In 2024, sports and fitness activity tracking app Strava released a ‘Year in Sport’ report that revealed 58% of the people surveyed said they had made new friends via fitness groups. Almost 1 in every 5 Gen Z folks surveyed said they “went on a date with someone they met through exercise; and were 4x more likely to want to meet people through working out than at the bar.”
For Jackie Thakkar, a 32-year-old Mumbai-based standup comedian and creative director at a leading media company, this phenomenon resonates quite a bit. He’s recently joined a local frisbee group that meets twice a week. The club has a lot of folks under the age of 40. “This has been a great way for me to meet new people I would not have met otherwise as I usually hang out in media circles. Through frisbee, I have met many expats and NRIs and made new friends,” said Thakkar.
Siva Kumar Pedhapati, head of brand marketing at Curefit, the parent company of Cultfit, told FE, “Fitness really is a shared experience rather than merely an individual pursuit. At Cult, our group workouts are specifically designed to encourage social interaction while making fitness more enjoyable.”
“As a result, more people are joining not only to focus on their personal fitness but also to network and socialise,” Pedhapati added.
Mallika Tarkas Parekh, owner of India operations of Physique 57, a global fitness chain launched in Mumbai in 2018, agrees with Pedhapati. In her experience, a lot of her clients have been around for a long time because of the workout classes, but also “for the sense of camaraderie and community” they’ve developed with each other.
She added, “While there will always be people who prefer to work out alone, those who work out in groups are surprised by how much fun they have, how personalised a group setting can actually be with expert trainers, and how dramatic the results can be.”
Prachi Goswami, a Meerut-based professor, agrees. After a year of working out alone, Goswami decided to join a gym because she was losing the motivation to keep going. Sharing her experience, she said, “For people who live alone, work from home, or just have very little social interaction, even making small talk to your gym buddies can be the highlight of your day. I’ve been able to meet different kinds of people, which has opened me up to many new perspectives.”
The advantages of socialising within fitness groups go much beyond this though, laughed Goswami. “If someone is looking for a partner, the gym can be a great place to find a date. I’ve also seen my friends get job referrals through their gym buddies.”
Goswami does hit the nail on the head with this observation. Bumble recently released research findings which suggested that 49% Indians are “eager to combine fitness with dating, and 42% are open to trying it if suggested by their partner.” Moreover, as many as 52% Gen Z singles were interested in fitness-centred dates, 95% said sporty first dates are appealing, and 44% said that it’ll be a dealbreaker if their partner is not interested in sports.
Tinder’s Year in Swipe 2024 report also said people were increasingly seeking partners who shared their hobbies, especially those centred around fitness. It’s no surprise then Bumble and Puma have already collaborated twice to hold ‘Singles-Only’ runs.
Pracheta Mazumdar, senior marketing manager for APAC at Bumble, told FE, “The ambition has always been to take the online offline, helping people connect on Bumble for successful relationships. We’re focused on creating opportunities for our community to meet at events aligned with their lifestyles and shared interests, sports being a big one for India.”
She added, “In fact, according to our 2025 Dating Trends predictions, nearly half of single Indians on Bumble stated that unique and quirky interests are now key to attraction. Not only does this help identify partners, start conversations, and build compatibility but almost one in two GenZ singles agree that geeking out on something together is a form of intimacy. With events and partnerships like these, we hope to help our community meet like-minded individuals in a low-pressure setting, which helps make the first move less intimidating.”
With this trend shaping up, now gyms are also taking note to curate experiences centred around socialising for their clients. Said Pedhapati, “One of our standout initiatives is ‘Squads’, a feature on the Cult app that enables members to form fitness groups and stay motivated together. ‘Make The Move’ is another key initiative that takes trending fitness formats beyond the gym, offering members activities like trampoline workouts and a chance to bond outside the Cult community.”
Not just that, gyms are also organising in-person events for their clients to interact. For instance, Curefit has been holding micro-events like pottery sessions, origami workshops, and even painting classes for its members. Pedhapati added, “These are limited slot experiences designed to engage the members and cultivate deeper connections.”
Likewise, Parekh’s Physique 57 India also has a plethora of offerings to help people socialise. “We regularly offer workout challenges in the studios that allow clients to be in friendly competition with one another. We even host mixers outside the studio that allows our clients to go, quite literally, from barre to bar.”