Gym Members Plan to Return, Want Options Outside Gyms, Per Report

Forty-nine percent of active health club members who cancelled their health club memberships due to COVID-19 plan to return to a gym, according to a report by the IHRSA Foundation, ABC Fitness Solutions and ClubIntel.

“The Next Fitness Consumer Report” shared demographics of active consumers and a snapshot of traditional gym consumers, exercise motivations, fitness goals, activity regimen mix (including in-club, outdoor and digital usage), and how much each generation spends on fitness.

Ten key findings from the report are:

1. Sixty-six percent of Americans say they are currently active, which may indicate that they define fitness as broader than physical exercise to also include mental health and acuity
2. Consumer still want outdoor activities and digital/online workouts.
3. Being able to exercise regularly may be a privilege of higher-income people, which means the industry needs to look at how to remove the barriers of inequity.
4. Active consumers still see fitness clubs and studios as their go-to hub.
5. Among active members who canceled their membership at big-box gyms due to COVID-19, 49 percent plan to return in the next six to 12 months.
6. Men are more likely to have returned to brick-and-mortar clubs. Women may be more likely to engage in digital and at-home fitness.
7. Active Gen Z consumers want fun and a sense of accomplishment from regular exercise, along with the expertise and accountability of fitness coaching.
8. Active Millennial consumers want to get back to the in-club experience, ranking health benefits and confidence boosting as top motivators for exercising.
9. Generation X remained relatively stable in their exercise regimen during the pandemic, but they were more likely to trade down than their younger counterparts.
10. Active Boomers and older members value fitness more now than ever, but they are the most price-sensitive of all the age groups.

For greater details about these 10 findings and more, you can download the report for free.

The survey of 2,113 consumers was conducted in June 2021, screening respondents to ensure they were “active” consumers over 18 years of age who were currently exercising, working out or staying active. The survey also included those who were not active but had an interest in working out, but it did not include those who had no interest in exercise.