WORK / Expertise The New World of Home Fitness Report

Our changing relationship with exercise

With gyms closing, people being confined to their homes, and our health threatened by COVID-19, our habits and attitudes towards fitness and exercise have changed. Traditional gyms are struggling but all age groups are working out more since lockdown began. However, almost 90% of people in our report said they don’t exercise happily at home because of the barriers. Why is that? What are those barriers and what are people looking for in their home fitness gear? What will unlock the experiences people are craving, and what are fitness brands that have thrived during lockdown doing right?

Design Partners collaborated with The Shopper Agency to answer these questions by asking over 1,000 people between 18 and 74 about their relationship with home fitness, the gym, and the technology they use (or wish to use). We came together to generate a body of research that would be studied from the perspective of the shopper, the user, and the product experience in order to deliver a more comprehensive and meaningful report. Both companies have a shared passion for understanding human behaviour, and how it allows us to deliver better experiences for people. Our goal was to get a rounded view on people’s complex relationship with exercise – to analyse the attitudes and behaviours that have changed, to understand what trends have accelerated and which are long- or short-lived.

The report

The New World of Home Fitness report reveals new insights into people’s changing attitudes and the experiences they crave. Importantly, it provides pointers for how companies can create home exercise experiences that are more relevant, better targeted, and commercially effective. Over the coming weeks, we will break down the key learnings from the research – explaining why traditional models for gyms are dead, how pro-grade fitness gear for your home is ripe for opportunity, and what the next generation of home fitness will look like. Product leaders, innovators, and designers can use this data to optimize and reshape their product offerings, better connect with their shoppers, and innovate within their product lines.

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