You’re Ready to Take on 2023, But is Your Gym Design?

As we embark on a new year, fitness facilities continue to adapt their offerings and gym design in a quest to meet with changing user expectations. How have you prepared your facility differently leading into 2023???

Consumer demand for exercise variety and digital guidance continues to increase significantly.?According to?Club Industry.com, many commercial?health club and studio owners are seeing?revenue and membership increases.?A report from?Classpass and Mindbody?points to the same, finding that?fitness reservations increased by 95% from 2021 to 2022 and wellness reservations increased by 62%.?

Additionally of particular note,?according to AlliedMarketResearch.com,?fitness apps are projected to have 825 million users by 2027.?

Study after study finds that people are more vested in their health since the pandemic and are exercising more as a result. the combination of these trends will continue to guide the consumer viewpoint (or something to this effect)?

Whether you are ready for a full revamp, or simple upgrades, there are tangible adjustments to your gym design that can be done from a?space allocation, equipment,?and programming aspect to optimize your footprint and increase capacity to greatly improve user experience.?

Consider the following:?

Prioritize Space Considerations in Gym Design?

One of the most effective things you can do is simply rationalize and rethink your floor plan.?As you consider layout changes,?prioritize movement-based areas?that are in high demand. This can be accomplished by thinning out less used single-purpose strength units and slight reductions in cardio.??

Build a focus towards optimizing open area spaces with smaller-format functional training equipment, storage, and smart rigging such as?Gym Rax?. Replacing a few cardio machines with Gym Rax suspension bays can turn a single-use modality into one with hundreds of workout options that can be occupied by multiple people.?

And when it comes to smart design and increasing capacity, do not forget about?outdoor space. Outdoor exercise has become increasingly popular post-pandemic with?59.1% of active adults choosing outdoor activities as their go-to way to stay fit. Finding ways to incorporate any level of an outdoor adjacent component to your indoor space is essential. Consider transitioning an underutilized space outside that is easily accessible back indoors. Not only will you begin to focus on your member or guest accommodation, but you’ll be also extending valuable square footage that you might not have thought you had. With smart planning and a bit of creativity, you can develop a dynamic and unique outdoor programming complement for a fraction of the cost related to your indoor cost per square foot.?

Execute Design with Users in Mind?

Naturally, investments you make in design should be made with your user’s expectations and needs in mind. Create spaces that offer new and prospective guests a unique, immersive training experience that will help them reach their goals, physically and mentally.??

Establish areas where fun can meet exercise. Facilitate socialization versus predominantly siloed user equipment such as static-state cardio.?

Additionally, prioritizing recovery space for your users is imperative. Create a separate recovery/restoration zone with all the right tools for users to improve physical wellness and keep them injury free.?Vibration therapy enhances circulation and detoxification for fast and effective warm-ups and recovery.?Hyperice?percussive massagers, vibrating fitness rollers?and therapy balls are great options.????

Offer the Right Programming?

This is what brings the environment to life. Ask yourself, what will guide movement in the space? What will power the facility toward providing dynamic and varied workout experiences? What exercise genres or digital programming brands can I provide that my users will be drawn to???

Digital integration?with on-demand programming can pull all the essential elements together required for successful coaching of movement-based modalities.?For amenity fitness spaces in hotels, corporate offices, multifamily buildings, etc,?XPLUS functional fitness solutions?offer modular studio formats perfect for both personal and communal -workouts. Both “on the wall” and “in the bay” experiences incorporate thousands of sought-after Xponential+ on-demand classes creating endless workout variety for every user. These solutions do not require supervision, allowing you to automate your space.?

For health clubs and studios,?AktivTV?on the wall digital guidance can support live coaching or replace live coaching with a “workout of the day” during off hours, or if live coaching is not available. This digital support can greatly improve user confidence and their ability to reach their fitness goals.??

In the end, people are attracted and will make an effort to attend experience-driven fitness spaces. Experience from an exercise space perspective, a social perspective, a comfort perspective, and an engagement perspective. Make sure your facility checks off all these boxes to attract and retain clientele in 2023.??

Contact?Aktiv Solutions today to transform your space.?