Silke Hensel: Why the Future of Fitness Feels More Like Therapy

We are incredibly honored to feature this conversation with Silke Hensel, a member of the Places of Healing advisory board and one of the most forward-thinking voices in the global wellness and fitness landscape.

Having shaped brands at the highest level — from her early foundation at Grey Global Group to her role as CMO of RSG Group — Silke has spent her career building not just visibility, but true brand equity at scale. Today, she advises founders, operators, and investors across Europe and the U.S., bringing a rare combination of strategic clarity, cultural awareness, and commercial intelligence.

What sets Silke apart is her ability to read what’s next — to see beyond trends and understand the deeper shifts shaping how we move, heal, and connect. In this interview, she shares her insights on the convergence of fitness, health, and lifestyle, and why the future belongs to brands that create meaning, not just memberships.

POH: How do you see the future of gyms and private clubs evolving over the next 5 to 10 years?

SILKE: The industry has been reinventing itself for years, so that’s not new. What is new is how closely fitness, health, and medical are starting to converge. That shift is real and it’s accelerating.

Traditional gyms will still be there, but the growth is happening at the edges. I see three clear directions: performance-driven concepts where it’s entirely about results, precision, and accountability; lifestyle and social clubs where fitness is one part of a bigger cultural experience; and accessible premium operators that deliver genuine value at scale.

What’s getting squeezed is the middle ground — the “everything for everyone” model. The future isn’t really about access to equipment anymore. It’s about outcomes, identity, and belonging.

POH: Holistic wellness programming is gaining traction. What key trends are you seeing?

SILKE: Holistic wellness has moved from being an add-on to being the actual product. That’s a significant shift.

What I’m seeing is a real move away from “burn calories” toward “regulate your system.” Recovery has become a genuine pillar: sleep, mobility, stress regulation. Hormonal and metabolic health is a big conversation, especially for women over 35. Nutrition is being integrated properly rather than outsourced. And there’s growing attention on the nervous system — breathwork, mindfulness, downregulation.

The smartest operators right now aren’t building services. They’re building ecosystems.

POH: How important is longevity in today’s fitness landscape, and what role do gyms play in supporting long-term health?

SILKE: Longevity is probably the most significant shift we’re seeing right now. We’re moving away from appearance-driven fitness toward function and lifespan. The gap between medical, technology, and fitness is getting smaller every year.

A friend of mine, Vinh, who founded MYO, puts it well: movement will become as essential as brushing your teeth. MYO is a good example of how longevity is actually embedding itself into the fitness space. They’ve reinvented physical therapy and built it into something people can make a consistent lifestyle habit.

The next wave is sustainable performance: injury prevention, metabolic health, strength as a long-term asset. Gyms have a real role to play here, but only if they move away from transactional training and start thinking of themselves as long-term guidance systems.

POH: You’ve emphasised the importance of community in wellness spaces. Why is community-building becoming such a crucial element?

SILKE: Community is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a retention strategy and an emotional anchor. People don’t stay because of the equipment. They stay because they feel seen, accountable, and part of something. In a world that’s becoming more digital, real-world belonging becomes a premium product in its own right.

POH: Many traditional gyms are struggling to stay relevant. What do you think is contributing to this?

SILKE: They’re not disappearing, but they are changing. The gap between premium and low-cost is growing, and the middle is where it becomes genuinely difficult.

Most traditional gyms sell access rather than outcomes. They compete on price and they lack a clear identity. If you don’t stand for something specific, you become interchangeable. And interchangeable is a very hard place to grow from.

POH: How can gyms and private clubs better integrate mental well-being into their fitness programmes?

SILKE: Mental health isn’t solved by adding a yoga class to the timetable. It needs to be woven into space design, staff interaction, and how programmes are structured from the ground up.

The opportunity is to shift from being a workout space to being a regulation environment. That’s a different brief entirely, and it requires a different kind of thinking.

POH: Can you share examples of where physical fitness and mental wellness have successfully merged?

SILKE: In the strongest concepts I’ve seen, it’s never accidental. It’s done by combining performance, design, and culture intentionally. People come to reset, to connect, to spend time in a space that actually supports them — not just to train.

Mental wellness, in my experience, often comes from purpose and belonging. The brands that get this right build spaces where those things happen naturally.

POH: What do you believe will be the next big trend?

SILKE: Personalization at scale. Real personalization across training, nutrition, recovery, and communication — driven by data but delivered in a way that still feels human. The brands that win will feel less like a gym and more like a support system.

POH: How do you see technology shaping the future of fitness spaces?

SILKE: Technology will become invisible, but foundational. It extends the experience beyond the physical space, creates accountability, and is what makes true personalization possible.

The key is that it supports human connection rather than replacing it. The moment technology becomes the product rather than the enabler, something gets lost.

POH: What are the key differences between Europe and the U.S. when it comes to fitness and wellness?

SILKE: The U.S. is still the first mover — fast, bold, and lifestyle-driven. Europe tends to build from science and structure, and execution is often more refined. Trends start in the U.S. but evolve in Europe.

The real opportunity is in combining both. American pace and ambition with European rigour and depth. That’s a compelling proposition in either market.

POH: Looking ahead, what does the ideal hybrid model look like?

SILKE: A high-touch, premium in-person experience combined with a continuous digital layer. Not an app bolted onto a gym, but a genuinely integrated relationship.

The future is a relationship between a brand and its members.

POH:  Thank you Silke for your time.. lets hit the gym together 🙂

Photo credit: HEIMAT, Fitnessclub Los Angeles