Fitt Insider, a respected fitness industry newsletter, published a fascinating story this week: Running Faces a Growth Paradox
New data from Runna found that nearly a third of Americans—and 52% of Gen Z—aspire to run a marathon. But there’s a little problem: only 7% have actually committed to a race or physical challenge. Nearly half say they “aren’t a runner,” while a third question their fitness.
Imagine that! Millions of Americans say they want to run 26.2 miles but somehow can’t get themselves out the door. Is this really a growth paradox? Or just another example of Americans telling surveyors what they think they’re supposed to say?
Running is getting lots of attention from the New York City Marathon. Now that it’s over, we’ll return to the fitness industry’s current favorite sales pitch: STRENGTH! STRENGTH! STRENGTH!
Why? Because the industry faces a rather unpleasant possibility. Millions of people may soon be able to lose substantial weight by taking GLP-1 medications—without dieting or punishing themselves in the gym.
I remember when the running craze began in the 1960s. There were beautiful books extolling its glories. Suddenly, people were running around Riverside Park in New York, although nobody seemed to know much about what they were doing. It was the beginning of exercise as a weight-loss business. Sweat became a virtue. Calories had to be burned. The more you suffered, the more righteous you were.
I started doing Pilates in the 1960s, when there was hardly an exercise industry at all. In 1991, I founded the Institute for the Pilates Method (now PhysicalMind Institute), so I’ve had a front-row seat to more than three decades of fitness fads, miracles, revolutions, and reinventions.
The one constant? There’s always something new to SELL.
Now back to Gen Z.
Apparently, they LOVE exercise. They’re enthusiastic health club members, despite living in a country where, under the newer adiposity-based definition, roughly 70% of adults qualify as obese and approximately 90% have at least one cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic risk factor. On October 15, 2025, a JAMA study provided the statistical proof that adding waist metrics would reclassify U.S. obesity rates from 40% to nearly 70%.
And plenty of young adults are carrying excess fat themselves. But perhaps Gen Z’s love affair with health clubs has another explanation. When you’re living with Mommy and Stepdad—or Daddy and his trophy wife—or some equally delightful domestic arrangement, a gym membership might be the cheapest way to get out of the house.
Maybe the treadmill is just an escape route.
But Let’s Look at the GOOD News!
If one-third of Americans say they want to run a marathon, perhaps the other two-thirds are the smart ones. Maybe they’re saying:
1. NO THANKS. I HAVE FEET.
Flat feet, to be precise. And plantar fasciitis. In the old days, flat feet might even have kept me out of the Army. Why would I voluntarily sign up for 26.2 miles of pounding pavement?
2. HORMONES RULE. NOT CALORIES.
Haven’t the GLP-1 drugs taught us anything? Apparently not. The fitness industry is still selling the idea that you can sweat your way out of obesity.
3. I’M ALREADY CARRYING AN EXTRA 60 POUNDS.
My body is struggling with that load. My balance isn’t terrific. My joints have enough to do. And now you want me to RUN? And lift weights, too? What exactly am I training for—the demolition of my knees?
4. I LIVE IN NORTH DAKOTA.
Have you noticed the weather? Why should I run around outside in freezing temperatures to prove I’m a worthwhile human being? I have central heating. I intend to use it.
5. WAIT! I THOUGHT CARDIO WAS OUT!
Last year it was running. Now it’s strength training. Then it’s Pilates. Then it’s functional fitness. Then it’s something called HYROX.
Could somebody please make up their mind? I can’t afford a new wardrobe for every fitness revelation.
6. I CAN’T AFFORD A KNEE REPLACEMENT.
A man recently wrote in The Free Press about a serious leg injury that required surgery 30 years ago. His doctor told him his running days were over. But now he’s planning to run the New York City Marathon!
What an inspiring story! Apparently, you can do any stupid thing you set your mind to. Of course, perhaps he’ll finish without a problem. But why is ignoring an old medical warning automatically a triumph of the human spirit?
7. AND I CAN’T AFFORD A HIP REPLACEMENT EITHER.
Have you checked what orthopedic surgery costs? And what if our already overburdened healthcare system becomes even more overwhelmed? In 1990 there were 119,000 replacements; in 2025 there were 652,000; in 2040 the projection is 1,429,000!!
Sorry. I’ll walk.
8. I’M NOT INTERESTED IN ANOTHER COMPULSION.
We have an expanding list of recognized eating disorders, an epidemic of body dissatisfaction, and a culture obsessed with monitoring every bite, step, pound, heartbeat, and muscle.
Do we really need another activity that turns ordinary movement into a test of personal virtue?
The Fitness Industry Has One Answer to Everything: MORE EXERCISE!
There are plenty of perfectly intelligent reasons not to take up running. But the fitness industry doesn’t want to discuss them. Instead, we get the familiar sermon:
“ANY EXERCISE IS BETTER THAN NO EXERCISE.”
Really? Any exercise? At any intensity? For anybody? Regardless of age, weight, physical condition, injury, or ability?
That’s not science. That’s a sales slogan.
Of course, appropriate movement is valuable. I have spent most of my professional life teaching people how to move better. But movement that improves balance, coordination, circulation, and body awareness is not the same thing as pushing a body beyond its capabilities.
The difference matters. Yet somehow we’ve decided that running 26.2 miles is a major life achievement, even if the person is physically unprepared, injured, or miserable.
You finished! You suffered! You got a medal!
Congratulations. Now go buy the T-shirt.
And perhaps that’s the real American fitness paradox.
We have turned exercise into a moral obligation. We celebrate discomfort. We admire punishment. We confuse exhaustion with accomplishment.
The message is always the same:
PUSH YOURSELF. NO PAIN, NO GAIN. NEVER QUIT.
Why? Because there is a powerful streak of masochism running through American culture. Perhaps it’s our religious inheritance—the notion that suffering is virtuous, that pain purifies, and that redemption requires sacrifice.
Jesus suffered on the cross. Americans suffer on the treadmill.
The fitness industry simply figured out how to charge a monthly membership fee for the privilege.
And now, thanks to GLP-1 drugs, the industry faces its most frightening possibility: What if Americans discover they can lose weight without suffering?
Now THAT would be a growth paradox.
