Spain Fitness Survey Targets 2027 Trends, Benchmarking Market Shifts

Barcelona’s crowded gym and studio scene is about to get another strategic yardstick. Valgo, working with the American College of Sports Medicine and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, launched the 11th edition of Spain’s National Survey on New Trends in the Fitness Sector on 30 April 2026 to identify the market forces most likely to shape 2027.

The project has run every year since 2017 and is built for one purpose: turning scattered operator instincts into a shared map of where Spanish fitness is heading. The questionnaire is aimed at fitness professionals across Spain and is designed to take 10 to 15 minutes, a small ask for a survey that will feed benchmarking, planning and product design across the sector. Valgo CEO Manel Valcarce said the aim is to provide an updated “radiography” of the sector for operators, professionals and companies.

That matters in Barcelona because the city often moves early on boutique formats, functional training, wellness-led services and more personalized club experiences. In a market this dense, trend data is not a vanity exercise. It can shape whether a studio adds recovery services, whether a club invests in strength-floor expansion, whether a chain leans into digital coaching, or whether an operator starts building more medical-wellness integration into the business model before competitors do.

The survey’s value also comes from how it will be published. The results will appear in Spanish in Revista Retos and in English in ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, putting Spain’s findings into conversation with international trend tracking. That makes the project more than a national questionnaire. It becomes part of the same benchmarking language used by global operators watching the direction of the industry.

The timing is useful. ACSM’s annual Worldwide Fitness Trends forecast is now in its 20th year, and its 2026 report, based on input from 2,000 clinicians, researchers and exercise professionals, put Wearable Technology at No. 1. Fitness Programs for Older Adults, Exercise for Weight Management, Mobile Exercise Apps and Balance, Flow and Core Strength rounded out the top five. For Spanish clubs and investors, that mix points toward a market where tech, aging, weight management and connected coaching are no longer side bets but central commercial signals.

That is why broader participation matters. Consejo COLEF said the survey helps guide strategic decisions in sports-service management, and that more responses improve the quality of the analysis. For Barcelona operators deciding where to place capital before 2027, the next wave of demand is already being measured.