press release: Les Mills UK
Les Mills and Life Fitness announce strategic partnership to elevate fitness experiences
Partnership sees two iconic brands with shared heritage and purpose bring together world-class training and engineering to create better fitness experiences for every body.
Les Mills and Life Fitness / Hammer Strength today announced a new strategic partnership that combines their complementary strengths and values to shape the next era of fitness.
The partnership, unveiled at the Health & Fitness Association (HFA) trade show in San Diego, unites world-class training experiences and equipment to create more engaging ways for clubs and partners to move people.
The collaboration will result in exciting new products, live events and connected fitness experiences across the two brands’ ecosystems, with further announcements to be revealed in the coming months.
Les Mills will serve as the Official Cycle Content Partner of Life Fitness, while Life Fitness will serve as the Official Bike Partner of Les Mills for its cycle programmes.
Shared heritage and values
The seeds of the partnership can be traced back to 1968, when two fitness revolutions began, half a world apart. In the US, the first piece of electronic fitness equipment, the Lifecycle exercise bike, emerged and later became the first product Augie Nieto brought to market as he built what would become Life Fitness. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, Les and Colleen Mills parlayed Olympic training expertise into a fitness movement for the people. Nearly six decades later, those legacies are converging to shape the next era of fitness.
Les Mills and Life Fitness share a belief in performance, science-driven innovation, and the role fitness plays in improving global health and well-being. Both brands have consistently set industry standards through engineering excellence, world-class programming, and a commitment to creating experiences that inspire people to fall in love with fitness.
Uniting strengths to raise standards
The partnership brings together Les Mills’ world-leading group training content with Life Fitness’ market-leading equipment engineering and global footprint. The collaboration will enable clubs, partners, and operators to deliver more connected, motivating, and high-quality fitness experiences at scale, across a range of environments.
Phillip Mills, Les Mills managing director, said: “Les Mills and Life Fitness are living proof that innovation and passion stand the test of time. Together, we’re building a foundation for the future, rooted in shared values, proven expertise, and a long-term vision to elevate the role fitness plays in people’s lives.
“Our mission is to make people fall in love with fitness - to help clubs deliver more inspiring, more effective workouts that support long-term engagement and growth.”
Jim Pisani, Life Fitness / Hammer Strength CEO, added: "Life Fitness / Hammer Strength has always been focused on building equipment that helps people move with confidence and achieve results. Our alignment with Les Mills is rooted in shared values and a deep belief in performance, science, and quality.
"As global fitness leaders, we have a unique opportunity to elevate the experience for training environments, instructors, and members worldwide — empowering more people to work out and creating healthier lives together. This partnership reflects what’s possible when complementary strengths come together to shape the future of fitness."
There’s a huge opportunity to engage with Generation Active through our new innovative group training programmes and boutique offering with 'Les Mills Conquer and Ceremony', which will remove the barriers to group fitness for nearly a fifth of all members, resulting in increased participation and engagement and driving activity beyond the studio to the gym floor.
We changed the game by combining yoga and music to create the category’s biggest programme, Bodybalance – delivered in 15,000 clubs around the world and now we’re innovating once more to help club’s grab a bigger slice of the booming mind/body category and attract the next generation of club members.
We are continuing to invest in our instructors with our commitment to training and ongoing development. This includes offering instructors a multitude of platforms to learn from which recognises progression in teaching and enables instructors to achieve mastery in the art of group fitness.
In an industry as trend-driven as the fitness sector, it’s vital to keep pace with changing consumer preferences so we’re always working on the next big thing that’s going to keep our club partners ahead of the curve.
– Peter Wilkinson, national sales and marketing manager, Bannatyne Group
