The pandemic has had a significant impact on all industries. People are, however, altering their lives and navigating through the pandemic in favor of a healthier life. The mix of fitness technology and digitization is definitely transforming and reshaping the fitness industry. Fitness fanatics have shown keen interest in home fitness since the gyms and studios went online with the use of fitness technology and new fitness equipment.
Members have upgraded their home environments and made some long-term investments in various machines, applications, handheld gadgets, wearables, and fitness monitors, while gyms have enhanced their online services. In a way, this change is for both the gym-goers as well as the gyms/personal trainers.
So, let’s look at the new fitness technologies individuals are putting their money into.
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01. Home Gym Equipment
Many individuals are now allocating room in their homes and garages to work out, which was once considered a luxury. There are various ways to stay in shape without going to the gym, from using simple weights and yoga mats to high-tech cardio equipment and other latest exercise equipment. Furthermore, while there is a one-time setup fee, having your own exercise setup may save you time and money in the long term.
The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in an increase in the number of individuals working out at their homes using fitness tech. According to Business Wire, during the pandemic, sales of home health & fitness equipment increased by 170 percent as of May 2020.
In 2020, the worldwide home fitness equipment market was worth USD 10.18 billion as gyms moved into the living rooms. COVID-19 has had an extraordinary and astounding worldwide impact, with the product experiencing a positive demand shock across all areas throughout the pandemic. Now, new-age fitness equipment is being introduced in the market that lets you absorb the gym experience at your own place and convenience.
02. Wearable Fitness Technology
Now, you no longer need an instructor to keep a record of your health-based data. Fitness technology offers other solutions to measure your physical exertion throughout the day to provide users with a more detailed picture of how their exercise habits affect their bodies. Wearable fitness technology uses a device that is worn at all times to measure physical activity such as steps walked, calories burnt, and workout intensity. Customized health regimens tend to get more exact and correct as fitness technology advances, resulting in more realistic at-home exercise outcomes.
With a surge in the market of wearable fitness technology, Fitbit took over a healthcare firm that connects individuals with chronic illnesses to physicians or coaches, all while incorporating Fitbit data into health evaluations. Hexoskin, another Canadian business that sells apparel, incorporates fitness technology that measures lung function as well as heart rate, steps, speed, calories, and sleep, caters to both activewear and general health. They also track sleep postures and measure breathing rate and volume while sleeping, going beyond the normal login hours.
Over the past decade, wearable fitness technology, often known as wearables, has gained steady popularity among customers. Smartwatches like the Apple Watch are probably the most well-known wearables, but numerous wearable devices have emerged now and continue to emerge even today. Some of the popular wearables are Matrix Powerwatch Series 2, Apple Watches, Sensoria smart sock, and so on.
03. Fitness Trackers
Fitness trackers, the modern successor to pedometers, are the next generation of wearable fitness technology. Steps taken, heart rate, calories burnt, and a variety of other fitness data are tracked. Wearable Fitness technology such as FitBit's range of fitness trackers increasingly integrate smartwatch features including phone notification alerts, and smartwatches contain a variety of fitness tracking options and capabilities. Fitness trackers, on the other hand, are less expensive since they have fewer features and emphasis is on usefulness rather than aesthetics.
As fitness trackers gain more and more of the features seen in smartwatches, they are becoming quite the work disruptors. Many of the distractions that make smartwatches potential work disruptors were previously absent from fitness trackers. The producers must consider the addition of these extra features that disrupt the workout sessions leading to the futility of fitness technology.
04. Virtual Reality
Virtual reality fitness tech, often known as VR fitness, is a type of training that employs technology to immerse people in a new, virtual workout environment in which your body serves as the controller. That means if your avatar in a boxing game has to throw some punches, you'll be doing it in real life as well. With the emergence of smart fitness tech, several fitness studios are now streaming even a sport like boxing to members online that require personalized training so that virtual reality opens up new avenues for people to get in shape.
To combat the massive problem of gym boredom, companies are combining the addictive and immersive qualities of video games with the health and fitness benefits of exercise. Virtual Reality uses gym tech to keep its users intact with its interactive approach. The Oculus Quest Fitness Software is a popular virtual reality fitness app that uses games and unique effects to motivate you to perform various workouts.
05. Wellness Apps
In the last year, many individuals have resorted to fitness tech in the form of apps to help them sustain their healthy lives while also dealing with the pandemic. Wellness apps are becoming more popular, whether it's a 10-minute Headspace meditation or tracking sleep with an app like Sleep Cycle. There are several benefits, such as being able to track your diet plans, progress, meals and steps at all times and keeping yourself encouraged.
Students and millennials are using wellness apps more than anybody else. Most students utilize health and wellness apps, according to data performed by dissertation writing services in the UK. This is a positive indicator that the younger generation, particularly students, are occupied with positive activities through the use of fitness tech.
The worldwide wellness market is estimated to be worth more than $1.5 trillion, with annual growth of 5 to 10%. Companies are benefitting greatly from an increase in consumer interest and spending power, especially if spending on personal wellness recovers after stagnating or even decreasing during the COVID-19 crisis. Simultaneously, innovative fitness solutions are becoming increasingly competitive, necessitating a strategic approach to where and how companies compete in the industry.
06. Fitness Apps
Fitness apps are specialized software apps that use modern fitness & gym technology to provide customers with tailored fitness regimens. According to a World Economic Forum report released in September 2020, the number of Daily Active Users using fitness apps grew by 24% from quarter 1 to quarter 2 of 2020.
The Global Fitness App Market is also expanding due to the growing number of smartphone users and continuous advancements in fitness technology. In order to deliver tailored exercise regimens to their clients, fitness apps use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other technologies. They also give individual health coaches, as well as no-equipment fitness regimens, tailored diet charts, diet monitoring, and tracking footsteps. As a result of these benefits, the market's growth potential has increased. MyFitness Pal, for example, offers tailored diet and exercise tracking to its users with the smart use of fitness technology. In June 2020, this app generated USD 6.7 million in income.
07. Smart Exercise Equipment
During the pandemic, there was no shortage of smart and new fitness equipment manufacturers who were competing to take over the role of a gym. There's the Mirror for guided courses, Tonal for an all-in-one gym, Hydrow smart rowers, and NordicTrack treadmills, all hoping to catch the eyeballs of the fitness enthusiasts. With the demand for innovative fitness solutions, Peloton motorbikes smoothly positioned itself in the market as the smart generation is finding its to a healthier lifestyle that too at the comfort of their homes. They saw a gap in the industry and rushed in to fill it by improving at-home health using fitness tech in order to match the elegant gym experience. The popular Peloton bikes install visual display devices in desk-bound motorbikes or treadmills that the user can use at their homes.
These videos show how units stay in the flow while you exercise and give consumers particular options based on their preferences. Customers may choose whether or not to sync their exercises to worldwide leaderboards and post a funny detail from the competition to make the platforms interactive.
08. Online fitness classes & consulting
Almost all the fitness studios and facilities started giving online coaching because of the onset of the pandemic. Within the fitness industry, virtual coaching and training have become a must-have tool for every fitness facility. Nutritionists and coaches started rendering their services online in order to reach their clients. People found the online setup more convenient and some of them even continued after the physical fitness services opened.
One of the main factors driving the demand for online fitness classes is the pandemic. Another key driver is the prevalence of obesity and chronic lifestyle illnesses. The need for customized training regimens, such as those for strengthening a certain set of muscles, has boosted the possibilities of using fitness technology even more. The demand for these online exercise courses has also spiked the demand for home gym equipment. We can say, fitness and gym technology are playing an important role in redefining the fitness culture altogether.
How studios can adapt to this new-age fitness technology?
The necessity for gyms to keep up with advances in the exercise platforms and fitness technology industry and high-tech machinery is resulting in better exercise experiences for their members. Let's take a look at how they might achieve this.
- Encourage your members to track their health-based data and progress on a fitness tracker.
- Utilize fitness technology to create some sensational marketing campaigns and challenges.
- Take into consideration the data tracked by the smart devices to provide personalized fitness regimes to your members.
- Know the real-time data of your members and offer them better results based on the data.
- Serve your clients with a hybrid business model so that they could carry out their fitness routine from anywhere in the world at any time.
Wish to switch to a hybrid business model for your fitness studio? Book a demo with us for a hassle-free shift of business model in these changing times.
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