It was during a trip to New York in March that the leadership of the Smart Fit Group realized that, in the city's most popular studios, training and physical exertion are no longer the end goal of the experience. Recovery has become part of the training ritual.
Back in Brazil, this understanding turned into a strategy, and the group decided to expand its operations beyond traditional fitness by focusing on wellness as the central axis of its business. The first step in this movement is the launch of Aera Recovery, a branch dedicated to recovery, regeneration, and longevity within the Aera Pilates brand.
By the end of the first two months of 2026, three company-owned units will be inaugurated in São Paulo - Cidade Jardim, Vila Nova Conceição and Itaim Bibi - which will function as laboratories before expansion via franchises.
“Fitness remains important, but it’s no longer enough. People want to take care of their bodies as a whole, not just perform better in their workouts,” says Carolina Corona, CEO of the boutique studio division of the Smart Fit Group.
“We want to take recovery out of the 'only when it hurts' logic and make it part of the routine, just like training,” he adds in an interview with NeoFeed .
Unlike the other brands in the group – in addition to the Smart Fit and BioRitmo gyms, the studio concept encompasses Velocity, Race Bootcamp, Tonus Gym, Vidya Body & Mind, Jab House and One Pilate – all anchored in movement, recovery is the focus of the experience.
The portfolio includes ice baths, hot baths, contrast therapies, compression boots for circulation, massage rooms, and different types of saunas. The idea is that recovery should cease to be a one-off procedure and become a recurring ritual in the urban routine.
Therefore, customers will be able to book individual services, sign up for fixed plans, and, in the future, receive support through TotalPass , the corporate benefits platform that operates as an aggregator in the fitness market.
Corona believes that, after years in which intensity became synonymous with discipline, with the popularization of marathons and triathlons, the pendulum is beginning to swing back. Recurring injuries, chronic fatigue, and burnout have become part of the routine for those who pushed their bodies beyond the limit, which has given rise to concepts such as rest and prevention.
“We went to extremes with exercise. Now, the extreme has become recovery. People continue to exercise, but they understand that without a break, the body cannot sustain it,” says the CEO.
Dialogue with Pilates
This repositioning directly relates to the rise of Pilates as the trendy sport of Generation Z. Previously associated with rehabilitation or more mature audiences, the so-called silver generation, Pilates has come to symbolize a new relationship with the body: low impact, body awareness, clean aesthetics, and a focus on longevity.
Based on this analysis, the group rebranded its One Pilates brand in September 2025, launching Aera Pilates, in order to position it as a more intense, contemporary, and lifestyle-connected experience.
According to Carolina, Aera Recovery now emerges as an extension of this logic. If Pilates occupies the space of sustainable training, recovery comes to represent the moment when the body assimilates the effort, regenerates, and prepares to continue.
The numbers help explain why the group views recovery as something structural and not just a trend. Today, the studios bring together around 140,000 active students per month, with an average occupancy rate of around 60%. Within this ecosystem, Aera Pilates was the vertical that grew the most in the year, with an expansion of 5.6 times.
The expectation is that the new recovery-focused approach, in addition to contributing to revenue diversification, will increase the average ticket price, extend customer relationship time, and consolidate a more complete wellness ecosystem.
“Recovery increases the customer's relationship time with the brand. They stop looking for this solution outside and become part of our ecosystem,” says Corona.
With this strategy, the Smart Fit group intends to maintain its upward profit trajectory, which in the third quarter of 2025 saw a 66.6% increase year-on-year, reaching R$ 144.3 million - a result supported by a 28% increase in net sales, strong company expansion with the opening of 276 new gyms, a 12% growth in the customer base, and a 10% increase in the average ticket price.
To counter the decline in gym memberships in Brazil, mainly driven by the migration to TotalPass, the group launched the Multipass Smart Fit Plan in November, which provides access to the Velocity, Vidya, Aera Pilates, Race Bootcamp, Tonus Gym, Jab House, and Kore studios.
According to the CEO of the Studios, the new contract model eliminates friction when scheduling classes and contributes to increasing the average time a client spends with the company. "We want the client experience at the studios to be more integrated, so we can accompany them throughout our entire ecosystem," she says.
