National Fitness Partners expands to 210 clubs with new equipment across 14 states

National Fitness Partners (NFP) has grown significantly under your leadership. What guiding principles have shaped your approach to scaling the organization while maintaining a strong member‑first culture? 

Growth here at NFP is centered around changing lives. My grandfather opened up a full-service health and racquetball facility back in the ‘60s, so it’s a family pillar. Even though we’re a Central PA-based business, we’ve served over 1.5 million customers across 14 states, and our mission is to continue to increase access to affordable fitness. We know once they get in the doors, they really enjoy the environment and can start feeling the benefits, not only physically, but also mentally, socially, emotionally. 

The brand-wide initiative of teens working out for free all summer, for example, you don’t see a whole lot of organizations making that type of investment for our youth. I’m a firm believer leaving a place better than you found it, and I don’t think there’s any better avenue around to do that than through someone’s health. Building healthy habits is something that’s a lifelong goal for most folks, and you can start from an early age. 

Health and fitness have changed a lot in recent years, fueled by things like the pandemic and weight loss drugs. What major shifts are you seeing, and how are you adapting to meet those evolving needs? 

Folks are more health conscious now than they ever have been. I think it’s one of the positive  unintended consequences of the digital age that we live in, where information is so readily available. No one is a novice in anything. A lot of stuff that they’re learning and teaching themselves on their own is helping build that confidence, and we’ve got a great outlet for them to come in and start that journey.  

The consumer has changed. We used to be very centered around cardiovascular equipment, but in the last five years, there’s been a real big shift toward strength training. We’ve made some strategic investments across our portfolio to add new equipment offerings that we didn’t historically have. When I look at the usage patterns of our member base, we’re continuing to see that evolve, and we’re going to use our data to make better informed decisions on the equipment offerings that we have by club. 

By the end of June, all 210 of our clubs will have a new equipment offering. Our customers are telling us that this is what they want, and more importantly, they’re using it.  

Looking ahead, what opportunities or innovations excite you most about the future of fitness, and how is National Fitness Partners positioning itself to lead in that space? 

So many companies are coming up with new innovative pieces of equipment that we can put in our clubs. For a long time, we stayed on one track and never looked at any of the other pieces of equipment or modalities. Now, as a brand, we’re finding what’s right for our customer base and target audience. We’re in a test-and-learn environment. We want to keep pushing the envelope with our product offering. 

We’re layering technology in our clubs so we can better understand the usage pattern of each piece of equipment, from cardio to an individual dumbbell. Artificial intelligence has helped us make more informed decisions on what we want to put where, because not every club has the same demographic and we want to be able to tailor it to the market that is using the club. It ties to our asset management system, so we’re getting quicker resolution times on things that get repaired. At the end of the day, you have to sell a really good member experience because, for most people, working out is not fun. 

What’s your personal relationship like with fitness and the broader culture around it? 

I grew up as an athlete and I work out every single day. I’m an early bird, so I’m usually in between 6–7 A.M. I’m a firm believer that you have to practice what you preach, so I can’t make a good informed decision if I’m not working out in our clubs or staying active myself. It also gives me an opportunity to see how folks interact in the clubs. It’s one thing to look at a data point. It’s another thing to see with your own two eyes.  

Rachel Curry is a freelance writer 

About Stephen Kindler Jr. 

Stephen Kindler, Jr. is the President and CEO of National Fitness Partners, a private equity-held Planet Fitness franchise group in Camp Hill. NFP operates more than 200 locations across 14 states. Over his nearly two-decade career, Kindler has helped expand the brand’s regional footprint and orchestrated the 2016 sale of his family’s fitness business to Argonne Capital Group. Since being named CEO in 2017, he has spearheaded 11 add-on acquisitions.