What’s moving the fitness industry this year?

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An article by Alexander Wulf, Florian Schmidt & David Köndgen

The year 2024 will be an exciting one for the fitness and health industry. The effects of the pandemic are increasingly fading into the background. Great challenges and potential await - new, resurgent or ongoing trends will motivate people to stay active. The DSSV e. V. – Employers' Association of German Fitness and Health Centres conducted a survey among German studio operators about the trends in the fitness industry for 2024. This article is also dedicated to the international trends in the fitness industry, which the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) surveys every year.

In a rapidly changing world where the awareness for healthy lifestyles continues to grow, it is crucial to understand the latest developments in the fitness and health industry. The DSSV e. V. provides an insight into the upcoming trends that will significantly shape our fitness habits and health behaviour in the new year. We not only considered the current needs of exercisers, but also spoke to operators of fitness and health centres in Germany about the trends for the coming year.

The 1st place of the trends in 2024 shows that the fitness industry is increasingly aiming to offer tailored programmes that take the needs of the older population into account. Rising life expectancy, demographic change and increased interest in healthy ageing have led to fitness programmes for older people becoming more and more important. The potential of this target group is huge. In 2022, only 8.4 per cent of over-60s were members of a fitness facility. By comparison, the figure for people aged between 40 and 50 was over 22 per cent (DSSV, 2023).

Back to the roots? Not in this case. Strength training with free weights has been a permanent favourite among industry trends for decades. Coming in second place shows the increased interest in this form of strength training. Compared to guided strength training with machines, free weights allow for natural freedom of movement, which leads to improved muscular stability and coordination. This not only helps to increase muscle strength, but also promotes general performance. At the same time, it should be noted that free weight training requires a higher level of training experience or training supervision than, for example, guided equipment training.

Third place in this year's trends rightly emphasises the importance of employee qualifications. The ranking emphasises the need for professional expertise and well-trained specialists in the industry. This is crucial to ensure that trainers can provide the best and most personalised service to their clients, especially those who have never been involved in fitness training before. The quality of a fitness trainer's education plays an essential role in delivering sound and effective training programmes. In 2022, over a fifth (22.8 per cent) of employees in the fitness and health industry were already graduates. In the future, it will therefore be even more important for fitness trainers to have completed a solid education or a relevant degree and to provide customers with comprehensive and competent support (DSSV, 2023).

Functional fitness training is an effective training approach that aims to strengthen the muscles and movement sequences required in everyday life. It includes a variety of exercises that improve core muscles, strength endurance and flexibility. Functional fitness training has become increasingly popular in recent years and is now a deserved fourth place fitness trend. It can help to improve health and well-being and increase physical performance. It can also be used to prevent injuries and can be organised in a variety of ways. Functional fitness training offers a variety of exercises that are suitable for all fitness levels. As a result, it can appeal to people of all ages and fitness levels.

In fifth place comes a clear signal to all companies of the growing importance of workplace health promotion. Demographic change, a shortage of skilled labour, increasing sick days – employers have ignored the negative trend for too long. Companies are increasingly recognising that a healthy workforce is not only important for the health of their employees, but also for the success of the company. The positive effects of workplace health promotion include reduced sickness costs, increased productivity and improved job satisfaction. There are many ways to implement this, ranging from fitness programmes in the company to paid memberships in fitness and health facilities.

It is clear that more and more people are interested in their health and fitness. They want to know whether their exercises are effective and whether they are achieving their goals. The fitness/health checks can record various aspects of health and fitness, such as endurance performance, strength performance, body composition (body fat percentage, muscle mass) and mobility. The member's data is determined together with the qualified trainers. The skilled staff use this data to create individual training programmes and monitor the progress of the exercisers.

The demand for physical activity to lose weight remains high. The lockdown and the Christmas period have led to many people putting on some extra kilos. The number of people with overweight and obesity is rising steadily worldwide and Germany is no exception. Physical activity is an important factor in counteracting this trend. In recent years, it has become clear that it is important to objectively measure the effects of training programmes in order to assess their effectiveness. In 2024, fitness providers and trainers will therefore pay more attention to measuring the effects of weight loss training programmes. This will help to improve the effectiveness of these training programmes and to be able to regularly present participants with their progress.

This once again demonstrates the increasing awareness of the importance of prevention among the population. Prevention courses (§ 20 SGB V) are courses designed to promote people's health and prevent illness. They are divided into exercise, nutrition and relaxation courses and can be attended free of charge or with financial subsidies by those insured by the statutory health insurance funds. The level of cost coverage varies from health insurance company to health insurance company and continues to rise. More and more health insurers are recognising the value of preventative fitness training.

The rehabilitation sports programme (§ 44 SGB IX) is an important part of preventative healthcare and can help to maintain and improve people's health. Rehabilitation sports programmes offer the opportunity to get fit again after an illness or injury. Rehabilitation sport is prescribed by a doctor and is covered or subsidised by health insurance companies. In contrast to prevention courses, rehabilitation sports programmes are individually tailored to the needs of the participants. The exercises are led by qualified trainers. The training has many positive effects on your health and can help you get back to work. In combination with gradual reintegration, it can help employees return to their previous job.

Wearables such as smartwatches, fitness trackers and heart rate monitors have been an integral part of the fitness industry for years and are once again among the top trends in 2024, if only in tenth place. There are many reasons for the enduring popularity of useful gadgets. Firstly, they offer a simple and convenient way to monitor your own fitness. They can help you track your daily activity, measure your heart rate, analyse your sleep and much more. On the other hand, wearables can serve as a motivational aid. They show the user how active they are and how they can achieve their goals. In recent years, wearables have constantly added new functions and will continue to develop even further.

Let's take a look outside the box and have a look at global fitness trends. At the start of each year, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) regularly publishes a study on international trends in the fitness industry. As a renowned institution in the field of sports medicine and exercise science, the ACSM continuously publishes a wide range of reports and studies that shed light on current developments in fitness and health worldwide. These trend reports not only provide exciting insights into changing customer needs and industry developments, but also serve as guidance for professionals and exercisers alike (Newsome et al., 2023).

In first place in 2024 are wearables, i.e. portable technologies such as fitness trackers and smartwatches that monitor personal health and fitness status. In second place comes health promotion in the workplace (BGM/BGF), which indicates the growing importance of programmes to promote health and well-being in the workplace. Similar to the German trend survey, the international fitness industry also sees the great potential of fitness programmes for older people (3rd place), which indicates an increased focus on the needs of the older population and emphasises the need for tailor-made fitness programmes for this target group.

The trends for the German market show that the fitness and health industry is pursuing a variety of approaches to meet the different needs and interests of the population. They illustrate the ability of fitness and health centres to adapt to the changing needs of customers and offer individualised health services for different age and target groups.

The topics of training and further education as well as high qualification standards are also very important from the perspective of the operators surveyed. The top three fitness trends from ACSM 2024 show that the global fitness industry is continuing to develop in the direction of digitalisation and individualisation. Wearables offer the opportunity to achieve fitness goals in a controlled manner and make a healthy lifestyle permanently transparent. This trend is also on the rise in Germany, but is only in 10th place. Health programmes at work and fitness programmes for older people are relevant offerings that are playing an increasingly important role both internationally and nationally.

It remains to be seen what concrete effects these trends will have. However, it is clear that the fitness industry is subject to constant change and is continuously developing/professionalising in order to meet growing member/market needs.

The article was published at Fitness Management first.

Literature

DSSV e. V. – Arbeitgeberverband deutscher Fitness- und Gesundheits-Anlagen (Hrsg.). (2023). Eckdaten der deutschen Fitnesswirtschaft 2023. Hamburg: Hrsg.

Newsome, A., Reed, R., Sansone, J., Batrakoulis, A., McAvoy, C. & Parrott, M. (2023). 2024 ACSM Worldwide Fitness Trends: Future Directions of the Health and Fitness Industry. ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal, 28 (1), 14–26.