Phygital. Omnichannel. Hybrid. Curated. Boutique. Custom-made, with a bigger focus on nutrition. You wouldn’t usually associate these marketing buzzwords with gyms — traditionally the domain of musclemen and treadmill junkies — but these are some of the models gyms are working towards.
These changes have been in the pipeline for some time, but Covid-19 regulations have accelerated them, says Virgin Active group CEO Dean Kowarski. In these unpredictable times, the fitness industry, like everyone else, has had to tailor itself to meets the needs of savvy and time-pushed clients.
With customers able to easily access training and fitness information on the internet, and even do online classes, the traditional bricks-and-mortar gym is facing stiff competition.
Way up there is that gyms should provide more contract options and be more comfortable for people to visit.
Warren Djemal, founder of Iron+Love private gym in the trendy suburb of Gardens in Cape Town, says he noticed a negative culture in the weights room in the big gym he used frequent. “People feel insecure, especially women. The weights area feels closed off, hostile and people going in there have a fear of failure and of looking stupid or annoying someone.” This is what Djemal calls “the alpha-male environment”.
The weights area feels closed off, hostile and people going in there have a fear of failure and of looking stupid or annoying someone
— Warren Djemal
“This is a problem in some gym models. I set up a message against that in my gym.”
Though Kowarski says Virgin Active is a gym for “every body, every size, shape, type of person — not just your gym-going heavy weightlifter”, Djemal believes there is a shift to smaller gyms because they can offer a culture and a level of service the big chains cannot equal.
“Clients are coached and guided, and many people would rather have a personalised, guided service which the big commercial gyms cannot offer. The bigger gyms have a monopoly on the market through loyalty schemes such as Discovery’s Vitality, but their clients cannot extract the full value.” This is partly because the spaces are so large and impersonal, he says, and people feel lost among all the hi-tech equipment.
Gyms are, after all, social spaces too and many people come there not just to get fit but also to network, meet people and, if they are working from home, break the routine of the day and their social isolation. Djemal, who came to SA from the UK in 2013, says gyms have an even bigger role to play in mental health now after Covid-19 lockdowns and the continuing effects of the pandemic.
As a result, says Djemal, the gym of the future needs to be “more curated”. His training in Olympic weightlifting has convinced him of the benefits of strength training, but he says a positive and safe environment is crucial. “Often there is not a good environment; the level of fitness training in SA is not good, and you can be in the hands of a cowboy.”
Trainers often make the mistake of pushing a new person too hard. “As a trainer you have to meet the person where they’re at. If someone hurts or is pushed too hard, they crash, and they don’t try again. You can’t shoehorn them into a model.”
The high intensity of CrossFit is not for everyone, nor is Boot Camp, which is aimed at transformation. “There’s a restrictive diet, 40 in the class and you make yourself tired,” he says.
So perhaps the small gym does offer a better deal, though it’s a pricier one. Whereas at Iron+Love you’re looking at R520/hour for one-on-one instruction, with a lower rate for group classes, at Ignite Fitness — a chain that launched in 2014 and has clubs in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Gqeberha — you can get a month’s training within a 12-month contract for R470, with free parking and a personal trainer thrown in.
The group’s CEO, Schalk Hugo, says they “actively looked at the fitness market where our clubs are and we believe the existing gym companies are way overcharging an already economically, politically and socially stressed consumer. From the get-go we offer between 20%-50% lower rates than our main competitors for a better facility, a larger range and volumes of equipment and a range of free classes”.
Djemal says when the doors opened after lockdown, “95% of people were back on day one”. Whereas he did offer an online training service during lockdown, he believes “this job is about connection”.
“Phygital” describes the crossover between the physical and digital worlds, and some gyms are probing all the possibilities this offers. For example, Kowarski says Virgin Active’s digital strategy cancels out some of the intimidation factor, enabling front-of-house staff to recognise a member immediately, and enables the company to get to know its customers better. It also enables the company to gather data about its members to offer a better, custom-designed service.
‘Phygital’ describes the crossover between the physical and digital worlds, and some gyms are probing all the possibilities this offers
Virgin Active’s connection to Kauai, the healthy food chain, has allowed it to enter the food and nutrition arena, and a new app enables members to order their meals for a week and have them delivered. “Exercise, diet and sleep are the foundation of physical and mental wellness. We believe we have covered the first two,” he says.
Kowarski says the fee structure at Virgin Active offers value: “What you get is a pool, multiple classes and equipment, a juice bar for an all-in fee.” Memberships start at R750 a month for an off-peak membership, but being a member of Discovery Vitality or Momentum Multiply will discount that fee substantially. There is an escape clause on contracts now, as clients want more flexibility, and millennials especially are averse to signing long contracts.
Their omnichannel approach ensures that when members can’t make it to the gym, they can access a variety of training content on the Virgin Active app. “Being in the phygital — the physical and digital — space lets the consumer choose.”
Nathan Morris, who competes in Olympic weightlifting for SA and runs Pirates Gym in Greenside, Johannesburg, likes his staff to have the personal touch. “We know people by name, their needs, their goals.”
The gym has the standard equipment but also offers CrossFit and Muay Thai, a kind of boxing that includes elbows and knees. “It’s a combat sport that is used as a method to keep fit. It gets the aggression out!”
He says his trainers all have a high level of qualification and education, more necessary in these times because “it’s not enough just to know the basics. People can find it online, they are smarter. They come into the gym prepared.”
Memberships start at about R350 a month with an initial six-month commitment period, with one-on-one rates costing more. The trainers at Pirates are nutrition-certified so they can offer guidance, but they don’t draw up diets for clients — they will refer them to a dietitian.
In an effort to banish the old stereotypes of gyms being scary, alpha-male-dominated spaces, Morris says he works on cultivating a “low-judgment zone” while ensuring people work hard. “Our female clients are doing well in weightlifting and Muay Thai.”
There is a cohort of older, retired people who come daily, he adds, between about 11am and 2pm. With the gym located at an old Johannesburg sports club, it all makes for a relaxed and inclusive atmosphere.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.