Why Fitness Fanatics With Business Goals Should Get Pumped Up Over Low-Cost, Flexible Opportunity with Emerging Fitness Franchise, fitWAVE

fitWAVE, a scalable gym concept that started in a locally-owned Illinois gym, has perfected two things: using cyclical workout programs to help athletes and casual exercisers alike achieve peak results; and deploying an affordable, proven business model based on satisfied members. 

As the COVID-19 vaccine reaches wide distribution, fitWAVE’s affordable, optimized business model presents fitness fanatics with the perfect opportunity to get into business with a winning team. 

“fitWAVE allows fitness professionals to take their gym to the next level and get access to a killer workout regime,” said Jason Markowicz, CEO of Fitness Premier Clubs, a brand that is helping franchise the fitWAVE concept.  “It’s low-cost, flexible with real estate and has a proven membership model that can scale to fit markets our competitors can’t reach.”

How the Affordable fitWAVE Concept Was Born

The fitWAVE concept comes from fitness industry veteran Josh Chrestman, a former D1 football player and high school wrestling champ. fitWAVE offers a group-workout concept based on 16-week cycles focusing on mobility, core, balance and strength through a series of 60-minute workouts. 

“We’ve trained a variety of athletes at various levels,” said Chrestman. “We can manage a 60-year-old woman who runs the garden, or we can work with a college/high school athlete.”  

Markowicz was already the CEO of Fitness Premier, a gym franchise in Illinois, but saw the ripe opportunity for Chrestman’s model to come after a new segment in the fitness industry. 

“We believe the biggest opportunity in the fitness industry right now is a lower-investment and more lifestyle-flexible concept,” Markowicz said. “Josh had the program, we had the franchising background and we had an interested franchisee prospect who didn’t have the capital to open something big, but could hustle and scale something smaller.”

“If there’s ever a time to get into the boutique fitness industry it’s now,” said Chrestman. “Everyone is focusing on health.”

How fitWAVE Outmaneuvers the Competition

According to Markowicz and Chrestman, fitWAVE has plenty of competition, but none of them are nimble enough to fit in the spaces and markets this brand can. 

fitWAVE’s flexible footprint can scale from 1,500 to 3,000 square feet. While most fitness concepts need a large, densely populated city to work, fitWAVE’s small scale allows it to take root in towns with as few as 15,000 people and where the average income is as low as $65,000. This translates to a lower initial investment, lower ongoing costs like rent and the ability to avoid many of the rules and regulations that come with entering larger concepts.

“We designed the fitWAVE concept to open up the threshold of attracting more quality franchises,” said Markowicz. “The opportunity to be an owner/operator is still there, but without any unnecessary overhead.” 

Why fitWAVE is Poised for Growth

Markowicz’s strategy of a low-overhead, high-impact membership model has already made gains in the marketplace. In the last four months alone, the franchise has added three new locations despite an ongoing pandemic putting the majority of the industry in retreat. 

“Our model works so well that we can come in and rebrand existing facilities under our name, pull from our management team and leadership culture and really bring things together in any market,” said Markowicz.

With locations steadily opening ahead of pandemic reopenings, now is the time to lock down a fitWAVE territory.

ABOUT FRANCHISE FIT FOR YOU

Franchise Fit For You is a franchisee-first franchisor and franchisee consultancy. It is the franchisor behind low-cost group-fitness franchise fitWAVE as well as Fitness Premier 24/7 Clubs, a larger-box fitness brand. As a franchisee consultancy, Fit For You offers guidance for future franchisees on finding the best fit for their personal and financial goals. Fit For You is run by Jason Markowicz, a former multi-unit franchise owner of Massage Envy and current developer of Prose Nails, a membership-based nail salon. For more information, visit www.fitforyoufranchising.com.