Obesity is a growing problem in the United States and many other parts of the developed world. It is one of the consequences of being a more sedentary society. An estimated 39.6% of Americans are currently obese.
Rising obesity levels have created a lot of problems. One of them is the growing risk of diabetes, which has increased 180% over the last 30 years. Heart disease is another major problem caused by rising obesity levels.
There are a lot of things that we can do to help fight the obesity crisis. One of the most important things it to encourage people to exercise more to become fit. New healthcare technology can help with fitness.
Fitness has always been a part of man’s pursuit of wellness. Since the ancient Greeks trained with the dual goal of improving their physique for personal gain while also showing off to others, nothing has changed much in current gym culture. However, the business of fitness has changed quite a bit since it became a market for general consumers.
Today’s gyms still resemble the first-ever health clubs founded by Lack LaLanne in mid-1930s California. “It doesn’t matter where you go, there is a health club and it all started with Jack LaLanne,” Arnold Schwarzenegger has said. Known for making fitness equipment accessible to all, including women, LaLanne also played a part in developing machines that are still in use by modern gyms. Nearly 100 years later, the global fitness market is expected to reach $302 billion by 2034 with a CAGR of 9.2%. While over 113,000 gyms or fitness clubs in the U.S. contribute to this growth, a number that continues to increase by approximately 2.3% each year, the face of fitness has evolved in recent years.
Part of this sea change was brought on inadvertently by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced people to find new ways to exercise during sweeping shutdowns of public facilities. However, post-pandemic trends show that a large share of American consumers may prefer to work out at home rather than go to a fitness club. The sale of home fitness products reached $424 million in 2022, nearly double sales from 2019. While 46.9% of American adults are meeting the CDC’s recommended guidelines for activity, only 20% have gym memberships.
These numbers funnel down even more when exploring how those memberships are used. While the idea of big-box gyms like Bally’s, Planet Fitness, and Gold’s Gym dominated the market in the middle of the 20th century, the move to more personalized, specialized experiences has been on the rise. “Expectations for consumers are increasing, and have for quite some time now, and meeting that expectation is getting more challenging for brands in all industries,” commented Bryan O’Rourke, president of the Fitness Industry Technology Council.
Then there is the boutique fitness studio market, which focuses on just a few exercise modalities and caters to smaller amounts of higher-paying members. The market for these studios was valued at $49.30 billion and growing in 2021. According to fitness entrepreneur Anthony Geisler, the industry “…really shifted about 15 years ago over to boutique fitness where people want specialized services.”
While consumers are moving to more curated experiences, they’re also emphasizing convenience thanks to technological advances. Hybrid fitness models combining in-person and online classes, which give members the flexibility of digital access, are rising in popularity and yielding results. People using hybrid offerings achieve 67% more workouts than their gym-only counterparts. In addition to this, the rise of fitness trackers is projected to be a $114.36 billion industry by 2028, and observers can quickly trace the transformation from traditional fitness models to interconnected, digital, and flexible formats.
“For decades, the fitness ecosystem was captured between the four walls of a club facility, focusing only on the physical location. But you see that the fitness ecosystem has changed from being place-orientated to more person-orientated,” said Ernst de Neef, CEO, Funxtion.
Businesses making the move to incorporate technology into their approach will be better positioned to endure the next era of personal fitness. Companies that implement tools to analyze complex data, such as health information to personalize exercise regimens, experience 2.6 times more success than those that do not. This can range from integration with the wearable technologies that members are using, to modernizing booking and customer management experiences. Companies just starting in the fitness industry can benefit from looking into the segment’s past trajectory to remain on the cusp of current expectations. These entrepreneurs have an opportunity to help others in the process. “It’s nice in the fitness side because you are helping people be healthier,” shared Anthony Geisler. “You’re helping people live longer.”
Ultimately, fitness entrepreneurs and mainstays alike can benefit by remembering that the industry may have its foundation in proven physical activities, but consumers remain ever-ready to see how fitness offerings will evolve to match the demand for contemporary execution.
