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New ClassPass survey data shows women who make friends through their workouts say they exercise more and keep coming back.
Every January, the fitness world sells discipline and routine: streaks, 75 Hard, fitness trackers, 5 a.m. alarms, all with the promise of delivering consistency. New ClassPass data points to something simpler. Many of the women who report the strongest workout habits have something better than willpower: they made a friend.
In a survey of more than 900 ClassPass users across the U.S. and international markets, four in ten women (41%) said they’ve made a new friend or meaningful connection through a class they booked on ClassPass. Those women report working out differently.
Where connection goes, consistency follows
Women who have made a new friend or connection through ClassPass are far more likely to say they exercise more since joining:
74% of women who made a connection say they exercise more since joining ClassPass.
52% of women who haven’t made one say the same.
That’s a gap of more than 20 points, and the most lasting connections show the highest rate of all: among women who met someone new at a class and kept in touch, 77% say they exercise more since joining, compared with 58% of all other surveyed women.
The survey shows correlation, not causation, and responses are self-reported, but the relationship is noteworthy. Women who have found their people at the studio are the ones who also report booking more often.
The flywheel: show up, connect, repeat
Women who have made a connection through ClassPass are more likely to book 8 or more classes a month (24% vs. 15% who have not made a connection), more than twice as likely to have joined a run club or class community this year (22% vs. 10%), and more likely to have referred someone to ClassPass to book a studio they discovered (69% vs. 49%).
The inverse holds true too. The more women show up, the more likely they are to have made a connection:
Among surveyed women, those who book 8 or more classes a month are more likely to say they’ve made a new friend or connection through ClassPass than those who book fewer than 4 (52% vs. 32%).
That matches what researchers say about how friendships form. University of Kansas professor Jeffrey Hall found it takes about 50 hours together to go from acquaintance to casual friend1, and a weekly class adds up to those hours faster than an occasional dinner.
“When I moved to a new city five years ago, I didn’t know anyone,” said Stephanie Schappert, ClassPass Senior Manager of Growth Marketing and instructor at BC Block, Nashville. “I started using ClassPass to explore different studios and figure out what types of workouts I enjoyed. What started as simply finding a workout I loved turned into finding a community. Fast-forward five years, some of the people I met in those first few months are now some of my closest friends. And yes, working out together and coordinating class schedules are still a huge part of our friendships.”
Once a connection forms, it can become another reason to book the next class. The habit builds the friendship, and the friendship protects the habit.
For businesses, an invite is a growth strategy
Studios can benefit by making it easy for members to bring a friend. Among the hundreds of women surveyed, 65% have invited a friend to a class, and 44% have used a class to catch up with someone. And that matters, because women who invite friends report booking more often: 21% of them book 8 or more classes or services a month, compared with 15% of women who haven’t invited anyone. A guest spot could win a studio its next member while keeping its current ones coming back.
“I’d encourage people to get to know their instructors and studio staff,” Stephanie says. “The more you show up, the more they get to know you, and they can be great at helping connect you with like-minded members. It’s one of my personal favorite aspects of coaching.”
The bottom line
Streaks and trackers help, but the most durable workout plan may be a person who expects you at 7 a.m.
As Stephanie shares, “I think that’s what makes group fitness so special. You might initially show up for the workout, but the people you meet become one of the biggest reasons you keep coming back.”
*Survey methodology
From May 21–June 3, 2026, ClassPass ran a 10-minute online survey of 910 ClassPass users with an English-language locale. Respondents had been active on the platform for at least 6 months and had taken at least one class or booked one appointment in the 30 days before the survey. Age, gender, and behavior were self-reported. Figures for women are based on 830 respondents who identified as female.
1 Hall, “How many hours does it take to make a friend?” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 2019. ↩
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