EP | 695 - 2026 Fitness Industry Forecast: 10 Trends That Will Define The Year
The Fitness Business Podcast with Erin Dimond and Jordan Dugger
Erin Dimond and Jordan Dugger
4.9 • 670 Ratings
🗓️ 28 November 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If the coaching space feels different right now — heavier, slower, more discerning — you're not imagining it.
The market is shifting.
And it's not shifting in the way most coaches think. It's not that people don't want coaching. It's not that the economy is bad. It's not that Instagram is "over-saturated."
It's that people are no longer buying information.
They're buying identity.
And because of that — the strategies that worked in 2021, 2022, even early 2024… they simply don't hold the same weight today.
If you want to be relevant in 2026, you need to understand the deeper shift that's happening underneath the tactics — the cultural shift shaping how people choose mentors, how they commit to transformation, and who they trust with their future.
Today, I'm going to walk you through the 10 coaching industry trends that we think will define the next year — and exactly what to do about them now.
Time Stamps:
(0:20) The Future of Online Fitness Coaching
(3:26) DM Us For More Information
(4:02) #1: Rise of The Hybrid Coach
(5:20) #2: Niche Depth > Niche Category
(6:54) #3: Coaches Are Becoming Media Personalities
(8:36) #4: AI Becomes Invisible
(10:03) #5: Identity and Behavior Coaching Goes Mainstream
(11:00) #6: Lifestyle Optimization
(11:50) #7: Death To $200 A Month Coach
(13:28) #8: Community and Belonging
(13:49) #9: Immersive Experiences
(15:13) #10: Coaches Who Can Speak Win
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The separation now, it's not about do I have more knowledge? Do I have more certification, |
| 0:04.4 | like the algorithm, those sort of things? It's more about embodiment being a coach that has |
| 0:09.2 | tools, tools like emotional regulation and ability to really, really coach, like on an identity |
| 0:15.8 | level. What's up, guys? Welcome back to the podcast. So i am pumped to give you a more an episode today that's |
| 0:25.7 | really going to get you thinking about where the industry is going and just some real conceptual |
| 0:30.5 | things that you have to really start thinking about changing in your coaching business if you want to |
| 0:34.5 | evolve with AI and just all the things that are really impacting |
| 0:40.1 | our space. And I don't say that from a place of fear. Really, you know, anytime something |
| 0:45.3 | disrupts an industry, there's a real opportunity. So I think there's a real opportunity for good |
| 0:50.2 | coaches here if you stay in tune and stay ahead of things. So if you feel like right now |
| 0:57.0 | the coaching space, like it feels slower or it feels just heavier or it feels like people |
| 1:02.1 | are just harder prospects. You know, maybe in the DMs, you're getting ghosted more on sales |
| 1:07.6 | calls. You're getting told no more. It's not something that you're imagining. |
| 1:16.7 | There is a big shift happening in our industry and in our market right now. And it's not really like shifting in a way that a lot of people are talking about. I don't necessarily think. |
| 1:21.9 | It's not that people don't want coaching. It's not that the economy is bad. It's not that |
| 1:26.3 | things are oversaturated. It's with AI the economy is bad. It's not that things are over saturated. It's |
| 1:28.5 | with AI and just with how things have changed. People are no longer buying information. |
| 1:35.2 | Okay. So what are they buying? Well, right now, they're buying identity. They're buying belief. |
| 1:39.6 | They're buying belongingness. They're buying more humanness. And hang in here with me, because I'm going to |
| 1:44.6 | share with you some tactical ways to do this and make you stand out. But people are buying |
| 1:49.8 | like a way of living that feels like them. And because of this shift, humongous shift in our world, |
| 1:57.8 | strategies that worked in 2021, 2022, even like early 2024, because, dude, |
... |
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