Millions using online platforms to support athletic lifestyles
Liu Ya, a 28-year-old manager at a public relations agency in Beijing, switches on her phone and opens a fitness app. With just a few taps, she has registered for her weekly barre class, a program that involves using a handrail that provides support for various types of exercise, incorporates movements derived from ballet and combines positions and movements drawn from yoga and pilates.
Liu then goes to the gym, checks in with her phone, changes into her sports gear and awaits the start of the class with 39 others.
|
Coaches at Supermonkey prepare for a barre class, which uses movements from ballet, as well as yoga and pilates positions. Photos Provided to China Daily |
|
A client is instructed by a professional trainer during a Keepland power link class. |
This is her routine before each weekly workout. After an hour of sweaty activity, she sometimes takes photos of the session to post on WeChat.
“I think the internet has really changed the way people work out,” she says. “The fitness apps give us more options. Rather than just going to a gym and training by yourself or hiring a private trainer, they can link online and offline alternatives.”
With the rapid growth of fitness communities and increasing demand for professional instruction, new trends have emerged in recent years, attracting young users through socializing, group classes, qualified coaching and flexible payment methods.
In March, sports technology company Keep opened three fitness centers in Beijing called Keepland. The idea is to persuade its online users to join offline communities, helping to cultivate loyalty and fuel enthusiasm.
According to a report from Analysys, a market research firm in Beijing, as of April more than 68 million people in China were using online platforms to support healthy lifestyles – a year-on-year increase of just over 2 percent.
Li Jinyi, vice-president of Keep, says online users’ needs will be upgraded and Keepland can keep up with such changes.
“Users may not have that much time to go online and find solutions, or they can’t find exactly what they need. But the offline courses can help locate weaknesses or provide future goals, which coaches can guide people to attain,” he says.
Fitness brand Space Cycle was launched in 2015 by Matthew Allison, the former president of EMI Music in Asia. It now has six clubs in Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei, Taiwan, offering cycling, yoga, barre and dance classes with inspiring background music.
Liu, a Space Cycle member, says she sometimes uses its app for more than just registering for classes.
“You can search for music and buy fitness gear with just one app. You can also post and browse photos of people working out and chat with others to get motivation,” she says. “I think the fitness apps are trying to mix working out and socializing.”
Keep’s Li says it is important to socialize, as people need encouragement from others to advance, and users can get together and form a community by attending offline classes or other activities at Keepland.
“It’s hard to persist by yourself,” he says. “But if you have a partner or team members, the interactions and encouragement can support you in finally achieving your goal.”
Li says another reason to socialize is to help users improve their athletic performance, as they can communicate with coaches and share experiences with classmates after sessions – especially when more people want to work out – and choose a suitable training plan.
Keepland has installed a screen that can interact with users by showing the latest content, technology and activities.
“It is also convenient for us to organize better offline activities, classes and discussions, and a variety of communication activities are even organized by users themselves. This is how we can provide more for the users,” Li says.
In recent years, the Chinese government has introduced policies to vigorously support the development and expansion of the fitness industry.
In 2013, the State Council issued a guideline extending a nationwide fitness campaign, which was designed to increase awareness.
In 2016, the National Fitness Program for 2016-20 was launched by the State Council to promote overall health development, with the target of getting 435 million people to regularly take part in physical exercise by 2020.
According to IBISWorld, a global business intelligence information provider, over the past five years, the fitness industry in China has grown by 11.2 percent to reach revenue of $7 billion (6.2 billion euros; ￡5.5 billion) this year. In the same period, the number of businesses has grown by 8.7 percent and the number of employees has risen by 7.6 percent.
With traditional training facilities growing from about 500 in 2001 to more than 37,000 this year, different fitness brands are appearing with personalized group classes on the internet or with electronic monitoring devices. They have proved popular, especially among the younger generation, according to the China Briefing website.
Keepland offers self-developed mixed intensity and training, also known as MIXT, and specialized fitness courses for its offline users, as well as providing smart sports devices for real-time monitoring of body data. The program integrates online and offline data to facilitate the development of personalized fitness regimens.
Li says data collection and continued curriculum development, as well as cooperation with other fitness systems. has led to nearly 280 courses being provided to meet user needs. The classes include “Bubble Butt” for hip and leg toning, “Core Master” for abdominal muscles and dancing classes such as Zumba (a dance form with an aerobics fitness program).
Xia Jinglong, co-founder of Supermonkey fitness centers, says his company is paying close attention to what customers need.
“The fitness needs in China and abroad are quite different due to diverse cultural influences,” he says. “For example, we have developed the ‘Butt Shaper’ lesson, which is more suitable for Chinese, as female practitioners wish to reshape their hips but want to keep their legs slim at the same time.”
Founded in 2014 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Supermonkey now has more than 100 locations in seven cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.
Xia says curriculum innovation reflects changes in the fitness concept in China, as more people now understand that fitness is a way of life.
Liu says the classes she has registered for with Space Cycle, which she takes once or twice a week, allow her to meet basic exercise needs and maintain her health.
“People used to think that being skinny was beautiful, especially for women,” she says. “But now the concept has been changing, with more and more people appreciating the beauty of a healthy, slim or even muscular shape.”
Meanwhile, customers are paying more attention to the quality of the classes – another change brought by the increased awareness of fitness.
Liang Junyao, a 30-year-old graphic designer who takes classes at Supermonkey, says smaller classes greatly improve her athletic ability, since coaches can take care of individual members and offer advice.
Liang says a traditional gym may be more suitable for those who have already formed fitness habits, have a certain level of knowledge on the subject and know how to use the facilities, while smaller classes are ideal for newcomers or those who need inspiration and instruction.
“Many traditional gyms have similar courses, but they always have too many members showing up at one time, or the coaches may not have proper qualifications,” he says.
Liang has frequently attended a group class at Supermonkey with instructors who all have international qualifications. Some are even regional project leaders for world-class fitness regimens in China.
Li, from Keep, says most of the coaches at Keepland are self-trained, but he will invite some from the industry with the right qualifications to work part-time, especially when there are not enough coaches to match the number of courses.
Keepland recently signed an agreement with the Champion Foundation, which was established by former speed skater Yang Yang in 2008 to help retired athletes. These athletes have provided a steady supply of coaches for the brand.
Keep is also preparing to launch a virtual coaching service by using artificial intelligence.
By combining all the exercise data from online users, as well as smart health and fitness facilities, Keep believes virtual coaching services can help more consumers access personalized help relatively cheaply.
With consumption upgrades accelerating, more people are paying attention to their quality of life and physical health and are more willing to pay for “fitness consumption”, according to a report on Chinese consumers released by consulting company Accenture in July.
Last year, the value of China’s fitness industry was about 150 billion yuan ($21.43 billion; 18.9 billion euros; ￡17 billion), and its compound annual growth rate over the past six years was 7.7 percent.
Targeting clients in age range of 25 to 35 in first-and second-tier cities, Supermonkey wants to take the retail route to encourage more people to work out, Xia says, with the main consumption method being pay-per-visit.
Each class costs less than 100 yuan at most of the facilities, including Keepland, Supermonkey and Space Cycle. In addition to paying each time they visit, customers can choose to buy packages of fitness classes.
|
Top: A trainer teaches at a gym in Beijing in October. Bottom: A Supermonkey coach tests equipment in a TRX suspension training class. |
|
Members of Glow Rowing take a class. Water resistance machines provide users with a simulated rowing experience. They can exercise up to 84 percent of their muscles. Photos Provided to China Daily |
(China Daily European Weekly 12/21/2018 page28)