(Editor's Note: This sponsored story is part of Club Industry's report, "A Roadmap to 2022: Fitness Industry Trends to Watch," which can be downloaded for free by going here.)
By Sharad Mohan, Trainerize
Now is a good time to follow up 2021 predictions and COVID predictions with an all-new look into fitness trends for 2022. These six predictions, based on conversations with industry leaders, focus on what the end user wants in 2022.
Nutrition coaching will become a default element of personal training. The nutrition industry has shifted over the past decade from counting calories to building healthy habits. Nutrition-focused habits are a major focus of programs such as BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits. People don’t necessarily want to track meals, but they do want to improve their diet and make small changes to build long-term success. Nutrition coaching is becoming a default in personal training programs.
Personal trainers will become big-time entrepreneurs. In the 2008 recession, Shopify exploded with ecommerce businesses. Now, COVID and app providers are having the same effect on the fitness industry. Fitness influencers have boomed on social media. Their niche brands are dialed into their missions, resulting in strong brand loyalty. These businesses need to monetize their audiences, sending them from Instagram, podcasts and newsletters straight to a purchase page, and they need to seamlessly offer all their services in one digital space. The Great Resignation is here, and the fitness profession isn’t exempt. More entrepreneurs will find independence from traditional business structures this year.
Big-box gyms will incorporate personalized, boutique experiences. The one-size-fits-all approach to fitness will evolve as consumers need personalized experiences. Big-box gyms are morphing into new versions of themselves, becoming umbrella gyms with multiple boutique offerings under their brand name. Personal trainers may feel they need to level up their offerings to compete with boutique and enterprise gyms, but those gyms also need to niche down to compete with entrepreneurs.
Fitness providers will become global content providers. In 2022, fitness businesses need to do it all — even compete with Netflix. The best example of this is digital-only studios such as Peloton. Peloton coaches have become celebrities in their own right. Their global library of content churns out more rides and builds more fans. Digital is part of every fitness business in 2022. Everyone is a content provider and needs to think about the libraries they’re building and monetizing on Instagram, YouTube and beyond.
Leaderboards will die out. Leaderboards are all over consumer fitness, but they make some people feel excluded and clients will shift how they measure success in their fitness journeys. Think small group challenges, goals, thresholds and achievements. Fitness is becoming more open as gyms focus on inclusivity and accessibility. Everyone can play, and everyone can win. Doesn’t that sound more motivating?
Functional fitness will reign over machines. People are moving away from machines. Fitness entrepreneurs can’t commit to the overhead of a large in-person business, and consumers don’t want to store a ton of equipment in their homes. Methods such as AMRAP, EMOM and programs with additional modalities are more streamlined, and they all fit into the at-home fitness trend. People also want to integrate more functional fitness — cycling, walking and sports — ideally with friends. As people have become more homebound as a society, socializing is even more important.
It’s easy to think “future of fitness” and think technology — and we do want to build better apps and smarter tools. But most important is the shifting psychological and social context of the world around us. The world we live in is changing, and fitness is changing too. Pandemic aside, people need more convenience, more motivation and more human connection, and that is what will drive fitness for the next 12 months.
BIO
Sharad Mohan is co-founder and managing director of Trainerize — a member engagement platform and mobile app powered by ABC Fitness Solutions. Mohan’s passion for customer experience and digital fitness fuels his commitment to help fitness businesses engage and empower members through technology and has kickstarted the growth of Trainerize, trusted by more than 200,000 fitness professionals and businesses worldwide to power their fitness, nutrition and habit coaching. Connect with Mohan on Instagram, LinkedIn or Medium.