The Fit Guide 2025: More 5-Star Fitness Clubs as New York Raises the Bar

The Fit Guide (TFG), the only independent rating system recognizing the world’s top fitness clubs and studios, has announced the results of its second year of evaluations for New York. As the first launch city of 2025, The Fit Guide provides an objective and professional benchmark for the global fitness industry. This year’s evaluations have shown an overall improvement in standards across the entire client experience, highlighting positive progress in class-based boutique fitness.

Considered the fitness industry’s equivalent of the Michelin Guide, The Fit Guide provides a trusted and thorough evaluation of the fitness industry’s leading premium boutique gyms and studios, covering five modalities: HIIT & strength, cycling, yoga, barre, Pilates.

With an evaluation process covering over 250 objective standards, The Fit Guide assesses the full client experience across several categories including class experience, reception service, facilities, and technology. Every club is visited anonymously, ensuring independence and fairness in its ratings.

For fitness enthusiasts and travelers, The Fit Guide is a trusted resource for discovering the industry’s best clubs. For gym owners and operators, it offers invaluable insights into best practices, helping them refine and elevate their client experience.

AWARD STRUCTURE

The Fit Guide’s awards recognize clubs that meet high standards of excellence. Any club that does not achieve a minimum score of 70% in the evaluation process is not listed.

• Clubs scoring over 70% achieve the Recommended rating.
• Clubs scoring over 80% win The Fit Guide Award of Excellence.
• Clubs scoring over 90% win The Fit Guide 5-Star Award.

YEAR-ON-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS IN MEMBER EXPERIENCE

• The average class experience score increased by over 3.3%, signaling an improvement in the quality of boutique fitness studios in New York.
• Reception services only marginally improved by 0.5%, remaining a low-performing category and a key area for improvement.
• Pilates saw a significant increase in overall experience but experienced a drop in reception service standards.
• Yoga saw a slight increase overall, but remains the lowest-scoring modality
• Barre, the highest-scoring modality from the first year of evaluations, saw the biggest increase, with class experience improving by 5.7%. Barre also celebrates four The Fit Guide 5-Star Award-winning clubs and seven 5-Star Class Experience Award winners.
• Cycling is the only modality to experience a decline in standards, with the class experience scoring an average of 4.7% lower in this year’s evaluations.

Jack Thomas, co-founder of The Fit Guide, stated, “We’re happy to see that our second year of evaluations have seen an improvement for New York’s top fitness clubs. There are, however, still areas where New York’s clubs can improve the level of hospitality, such as the reception services.”

“As we expand into new cities, our goal remains the same—to set a gold standard for fitness industry excellence. By delivering objective, data-driven insights, we’re helping both fitness enthusiasts find the best gyms and studios and operators provide consistent five-star experiences.” – Matt Lavender, Co-Founder, The Fit Guide

THE FIT GUIDE 5-STAR AWARD WINNERS

This year, The Fit Guide has welcomed more recipients of its highest honor, The Fit Guide 5-Star Award. These seven clubs represent the pinnacle of fitness excellence, scoring over 90% across all of The Fit Guide’s evaluated criteria.

• Two Physique 57 clubs: Soho and 60th & 5th
• Two Orangetheory Fitness clubs: UWS 92nd St and Manhattan-Plaza District
• Pure Barre Union Square
• The Bar Method Cobble Hill
• F45 Flatiron

INDUSTRY-LEADING CLASS EXPERIENCE AWARD WINNERS

The Fit Guide also recognizes clubs that have set a new benchmark in group class excellence, scoring over 90% in the class experience category. This year’s new recipients of The Fit Guide 5-Star Class Experience Award are:

• Solidcore Nomad
• Barre3 West Village

These clubs have been celebrated for delivering an outstanding, industry-leading class experience, demonstrating the highest level of coaching, engagement, and energy during the session.

EXPANDING IN 2025: LAUNCHING LOS ANGELES AND MIAMI

Following the success of its evaluations in New York, London, Singapore, Dubai and Sydney, The Fit Guide has announced its expansion into two U.S. fitness hubs: Los Angeles and Miami. LA will be their next launch city in March, with Miami following later this year, furthering The Fit Guide’s mission of recognizing the best fitness experiences worldwide.

To view all of New York’s award-winning clubs, visit The Fit Guide at www.thefitguide.com.

Connect with The Fit Guide: Media / Interview Queries: team@thefitguide.com │ Email: team@thefitguide.com