Exercise is important. The benefits of exercise are well-known throughout the scientific community and are becoming more well-known throughout the general population. Exercise stimulates different parts of the body, as well as the mental side of people, according to anecdotal reports.
For many people, exercise is a challenge, even though there are so many options. There are different kinds of exercise people can do and they can be done in any number of settings, including the home, the gym, outdoors, in buildings, and more. While there are options, people still struggle.
The gym is one place that people generally sign up to exercise (although some gyms have a spa and a sauna, which can be a main reason people would sign up). The average monthly cost of a gym membership is $58, though there are some higher than $100 and some as low as $10 (Planet Fitness, for instance).
Gym memberships have a lot of perks, including access to a variety of cardiovascular machines, such as treadmills, elliptical machines, rowing machines, stationary bikes, and more. They also have a great deal of weight training equipment, such as weight training machines, barbells, dumbbells, and kettle bells.
There are some gyms that are more specialized than others. Boxing gyms have different equipment than a regular gym, including heavy bags, speed bags, boxing gloves, a boxing ring, and more. A CrossFit gym has many different types of equipment than a regular gym, including ropes, pull up machines, tires, and more.
There are statistics about gyms and gym memberships that are worth noting. They are included in the following section.
- According to a Nielsen Global Consumer Exercise Trends Survey, 45% of millennials exercise regularly.
- 36% of all regular exercisers participate in some kind of fitness class.
- Less than 5% of adults participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day; only one in three adults receive the recommended amount of physical activity each week.
- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that the number of jobs in the fitness industry is expected to increase by more than 23% over the next 10 years.
- The largest gym-going demographic is adults ages 20 to 64.
- 58 million people go to a gym or health club annually.
- 67% of people with gym memberships never use them.
- The average gym membership owner will go to the gym twice a week.
- There are approximately 30,500 gyms and health clubs in the United States.
For people who have gym memberships, it is possible to hire a personal trainer in these gyms in order to have accountability when it comes to losing weight. A personal trainer is generally someone who has a certificate from some place saying they’ve completed a course in exercise, nutrition, and habit forming.
A personal trainer will generally know a great deal of exercises, whether from personal experience or research. They will know all the different muscles to hit, which exercises hit those muscles, and all the different points about exercise, including target heart rate and warm-up strategies.
A person may join a gym with the intent to lose weight. They may try the cardio machines, possibly doing steady state cardio (meaning staying on the same machine at the same intensity for a long period of time) or dabbling in the weights. One of the most popular times to join a gym is the start of the year.
A personal trainer takes someone who is trying to lose weight or build muscle, whatever their fitness goals, and tries to get that person to that goal, through motivation tactics, accountability, information, and more. It is said that people have a higher chance of reaching their goals with a personal trainer.
For those working in a gym, they deal with members coming in every day. Generally now, these members have small cards with bar codes that have their information stored on them. For this to work, a gym needs health club software. Health club software keeps track of different people that come into the gym.
Health club software keeps track of member profiles and how much a member is working out. Health club software keeps track of many things within the gym.
There are terms associated with gyms and gym memberships. They include billing systems for gyms, check in software for gyms, software to manage a gym, and gym management system.