# Are You Seeing Attrition in the Group Exercise Model?



## dvcochran (Mar 5, 2020)

Recent posts have touched on this topic and I felt it warranted it's own thread.

Are you seeing shrinkage and/or increase in any of the common public group exercise models?
Things like:

Cardio/Aerobics
Pilates
Yoga
Dance
Zumba
HIIT
Barre

Spinning
Group strength training
Age specific group training
Water related classes
And of course Martial Arts   
What, if any, other similar programs do you see in your area?  
Are these programs free to the public or individual pay programs in your area?
Are any of these part of membership to a program such as signing up at a commercial gym?

For some time there has been attrition in adult participation in the MA's and there has been growth to holding steady in child age enrollment. What do you see driving this trend?


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## Gweilo (Mar 5, 2020)

Recently its been reported  here in the west of England, there has been a shift in older and younger peoples attitude to health, people in the main are drinking less alcohol, some are starting to eat better, and generally having a more hollistic approach to health
Health a welbeing seem to be as popular as veganism.
With the way fitness gyms tie people into contracts, and how difficult it is to get out of such contracts, which usually means a financial penalty, and or effecting peoples credit rating, people are looking for better value for money, the list you quoted are available as classes which you can tailor to your budget, attend as little or as often as you like, without the contract.
Even in martial arts I have noticed that where as it was just sd or combat classes, some schools have dedicated health classes, which you do not have to participate in the combat classes if you do not wish too, we have students that just come for core strength, weight loss, regaining flexability/movement, even to help strengthen an area after injury, some once they regain confidence, actually then join the combat classes. There has also been a shift in the amount of family classes available, we have a dedicated class on a monday evening, and saturday mornings, that are family classes, which contain a syllabus of health and sd but in a more fun way, which improves the interaction within the family unit, and we have a family weekend away, conoeing, camping and bbq etc, and its not just MA doing this, wearable tech is the buzz word recently, and I think this has made it more the social norm, and others follow trends to capitalise makes it more fashionable, more acceptable, more accessable and in most cases more affordable.


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## Tez3 (Mar 5, 2020)

Gweilo said:


> Recently its been reported  here in the west of England, there has been a shift in older and younger peoples attitude to health, people in the main are drinking less alcohol, some are starting to eat better, and generally having a more hollistic approach to health
> Health a welbeing seem to be as popular as veganism.
> With the way fitness gyms tie people into contracts, and how difficult it is to get out of such contracts, which usually means a financial penalty, and or effecting peoples credit rating, people are looking for better value for money, the list you quoted are available as classes which you can tailor to your budget, attend as little or as often as you like, without the contract.
> Even in martial arts I have noticed that where as it was just sd or combat classes, some schools have dedicated health classes, which you do not have to participate in the combat classes if you do not wish too, we have students that just come for core strength, weight loss, regaining flexability/movement, even to help strengthen an area after injury, some once they regain confidence, actually then join the combat classes. There has also been a shift in the amount of family classes available, we have a dedicated class on a monday evening, and saturday mornings, that are family classes, which contain a syllabus of health and sd but in a more fun way, which improves the interaction within the family unit, and we have a family weekend away, conoeing, camping and bbq etc, and its not just MA doing this, wearable tech is the buzz word recently, and I think this has made it more the social norm, and others follow trends to capitalise makes it more fashionable, more acceptable, more accessable and in most cases more affordable.




I've been seeing more ads for gyms that don't have contracts now, obviously someone has realised they put people off in a big way. 
Park runs, 'military' fitness classes run outdoors are popular too, walking is being promoted a lot at the moment because of it's benefits for mental health. 
I live in a rural area there are two gyms close by, one is a joint army/local council ( has 3 swimming pools, one army, one general use and one children's pool) one run by the Nuffield Trust and the other small one just run by the council, which offer all the classes mentioned in the OP. The small council one is home to a Cheer group which takes people from 3 to adult ( being any age), both gyms run children's sports activities during the school holidays.
Our local village and church halls host classes like Zumba and yoga, Tai Chi etc all very well attended.


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## dvcochran (Mar 5, 2020)

Tez3 said:


> I've been seeing more ads for gyms that don't have contracts now, obviously someone has realised they put people off in a big way.
> Park runs, 'military' fitness classes run outdoors are popular too, walking is being promoted a lot at the moment because of it's benefits for mental health.
> I live in a rural area there are two gyms close by, one is a joint army/local council ( has 3 swimming pools, one army, one general use and one children's pool) one run by the Nuffield Trust and the other small one just run by the council, which offer all the classes mentioned in the OP. The small council one is home to a Cheer group which takes people from 3 to adult ( being any age), both gyms run children's sports activities during the school holidays.
> Our local village and church halls host classes like Zumba and yoga, Tai Chi etc all very well attended.


Is all of this a component of being in the military of is it all open to the public?


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## Tez3 (Mar 5, 2020)

dvcochran said:


> Is all of this a component of being in the military of is it all open to the public?




It's joint ownership between the army and Richmondshire council. The gym and the classes are civilian run, participants are civilians and dependents. The army has one swimming pool for it's own use and has the Military rehab unit there with army employed physiotherapists working with injured soldiers as well as those in the Help for Heroes unit we have here. it functions as a normal leisure centre really. Just better with the army money than we'd usually afford here.


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## dvcochran (Mar 5, 2020)

Tez3 said:


> It's joint ownership between the army and Richmondshire council. The gym and the classes are civilian run, participants are civilians and dependents. The army has one swimming pool for it's own use and has the Military rehab unit there with army employed physiotherapists working with injured soldiers as well as those in the Help for Heroes unit we have here. it functions as a normal leisure centre really. Just better with the army money than we'd usually afford here.


There is an army base just over the state line, about 60 miles away. I do not know if it offers similar recreation to military and family. To the best of my knowledge, any similar activities open to the civilian population is pay by class or some kind of monthly or contractual agreement. 
We do have tons of 'rec' league sports for kids that are free or only require a sign up fee for jerseys and to pay referees. They are coached by parents and well organized. Football, soccer, baseball, and basketball. Possibly others I am not aware of. Not including the normal public/private school sports programs, there is only one program that exist for kids over the age of 14. It is a very pricey travel soccer league a kid has to be recruited and audition to even get in to. Our son was invited to audition but when we saw the practice and travel schedule and what it would cost we declined. It would have been around $5,000/yr back in the early-mid 2000's. 
There is a very distinct cutoff of programs like these for adults. Some non-organized basketball and soccer are the only ones I am aware of.


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## Deleted member 39746 (Mar 5, 2020)

The model i know of is something like:
If they support pay as you train, they may or may not have you fill out a "memebership" so they dont need to take details.     But you can access the gym at normal times and studio classes as and when they are hosted for listed price.

There can also be studio memeberhsip that lets you access studio classes for cheaper and maybe given priority and it could include minor gym benefits.

There can also be a gym memebership levels that include studio benefits.    (obviously if you get both gym and studio benefits it would be more expensive than just studio or just gym access)             Its kind of hard to generalise it


As for the classes themselves.  Studio ones generally attract females. (class specfic though)  which can be off putting or not pending on your group.     No one really likes being the only one of their kind in a group and it can be more off putting for some than others.

Same with collective exercise can be off putting or attractive pending person.

I cannot attest to any big chains the only gyms around me are indies, but i know of like 2 chains for england.


Edit:    I missed one of the qesutions, my area generally gets a mix of the usual sort of classes.


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## ShortBridge (Mar 5, 2020)

Rat said:


> ...
> 
> 
> Edit:    I missed one of the qesutions, my area generally gets a mix of the usual sort of classes.



You are not obligated to answer every question or any question for that matter. It's okay to sit one out.

How about this as a guideline: If you don't have personal experience with something, like running a martial arts school or training in martial arts, read along if the conversation interests you, but don't try to weigh in as if you have any basis for an informed opinion.


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## Tez3 (Mar 5, 2020)

Rat said:


> Studio ones generally attract females. (class specfic though) which can be off putting or not pending on your group. No one really likes being the only one of their kind in a group and it can be more off putting for some than others.



Not in my experience of using gyms. The only class that tends to attract 'females'  specifically is the Zumba ones. Of course yo have to bear in mind the times of the classes, women will use the daytime ones during term times if they don't work or are part time, in the evenings and weekends the genders in the class are about equal.



dvcochran said:


> There is an army base just over the state line, about 60 miles away. I do not know if it offers similar recreation to military and family. To the best of my knowledge, any similar activities open to the civilian population is pay by class or some kind of monthly or contractual agreement.



The Garrison is the largest in Europe, a town all by itself surrounded by countryside with small villages and hamlets which could make it an expensive imposition on the local council, so the army went into partnership with them to build the leisure centre, it's owned by the MoD because it's on their land. The Nuffield Trust is a healthcare charity. 
Catterick Garrison Leisure Centre
 The Ministry of Defence owns a lot of land here, including farms which are leased to the farmers, there's even a pub. ( I recommend it if you are ever here in the Dales!Press | The Bolton Arms)


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## Deleted member 39746 (Mar 5, 2020)

ShortBridge said:


> You are not obligated to answer every question or any question for that matter. It's okay to sit one out.
> 
> How about this as a guideline: If you don't have personal experience with something, like running a martial arts school or training in martial arts, read along if the conversation interests you, but don't try to weigh in as if you have any basis for an informed opinion.



I can how ever answer as may as i wish or any.

And how about this one,  most of the questions for this relate to normal gyms, nothing martial arts specfic.     And a another one on size, keep conjecture about persons lives to yourself.


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## ShortBridge (Mar 5, 2020)

Rat said:


> ...keep conjecture about persons lives to yourself.



Um...no.

You take over every thread even though by your own admission you have no experience or expertise. You're exhausting.

You're not even the type of member who it works to ignore, because you're going to take every thread over and hiding your drivel will just make the conversation that follows unintelligible.

The weird thing with you is that don't think you are a troll, just a really misinformed kid who is either looking for strangers on the internet to validate your unfounded ideas about things or to convince experts that you are somehow insightful.

If you keep posting you will find some confirmation bias, but that doesn't make you right. Do you think you have actually changed anyone's perspective who has real world experience in this field?


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## Deleted member 39746 (Mar 5, 2020)

Tez3 said:


> Not in my experience of using gyms. The only class that tends to attract 'females' specifically is the Zumba ones. Of course yo have to bear in mind the times of the classes, women will use the daytime ones during term times if they don't work or are part time, in the evenings and weekends the genders in the class are about equal.



The ones i have looked seem to be stacked for more females than males.  Granted i will give you Zumba (especially), Yoga and pilates generally atrract more females.   However the normal gym (going off memory) seemed to be stacked in favour of males at the times i went.   The most recent time(s) i went i didnt really take notice of other people there though so cant attest to if thats still the trend most recently. 

Kind of percilior and intresting if you think about it really.   that and how bad your memory can get.


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## Tez3 (Mar 5, 2020)

Rat said:


> The ones i have looked seem to be stacked for more females than males




Is that just a coincidence or maybe you are looking at the groups for the wrong reasons?


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## WaterGal (Mar 5, 2020)

Tez3 said:


> Not in my experience of using gyms. The only class that tends to attract 'females'  specifically is the Zumba ones. Of course yo have to bear in mind the times of the classes, women will use the daytime ones during term times if they don't work or are part time, in the evenings and weekends the genders in the class are about equal.



At the gym I go to (Gold's Gym, which is a big chain in the US), every group fitness class I've ever been to has been at least 75% women. Whether it's a weights class, HIIT, step fitness, etc The weights area of the gym is almost all guys, as is the basketball court, but the classes are very women-dominated.


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## WaterGal (Mar 5, 2020)

To answer the actual question of the post.... I think people these days are looking for group exercise as a way to make friends and to help them stay motivated. I've noticed some changes in what _types _of group classes are trendy and successful - for example, pilates is out, barre is in, karate is out, BJJ is in, etc - but group exercise as a general market seems to be doing fine.


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## Tez3 (Mar 5, 2020)

WaterGal said:


> At the gym I go to (Gold's Gym, which is a big chain in the US), every group fitness class I've ever been to has been at least 75% women. Whether it's a weights class, HIIT, step fitness, etc The weights area of the gym is almost all guys, as is the basketball court, but the classes are very women-dominated.




We've had very big campaigns here to get women into fitness, and it seems to have worked. Weight training especially has been pushed for women as a prevention against osteoporosis.

As I said it depends on the time of day as to whether there's more men or women in a class, I go in the evenings where the spread of men and women is equal.
In the UK a lot of fitness classes are  done in halls rather than gyms so classes that don't require equipment are the most popular.


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