Why Your Favorite Workouts Likely Have California Roots (and What Makes Them Succeed) 

From Pilates studios to pickleball startups, fitness companies are finding their market in the Golden State.

BY CHRISTEN MCCURDY, FREELANCE WRITER

Photo illustration: Inc. Art; Unsplash

Today, the familiar “thwock thwock” of a pickleball game has become so pervasive that it’s causing HOAs and city governments around the country to issue bans and relocate courts. It’s hard to believe it was once a little-known sport outside certain pockets of the Pacific Northwest, notes Kyle Goguen, the co-founder of CRBN Pickleball, the Costa Mesa, California-based maker of pickleball equipment. 

Goguen launched his company in 2021 with his childhood friend, Garrett Gosselin. A former sommelier who found himself out of work during the pandemic, Gosselin took up pickleball in a serious way. He wasn’t alone: In the first years of the pandemic, the sport enjoyed rapid growth in popularity. Dissatisfied with the pickleball equipment then on the market, Gosselin tried his hand at designing his own for a younger generation (he and Goguen are both 35). CRBN Pickleball, ranked No. 26 on the 2026 Inc. Regional’s Pacific list, now employs 20 people, and made $20 million in revenue in 2025—more than double the $9.8 million the company brought in the year before.  

In the early days, pickleball was usually played indoors because of the rainy climate of the Pacific Northwest. But once Southern Californians discovered the sport, which they could play outdoors year-round, pickleball began to spread, primarily among older adults. 

Pickleball is just one of the many niche sports and fitness trends that have been popularized in California over the years, including skateboarding, surfing, and Pilates. Even the modern fitness movement has distinctly Californian origins: In 1936, Jack LaLanne opened what is usually described as the first modern fitness club in Oakland. 

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Californians care a great deal about staying fit. In 2024, an estimated 29 percent of Californians over the age of 6 were members of a fitness facility, second only to New York, where 30 percent of the population belongs to a gym, according to Mike Goscinski, chief of staff for the Health & Fitness Association, a trade association for fitness club and studio operators. The state is also producing more than its fair share of fitness startups. Goscinski notes that California has launched some of the most influential health club brands in the country, including 24 Hour Fitness, LA Fitness, Chuze Fitness, and the original Gold’s Gym. 

It’s also the epicenter of Pilates studios. Although Joseph Pilates opened his fitness studio in New York City in the 1920s, Pilates became a major phenomenon after Ron Fletcher opened a Pilates studio in Beverly Hills in the late 1960s that was popular with celebrities. As of 2023, 12 million Americans practice Pilates. 

“The more recent Pilates resurgence has California roots with several major studios originating on the West Coast, buoyed by influencer culture and celebrity trainers,” Anna Pione, a partner in McKinsey’s consumer practice, tells Inc. 

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