Health & Fitness Association (HFA) leaders and political insiders are calling on the entire industry to come together to support state and federal advocacy efforts in a bid to ensure the long-term success of fitness businesses across the country.
During the HFA Show 2025 in Las Vegas this week, HFA staffers, advisors and other political insiders spoke about how the fitness industry can get a seat at the table in Washington DC and in statehouses around the country to secure important public policy wins.
HFA vice president of government affairs Mike Goscinski, HFA political advisor Kelly Knowles, Fierce Government Relations’ Eric Zulkosky and 50State’s Larissa Martin spoke during the panel held Wednesday, which was moderated by Athletech News founder and CEO Edward Hertzman.
“We are establishing a foundation and a program to make sure that what happened in 2020 never happens again,” Goscinski said, referring to the fitness industry failing to gain “essential business” status during COVID lockdowns. “Because we’re building the team and we’re building the relationships, both in Washington, DC and 50 state houses across the nation.”
“But we (can’t) do that without the support of everyone,” he added.
Fighting For a Seat at the Table
The panelists started their conversation by acknowledging a painful truth: the fitness industry hasn’t historically had a strong voice – or any voice at all – in Washington.
“During COVID-19, as you all know, the industry was first to close, last to open,” noted Goscinski, who joined HFA in 2022 back when the organization was still called IHRSA. “That’s because no one was at the table speaking in Washington, D.C., to the people who were making those decisions.”
Knowles, a state and federal advocacy expert who’s worked on behalf of organizations in multiple industries, said the fitness industry didn’t have much clout in Washington under the IHRSA name.
“I’d never really heard of IHRSA before,” she said on Wednesday.
IHRSA’s rebrand last year to the Health & Fitness Association, known as HFA, has led to increased brand recognition in Washington, Knowles believes.
“Even in the last 12 months, there’s so much more recognition on Capitol Hill about the association and the priorities that you have,” she said.
It’s not just the name change, though. In recent months, HFA has beefed up its efforts in Washington, including establishing initiatives such as the bipartisan Congressional Physical Activity Caucus (PAA) and FitPAC, a bipartisan political action committee, or PAC, that supports the fitness industry.
“We’ve been working tooth and nail at the federal level to build a foundation that … gets us that seat at the table,” Goscinski assured.
Can the Fitness Industry ‘Make America Healthy Again’?
HFA’s federal advocacy efforts appear to be coming at the right time, with highly receptive voices in the White House and Congress.
“You have the best opportunity in decades to make a real difference for your industry,” Knowles said, referring to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which seems to open the door for the fitness industry to position itself as a key player in healthcare reform efforts.
Knowles added that the fitness industry has “such an incredible story to tell” about why it’s an important industry under the Trump administration’s MAHA push.
Goscinski, who worked on Capitol Hill on behalf of multiple industries before joining HFA, agrees.
“We have probably the most receptive audience right now about making America healthy for physical activity that we’re ever going to have,” he said. “This is a prime opportunity.”
The Importance of Going Local
While federal advocacy is important, panelists on Wednesday also highlighted the critical importance of state-level advocacy for the fitness industry.
“Last year, we engaged with 1,000 pieces of legislation across all 50 states and chalked up 50 wins against harmful legislation,” Goscinski said of HFA’s efforts, mentioning auto-renewal language, click-to-cancel regulations, total-price bills and a bill in California that could’ve cost operators in the state $70,000 each if it had passed.
Zulkosky highlighted the importance of HFA’s state-level work, noting that much of it flies under the radar since it involves avoiding harmful legislation rather than passing new laws.
“There’s a lot of blocking that happened the last year or two,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s not always from our perspective what you’re able to advance, but what you’re able to prevent (that’s) bad from happening.”
Moving forward, the panelists called on the entire fitness industry – from mom-and-pop boutique studios to large gym operators – to come together by joining HFA in its advocacy efforts. That includes both becoming an HFA member and becoming active in local, on-the-ground initiatives, they said.
“(Lawmakers) don’t want to hear from me; they want to hear from you,” Goscinski said, addressing fitness business owners in the audience. “They want to hear from the people who are employing their position. They want to hear from the business owners and operators within their communities that are helping make their communities healthy.”
