The pandemic brought new habits, such as the use of a mask, constant hand washing, and increased health care. The latter is reflected in the increase in visits to gyms.
It is that attendance at these establishments no longer occurs only to obtain a perfect figure, or for aesthetic reasons; Now prevention and care prevail. Luis Lobato, general manager of Smart Fit, explained that a reflection of this is that if before a person, on average, visited these places three times a week, now they do so five.
To this is added that it is no longer only young people up to 35 years of age who have a greater presence in the machines and different spaces that are in these places. Today there is already a greater participation of those over 45 years of age.
“The profile has changed if we compare with what we had before the pandemic. To begin with, there is the frequency, since today people go more times a week. The average age has also gone up. Both things are due to the fact that, with the pandemic, we realized that a healthy person, who exercises, is capable of facing a health complication. Before it was thinking about aesthetics; now, in health, ”she assured.
However, something that does not vary compared to the year before the pandemic is the average ticket. The president of the Association of Gyms of Peru (AGP) and representative of the Impulse Peru brand, Enrique Fernández, stated that in Lima what a person spends per month in these places is approximately S/100. Within the country the amount amounts to S/80.
The business
Both Lobato and Fernández reported that, before the health crisis, there were around 2,000 gyms in Peru; however, with the pandemic this figure fell by 30%.
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“The sector has suffered a lot during the year that we were closed in 2020, as well as due to the restrictions in 2021 and part of 2022. This has had a terrible consequence,” said the Smart Fit representative.
For the company, there are also 15% fewer visits to these establishments, since people have not yet recovered from the crisis. “There are fewer people training than before the pandemic,” he added.
However, the company representative revealed that in 2022 they had 13 new operations in the country and next year they hope to open “a similar number.”
For his part, Fernández specified that there is an expectation that this year the gyms can achieve a total reactivation with new premises even in places where they did not have any presence before.
“I see that within the country the demand is growing. For example, in Andahuaylas we observed that before there was one and from there more than six were opened and all of them are completely full and modern. What people want is that, modern facilities that allow them to exercise”, he assured and commented that there are also people who worked in these places and lost their jobs, and who today prefer to give personalized classes in their homes or in public spaces.
Data
-The representative of Smart Fit specified that now people “no longer want a gym with basic products; they want more functional training.”
-People on average exercise in the gym for about an hour and a half.
