Has covid19 changed the fitness industry?
Exercise & Fitness
The impact of the coronavirus has changed the fitness industry and every other businesses completely. Yet the fitness industry continues to adapt and flourish.
While household names fold into administration and retailers warn of an uncertain future, the world of home exercise has bucked that trend. Proving to be as flexible and adaptable as a training schedule should be.
The fitness industry has adapted to life in lockdown and could well hold on to those changes permanently.
Many news and media outlets are now offering nearly daily reminders of the importance of keeping fit. In a way that was not seen pre-pandemic.
One could even see the UK government implicitly encouraging regular exercise when it introduced lockdown measures in March - telling people they could only go outside for one form of outside exercise per day. As we move into the next phase of lockdown the UK will be able to exercise for more time allowing for different types of fitness.
At Life Insurance Cover, we spoke with a PT start-up company who has seen a large increase of requests for different training plans and train online with exercises.
Keeping Fit At Home
Adam Gould from Adam PT explains:
“By using social media and technology we are able to communicate and train together. I have seen an increase for classes to train with me via live streaming services. Starting with classes for beginners to the more advanced general public. At Adam PT we train to everyone’s ability within the space available.”
The Adam PT face book page has seen a 900% increase in sign-ups since the onset of the outbreak.
More people are moving to home workouts to try and keep fit and healthy during the lockdown.
But will a shift to virtual workouts continue once restrictions begin to ease?
"Is it going to be something that stays? For sure - how big that change will be remains to be seen. It's definitely been a transformation, but it's accelerated a transformation that was already happening," Mr Gould said.
He is not, however, convinced that the "live experience" of working out in a gym or group studio will ever be replaced.
It is also worth noting that with the new digital workouts with Adam PT are not just local people signing up.
Adam informed Life Insurance Cover that “The fantastic response for people wanting to train along me has people from my local area but also places like London, Wales and USA, parts of Europe and even from Australia”.
Message Adam to get an individual plan if you prefer to train at home.
The gym becomes people's living rooms. Home exercise equipment joined the ranks of flour and toilet roll in the initial rush to get hold of items as the UK went into lockdown.
Some gym equipment providers, had been forced to temporarily pause sales at the end of March. After seeing "a massive surge in demand".
At Life Insurance Cover we had a brief look on ebay, the demand for fitness equipment is extremely high and the costs can rival the costs of some cars, as people rush to get their fitness equipment.
Gyms & Leisure facilities
But with gyms and leisure facilities across the country told to close their doors during the lockdown. Not all elements of the fitness industry can be coming out on top.
Fitness groups including Barry's Bootcamp, PureGym, and Virgin Active have all confirmed they are awaiting government advice before reopening.
Instructor-led classes within fitness clubs are the company's "core business" and so figuring out how best to support the whole host of people affected by the lockdown had to happen quickly.
While we await further information from the government on when the general public will be able to go into gyms and leisure facilities. Which has been potently slated for late August at the very earliest. At Life Insurance Cover we encourage everyone to stay safe, keep fit where possible and be nice to each other.
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