How Virtual Care Can Help Your Gym Stay Competitive

Your members have more ways to pursue their health and fitness goals than ever. From specialized training and recovery programs to nutrition support and digital fitness, the competition for their time and their spending doesn’t stop at the gym floor.

Here’s how virtual care can help you expand the member experience without building every new service from the ground up.

Give Members More Ways to Reach Their Goals

Your members are already looking for more than a place to work out.

In 2024, 23% of U.S. fitness-facility members used a personal trainer, and 32% participated in small-group training, according to the Health & Fitness Association (HFA). Personal training participants averaged 21 sessions during the year.

These services give members more than a place to exercise. They offer additional guidance, accountability, personalization, and support around specific goals.

That’s the idea behind value density: creating more meaningful value within the member relationship rather than simply adding more things to your facility.

That could mean:

• Strength and performance training

• Small-group or personal training

• Recovery programs

• Nutrition and supplement support

• Weight management

• Longevity and preventive health

• Health assessments and diagnostics

You don’t need to offer all of them. The opportunity is to build around the goals your members already care about.

What It Takes to Expand Your Services

Every new offering has an operating model behind it. There are two potential pathways to take if adding virtual care: build it in-house or work with a white-label virtual care provider.

Building In-House

If building it yourself, that can mean:

• Additional square footage

• Equipment and maintenance

• Staff and specialized professionals

• Training and certification

• Scheduling and administrative support

• New technology and workflows

Physical space is a particularly important consideration for fitness operators. HFA’s industry benchmarking report tracks metrics such as occupancy cost per indoor square foot for a reason. A room used for recovery, testing, or another service has a cost, and adding dedicated space means giving up the opportunity to use it for something else. 

Clinical services add another layer. Medical care requires qualified providers, appropriate technology, clinical workflows, privacy protections, and medical oversight.

White-Label Virtual Care Provider

 You don’t have to build every new capability yourself. A clinical infrastructure partner can help you launch a virtual care program faster, with less overhead, by giving you access to their clinical back end, while your brand stays front and center.

Partnering with a white-label telehealth provider allows organizations to:

• Launch virtual care programs faster

• Expand into new states or service lines

• Generate new business opportunities

• Strengthen client retention with enhanced offerings

• Reduce clinical operation complexities

When chosen carefully, the right white-label telehealth partner can become a growth engine for your business. Below, we’ll break down exactly what to evaluate and how to choose a partner built to scale with you.

What services should you add to stay competitive? Start simple, then expand.

Your gym is competing with more than other gyms. Boutique studios and digital fitness have changed what members can expect from a fitness experience, from specialized programming to personalized support.

Build On What Your Gym Already Does Well 

You don't need to replicate a boutique studio to respond to that competition. You can build on the strengths of your own model while giving members more relevant ways to pursue their health and wellness goals.

That could mean: 

• Medical weight loss alongside fitness programs and coaching.

• More structured nutrition support.

• Longevity-focused care for members interested in healthy aging.

The goal isn't more services for the sake of more services. It's more value for the members you already serve.

That creates an opportunity to compete on more than access or amenities. You can build a member experience around the outcomes people are actually pursuing. Focusing on the whole person, rather than a single piece.

Where Can Virtual Care Fit Into Your Gym?

Virtual care can help you add health and wellness services without requiring your gym to build every capability in-house.

Depending on your goals and member needs, that could include:

Medical Weight Management

Weight management is a natural extension of fitness for members who want help reaching or maintaining a healthier weight.

Clinician-supported programs can provide medical evaluation, treatment options, and ongoing support alongside the exercise, coaching, and accountability your gym already provides.

Nutrition and Supplements

Nutrition is already part of the fitness conversation. Members ask about protein, creatine, collagen, electrolytes, and other supplements as they work toward performance, recovery, and body-composition goals.

Adding more structured nutrition support can give members access to qualified guidance rather than leaving them to sort through conflicting information on their own.

Supplements can also complement broader nutrition and wellness programs. For more on the supplements gym members are already interested in, see Most Popular Supplements for Gym Members. 

Longevity and Preventive Health

Some members are focused on more than their next workout. They want to maintain strength, metabolic health, energy, and overall health as they age.

A virtual care offering can give those members access to clinician-supported longevity and preventive health services as part of the broader experience they have with your gym.

Health Assessments and Diagnostics

Members can collect more health data than ever, but data is only useful when people understand what it means and what to do next.

Health assessments, lab testing, and other diagnostic services can give members additional information about their health and create opportunities for follow-up with qualified clinicians.

As whole-health diagnostics develop, gyms may also have opportunities to connect members with more comprehensive health insights without building their own diagnostic operation.

Reach People Beyond Traditional Gym Memberships

A virtual health offering doesn't just add services — it changes how people find your gym in the first place.

A Second Path to Discovery

Right now, discovery mostly happens one way: someone drives by, sees an ad, or gets a referral, then decides to check out a membership. Virtual care adds a second path — people searching online for help with things like:

• Weight management

• Hormone support

• Healthy aging

• Recovery

• A specific health concern

Those people can discover your business through a health service before they ever think of joining a gym. 

The Size of That Opportunity

• 77 million Americans belonged to a fitness facility in 2024

• Nearly 96 million when nonmembers who still used fitness facilities are counted

• Medical fitness programs already show that health-oriented services pull in people who never saw themselves joining a gym at all

(Source: Health & Fitness Association)

Virtual Care Removes the Timing Constraint

A person doesn't have to be near your location or ready to commit to a membership to start. They can find and begin a health program on their own schedule — from search results or social media — months before they'd ever walk through your door.

Why This Changes the Sales Conversation

Once someone's in that program, your gym is no longer competing only on proximity or price. It's the place that already helped them make progress. That's a much stronger reason to eventually try the membership than a discount ever was.

Expand Your Gym Without Building A Clinic

With a white-label virtual care infrastructure partner, you can offer access to clinician-supported programs in just days, without adding a full medical practice to your gym’s operations.

You keep your focus on your members, your facility, and the fitness experience you already do well. OpenLoop handles the clinical infrastructure behind the care — all under your brand.

That means you can expand your health offering without having to build the entire clinical operation yourself.

Ready to explore what virtual care could add to your gym?

Learn how OpenLoop can help you expand the member experience with clinician-supported health services.

*This content is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. For guidance on your specific situation, please consult a licensed attorney.