On September 19, Shenzhen, Zhong Ning, the editor of the "post-90s" book, met with runners and began a 21.1-kilometer long-distance run. In September, counting the time spent on online anaerobic exercise and offline running, Zhong Ning has accumulated 3144 minutes of exercise.
Nowadays, there are more and more people like Zhong Ning who love sports. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, as of 2020, the total scale of China's sports consumption reached 1.5 trillion yuan, and the number of people who regularly participated in physical exercise was 435 million, an increase of 27 million over 2019.
"The consumer group of sports and fitness is becoming more and more extensive, which brings room for development to the fitness market." Li Yanli, a professor at Beijing Sport University and head of the Department of Economics, said.
From clubs to studios
At the Zhongtian Fitness Studio in Beijing's Fengtai District, Yang Xuan, a resident of Majiapu Street in Fengtai District, who came to work out, told reporters: "I used to work out in a fitness club, but I only used a treadmill and took group classes, which lacked targeted training. After repeated inspections, she chose this studio: "The price of the chain store is uniform across the country, the venue is relatively spacious, and it is a one-on-one personal trainer, which is suitable for a fitness 'little white' like me." ”
More and more consumers are withdrawing from traditional large and complete health clubs and entering small but fine fitness studios. The reporter's search found that within the distance of 1.5 kilometers from Caoqiao Station on Line 10 of the Beijing Subway to Jiaomen West Station, there are 9 fitness studios. Among them, there are as many as 6 personal training studios in the Times Sail Building located next to Jiaomen West Station. The reporter visited and found that these studios are usually equipped with 4 to 6 coaches, and the venue is smaller than the health club with thousands of square meters, usually about 200 square meters, and the fee ranges from 250 yuan to 350 yuan per class. The more courses you buy at once, the cheaper the price of a single lesson.
In terms of training mode, the studio has abandoned the traditional fitness club one-to-many model and changed it to one-on-one "personal customization", where the instructor will make a special plan for each student and adjust the course at any time according to the student's situation. "I will also urge students to send me photos of three meals a day on time to provide guidance on caloric intake." Personal trainer Yang Xiaoqian told reporters.
During the pandemic, traditional health clubs have been greatly impacted. This is partly due to the rent costs of a large area and the more labor costs associated with more coaches; another is that health clubs are more likely to form a gathering of people. "During the pandemic, the first to close is the gym with a pool, followed by a large gym without a pool. Because of the small flow of people, it is easier for the studio to survive under the conditions of normalization of epidemic prevention and control. Li Yanli believes that the more flexible operating mechanism, more accurate targeting of market segments, and stronger customer stickiness are also the advantages of fitness studios.
See you on the cloud with coach
Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, due to many restrictions on fitness venues and personal activities, many people with a fitness foundation like Zhong Ning have chosen to work out at home.
Zhang Hao, a fitness enthusiast in Beijing, told reporters that before the epidemic, he attended a personal training class in a fitness studio for nearly a year and had some understanding of anaerobic exercise. "In fact, a lot of the actions are repetitive. Now, I follow the online course for about four or five days a week, and the results are good. Zhang Hao said.
It is understood that the more popular sports APP at present has more than a dozen models such as Keep, Gollum, Le Power, and Yue Running Circle. These apps not only have a wide range of professional sports courses, but also interactive functions such as punching cards and communities, which have attracted many users.
"Whether online or offline, all exercise methods are beneficial, and the key is to choose a suitable exercise style for yourself." Many self-weight exercises and small strength exercises can be carried out at home, which is convenient and effective. Qiu Junqiang, professor at the School of Sports Human Sciences and director of the Sports Nutrition Engineering Center of Beijing Sport University, said. A yoga mat and a sportswear are standard for home fitness. Compared with a fitness studio that costs thousands of yuan per month, the cost of home fitness is greatly reduced. Online sports apps provide high-quality free courses to attract users. Even paid courses are much cheaper than health clubs and fitness studios.
Zhang Hao began to work out at home during the epidemic. In order to take some excellent courses, he bought an online membership of 178 yuan a year, plus other sports equipment, and the total cost of a year did not exceed 3,000 yuan.
Digital technologies represented by big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet have played an important role in the development of the online sports and fitness market, but the "cloud see" with coaches lacks real-time guidance generated face-to-face, and it is difficult for users to judge the completion of their actions. "Smart, simple, flexible, and popular with young people are the advantages of online sports apps, and poor experience is a significant disadvantage." Li Yanli said that at present, the online sports APP market has problems such as fierce industry competition, unreasonable market structure, weak voice of head enterprises, difficulty in traffic realization, irregular industry operation, and lack of unified standards for operation. In the future, there is a lot of room for the development and improvement of the online fitness market.
"Smart fitness" is in the ascendant
Internet thinking and AI artificial intelligence technology are bringing more surprises to fitness enthusiasts.
Open the exclusive APP of Luck Fitness, and you can see the nearest store that the system automatically pushes on the home page. After becoming a member, scan the door code provided by the APP at the door to enter the fully equipped gym self-service fitness.
In many cities, the number of smart gyms has increased dramatically. According to the "2020 China Fitness Industry Report", as of December 2020, the total number of smart gyms in China's stock market is about 32,000, accounting for 32.7% of the total number of commercial gyms in the country. "In the era of digital economy, the digital transformation of the sports and fitness industry is an inevitable trend." Li Yanli said.
In a smart gym like Lucky, consumers can enjoy the convenience brought by 24-hour self-service fitness, without frequent sales interruptions, and the monthly payment of consumption methods makes consumption free. "Especially for people like me who work overtime and travel a lot." Wang Andong, who works in the marketing department of an Internet company, told reporters that at present, Luck has more than 600 stores in more than 20 cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen, and even if he travels to other places, he can exercise at any time with membership.
In addition to the smart gym, the smart fitness mirror is also on fire. Since the end of last year, 9 brands in China have launched fitness mirrors suitable for home sports. These fitness mirrors priced at 2500 yuan to 7800 yuan are equipped with a variety of fitness courses, the function of "mirror + tablet", so that fitness enthusiasts can observe the completion of their own actions while following the display training, and the fitness mirror equipped with AI cameras can also accurately identify the user's action standards and make real-time corrections.
Offline fitness is easily limited by time and space, and the interactive experience of online fitness is insufficient, and the fitness mirror seems to lower the threshold for participation in sports and fitness. "Fitness mirrors enrich people's fitness consumption choices and meet the personalized needs of people's fitness." At present, the subsequent use efficiency of the users of fitness mirrors is relatively high, which better makes up for the shortcomings of the existing fitness market product supply. Li Yanli said.
The reporter found in the investigation that as a new thing, the fitness mirror is not widely known and accepted by fitness enthusiasts. It is understood that to hang this mirror weighing more than 20 kilograms, a load-bearing wall is first needed, and secondly, it is also necessary to reserve a mirror in front of the movement space of at least 4 square meters. "For many young people who rent a house, smart fitness mirrors are really not a convenient choice." Zhong Ning said. (Reporter Liu Rong)
Source: Economic Daily