Since the Covid pandemic in 2022 the fitness industry has had a healthy boom and is now valued approximately £2 billion in 2024. Many independent gyms and chain gyms have sprung up across the country from Puregym, which is one of the UK’s largest chain gyms that operates in various locations throughout the whole UK, to more specialised organisations. There has not just been rejuvenation of gyms. There has been a rejuvenation of fitness overall, with specialised Boot Camps, circuit training and HIT training, popping up in different venues from church halls to the local park. This is offering the public in the United Kingdom a wide variety of choice, and it’s much needed, as the adult obesity rate has risen by approximately 26% and the childhood obesity level of children age 10 to 11 years has now risen to 23.4%. This data is from the UK government website.

This could be in part due to the economic crisis in the UK making healthy food more expensive and peoples disposable income is being stretched to its limit, also jobs and modern technology has meant we are more sedentary.

People are realising that their health and fitness is key to living a happy and well rounded and longer life. There have been several documentaries on channels such as YouTube, Netfix and Amazon Prime promoting good health, nutrition and living longer in general. This is giving the general public a better understanding, in how exercise and nutrition are key to living longer and healthier lives.

Women particularly are becoming more aware of the fact that the older they get, that they should be lifting weights to help maintain healthy and stronger bodies. This can be seen with such fitness niches like CrossFit studios and strength and conditioning classes.

Strength training has gained traction in the UK, particularly with women, as women are realising that the likelihood is that even if they lift heavyweights that they will not “bulk up” or look “manly” as it used to be commonly thought.

In fact, strength training has been shown to improve bone density and muscle growth in women who are perimenopausal and menopausal. Sarcopenia which is the loss of muscle tissue due to age, and osteoporosis which is the loss of bone mineral density both used to be a problem, particularly in women who are menopausal. But now women realising that they can help counteract this by lifting weights in the gym and improving their overall strength.

As more people return to the office they are finding that their current job means that they are mostly sedentary throughout the day. This is meaning people are now looking for various ways to keep fit and healthy, and fitting it in to their lifestyle. As we’ve already looked at, this is beneficial for most people. Some people have begun to incorporate little chunks of activity throughout their day as this is a manageable way of increasing our activity for those who cannot spend hours at a gym or in an exercise class ( this has been encouraged by people such as Dr Rangan Chatterjee). It used to be that at home exercising for people of a certain age would conjure up images of Jane Fonda in a leotard and leggings jumping about on your TV and your mum more than likely jumping about the lounge following her. Now however quite a few people have gym equipment at home and with the likes of people like Joe Wicks who encouraged everyone in lockdown to do “at home workouts” this has now seen a resurgence in popularity minus the leg warmers.

So whether you’re looking at joining a change gym like total fitness or going down to your local boutique gym that specialises in ladies only strength and conditioning classes there are more opportunities now for individuals to improve their overall health and fitness. It will be interesting to see in the future if this post Covid fitness boom has a positive impact on health and obesity levels in the UK.

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