Industry Insights
Why SOZO Will Redefine the Health Club Industry
We Are Living In the Age of Anxiety
By Herb Lipsman, CEO & Co-Founder, SOZO Clubs
Everywhere I go, airports, restaurants, offices, and even neighborhood sidewalks, I see the same expression on the faces of adults of all ages. A quiet heaviness. A sense of strain. A feeling that life has become more complicated, more pressured, more isolating.
This weight is not imagined. It is driven by forces none of us can fully escape:
- Economic uncertainty
- Healthcare worries
- The breakneck pace of AI and technological change
- Political polarization and social division
- Social isolation and loneliness
- Digital overload and constant distraction
- The erosion of real, meaningful community
For decades, the health club industry has responded to these shifts with more—more equipment, more classes, more amenities, more apps, yet almost all of it focuses exclusively on the body, and most of it is targeted to people under 30.
But the truth is this:
Physical fitness alone has never been enough.
It doesn’t solve the deeper crisis adults face today.
People aren’t looking for another treadmill or a more advanced strength machine. They’re looking for purpose, belonging, and connection.
They’re looking for a Third Place—a warm, welcoming environment where they can see friends regularly, make new ones, and engage in healthy activities that elevate both body and spirit.
At SOZO, we think about the real human beings behind the statistics. You may recognize some of them in your own life:
- The overwhelmed young mom juggling three kids, work, school schedules, and expectations that never end.
- The retired or widowed man who looks fine on the outside but spends most evenings alone, with no place that truly feels like his.
- The middle-aged executive or small business owner whose day never stops, emails, deadlines, payroll pressure, yet who can’t remember the last time they made a new friend.
- The doctor or lawyer who has achieved professional success but feels exhausted, disconnected, and quietly unhappy.
These are the people who need a place to breathe again.
To laugh again.
To feel part of something again.
To belong again.
This is why SOZO exists.
To build a new kind of wellness community, one rooted in connection, designed for today’s adults, and focused on a deeper, more meaningful form of wellbeing.