just how much have our workout habits changed? the team at runrepeat , a website run by data-driven fitness professionals, compared results from surveys circulated to 4,538 active adults at the start of 2021 to similar surveys of 4,702 fitness enthusiasts one year earlier (before the pandemic ). sent to runners and gym members in 122 countries, the surveys asked respondents how they planned to stay fit in the coming year.
with gyms and indoor recreation centres worldwide closed at least part of the last year, it’s no surprise more people chose to exercise outdoors . fifty-nine per cent of active adults indicated that running, outdoor conditioning, hiking, cycling and walking are the best ways to stay fit in 2021. that’s a 14.6 per cent boost in the number of outdoor exercisers compared to the start of 2020. almost 50 per cent of gym members were among those who said they planned to take up running and other outdoor activities in 2021.
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the other significant exercise trend in 2021 is home-based workouts , with a 49.6 per cent increase from the previous year in the use of home fitness equipment and a 16.8 per cent boost in participation in online fitness classes and subscriptions to online fitness services. americans significantly outpaced u.k. exercisers in their commitment to working out at home, with the number of people planning on investing in residential exercise equipment more than doubling in the last 12 months, compared to a modest 11.8 per cent increase in the number of u.k. residents who planned to set up their own home gym in 2021. the number of active americans switching to online fitness content went up by 134 per cent.
while manufacturers and retailers of outdoor workout wear and home gym equipment have benefited from a worldwide change in fitness habits, gym owners have seen their businesses suffer. not all gyms have faced the same set of public health regulations, but there has been at least one consistent trend during the pandemic: gyms have been among the first businesses to close in a lockdown and the last to reopen.
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