry Development at ClassPass, which means her work sits at the intersection of the platform's commercial interests and the health of the studio ecosystem it depends on. Her perspective on boutique fitness is grounded in real data about what members want, what keeps them engaged, and what formats are gaining traction as in-person fitness continues its recovery and evolution.
The conversation with Matthew covers the structural reasons behind ClassPass's business model success, the specific wellness and fitness trends driving members back through studio doors, and an honest look at whether boutique fitness — a category that faced significant headwinds — has the fundamentals to bounce back and grow.
What Shari Castelli and Matthew Januszek Talked About
- ClassPass's model succeeds in part because it lowers the barrier to trying new fitness formats — members explore freely, and studios benefit from exposure to customers they would not otherwise reach through their own marketing.
- The platform's presence across 2,500 cities gives ClassPass a uniquely broad data set on fitness consumer behavior, making Castelli's observations about trends more grounded than most industry commentary.
- Wellness is increasingly inseparable from fitness in how members think about their routines — the line between a workout class and a recovery, mindfulness, or holistic wellness session has blurred significantly.
- In-person fitness has qualities that digital alternatives cannot replicate: community, accountability, and the energy of shared physical effort — and those qualities are proving durable as consumer preferences settle.
- Boutique fitness faces real structural challenges around pricing, retention, and differentiation, but the formats with a clear identity and strong community foundations are showing resilience.
- The relationship between aggregator platforms like ClassPass and individual studio owners involves genuine tension around pricing and brand control — understanding that dynamic is essential for any operator building in this space.
- Consumer behavior data at the platform level reveals fitness trends months before they become obvious at the industry level, making platforms like ClassPass an important early-warning system for format and demographic shifts.
Why This Conversation Matters
Matthew Januszek and the team at Escape Fitness USA have always understood that equipment and programming exist to serve a broader fitness ecosystem — one that depends on operators building studios that members genuinely want to return to. The trends Shari Castelli tracks at ClassPass are the same trends shaping which studio formats, which experiences, and which operators will define the next decade of fitness.
For the entrepreneurs and fitness leaders in Matthew's orbit, this conversation is a practical lens on how consumer demand is actually shifting — not as speculation, but grounded in ClassPass's real-world data. It connects directly to the conversations Matthew brings to the LIFTS Podcast: what does it take to build fitness businesses that last, and how do you stay aligned with where your members are going?
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube
Related Episodes & Interviews
About Matthew Januszek
Matthew Januszek is the co-founder of Escape Fitness, the functional-training equipment brand he built from a UK startup into a global name supplying many of the world’s leading gyms, studios, and hotel fitness spaces. Following the separation of the UK and US businesses, Matthew’s focus today is Escape Fitness USA and the next chapter of the brand in North America. He hosted more than 300 episodes of the Escape Your Limits podcast and now co-hosts the LIFTS Podcast with SweatWorks founder Mohammed Iqbal, covering the business, science, and technology shaping the fitness industry. Explore more interviews and episodes on MatthewJanuszek.com.
About The Author
