Miten Kakaiya has experience of 5 years as a coach, he started his journey back in November 2016. This Manchester return Aerospace engineer realized that the majority of the population is lagging behind on their fitness and can easily overcome their woes knowing how easy and realistic it is for any individual to get fit. Hence, He spent a few months brushing up on his skills as a fitness coach and started the brand – MSF (Miten Says Fitness) in April 2017. As a result, now MSF Program has helped more than 7500 people around the countries and small towns. Miten believes that the best investment is that which improves one’s health and fitness. Miten is dedicated to making World Class fitness training affordable and accessible to people all over the globe.
Like all other businesses that are normally conducted in crowded locations open to the public, the health and fitness industry was profoundly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as well. The pandemic saw fitness clubs losing their members and dealing with a significantly falling revenue as the virus continued to spread far and wide.
While the pandemic draws on, the fitness industry has been adapting and transforming in myriad ways as the focus on health becomes more relevant than ever. What we are seeing is a fitness industry that looks nothing like what it was in the pre-pandemic era.
For a long time, the idea of fitness and exercising has been synonymous with going to the gym, putting it at the top of the exercise industry hierarchy. However, the pandemic changed that and brought to light various gym substitutes that are more accessible and can be as beneficial and effective. More and more people indulged in at-home exercises to work out and household activities to keep themselves active through the pandemic.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the fitness habits of the consumers evolved, presenting an opportunity for fitness-industry providers to re-examine their value propositions and target specific segments. The sedentary lifestyle and work-from-home protocols enforced by the pandemic have translated into changes in the workout patterns of the people and the functioning of the health and fitness industry as a whole.
There has been a shift towards at-home personalized workouts. With the gyms being closed and the various protocols in place, at-home workouts have become all the rage. Home workouts were gaining traction even before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the start of the pandemic, the need to be able to exercise while being safe led to live workouts and at-home workouts becoming the new normal.
There has also been a large shift in focus on wellness. The Covid-19 pandemic elevated the awareness of the importance of health and wellness amongst people. More and more people prioritized their health and wellness and use movement and exercise as a tool for stress relief. It is no secret that exercising is immensely beneficial for physical health as well as mental health. The pandemic has pushed people to think about their health in a more holistic way. This brought about an increase in the share of consumers using mobile apps to work on their health and fitness by about 50 percent in 2020. While virtual class bookings for yoga and meditation were rising significantly, consumers also shifted to online guidance that gives a holistic approach to nutrition and fitness both, keeping focus on both movement and mindfulness.
A lot of people invested in fitness equipment to work out at home. Consumer spending on paid apps and technology solutions has also increased. While gyms and fitness clubs have started offering on-demand and live streaming group workouts to make up for the declining memberships and meet the needs of the consumers, there is a rise in people opting for online fitness where they get customized workouts and meal plans to suit individual’s fitness needs. As opposed to zoom calls/live workout sessions, online fitness membership allows one to workout as per their own schedule and keep an eye on their diet with complete guidance through meal plans. Thus giving them the flexibility to include fitness activities in their lifestyle with mindfulness.
Despite all these solutions, many consumers felt like the at-home regimens are not ideal for their routines. Some feel that they have been less consistent and struggle to find motivation. A legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic is that people are now familiar with navigating the virtual world and can substitute with digital options in health and fitness when they do not have the access to or the time to go to the gym. Many people feel like they prefer their workout routine to be a mix of working out at the gym or studio, and at home in the future.
As the vaccines are rolling out and the pandemic restrictions are easing, consumers are seen to be returning to the gyms and studios while continuing to use alternatives to studios and gyms as well. Despite all the months of being cooped up at home, New Year’s fitness resolutions and the traditional January spike in gym memberships have risen again. While at-home solutions are here to stay, the gyms are not dead as well. The fitness industry is now shifting from survival in the Covid-19 crisis to thriving in this new normal. Consumers are finding new and interesting ways to make fitness an integral part of their life. The quality of competitive offerings has made room for a lot of opportunities for growth for the industry providers.