In yesterday’s post on the acquisition of the 1-2-3 FIT franchise chain (1-2-3 FIT Sold to Diversified Health), I pointed out that Fort Lauderdale-based Diversified Health & Fitness has been aggressively buying up the assets of dead, dying and severely wounded franchised fitness chains.
Two years of writing about and commiserating with the franchisees of these chains has left me both hopeful that Diversified HF is genuinely dedicated to helping these franchisees, and fearful that they’re not.
I concluded with an invitation to Diversified Health & Fitness to respond to my rather cynical musings, which they quickly did with the following statement.
Dear …read more

There’s an ancient saying that’s been passed down through generations of fitness franchise bloggers:  Old Fitness Franchises Never Die, They Just Get Acquired by Diversified Health & Fitness.
And just as Blogstradamous predicted, the troubled and troubling 1-2-3 FIT franchise chain was sighted being  led across a misty field by a grim character carrying a scythe and sporting a black “Diversified Health & Fitness” hoodie.
Yes, just after aquiring the Butterfly “I’m not quite dead yet!” Life fitness chain, Diversified Health and Fitness has acquired 1-2-3 Fit, the coed express fitness club created by the supposedly dark knights of franchising, the controversial …read more

In 2005, Entrepreneur magazine ranked fledgling women’s workout franchise Liberty Fitness #415 on its Franchise 500® list, #101 on its Fastest-Growing Franchises list and #39 on its Top New Franchises ranking.  In 2006, Liberty Fitness’ position on its Franchise 500® had slipped to #460 and its Top New Franchise ranking slipped from #39 to #42. 
By 2007, Liberty Fitness had disappeared from all of the Entrepreneur magazine listings.
The Entrepreneur franchise listing for Liberty (now titled Liberty Weight Loss) tells an more dire tale.  It shows 55 Liberty Fitness locations in 2005, 30 in 2006 and 31 in 2007.  Today, the …read more