The global health and fitness sector has been changing dynamically and the newest addition to the health club market is – virtual gym and online classes. Due to COVID-19, people had to stop visiting gyms during the past year, and the whole industry was shifted to the digital level. This has created opportunities for individuals who want to invest on the fledging market of digital fitness. In this article, the reader is going to learn how the online fitness industry developed, what types of virtual gyms exist, the role of technology in fitness, and why fitness in the future will be more open to everyone.
Influence of the Pandemic on the Online Fitness Business
The current global health crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic has seen its antidote meaningly affect fitness businesses. With the shutdown of the gyms, fitness studios, and sports centers people started to look for options how to continue exercising and keep fit. The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent measures like blocking gave the global online fitness industry a perfect shot at proving itself. In the document produced by Research and Markets it shows that in 2020, the global online fitness market was worth $13.2 billion and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 21.9% between the years 2021 and 2028. Given the current tendency towards the constant opening of fitness centers, the growth of the online fitness market will persist due to the focus on distance training and individual programmes.
Virtual Gyms: Models and Key Players
The virtual gym service model has been delivered through several configurations although several models are being practiced by the fitness businesses globally. Certain virtual gyms are live that means people participating in it can perform the exercise along with a live instructor. Other models consist of store-purchased workout sessions and a workout plan based on the user’s needs and preference that is made available to the user anytime. Here are some of the key players in the online fitness industry:
- Fitness apps and subscription-based platforms: For example, there are some of the virtual gyms like Fitbod used for exercising that allow, in addition, to customize the workout according to the fitness level and what the fitness goal is. Some of the other platforms are similar to ClassPass and offer accesses of varied online classes of different fitness studios. A lot of these applications provide live-streaming classes, virtual training, and online yoga classes.
- Fitness studios offering virtual classes: During the pandemic, many fitness studios have started to offer online classes in order to keep a profit and to cater to their clients. Currently there are quite a few brands that have brought their in-studio experiences home, like Barry’s Bootcamp, and SoulCycle that lets participants exercise at home.
- Online gym platforms: Some other examples which have cropped up and allow people to cycle, run, or row, in a shared virtual space are FitrScore and Zwift. These virtual gyms save the regularly scheduled programs for training, live rates tracking and a social factor that replicates in-gym interaction.
Friends, foe or none? This paper seeks to examine the effects of technology on virtual gyms.
Technological breakthroughs have helped increase the number of virtual gyms with continuously streamed classes, training as a game and customized training. About fitness wearables, smart watches and fitness trackers give real-time data that can be used to schedule next exercises and track development. Some forms of online gyms like other forms of exercise connect with the participants through virtual reality (VR) technology and make exercise fun by gamification.
But it is also being used, in virtual gyms, to design workout routines personalized to the person’s current physical, nutritional and exercise regimens. This makes it easier for the users to get improved outcome and stay glued to their health enhancement process. So, in the future, virtual gyms could be still more developed, adjusted to individual’s needs and even more close to reality.
Virtual Gym Environment and Participation for Everyone
However, one of the biggest pros of modern online fitness classes and virtual gyms is that it encompasses more people than ordinary gyms and classes. Virtual gyms enjoy no restrictions and open a wider chance to make fitness to the people with poor access to a gym, and or are immobile, or are living a long way from a gym. Individuals of different fitness level, weights, gender and age can take the online fitness classes since companies offer targeted classes for every person interested.
But the virtual gyms are useful to those who are more uncomfortable exercising in front of others. They can exercise themselves in their own comfort, without other people coming and gawking at them. This level of inclusiveness is proving vital in ensuring that barriers are removed making fitness easily achievable by everyone regardless of age, origin, or disability.
The Future of Online Fitness: Trends and Predictions
The current occurrence of virtual gyms and online fitness classes has created new revenue streams for the fitness entrepreneurs and inclined individuals. Here are some of the emerging trends and predictions for the future of online fitness:
- Virtual personal training: In the future, as the technologies develop, the idea of virtual personal training will also improve the level of interaction with trainers, including real-time feedbacks. This will make the operation to be more user friendly and innovative for the users.
- Gamification and virtual reality: , incorporating elements of games into training sessions, and video reality technology will remain a trending trend in online fitness, offering not only diverse and entertaining workouts for diverse interest levels.
- Expansion of workout formats: The list of workout formats that virtual gyms will offer will only grow further, addressing different fitness concerns passion, including HIIT, Pilates, dancing, and martial arts.
- Growing importance of community: Even though people will start virtual classes from their comfort of their homes, the concept of community and social interaction is going to be slowly valued. Virtual gyms will have to make investments into developing communities through such tools as progress sharing and mutual encouragement.
Conclusion
The use of internet classes and virtual gyms has sooner or later transformed this business, making fitness more accessible, diverse and adaptive for everyone. The development of technology makes virtual gyms accepted common application in the future and the demand for gyms will also enhance. People are more into exercising and fitness, and virtual gym and its fans seem to have a solid future online.
