Reuters: Fitness options multiply for the time-pressed and money-stressed

 

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Stone Hearth News

  

(Reuters) – Time, money and the Internet are changing where Americans work out, fitness experts say.

Time-pressed fitness fans seeking short, focused workouts are flocking to boutique studios specializing in everything from indoor cycling to boot camp, and the no-frills gyms that burgeoned during the financial recession are still thriving in the recovery.

Cedric X. Bryant, chief science officer with the American Council on Exercise, believes fitness has taken a minimalist turn that encourages smaller venues.

“From a training perspective, we’re going back to basics, away from more complex equipment,” he said. “The simpler exercise approaches of popular trends like boot camp and CrossFit and High Intensity Interval Training require less space and less sophisticated equipment.”

  

All of which, Bryant said, lends itself to economically sized, and priced, gyms. He expects the trend to continue because the workouts are effective.

Nearly one in five Americans is a health club consumer, according to a 2014 report by IHRSA, the International Health and Racquet Club, an industry trade association.

While membership has remained more or less steady, IHRSA reports a shift in the past few years from large multipurpose clubs to smaller gyms, boutique or sport-specific studios and fitness-only facilities, many of which are franchised.
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