We’ll Use Our Home Advantage
It’s seems that nothing gets people moving like having their daily activities restricted. Now that we’ve learned to break a sweat at home, the trend will be going nowhere fast…
At the time of writing, 64% of fitness sites around the world are closed, according to global platform FitnData. An as-yet-unknown number of those will never reopen. Industry body UKActive has warned that a third of the country’s facilities – 2,800 of them – may collapse in the coming weeks without government intervention.
“There’s going to be a bit of a shakeout,” says David Minton, director of FitnData’s parent reporting company, Leisure DB, and an industry veteran of three decades. Just like the rest of us, Minton has been working out at home, while kettlebells and yoga mats – to quote the Economist
– have been “selling like toilet paper”.
But now that we’ve got all the gear, not to mention an endless stream of ideas, will we even need to go back to gyms?
“Physical spaces will certainly have to work to convince us to go back by offering smaller class sizes and a reassurance of hygiene,” says Victoria Buchanan, senior futures analyst at strategic foresight consultancy the Future Laboratory. We might even have to book in time slots to prevent overcrowding. But Minton is adamant that, as social animals, we will flock back to gyms: “Group exercise will almost certainly come out on top.”
The fitness industry bucked the downward trend of the last recession, and budget operators such as PureGym took advantage of the newly vacant and cheap commercial property. This time, however, low-cost gyms could be hit the hardest, says Minton. They’ll leave gaps to be filled by small, hyper-local set-ups that are more tuned into the area’s demographic: less one-size-fits-all, more community-based.
We don’t just need opportunity to exercise. We need motive, or fitspiration. Personal training studios could profit from their strong relationships with a limited clientele, with those that have the space expanding into small-group classes. Buchanan predicts growth in virtual PT consultations, which ensure accountability but slip more easily into our schedules.
Faced with the sudden closure of their physical spaces with seemingly no end in sight, many operators hastily launched digital offerings. But outside of lockdown, the two are not mutually exclusive: tech can be used to engage with and keep gym members. With trackers such as the Apple Watch, Oura Ring and Whoop now programmed to spot symptoms of COVID-19, tech might even be what enables us to go back to gyms, by telling us whether or not we’re infectious.
Home workouts were already experiencing a resurgence, driven by next-gen hardware such as Peloton,
Mirror and Tonal. But while they might be new innovations, the workouts are not. Being able to get your fitness HIIT in your living room is convenient. But as with working from home, sometimes you’re virtual high-fiving, sometimes you’re just getting on with the job, and sometimes you’d rather get dressed and go to a more conducive environment with like-minded people – without your kids.
There will be pain, but there could also be gain. A Sport England survey found that 25% of us are working out in lockdown. Gym membership penetration is a mere 15%. That means there are a lot of prospective sign-ups. More than half of us are taking a daily walk, too, and more of us than ever appreciate the physical and mental benefits of being active.
“For the first time since the Second World War that I’m aware of, the government is encouraging you to exercise every day,” says Minton. With good health linked to positive COVID-19 outcomes, the industry should more than recover:
“It really is survival of the fittest.”
“Now that we’ve all got used to training at home, gyms will have to convince us to go back”