What Has The UK Lockdowns Done To The Fitness Industry?One of the main industry sectors to be impacted by UK lockdowns has been the fitness and sports industries.
Gyms were closed on 20th March 2020 which led to over 50,000 gym staff being lost. Group fitness classes like Yoga, Zumba and RPM were stopped and there was a surge in online fitness.
Companies like Peloton saw their profits boom during 2020-21 as people opted to train at home. They quickly diversified from bike based classes to a wide variety of home workout options.
During lockdown, government guidance was it was permitted for individuals to take 1 hours exercise per day outside, either alone or with a member of the household.
This is a good indication moving forwards that we all need to do an hours exercise each day. This could be walking, a jog or a workout.
Although the fitness industry did suffer as a result of the gyms closing, there has been a surge in class attendance and new gym signups.
As the swimming sessions increased capacity, and children are gradually allowed back into the pools, the summer looks like it will make up for the long winter.
Many people that have busy lives can attend virtual classes either with a virtual fitness trainer, or a live virtual class from home.
The very thought this time last year of doing a 30 or 60 workout in the living room seemed nonsense, however this is now the new normal. Fitness companies, personal trainers many are offering Zoom classes or Facebook group pages to workout.
New fitness companies are now entering the new world of home fitness, not just people like Joe Wicks.
Les Mills On Demand has seen a spike in the number of people still doing online classes, despite gyms being open again.
Online fitness classes were popular during lockdown but also after as busy people found doing a virtual class more convenient.
Despite lockdown, marketing for fitness companies never really stopped.
Even though gyms were closed during the various lockdowns, the sector was still there to support, motivate and inspire.
A big area of marketing is social media, on sites like Facebook Live.
Facebook was the ideal platform to post fitness classes such as body combat, zumba and HIT classes. Friends and family could login to Facebook groups to take part in group classes. It also gave the chance to see familiar faces of friends that could not be seen during lockdown.
TikTok is also a social media outlet that many fitness experts and gyms use to promote classes and gain followers.
Fitness experts and gyms can use TikTok as a marketing outlet to boost gym and club attendance. In fact many people have started a new career as a social media influencer.
Around 14% of people in the UK attend a gym, which means that 86% of people do not.
The UK is seeing a rise in obesity and health issues related to lack of regular exercise.
There is the need for more people to engage in regular exercise, whether this is going to a gym, attending fitness classes or doing out door exercise.
One thing that lockdown has taught us is how important our fitness is.
What a difference it makes when you take away 3-4 gym sessions a week, or 3-4 fitness classes. The only options are going for a bike ride (weather permitting) if you have one (and a place to store it), a walk or a run. The weight does pile on, the only option is to adapt your diet accordingly (calories in vs calories out).
We all hope that there will be no further lockdowns looking forwards, but the future of the fitness sector is now much more diverse than it was in early 2020.
The future looks very positive for fitness companies, as they adapt to the new normal of social distancing and varied fitness sessions, online and offline.
We are now into 2024 and the days of lockdown are just a distant memory. The days of only being allowed to leave the house for shopping or 1 hour of daily exercise seems like a bad dream. A bad dream that hopefully not return.
The UK fitness industry is back in full swing. Fitness classes have been running smoothly for the last couple of years and gym attendance is up.
Online fitness classes are still used by some people who have busy lives and cannot get to a live gym class.
As pre lockdown, there are still health issues as not enough people are taking regular exercise despite marketing from gyms and fitness experts.
Many people during lockdown vowed to join a gym or attend fitness classes as a resolution. However looking at the gym memberships around the UK, resolutions are easily broken.
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