Johannesburg - While gym memberships drastically dwindled when the novel Coronavirus erupted around the globe almost two years ago, a study has found that the South African middle class’s interest in exercising grew during the pandemic.
BrandMapp, the country’s largest and most comprehensive survey of middle-income South Africans found that while gyms played a significant role in the pursuit of healthier living, their appeal decreased during the pandemic.
However, this has not meant an overall decrease in exercising, and instead, the nation’s middle class sought other forms of fitness. This amounted to BrandMapp discovering that two thirds of those surveyed partake in some form of physical activity.
“For 75% of adults to say they do exercise is not a bad result, but from a gym perspective, what we can say is that in the Covid-era, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in the number of people actually exercising, but a drop in the number of people going to the gym,” BrandMapp director of storytelling, Brandon de Kock explained.
During their research, the organisation found that pre-pandemic back in 2019, 31% of adults said they were ‘interested in gym’ with 22% actually partaking in gym activity.
“We also found that 31% of people didn’t do any exercise,” De Kock said.
Then in the beginning of 2021, BrandMapp found that 26% of adults said they were ‘interested in gym’, with just 19% actually taking part.
“However, the percentage of adults who say they do not do any exercise dropped to 26%,” he highlighted.
As many ditched the gyms, deemed to be a closed and crowded space which are ideal conditions for the virus to spread, they sought other forms of exercise.
This included walks, hikes as well as participating in non-contact sports such as golf and swimming, while participation in popular contact sports like football and rugby declined during the pandemic.
“This data reveals a ‘Covid moment’ where we wanted to stay fit and exercise in some way.
“Adding to the challenge for gyms was that we were already in an economic downturn when Covid hit, and many mid-income adults took an economic beating.
“It stands to reason that a monthly gym contract would be easy to live without, even temporarily, if you’re trying to trim down a household budget and you can replace it with free physical activities,” De Kock said.
But what surprised him the most about the BrandMapp findings was that one third of the South African middle class do not participate in any form of exercise at all.
This is something that has left him perplexed, and even led to him analysing external factors such as the level of happiness and self-perception, but found nothing in it.
“When you dig down into the demographic profiles of the 25% of adults who don’t do any exercise, there’s really no significant difference between them and active people.
“In other words, there’s simply a ‘type’ of person who doesn’t like to exercise, or think it’s important to be fit and healthy.
“I think that’s an interesting challenge for the health industry as a whole: what can you do to get those people off the sofa? Solve that problem, and the total health and fitness market just increased by 25%,” he said.
But De Kock was impressed by the majority of the South African middle class who were interested in some form of fitness regime, and while he wants to believe that a global health crisis would encourage more people to exercise more, he doesn't believe that this will necessarily be the case.
“The cynic in me wants to say that the pandemic wasn’t a good enough reason to move the needle for those 25% of people who just don’t think it’s important, so I’m not sure what will happen, but what we can say though is that the pandemic made people who do like to exercise realise how much it means to them – and the chances are they will continue to do more of it than before.
“So all in all, it’s more a case of motivating the converted than converting new participants. Active people also found new ways of satisfying their desires, like going for regular walks or hikes and that’s the real challenge for the gym industry because it’s hard to beat Mother Nature’s gym: she offers free membership,” he said.
Other interesting findings from the BrandMapp research was that while Virgin Active lost members across its worldwide markets during pandemic, it remains the leading gym brand in the country, claiming 34% of gym memberships.
“However, It should be noted that together, the independent and private gym operators dominate with a combined 42% of the market,” he said.
“The age continuum of South African gym-goers is interesting because it looks like gym training takes a pre- and post-millennial shape. There is no doubt relying on the physical advantages of youth, and also hampered by lower incomes, our youngest generation is less likely to be found in the gym than their ageing Gen X and Boomer counterparts,” De Kock said.
Meanwhile, the BrandMapp survey also looked at the Covid-era impacts on respondents' self-image, or sense of self.
“We saw a 10% increase in people saying that they believe that being fit and leading a healthy lifestyle is important, and a 7% increase in agreement with the statement that ‘it is important to dress well and look good’,” De Kock said.
He attributed these findings to people having more time for reflection during the lockdown.
“Covid has been an exceptional blow to the health of our nation, but perhaps it’s also triggered a greater individual appreciation of the value of good health,” he said.
As the world begins to recover from the devastating pandemic, De Kock believes that this will be good news for the gym industry in South Africa.
“I see no reason why gyms shouldn’t return to quite similar levels of membership as they had before lockdown and there seems to be some evidence from the US, for example, where that’s already happened,” he said.
De Kock also added that while the local gym industry has not yet recovered from the effects of Covid-19, there are still many who rely on their services and are central to these individuals' lives.
“When you think about it, there are a lot of sports that rely on participants who want to perform at a high level having properly structured gym routines that will enhance their conditioning,” he said.
The BrandMapp research found that while only 19% of mid-income South Africans go to gym, athletes such as runners, swimmers, cyclists and those involved in niche activities like combat sports, that percentage is likely to increase dramatically.
“‘In many ways, our gym industry relies on there being a robust sporting culture and unfettered sporting environment in the country,” he said.
De Kock also recommended that gyms change their operations to fit in with the lifestyles of the South African middle class, something that has changed drastically for most during the pandemic.
“If people’s routines have changed dramatically, which they undoubtedly have, gyms need to respond, so there’s plenty of strategic opportunities,” he said.
He listed collaborations allowing members to use multiple facilities; enhanced online programmes and content for a hybrid approach; increased member benefits in a meaningful way as some measures.