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The fitness industry is shaping up
How personal health is driving an industry
By Taylor Phifer
The fitness industry is shaping up
How personal health is driving an industry
By Taylor Phifer
The holidays are over. Nearly a month of overindulgence has passed and now the long cold winter will settle in. With a new year sprouting many have made resolutions for self-improvement. Most will profess a desire to lose weight and get in shape. Some will vow spiritual or family enhancement. But it’s a fact that this time of year almost everyone is thinking about how to better oneself. And there is a huge industry dedicated to filling this need.
Despite the fact that the fat are getting fatter in this country, apparently the fit are getting fitter. Whether being the most obese country in the world is the cause or the effect – America’s fitness and self-improvement industries are booming. With more than 15,000 companies operating around 25,000 fitness and recreation centers across the country it’s evident people’s interest in personal improvement is growing – to a tune of more than $15 billion a year in the fitness realm alone.
Today consumers, not health clubs, are driving fitness industry trends. Fitness clubs can no longer deliver the traditional form of fitness to the average consumer and expect her to stay loyal for very long.
Most clubs are now competing with the massive growth of other, vertical, competitors that are spinning off of the traditional health club. These vertical competitors include group exercise studios, personal trainers, weight-loss centers, 30-minute workouts and chiropractic and physical therapy facilities. In addition many condos and apartment complexes are incorporating exercise facilities that in some cases offer classes and personal training. These facilities are essentially competing for the same consumers.
Changing face of fitness
To counter much of this the traditional health club has had to adapt. Now it’s not unusual for health club to be all-inclusive, offering aerobics, weights, cardio and mind-and-body classes.
“The whole idea of the body being a whole – body, mind and spirit – has become very prominent and is only going to get bigger over the next 10 years,” Bellingham Athletic Club (BAC) owner Cathy Buckley said. “Most clubs now offer Pilates and yoga. We try to offer everything for anyone’s individual needs.”
The self-improvement industry on a whole is relatively young. The idea of the health club started in the 1970 in the form of racquet clubs as racquetball was becoming a popular form of sport and exercise, she said.
As time progressed, science and medicine began to stress the importance of exercise in prolonging life and health. Now nearly 85 percent of people know exercise is good for them and that they should be doing it – whether they are or not.
“Our lives have changed so quickly,” Buckley said. “Our energy outputs for daily living has decreased dramatically over the years as our eating habits have gotten worse. It can be as simple as the increase in the small motors incorporated into everyday life. The washing machine, the computer and even not having to roll down your own window all contribute to less activity. We have decreased our energy output to get through a day. Also, with the pace of life now people are eating out more. So our calorie intake has increased.”
If you just do the math on gaining weight you can see how a minimal change of caloric intake can have a significant effect on weight. If you eat half a candy bar more today than you did yesterday that can be and extra 80 calories a day, times 365 days a years that’s 28,000 calories which equals nine pounds in a year – from 80 calories more a day, she said. “Eighty calories is nothing, it’s two bites of a Baby Ruth.”
These days’ people are more aware of what it takes to lead a healthier and balanced life and those offering services to meet these needs are taking advantage of it.
“It’s an exiting business to be in,” Buckley said. “The members are all shapes and all sizes. Our club has a class of 30 from ages 70 to 95. We have people weight lifting who are in their 90s. People who never thought they would be in the club will be because of the consciousness of being healthy and able to do what they want to do.”
Getting personal
Though large national health club franchises like Bally’s and World Gym and smaller localized clubs, like the BAC, have been riding the crest of the fitness boom other services have also been successful catering to the individual’s personal needs.
Entering a large gym setting with dozens of other people can be intimidating for those who may not know how to reach their health goals or even know what those goals are. Today’s gyms incorporate a vast array of complicated exercise machines and free weights that can be confusing and, if used improperly, dangerous.
Enter the personal trainreIn the last few years the personal training industry has more than tripled with no signs of slowing.
With the introduction of the HMO and a growing distrust of traditional medicine, more and more people are turning to alternative forms of health care and prevention.
“Life coaching is now a huge part of the private trainer,” Dr John Spenser Ellis, President of the National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association (NESTA) said. “Three times more Americans seek alternative health care as they do traditional Western medicine. Many fitness professionals are getting credentials in alternative fields of health: massage, life coaching, hypnoses, stress management, yoga, Pilates and even Eastern medicine. Rather than just coming to do weight training and cardio work, people are coming to a more educated, well-rounded professional for more knowledgeable care.”
Both the consumer and the industry are driving this trend change, Ellis said. On one side the industry is demanding higher education for fitness professionals while the consumer is demanding fitness professionals offer a wider array of complimentary services such as life coaching and long-term fitness goals.
“Consumers are dissatisfied with traditional health care,” he said. “They know they have to be responsible for their own health. For example if you have back pain and stress, the HMO will give you a muscle relaxer and tell you to reduce your stress. That does not give you guidance. People are now taking this information to a physical practitioner and they can teach them the functional movements and therapy to actually cure and prevent future problems.”
NESTA is the fastest growing fitness organization in the country with 40,000 members in 20 countries. Started in 1992 they are in the business of training physical practitioners and have grown by 50 percent each year since its conception.
“This industry is only going to grow, it’s heading straight to the moon,” Ellis said. “This industry is going to become more and more aligned with the medical field.”
As people start to take their health into their own hands and those in the fitness and health business are taking notice.
“There is a trend toward lifestyle fitness coaching,” he said. “The difference is with fitness training you are creating an exercise program based on scientific data for that individual. For lifestyle training it’s more about having a dialog with the individual on what motivates them and how they make decisions. Combine this with personal training and this is where the industry headed.”
Shaping a lifestyle
What’s happening on a national scale is also evident on a local level.
David Adamson is the owner of Fitness Together, a personal fitness training company offering individuals personal attention in Whatcom, Skagit and Island counties.
“I think the biggest thing is that people are wanting more customer service in this industry,” Adamson said. “You used to just get a membership. Now people are requesting more one-on-one personal training.”
According to Adamson the baby boomers and those who are better educated with more money are becoming more health conscious. People are becoming more interested in the basics of health and more aware of how exercise affects their long-term health.
“People want the combination of training and education,” he said. “People want a realistic lifestyle plan – a lifestyle modification with a body-mind connection. They want to know why they are the way they are. And want to get in touch with the spiritual side of their health.”
Fitness Together has three studios in the area, which offer private workout rooms with one-on-one attention from personal trainers.
“It’s client driven, “ he said. “They want the basics. We as technicians tend to make it more complicated. People want to know what are the basics. We’re talking lifestyle. This trend is going to continue. People are going to want more one-on-one personal attention.
“People are now realizing ‘hey here’s an individual that helps me with part of my life’. You become a mentor and hold them accountable just like a personal banker or doctor.”
Adamson explained that the corporate world is also taking notice of the importance employees’ physical health.
“Studies with Coca Cola and GM have shown significant numbers in the money they were able to recoup by investing in the health of their employers,” he said. “From an economic standpoint and from the employers’ side it’s become known that someone in worse shape will miss more work and be less productive.”
Eat well, be well
Physical exercise is only one side of the changing health industry. Up until about 25 years ago there was no real correlation between diet and disease. Doctors were strictly clinical in their assessment of the cause and the possible curse for prolific diseases. However, as the 70s came to an end there began a trend toward nutrition as it related to one’s overall health.
Now the $140 billion global nutrition industry, which includes functional foods, dietary supplements (vitamins, minerals, herbs/botanicals, sports nutrition, meal replacement and specialty), natural/organic foods, and natural personal care, has boomed as people have started to take their health into their own hands and out of the hands of the pharmaceutical companies and traditional health care.
“The general public demanded this,” Certified Clinical Nutritionist Zoere Wilcoxen said. “They started going outside the traditional medicine because they were not getting well. They found other options out there for solutions to their medical problems. Now the medical world sees that the nutritional aspect is valid and impacts in many ways.”
Wilcoxen bases her operation in Bellingham and has a modest list of patients with highly individualized needs.
“As clinical nutritionist my work involves balancing body chemistry,” she said “ I work with people who have gone through a lot of other methods to find resolutions to health problems but couldn’t get that help.”
Wilcoxen said she could have much more business than she does but prefers to keep a small clientele. However, she said this client-driven industry is bringing more and more people into the field of nutrition and more doctors are now getting special training in nutrition because they see it’s important to health and, that’s what people want – alternatives.
“People see that they need to take more responsibility for their health and not rely on medication,” she said. “The big push in the last five years has been for the mind and body connection. What you think and feel affects your body chemistry. People realize this now.”
People’s enlightenment into the benefits of physical and mental health – and the interconnection of the two – is changing the health and medical industries. As these alternatives merge into the mainstream, traditional medicine will start to change toward a more holistic practice. People are no longer relying solely on a pill or a shot to keep them healthy – they see health as a personal responsibility. This phenomenon is driving a market and changing an industry.
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Personal trainer Dutch Bihary assists Jimmy Allen, 87, with her workout at Fitness Together in Bellingham.
Fitness for all ages: Kevin Miller, 15, hits the weights at Bellingham Athletic Club’s Cordata location to keep competitive in his two favorite sports, football and track. His father John is just keeping in shape.
Melaine Poe-Beno teaches jazz and hip hop class at the Bellingham Athletic Club. “I teach people how to be better performers and more well rounded individuals,” she said.
Elderly adults are just as likely as younger persons to be in the gym these days. Trainers are beginning to specialize their knowledge to meet the needs of special populations.
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