Fitness options multiply for the time-pressed and money-stressed

Time-pressed fitness fans seeking short, focused workouts are flocking to boutique studios specializing in everything from indoor cycling to boot camp, and the no-frills gyms that burgeoned during the financial recession are still thriving in the recovery. Cedric X. Bryant, chief science officer with the American Council on Exercise, believes fitness has taken a minimalist turn that encourages smaller venues. Nearly one in five Americans is a health club consumer, according to a 2014 report by IHRSA, the International Health and Racquet Club, an industry trade association. While membership has remained more or less steady, IHRSA reports a shift in the past few years from large multipurpose clubs to smaller gyms, boutique or sport-specific studios and fitness-only facilities, many of which are franchised.