You've bought back 24 Hour Fitness. What’s taking up most of your time?
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features
Interview: Mark Mastrov
It’s said Mark Mastrov has invested in more health and fitness businesses than anyone else on the planet. Now he’s bought back 24-Hour Fitness, the company he started in 1983. He talks to Liz Terry
Published in Health Club Management 2026 issue 3
Mark Mastrov Kevin Suggs Photography
You've bought back 24 Hour Fitness. What’s taking up most of your time?
Timeline
Mark Mastrov
1983: Founds 24-Hour Fitness as 24-Hour Nautilus
1998: Co-founds Fitness Holdings Europe with David Giampaolo
2004: Co-founds Mrs Sporty
2005: Sells 24 Hour Fitness to Forstmann Little & Co for c. US$1.6 billion
2005: Leads the purchase of Crunch Fitness
2005: Opens 24 Hour Fitness Shaq Sport club with Shaquille O’Neal
2008: Co-founded New Evolution Ventures with Jim Rowley and Mike Feeney
2010: Founds Hard Candy Fitness with Madonna and Guy Oseary
2012: Invests in US Fitness with Kirk and John Galiani
2016-2019: Hard Candy locations closed
2021: Invests in Frame Fitness
2025: Crunch Fitness sold to Leonard Green and Partners
2026: Reacquires 24-Hour Fitness in partnership with LongRange Capital
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Gallery
Recovery modalities are being added to the 24 Hour Fitness offering 24-Hour Fitness
24 Hour Fitness offers a free three-day pass to drive trial visits 24-Hour Fitness
24 Hour Fitness is now on a growth trajectory 24-Hour Fitness
Creating community is a vital part of the plan, says Mastrov 24-Hour Fitnes
GX24 studios are used to deliver a wide range of classes, from strength to active ageing 24-Hour Fitness
A programme of new openings is planned, to rebuild the portfolio 24-Hour Fitness
Mastrov wants members to feel their club is 'home' 24-Hour Fitness
24 Hour Fitness has ambitions to grow globally by M&A 24-Hour Fitness
Yoga is available in-club and also on the 24GO app for home use 24-Hour Fitness
The clubs have basketball courts. One of the top two sports in the US 24-Hour Fitness
The full-service clubs are big at 40,000sq ft plus 24-Hour Fitness
More features
Editor's letter
Into the fitaverse
Fitness is already among the top three markets in the metaverse, with new technology and partnerships driving real growth and consumer engagement that looks likely to spill over into health clubs, gyms and studios
Fit Tech people
Ali Jawad
Paralympic powerlifter and founder, Accessercise
“Users can easily identify which facilities in the UK are accessible to the disabled community”
Fit Tech people
Hannes Sjöblad
MD, DSruptive
“We want to give our users an implantable tool that allows them to collect their health data at any time and in any setting”
Fit Tech people
Jamie Buck
Co-founder, Active in Time
“We created a solution called AiT Voice, which turns digital data into a spoken audio timetable that connects to phone systems”
Profile
Fahad Alhagbani: reinventing fitness
“Alexa can help you book classes, check trainers’ bios and schedules, find out opening times, and a host of other information”
Opinion
Building on the blockchain
For small sports teams looking to compete with giants, blockchain can be a secret weapon explains Lars Rensing, CEO of Protokol
Innovation
Bold move
“We ended up raising US$7m in venture capital from incredible investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Primetime Partners, and GingerBread Capital”
App analysis
Check your form
Sency’s motion analysis technology is
allowing users to check their technique
as they exercise. Co-founder and
CEO Gal Rotman explains how
Profile
New reality
Sam Cole, CEO of FitXR, talks to
Fit Tech about taking digital
workouts to the next level, with an
immersive, virtual reality fitness club
Profile
Sohail Rashid
“My vision was to create a platform that could improve the sport for lifters at all levels and attract more people, similar to how Strava, Peloton and Zwift have in other sports”
Ageing
Reverse Ageing
Many apps help people track their
health, but Humanity founders
Peter Ward and Michael Geer
have put the focus on ageing,
to help users to see the direct
repercussions of their habits.
They talk to Steph Eaves
App analysis
Going hybrid
Workout Anytime created its app in partnership with Virtuagym. Workout Anytime’s Greg Maurer and Virtuagym’s Hugo Braam explain the process behind its creation
Research
Physical activity monitors boost activity levels
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have conducted a meta analysis of all relevant research and found that the body of evidence shows an impact
Editor's letter
Two-way coaching
Content providers have been hugely active in the fit tech market since the start of the pandemic. We expect the industry to move on from delivering these services on a ‘broadcast-only’ basis as two-way coaching becomes the new USP
Fit Tech People
Laurent Petit
Co-founder, Active Giving
“The future of sports and fitness are dependent on the climate. Our goal is to positively influence the future of our planet by instilling a global vision of wellbeing and a sense of collective action”
Fit Tech People
Adam Zeitsiff
CEO, Intelivideo
“We don’t just create the technology and bail – we support our clients’ ongoing hybridisation efforts”
Fit Tech People
Anantharaman Pattabiraman
CEO and co-founder, Auro
“When you’re undertaking fitness activities, unless you’re on a stationary bike, in most cases it’s not safe or necessary to be tied to a screen, especially a small screen”
Fit Tech People
Mike Hansen
Managing partner, Endorphinz
“We noticed a big gap in the market – customers needed better insights but also recommendations on what to do, whether that be customer acquisition, content creation, marketing and more”