What One Growth Story Reveals About Fit House Of Brands’ Trajectory

A franchise success story shows how F45 Training and FS8 are redefining what sustainable growth looks like.

Seven years ago, Brian Trainor walked into an F45 Training class in New York City with no expectations and walked out with a new direction for his life. He’d recently left a career in finance and healthcare and wasn’t sure what would come next. What he did know was movement. Sports teams, training rooms, locker-room energy and the shared push and unfiltered joy that comes from doing something hard together.

That feeling had been missing in his adult life. Until that day.

“It was my first F45 class, and I was the new guy,” Trainor remembers. “But everyone was high-fiving and fist-pumping and it felt like being back on a team again. I left class wanting more.”

Six months later, he wasn’t just a member, he was preparing to open his own F45 Training franchise in Westport, Connecticut, confident that what he’d felt in that room was exactly what the community was hungry for.

Today, Trainor runs one of the region’s most successful F45 Training studios and has since expanded into FS8, FIT House of Brands’ multi-modality Pilates-strength-yoga concept, with a thriving location in Danbury. He’s already committed to opening a second FS8 location.

His story is more than a franchise success. It’s a look at what happens when the right operator finds the right ecosystem — and builds something that lasts.

The Third Spot

Brian Trainor, FIT House of Brands franchisee (credit: FIT House of Brands)

Trainor chose Westport for a simple reason: people there love to work out. But he also saw something missing.

“There was no real team-training environment,” he says. “People had their gyms but running on a treadmill or doing bench presses is a far cry from that experience of camaraderie. That’s what I wanted to bring back — that feeling of being part of something.”

Luke Armstrong, Chief Revenue Officer at FIT House of Brands, says that instinct aligns directly with the founding vision of F45 Training.  “That was exactly the itch we set out to scratch,” he says. “When you go from high school sports where you don’t need a reason to run miles on a field, to post-college life where exercise feels like a chore, something gets lost. We went back to first principles and asked, what made movement fun as a kid? It was the energy. It was the social element. That’s still the driving ethos behind F45 Training.”

With mentorship from nearby studio owners — a hallmark of F45’s franchise culture — Trainor launched his studio in his mid-twenties, fully aligned with that ethos.

The bet paid off. Seven years later, his founding members are still showing up — many of them through a pandemic, a landlord-forced relocation, family milestones and the evolution of the studio itself.

“We know everyone by name,” says Trainor. “We know their families. We’ve watched their kids grow from middle school to high school. “That’s what success is to me. When your members let you be part of their lives long-term.”

Ask Trainor what makes the Westport studio special, and he calls it “a third spot” — not home, not work — but the place members choose to anchor their day.

Armstrong says that mindset reflects one of the brand’s core beliefs. “You never know what someone is carrying when they walk into a studio,” he says. “Those 45 minutes can be sacred time. Great operators and coaches never underestimate that — they elevate the experience every single day.”

That foundational culture kept the studio stable through every external challenge. “Our members have stood the test of time,” Trainor says. “They keep coming back, no matter what.”

“F45 is ingrained in these member’s lives —  physically, mentally, socially,” Armstrong adds. “Franchisees like Brian prove what happens when that connection is real and sustained.”

credit: FIT House of Brands

The FS8 Inflection Point

Eighteen months ago, Trainor wasn’t looking to expand. His GM mentioned FS8, but Pilates wasn’t on his radar — until he took a class.

“I read about FS8, took one class, and by the end I thought: I need to open this. It clicked even faster than F45 did,” he says.

Why FS8? Because it sits precisely where the market is shifting — between performance and longevity.

Trainor saw a wide-open lane: an older generation needing movement without intensity, people in their 30s and 40s craving resistance without strain, and a growing population seeking mobility, balance and control — all in a single session.

Armstrong says that evolution in programming reflects a broader shift in who the brand serves. “When we first launched F45, millennials made plenty of noise,” he says. “But if you’re trying to build a sustainable business, you have to invest in members long-term. We’re not competing for a single demographic — we’re serving people who want to feel strong and capable for life.”

Trainor adds, “FS8 fills a gap that traditional Pilates doesn’t hit. And it complements F45 better than I could have imagined.”

The Danbury studio is 45 minutes from Westport, yet crossover members still make the trip — or visit the closer FS8 in Fairfield.

“They all say the same thing: it’s the perfect balance. Better mobility, core strength, flexibility — it helps them in their F45 workouts.”

For Trainor, FS8 didn’t just diversify his portfolio. It expanded his lens as an operator. “It’s made me a better coach,” he says. “I think more about longevity, warmups, cooldowns, how the body moves as a system, plus I do it myself now three to five times a week.”

Leadership, Learned in Real Time

Trainor was only 24 when he opened Westport. He’ll be the first to say he didn’t know what he didn’t know. The biggest transformation came from learning to trust others.

“You can’t do everything — coaching, customer service, sales — and expect to grow,” he says. “You need a great staff. And I always felt corporate and other franchisees had my back. We learned together and problem-solved together. That in itself has been like being on a team again.”

That same collaboration is now fueling his FS8 growth. “I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel,” he says. “Other owners shared what worked. The systems were already in place. I could just put my own flair on it.”

Armstrong says this is exactly the multi-brand flywheel the company is building. “When strong operators expand across concepts, everybody wins — the brand, the franchise partners and most importantly, the members.”

Boutique fitness is entering its next phase, shaped by longevity, intentional cross-training and a consumer base that increasingly wants a health and wellness identity — not just a workout. 

“What Brian represents is exactly what excites us,” Armstrong says. “Entrepreneurs building lasting impact in their communities, across multiple modalities, supported by a system designed to help them win.”

Trainor is already planning his next FS8. Not because the first one was easy, but because he sees the demand, the momentum and the meaning. “Community and camaraderie will always be the goal,” he says. “To make those 50 minutes the best part of someone’s day. That’s the heart of it. That’s why we do this.”

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