{"id":246535,"date":"2020-06-19T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2020-06-19T05:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/?p=246535"},"modified":"2021-09-02T05:36:23","modified_gmt":"2021-09-02T09:36:23","slug":"how-will-the-fitness-industry-adapt-to-the-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formnutrition.com\/us\/inform\/how-will-the-fitness-industry-adapt-to-the-new-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"How Will the Fitness Industry Adapt to ‘the New Normal’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a devoted gym-goer, my first thought when the lockdown was announced wasn’t when I’d get to see my friends\u00a0again, or where I was going to get my morning coffee<\/a> from now.<\/p>\n

No, the first thoughts that raced through my mind were gym-related, and mainly how on earth I was going to cope with even just a week without it. Which makes me privileged of course; 2020 has been full of much bigger problems<\/a> than my right to bench press.<\/p>\n

But the gym is a huge part of my life, as it is for the other 10 million people who own a gym membership in the UK. When my mental health has been low it’s offered me respite. It’s helped me stay healthy and driven, bringing a sense of order to my week<\/a>. Like a best friend, it’s always been there for me when I needed it, and then literally overnight it wasn’t there for us anymore. We were going to have to adapt, and so was the industry as a whole.<\/p>\n

The Rise Of The Digital Workout<\/h2>\n

Up to that point, the fitness industry had been booming. Gym memberships had been at an all-time high, as had the number of gym instructors in the UK. “If you look at the UK, the industry-wide penetration rate [the percentage of identified potential customers acquired] in 2017 was 15 percent, and in 2019 it exceeded that for the first time in history with one person out of seven being a gym-goer,” notes Lenka Chubuklieva, director of Rumble Gym<\/a>, a boutique fitness studio in Dalston, east London. “We had also seen an increase in fitness facilities across the UK. We can safely say that the UK was the healthiest it’s ever been.”<\/p>\n

In a similar manner to retail, lockdown shifted the focus on these physical spaces towards the virtual realm. At Rumble, this meant offering workout sessions on their Instagram feed as well as developing their own digital TV channel, R2TV<\/a>. It’s a bit like Netflix but instead of binge-watching Tiger King you’re taking part in a range of fun-to-follow exercise classes, from pilates<\/a> and vinyasa yoga to fully-body HIIT workouts and strenuous booty sessions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, memberships have been frozen as people pull out of paying for the use of a product that isn’t available to them anymore. For the gyms (as with all the restaurants, bars, and shops) there’s still rent to be paid. And then there’s the vast number of independent personal trainers whose freelance-like work has dried up in an unforgiving gig economy. How were they going to work from home when their jobs necessitated them being in the gym or right next to their clients offering support?<\/p>\n

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The digital transition was going to be crucial to their survival. Luckily for independent personal trainer, Dennis Conroy<\/a>, the digital side of his business was already established by the time the pandemic had reared its head.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been using apps now for more than two years,” says Conroy. “You just have to go into the app, and the training plan is all there as well as videos for every exercise. Then I also fill my diary with one-to-one sessions over Zoom<\/a>. My clients were already familiar with the app and so the transition for me was a lot easier because they knew what they were going to get. It was an easier sell.<\/p>\n

“There are trainers or coaches out there who didn’t have that though and have then had to make that transition during a pandemic, which is difficult. They’ve got to build the app and then they were having to try and sell something people weren’t familiar with. So it was like there were two hurdles that they were trying to get over.”<\/p>\n

Importance Of Community<\/h2>\n

As well as honing his digital skills, Conroy goes on to explain how the role of a personal trainer has evolved beyond its traditional meaning and boundaries. “There’s a lot of coaches out there who I believe are becoming more life coaches because of the changes, which is interesting. As a trainer, you work with different personality types and you have to respond to them in a different manner.<\/p>\n

“If you look at the first four weeks of lockdown, you’ll probably have seen loads of people doing sessions every day and you get to week four, and then there might be only 75 percent. Something I did that worked really well here, as it has done with a lot of businesses, is just trying to build some community. I’ve stuck religiously to my mobility class on a Sunday. Everyone turns up to that. It’s a little bit of wind down at the end of the week.<\/p>\n

“And, I’ve been checking in a lot with people. That face-to-face interaction is a morale booster. I’ve got clients who have been dealing with their kids for the last eight hours or have been on their own for months. Some of my clients are like my mates. I’ve been to weddings, birthday parties, social gatherings.”<\/p>\n