ACTIVITY TRACKING
FITNESS OF THE FUTURE
The future is here. Tech-savvy exercisers are using apps and devices to take health and fitness into their own hands, and with the tech giants set to enter the fitness sector, a revolution is coming. Is your club ready? Kath Hudson reports
I
n 2012, 18 million fitness devices were sold in the US. So far, these appeal mainly to the fitness-savvy, but with Google, Apple and Samsung either about to enter the market or
having already entered – and with Adidas and Microsoft also rumoured to be launching wearables – they will soon be mainstream. Even children are included: the launch of a slap bracelet activity tracker aimed at kids was announced in June. This new KidFit product allows parents to set goals for exercise and sleep that tie in with real-world rewards. Innovations like this set the tone for
the next generation: they are growing up with technology and they will simply come to expect it. By 2017, it’s estimated that one-third of the US population will have a fi tness tracking device. These devices look set to transform the health and fi tness sector in much the same way that online shopping changed retail and MP3 changed the music industry. App usage is also skyrocketing. In June, mobile research fi rm Flurry showed the
daily usage of health and fi tness apps had grown by 62 per cent over the previous six months – the main driver being a thirst for fi tness among women aged 25 to 54. Meanwhile cycling app Strava, which
allows cyclists to race virtually against themselves and others, announced in June that it had logged and mapped 77 million rides. So successful is it in uncovering the nation’s cycling habits that it’s even selling ‘heat maps’ of popular riding routes to local authorities, to aid town planning decisions.
The threat Up until now, health and fitness clubs have generally been the guardians of fitness knowledge and data. The model within the industry has principally been to monetise this knowledge, charging members for a programme or a PT session if they want to gain greater insight into how to improve their fitness. Apps and devices threaten this model
by giving people the ability to bypass clubs, set their own programmes and monitor their own progress. Some apps
40 Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
Making it fun: The new mycloudtag app fuses gaming with fi tness data
even give the nudges that clubs are failing to deliver. For example, Runkeeper asks users when might be a good time for a run or a cycle, then gives them a nudge via text just before that time. Fitness technology expert Stuart
Dyson says technology is democratising fi tness knowledge: “Health clubs are not the sole gatekeepers of information any more. The new technology gives consumers a great deal more freedom: the days of being a 12-month membership prisoner are gone. “Many health clubs currently only
provide infrastructure, and don’t readily give knowledge, so apps and technology are fi lling an information void. This could lead to health clubs being cut out unless they become more open.” So does this mean that health clubs
will start to become the discarded middle man, as the nation arms itself with iWatches and – with the help of apps – walk, run and cycle themselves to fi tness outside of health clubs? Not necessarily. In the UK at least, the weather is too inclement to turn
August 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
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