Fitness is an ever-growing niche in health industry. The lucrative fitness market is great for budding entrepreneurs who are passionate about fitness and helping people to get fit. If you are one of them, here are 5 trends you should explore more:
1. Online communities
New fitness programs develop a sense of community and engage directly with their audience. CrossFit Games on ESPN, the Spartan Race and Color Race all unite their participants with a common theme and goal.
2. Online trainers
Virtual trainers in your home or at the gym via live streaming from an instructor’s studio. Google’s new site Helpout lets you hire an online trainer for 30 minutes in a variety of disciplines. New in-home spin bikes, e.g. Peloton, have a built in monitor and send data to the instructor so they can tell if you’re slacking off. Some hotels are even installing on-demand instructor videos for a self-guided, in-room class.
3. Classes and Boutique Studios
The novelty factor is subsiding and classes are getting more serious and intense. We are seeing popularity of Zumba and plain-vanilla spin classes fade, whereas CrossFit, full-body spin, and other High Intensity Interval Training methods are on the rise. Olympic powerlifting, bodyweight-only, and kettlebell classes are also increasingly popular.
4. Everybody exercises
Being fit and healthy is the new status symbol. Working out or going cycling is replacing golf as a popular challenging leisure activity. In fact, the numbers of golfers is falling 4-7% every year. The fastest growing activities (CrossFit, themed races, high-intensity classes) all have a couple things in common – one, there is no equipment for the user to buy so the expense is limited to just the cost of a class, and two, an all-inclusive community atmosphere that welcomes anyone of any age.
5. Exercise is a lifestyle
Advertisers have cottoned on to the fact that those who exercise regularly don’t leave their fitness regimen at the gym. Supermodel-endorsed juices, baseball-superstar gyms, $250 yoga pants, expensive supplements, blogs about boutique studios… all of these exist because consumers want it to exist. Today, fitness is a big part of how people identify and express themselves. A huge number of workout options, presented in a growing number of ways, are part of a wider trend towards customization of a lifestyle that embraces fitness and healthy living. We are increasingly seeing people pick and choose fitness accessories in the same way they choose between classes and venues.
Now… how do these trends impact you?
Well, fitness enthusiasts are increasingly realizing they no longer have to be locked into a single gym contract in order to get some exercise.
Ask yourself what you would rather do – the same treadmill and weights routine every day, or change things up with new classes, swimming pools, new gyms and different equipment, all at no extra cost? The problem with a gym contract is that it gives you access to that chain or location only… a pretty limited set of options.
Gyms have been including group exercise classes in customer memberships for years, and have improved the quality of their offerings dramatically. However, most gym’s schedules includes only 3-5 types of classes, which can make finding the right class challenging.
Interestingly, most people who take classes at boutique studios have another membership to a health club – approximately 75-90% do. Until now, you have needed separate memberships for a gym and for classes.
Allfit NYC is a brand new program that gives members access to the best gyms in NYC. A single membership gives you up to 10 visits a month to any of the luxury gyms on the platform, all of which host high-end exercise classes.
The high-end gyms include The Sports Center at Chelsea Piers, Manhattan Athletic Club, Athletic and Swim Club, Complete Body and many more.
Now a single membership gives you access to amazing health clubs, with full-body spin workouts, high-intensity interval training classes, swimming pools, indoor rock-climbing classes, and much more.
Allfit NYC is now accepting membership requests at www.allfitnyc.com