We've been collecting consumer data on fitness habits and spending since 2017, so we have numbers that show just how quickly things really did change over the Pandemic.

We’re breaking down our State of Fitness survey and its results on our podcast all month, This week, we're starting with spending. We talk about how much we - the hosts - are spending, what you told us you're spending and what percent of you are getting your fitness for free. We also dig into a metric that is purely post pandemic: return-to-gym.

I hate to bring it up again, but underlying all of this is the pandemic and its wax and wane. It did something to us and that something was behavior change on a massive scale.

It’s a fact that behavior change is extremely hard, but it is the underlying principle that drives the fitness industry. Ans along with that, habit adoption is nearly impossible. We all know the stats around New Years resolutions - most people make them and drop them by February. And it’s not because we don’t WANT to adopt the behaviors we set out to adopt, it’s because we are creatures of habit operating on autopilot. From one of my favorite podcasts, Hidden Brain, “About 43 percent of everyday actions are done repeatedly almost every day in the same context." So knocking someone out of autopilot to do something new takes a change in motivation and - depending on the human, some sort of reward.

Covid created a petri dish wherein our habits were turned off - we couldn’t go to the office, we couldn’t go to the gym, childcare was non-existent. That left the human race open for new things in the confines of our homes. 

Here’s what McKinsey had to say on that “When consumers are surprised and delighted by new experiences, even long-held beliefs can change, making consumers more willing to repeat the behavior, even when the trigger (in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic) is no longer present. In other words, this is a unique moment in time during which companies can reinforce and shape behavioral shifts to position their products and brands better for the next normal.”

So the data we’re talking about this month will dig into what changed, what went back to normal, and what stuck. And this week, specifically, we’re talking about the financial side of it all. 

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Resources:

• State of Fitness
• The theoretical model of behavior change
• Hidden Brain on behavior change and habits
• Consumer behavior change from McKinsey
• Popsugar - How Pilates Healed my relationship with exercise
• Mind Body Wellness Index