There is no denying 2020-2021 was slow going for the majority of fitness business owners. Now, as we come out the other end of the pandemic, we've encountered a completely different fitness landscape. With digital and home fitness reigning supreme, operators may face yet another tough year.
The good news is; the tech industry has not been standing still. On the contrary, there have been many innovations to help businesses thrive in this brave new world, and we've collated the most relevant ones for the fitness industry.
If you're going to be building or refurbishing a fitness facility in the coming 12-18 months, this list is essential reading.
Well talk about:
- On-demand content across the gym space
- Better quality digital fitness content
- Creating movement with feature lighting in studios
- Immersive studios
- Touch-free access to facilities
- Using AV to bring people together
On-demand content across the gym space
To offer popular classes to all members, at any time of the day, gyms are starting to include on-demand and live content within studios and on the gym floor.
A small computer hidden behind a display can play on-demand classes and prescheduled workouts, while integrations with lighting and sound allow the class to start without input from facility staff, safely and on time. Timetables for the classes are displayed on digital signage outside the studios or around the gym floor and are centrally controlled, and easily adjusted.
The line between a live instructor class and virtual experience will blur, as gyms and content production companies become allied and integrated, delivering a brand new experience previously unimagined.
Find out more about on-demand and virtual offerings in our article Top 5 cycling studio features every gym should consider. or check out the solutions we built with The Gym Group.
Better quality digital fitness content
We are seeing better quality content coming from individual creators in the industry. PT's and group class instructors have learned to create and distribute great quality digital workouts throughout lockdown, and they won't be slowing down.
We have also seen industry leaders like Les Mills and newcomers like Fiit TV and Earth + Sky invest heavily in the creation of professional quality video content and live classes. These will likely become a permanent part of the fitness landscape in the shape of the previously mentioned on-demand studios and screens.
We predict that by 2022, good quality video content will be a key player in your retention and member satisfaction scores for big and small gyms alike.
Creating movement with feature lighting in studios
The AV for group exercise studios is advancing at an incredible pace and comes at a huge variety of costs and complexity. Before you get to the top level of AV integrations though, there are cheaper elements that great fitness studios are starting to use more frequently to stand out from the crowd.
Introducing movement into the room and creating an atmosphere with colour washes and LED strips, allows members to feel more immersed in the activity. For spin studios, in particular, lighting chase programming gives that feeling of driving through a tunnel that helps eliminate some of the 'static'-ness of indoor cycles.
We expect to see more studios upgrade their existing LED strips to digital pixel LED tape over the coming year, to take a step in that high-end direction. Speak to our team to find out more about feature lighting.
Immersive Studios
We are noticing an increase in enquiries about immersive studio builds, including oversized and curved, even 270-degree wrap-around projections. Inspired by the experience of IMAX cinemas, these wrap-around projections delve a class completely into their workout.
Les Mills are one of the first to create specific 3D content for indoor cycling classes that take members through a virtual environment, made to feel more realistic by moving lighting strips and great distributed audio systems. They can further be enhanced with reactive audiovisuals and lighting.
Touch-free access to facilities
We'll be seeing a surge wireless, NFC and QR access controls, loyalty cards and check-ins going forward. While many independent and national chains have been using these for entry systems for a long time, smaller operators will now have affordable options available to them to benefit from this technology.
Direct connections between membership apps, in-facility retail facilities and social areas like cafe's, entry systems and class booking will become the norm. Facilities will need to provide great digital onboarding if they want to be seen to move with the tides and offer safe, modern experiences to their members.
Using AV to bring people together
As more fitness and leisure facilities invest in digital signage around their spaces, we see a surge in the celebration of individuals and communities. Whether that's celebrating a particular member for a competition won, an employee for a job well done or inviting newcomers to join a group for a run.
These digitally enhanced signage boards are a great way to pull focus to something that's important to your facility and its community. Of course, they also do a great job at showing timetables, marketing a new class that's launching soon, or just generally enhancing your brand experience. We expect this visually impactful piece of tech to really take hold in facilities over the coming year.
This trend is directly inspired by the retail sector, where companies like Zara, Abercrombie & Fitch and many others have been using digital signage to maximise the impact of their communication throughout their customer journey for years.
Do you agree with our list?
Over the past few years, we've seen trends shift and change rapidly. The best we can do is use our observations to try and prepare for the future. Do you agree with our list, or do you think we've missed anything out? We would love to hear your thoughts on where you see technology within the fitness industry headed in 2022!