Bridging the gap between the desire for a healthy body and the allure of modern ease, convenience, and instant gratification – the health and fitness industry has shrugged off years of restructuring and retrenchment, a less than happy flirtation with public markets in the noughties, and a mixed relationship with private equity to emerge leaner and more responsive amid the uncertainty of the current economic climate (Financial Times, 2013). That being said, while the proportion of Britons with gym memberships rose from 12.1 per cent to 12.6 per cent just last year, virtually all that growth came from the low-cost, budget, sector (Leisure Management, 2012).

Aping low-cost hotels, airlines, and supermarkets, no-frills gyms are proving of wide appeal to price-sensitive, time-poor, consumers who are interested in getting fit but don't want to be tied to lengthy contracts and left to pay for services they don't use (The Guardian, 2012). Boasting 24-hour opening hours, no fixed contracts, and online memberships, the advantages to the modern consumer are obvious. But are low-cost gyms good for the health of the fitness industry?

While the business model for the typical health and fitness gym relies on volume – many signing up, but few actually coming – budget gyms operate according to a lean business model – not in terms of meeting consumer demand for budget prices; rather, keeping the costs of opening and running gym facilities low. Operators keep costs low by stripping away peripheral services such as cafés, saunas and fluffy towels. The lean movement has spawned a number of sole operators and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). FitSpace was the UK's first authentic low-cost gym enacting the lean model, opening its first club in Southern-England in 2006. Today there are close 60 low-cost gym operators in the UK, with upwards of one-fifth of all gym club members belonging to the budget segment.

The low-cost sector is undoubtedly gaining momentum, potentially making private gym membership a realistic lifestyle choice for millions. But the pace of such growth has polarised the fitness market – exposing a strong top-end and a growing bottom-end – to the detriment of middle-market operators. But if the mid-market is suffering, other gym segments are strengthening. For example, there has been a boom in boutique 'micro-gyms', small studios specialising in single training programmes run by personal trainers. It is here that we find 'no-frills chic' truly taking hold. Low-cost goods and services that add design, third-party high quality elements, and/or exceptional customer service to create top quality offerings at low prices. The industry, then, is edging away from the 'box-style' gym, with pop-up fitness programmes, unconstrained by the spatial limitations of physical premises, happening instead out-of-doors on parks, playing fields and on beaches. There is also evidence of more ad hoc informal training taking place with figures from the latest Sport England Active People survey (Sport England, 2015) highlighting a distinct growth in low-cost activities like distance running.

Budget gyms are likely to attract first-time exercisers into the market – those with families or with irregular work patterns – offering a niche for people to exercise on their own terms. But 'affordability' is just one of a number of key market drivers behind the growing low-cost gym sector. It is not simply about pricing, but a 'leaner' business philosophy that has emerged to fundamentally disrupt the rules upon which the fitness industry is built. With 10 per cent of the adult population not participating in regular and/or intensive enough exercise to achieve health benefits, coupled with rising levels of obesity nationally, surely the broader, deeper, and more accessible the opportunities to pursue a fit and healthy lifestyle the better?

Dr. Sam Elkington is Senior Lecturer in Sport Management at Northumbria University

samuel.elkington@northumbria.ac.uk

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Samuel_Elkington?ev=prf_highl