According to Life Time’s annual health and wellness survey, 82 per cent of respondents plan to focus on health and wellbeing in 2026 – up 7 per cent on last year.

Conducted among 750 general consumers and Life Time members in December, the survey reveals a continued interest in strength training, longevity health habits and AI.

Strength training is the top trend, with 42.3 per cent of respondents saying their primary 2026 health goal is to get physically stronger. 

Longevity was cited by 33.2 per cent as a key motivator to exercise. AI is used by 35.3 per cent to support workouts, nutrition, or health and an additional 36.4 per cent say they may be curious to explore AI-supported fitness tools in 2026. However, 28.3 per cent said they were not interested.

"People are training more intentionally, to feel and perform better for longer – and pairing that with smarter recovery and objective health metrics," said Danny King, director of recovery and performance. "At Life Time, we're investing in spaces, equipment and programming, such as our metabolic testing, that help people build strength safely, recover effectively and stay consistent long-term."

As an overall trend, respondents to the study said longevity at 37.8 per cent is the wellness trend 'most likely to define 2026', followed by GLP-1s and peptides 24.4 per cent and AI-guided training 14.6 per cent.

Sleep is a priority – almost 69 per cent of respondents said they'd pick always getting eight hours of sleep over eating unlimited snacks without weight gain.

There is a buzz around community, with 33.6 per cent favouring group fitness classes and 50.5 per cent enjoying exercising alone.

Life Time says supplement preferences 'continue to evolve', with protein, multivitamins, and vitamin D ranked as the most important, followed by electrolytes and magnesium.