The Argument for Commercial Spaces to Do More Heavy Lifting
Globally there are over 205,000 gyms in the world. These gyms support 2.36% of the 7.8 Billion global population: meaning over 184 million people are gym members.[1] That may sound like a lot, but compare that to the fact that there are 7.8 billion people in the world and only 2.36% are members. And while fitness centers aren’t the only means to stay active and healthy, it is a good indicator of the importance placed on one’s health.
Sometimes the lack of gym membership simply comes down to accessibility while other aspects may include price, schedule and alignment with goals.[2] But knowing that globally there are 3.4 billion employed workers, could you imagine if we simply just solved for them having access to fitness centers? [3] All of a sudden gym membership would grow from 2.36% to 44% and no doubt spur the investment in additional facilities.
In the US alone, there were 5.9 million commercial buildings containing 96 billion square feet of floor space in 2018.[4] Of that space there aren’t any clear estimates of what amount is dedicated to health and wellness. But we do know that according to the IHRSA 2020 report the USA had just over 41,000 fitness centers. So if we even optimistically assumed all those were located within office buildings that would amount to only .69% of commercial buildings containing fitness centers. This is astounding given we know all the great things exercise and lifting weights can do for office workers. A few of these beneficial impacts include: reducing sick leave, decreasing musculoskeletal pain, reducing stress and burnout and creating areas for building community.[5] Knowing the USA also contains more fitness centers than any other country in the world, highlights this is a global issue that needs to be addressed.[6]
And in even better news – people want to workout and invest in their health. According to the 2023 IHRSA Global Report, 80% of respondents expect [gym] membership and revenue to grow by more than 5% and 86% of consumers in more than 50 countries are motivated to do more about their physical health and well-being than in the past as reported by IPSOS.[7]
So rather than continue to bore with more stats and reports, it should be clear that if commercial spaces dedicated more of their square footage to fitness centers than not only would the issues of accessibility, well-being and physical health be addressed, but we could also assume competitive differentiation and return on investment would be achieved (which we will go into in a later post). For commercial spaces the task to incorporate fitness centers alongside health and wellness areas may seem daunting, but in the argument for commercial spaces to do more heavy lifting Senaura Spaces can help lighten that load.
[1] Rizzo, Nicholas. “200+ Gym Industry Statistics 2021 [Global Analysis].” RunRepeat. https://runrepeat.com/gym-industry-statistics, 08 November 2023.
[2] Florida, Richard. “The Geography of American Gym and Fitness Center Brands.” Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-10/the-geography-of-american-gym-and-fitness-center-brands, 10 January 2019.
[3] Dyvik, Einar H. “Number of employees worldwide from 1991 – 2023.” Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1258612/global-employment-figures/, 01 November 2023.
[4] U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (2022) “2018 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey.”
[5] Rev Bras med Trab.” The Importance of Workplace Exercise.” National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9162294/, 30 Dec 2021.
[6] “70+ gym membership statistics you need to know.” TeamUp. https://goteamup.com/resources/gym-membership-statistics, 27 January 2023.
[7] Kufajl, Pam. “2023 Global Report Reflects Optimism for Fitness Industry’s Future.” IHRSA,https://www.ihrsa.org/improve-your-club/2023-global-report-reflects-optimism-for-fitness-industrys-future/, 29 September 2023.
