How the rise of pick ’n’ mix fitness has changed gyms forever

Here’s a proposal for 2019: why don’t you wear clothes from the same store all year, and sign a contract where you pay for everything in advance? Absurd? Of course it is. But it’s how traditional gyms have operated for decades – work out here and only here, and we will decide what is available.  No wonder we sign up but don’t go.

Indeed, last January, research found that Brits spend around ￡558 million a year on unused gym memberships, with one in five going just three times a year – meaning each visit cost an average of ￡188. I can relate. I’ve been a sucker so many times – spending eye-watering sums on fancy gyms that I didn’t use, seduced by the straighteners and organic soap.

But take away the fluffy towels and glossy reception staff and those gyms were drearily similar: rows of ugly treadmills, instructors fresh out of college and weight rooms dominated by muscle men. Not to mention mirrors everywhere, my strip-lit reflection haunting me at every turn. But, thankfully, that’s all changing.

Today the new, savvy fitness customer demands – and gets – more variety, convenience and motivation for their buck. Gyms have had to evolve – and there’s never been a more exciting time to get fit, your way.

Fitness begins at home

It all started on YouTube. Over the past decade, free sessions from mega-trainers such as Joe Wicks, Insanity’s Shaun T and Jillian Michaels have given us access to premium fitness in our living rooms. In fact, while the traditional gym industry is growing at just four per cent year- on-year, digital fitness is growing by 50 per cent, says Ian McCaig, co-founder of Fiit, an interactive home-workout system.

‘Traditional gyms take your money, give you an induction and then you’re on your own. No wonder people don’t go back,’ he says. ‘People want community, accessibility and motivation.’ When you download the Fiit app for free, you can stream classes with Instagram’s finest, including Richie Bostock and Tyrone Brennand – you decide which classes you do when – and have access to an online community.

Or, with premium membership (￡45 for three months), you receive a Fiit device that provides live stats, progress tracking and personalised training plans. Meanwhile, though not quite as interactive, yogaglo.com and movementformodernlife.com stream classes with the world’s best yoga teachers for a monthly subscription fee.

The pick ’n’ mix approach

Of course, plenty of us still want the group-class experience, and we now have a variety of options and pricing methods that let us build our own ‘workout wardrobe’. Take ClassPass: launched five years ago, it’s a genius app that has done for workouts what Uber did for transport – letting you search thousands of classes across the south-east and in Manchester, booking and paying for them via the app with no contracts or lock-ins.

You buy credits rather than time, and only pay for the classes you attend – from ￡15 a month for nine credits (classes are priced from four credits upwards). Move GB offers a similar service nationwide, priced from ￡7.99 a week.    ‘The flexibility and variety that these apps now offer mean that being tied to one gym  is no longer appealing,’ says Yvonne Kostiak of trend forecaster WGSN. ‘To stand out, boutique gyms need to be specialist, or offer something a bit different.’

Get fit, be seen trying

Ah yes: ‘boutique gyms’. These are smaller, swankier studios offering niche workouts that are selling a lifestyle as much as a class.  ‘Boutique gyms such as ChromaYoga, Boom Cycle, 1Rebel and Re:Mind have become destinations to be seen in,’ says Kostiak.

‘In many ways, the gym has replaced the bar – 1Rebel gyms look more like nightclubs, and offer free prosecco on Fridays.’  Meanwhile, at Psycle – which has four swish studios in London – events like ‘sound baths’ with well-being star Jasmine Hemsley draw crowds (check psyclelondon.com for details).

Instagram, of course, has had a big impact: smart fitness entrepreneurs are creating truly selfie-worthy spaces. Take BXR, the London boxing gym co-founded by Anthony Joshua: all flattering lighting, exposed brick, hi-tech machines and loungey spaces, it was the first wellness space designed by award- winning interiors firm Bergman. Fancy.

Don’t pay for frills

The flipside to the boutique gym trend is its near-polar opposite: gyms that are doing for fitness what Ryanair did for flying. Chains like PureGym, Energie Fitness and Anytime Fitness charge around ￡20-￡40 a month and offer only equipment and relatively spartan facilities – while BetterYou has ditched the reception desk, and thus some of their costs, offering electronic check-in instead.

After all, if you’re self-motivated and know what you’re doing, does it matter if you don’t get  a towel and a smile on arrival? Meanwhile, MoreFit studios (across central London) focus on personal training for small groups of up to eight people, with sessions lasting 30 minutes. Having expanded with the MoreYoga chain, it claims to have the cheapest multi-studio membership on the market.

‘Our concept of no receptions and no shower facilities, coupled with shopfront high-street studios, makes us low-cost and convenient,’ says founder Shamir Sidhu. So stop before you sign that direct debit. Instead, pick something you like, pay as you go and if you don’t like it, don’t go back. Those January resolutions suddenly seem more doable, don’t they?