Catalonia gyms shift from appearance to health and daily wellbeing

VivaGym used its move into Lleida to argue that Catalonia’s gym market is changing fast: people are no longer joining only to look better, but to build a weekly health habit. In an April 17 interview, regional manager Marc Solà said the chain’s business was benefiting from a broader shift in how people understand exercise, with health, wellbeing and day-to-day balance now driving demand as much as appearance.

That pitch matters because VivaGym is not a niche player making a lifestyle argument from the sidelines. The company says it has more than 220 locations across Spain, and it is listing its Lleida site at Carrer Acadèmia, 34, 25002 Lérida as a próxima apertura, or upcoming opening. VivaGym’s own branding backs up Solà’s message: the clubs are presented as places to disconnect, care for yourself and fill yourself with energy, with classes, app-based booking and routine-friendly access taking center stage alongside the equipment floor.

The market data around Catalonia helps explain why that message is landing. Idescat said Catalonia had 8,154,627 residents on January 1, 2026, and the region’s service-sector turnover index rose 2.8% year over year in February 2026. In a crowded consumer market, gyms are competing for recurring visits, not just sign-ups, and operators are increasingly selling usefulness across the whole week. That means recovery, guided classes, social interaction and flexible access patterns carry more weight than a row of treadmills and a cheap monthly fee.

Barcelona already shows how far that shift has gone. Anna Lewandowska opened Edan Studios in November 2024 as a multi-boutique space built around Pilates, HIIT, dance, a Healthy Kitchen and social events, with roughly 1,000 square meters devoted to a broader wellbeing offer. Sorli Sport went another route in July 2024, opening its first Barcelona center at Plaça Cerdà with a €7 million investment, more than 2,000 square meters, spa, nutrition, aesthetics and physiotherapy, and 12 new jobs. Both openings point to the same conclusion: the winning gym in Catalonia is increasingly part training club, part health service, part place to spend time.

That broader framing also fits public-health thinking. The World Health Organization published its Spain physical activity factsheet on October 2, 2024, and the European Observatory and OECD Spain Country Health Profile 2025, published on December 11, 2025, stressed health determinants, risk factors and workforce capacity. Solà’s comments did not come out of nowhere. They described a market where exercise is being recast as everyday infrastructure, and where the clubs that survive will be the ones that help people stay well, not just get lean.