Since 2017, we’ve conducted an annual State of Fitness Survey that asks big questions about what you’re doing to stay active, what you’re spending on fitness, and what you think is coming next. Given that timeline, you can probably guess that some things have changed. Over that time, we’ve seen the proliferation of digital fitness content and a stay-at-home order that impacted parts of the world and our readership very differently. 

Pre-pandemic, as class prices and consumer spending on fitness increased, a question loomed: “Is fitness experiencing a bubble?” In 2019, The IHRSA Global Report found that the global fitness industry revenue totaled $94 billion. We’ll never know for sure if given normal market conditions (you know, without a global pandemic) if consumer spending and gym openings would have continued at the same rate. According to the Associated Press, 25% of gyms and studios closed permanently as a result of the pandemic.

But it’s not all doom and gloom – we’re seeing a rainbow after this storm of a pandemic. Respondents shared that many of them are back in-gym, and many are spending again.

Because we want to evaluate how far we’ve swung back on the pendulum, we’ll be doing a lot of comparison and contrast between 2022 data, our 2021 survey, the mid-2020 pandemic survey, and pre-pandemic numbers.

There’s a lot to unpack here, so feel free to jump to a section that interests you:

• Where and how are you exercising?
• What are the top fitness types?
• What are you spending on fitness and where?
• How does connected fitness (like Peloton) fit into your routine? And are you still buying connected fitness equipment?
• How are you taking care of your mental health and are you doing fitness with friends?
• What are your predictions for fitness?

How much exercise are you doing?

The amount of activity you’re doing, on average.

In 2022, you told us that you worked out an average of 4 days a week for an average of 49 minutes each time you work out. The good news? In 2019, the average number of workouts per week was 4.2, telling us that activity levels rebounded from during the pandemic when 32.6% of respondents told us that they exercised less than before the pandemic.

And depending on how you use that time, 4 days a week of 49 minutes means that readers are meeting the CDC’s guidelines for exercise, which calls on healthy humans to get, “150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity and 2 days of muscle strengthening activity.”

So, what kind of exercise is everyone doing with their 4 days a week?

TL:DR: Overall, we’re seeing fewer “pandemic activities” as the go-to.

• Digital fitness use is down: In 2020, 85% of our respondents were doing some form of virtual fitness. Today, 45.58% aren’t doing any digital fitness at all.
• Outdoor fitness is down: In 2021, 39.1% of respondents were working out outdoors in a group class or activity. Today, that number is 15.8%.
• Home gym use is holding strong: In 2019, 55.5% used their home or apt gym at least once a week; today 74.6% work out at least one day each week indoors and on their own, at their own home or apartment gym.
• Big Box gyms and Boutique fitness classes are rebounding to 2019 numbers:
  • Big Box: In 2019, respondents told us that 41.1% worked out at a big box gym at least once a week. Compare that to today – and that number is exactly the same: 41% work out indoors and on their own, at a local gym at least one day a week.
  • Boutique: In 2019, 67.2% told us they did boutique fitness as a part of their routine and 8.2% told us that they worked out with a personal trainer. Today, 63.75% work out Indoors and in person, at a group fitness class or with a personal trainer at least once a week.

During the pandemic, we added responses to our survey that reflected what Readers and Ambassadors told us they were doing with their time. For reference, we saw that just over 85% of our respondents were doing some form of virtual fitness at the height of gym closure in the summer of 2020. Today, data shows us that 54.42% are doing digital fitness. And outdoor classes were a big push during the height of the pandemic. In 2021, 39.1% of respondents were working out outdoors, in a group class or activity at least one day a week. Today the percentage of people working out outdoors, in a group class or activity is 15.8%.

Still, some pandemic activities have made their way into respondents’ lives a little more permanently. In 2019, 35.5% used their home or apartment gym at least once a week; In 2021, that number was 79.24%. Today, 74.6% work out at least one day each week indoors and on their own, at their own home or apartment gym. The convenience of that exercise habit stuck.

We also saw some pre-pandemic activities making a rebound.

That’s right. Sweet, sweet in-person fitness. In 2019, respondents told us that 41.1% worked out at a big box gym at least once a week. Compare that to today – and that number is exactly the same: 41% work out Indoors and on their own, at a local gym at least one day a week.

What about boutique fitness and personal training?

In 2019, 67.2% told us they did boutique fitness as a part of their routine and 8.2% told us that they worked out with a personal trainer as a part of their routine. The question changed slightly between 2019 and 2022, so the answer provides blended data. But that blended data gives us a little hope for return to studio-fitness. In 2022, 63.75% work out Indoors and in person, at a group fitness class, or with a personal trainer at least once a week.

What types of workouts are you doing?

We’ve monitored readers’ preferred activity types since the beginning of this survey. We’ve watched trends come and go and we’ve tracked as well as what you like to do for exercise – what’s been interesting to see is the shift from 2017 to today. We encourage respondents to select all of the activities that are a part of their routines, which gives us insight into the rise and fall of routine variety … but we’ll get there.

Here’s a look at the top workouts since 2019:

2022	2021	2020 (COVID)	2020 (pre-COVID)	2019
1. Walking 65.54%	1. Walking 69.89%	1. Walking 72.65%	1. Strength (equipment) 68.38%	1. Strength (equipment) 76.96%
2. Strength (equipment) 61.7%	2. Strength (bodyweight) 46.32%	2. Strength (bodyweight) 67.63%	2. Yoga 57.95%	2. HIIT 72.92%
3. Strength (bodyweight) 52.27%	3. Strength (equipment) 44.18%	3. Strength (equipment) 52.65%	3. HIIT 55.73%	3. Yoga 68.86%
4. Yoga 42.14%	4. Yoga 32.81%	4. Yoga 49.95%	4. Running 47.52%	4. Running 59.96%
5. Running 35.27%	5. Running 27.21%	5. Running 44.84%	5. Indoor Cycling 41.20%	5. Cycling 56.87%
6. Indoor cycling (32.6%)	6. HIIT 22.93%	6. HIIT 43.44%	6. Pilates 31.97%	6. Barre 36.36%
7. HIIT 29.57%	7. Indoor cycling 22.93%	7. Indoor cycling 20.19%	7. Barre 20.68%	7. Pilates 34.82%
8. Pilates 18.28%	8. Hiking 16.50%	8. Barre 19.91%	8. Mediation 18.46%	8. Boxing 24.95%
9. Dance 15.6%	9. Cycling (outdoor) 12.49%	9. Pilates 16.84%	9. Boxing 17.95%	9. Rowing 22.24%
10. Barre 13.2%	10. Dance 12.30%	10. Dance 16.56%	10. Rowing 15.73%	10. Meditation 20.50%

More on walking: Walking wasn’t on the menu until mid-covid in 2020. We’ve always included an “other” option for the state of fitness survey activity type, but it wasn’t until our surveys during the start of COVID when “walking” was an incredibly popular write-in vote. It was hardly even mentioned in this survey before then, telling us that you didn’t think of walking as exercise before COVID.

Walking is an incredibly effective low-impact exercise, according to Harvard Health. We love to see more consideration given to the bipedal activity considering that The 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that adults with chronic conditions do at least 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity weekly. At the 2020 peak of COVID, we saw 72.7% of respondents walking for exercise and today that number is 65.5%. That slow-down makes sense given the reopening of gyms and studios, but we love seeing “going for a walk” used as a way to socialize and exercise.

More on strength: We’ve had our eyes on strength as a discipline as we watch more women – the primary people who read aSweatLife and respond to this survey – get into strength training in general. In 2019, 79.7% of respondents told us that “strength” in general was a part of their routine. In our 2020 COVID reboot, we broke out strength with equipment, which 52.7% of respondents told us was a part of their routine, and bodyweight strength, which 67.3% told us was a part of their routines. To continue tracking the use of strength equipment and bodyweight, we decided to include those same options this year. This year, 61.7% of respondents told us that they included strength with equipment in their exercise routines and 52.3% included strength with bodyweight in their routines. With greater access to gyms and strength training equipment, there’s been a natural shift back to equipment-based strength.

More on cycling: Cycling is an interesting number to watch. Trendy cycling studios like SoulCycle were charging $38 a pop pre-pandemic. But – you saw this coming – studios like FlyWheel shuttered locations across the globe with pandemic stay-at-home orders and their settlement over trademark infringement with Peloton. But, we also saw Peloton take the connected fitness world by storm and potentially remove the mystique of in-studio cycling – why pay for killer playlists, candles, and expert coaches out-of-home when I can get it wherever?

Let’s look at this trend, shall we? In 2019, 56.9% made indoor cycling class a part of their fitness routines. In 2020, that number was 20.2%. In 2022, indoor cycling was a part of 32.6% of respondents’ routines. So we’re experiencing a rebound, but we’re still pretty far behind pre-pandemic numbers. 

More on running: We have had our eyes on running for a long time – it’s a modality that has waxed and waned in the years we’ve been tracking it. According to the 2020 Running USA U.S. Race Trends Report, timed races were losing steam before the pandemic. In 2019, there were a total of 17.6 million US race registrants, down from 18.1 million in 2018, and that year 5k races were the only distance that saw growth – at just 1%.

Our data shows some similar trends. In 2017, 66.2% of respondents made running a part of their routines. In 2018, that number was 68.7%, and in 2019 that number was 59.9%. In 2020, just before the pandemic hit, the number was 49.7%. Enter the pandemic – numbers still didn’t reverse course. Mid-COVID in 2020, 44.8% told us running was a part of their routines. In 2021, that number took a serious dip to 27.2%. But there’s hope for the sport of running: in 2022, 35.27% told us that they made running a part of their fitness routines. 

Timed races: New question alert – in 2022, we asked respondents if they completed a timed race or endurance event over the past year and 31.9% had.

What are you spending?

TL:DR: Spending is rebounding to 2018 numbers, but we haven’t recovered to the peak spending numbers we saw in 2019. Big box gyms, however, are back to pre-COVID numbers.

Average monthly fitness spending:

• 2018: $71.38/month
• 2019: $112/month
• 2020 (just before the pandemic): $104.5/month
• Mid-COVID: $42.75/month
• 2021: $48.75/month
• 2022: $78.37/month

Percent doing all fitness for free:

• 2018: 6%
• 2019: 3.87%
• 2020 (just before the pandemic): 8.72%
• Mid-COVID: 38.74%
• 2021: 52.95%
• 2022: 26.23%

This part of the survey is particularly interesting for me. It gives us a sense of the health of the industry from a business standpoint. What we’ve learned through the pandemic years is that the health of the industry and the health of the consumers of the industry are linked in some ways, but not every way. 

We know that you found ways to move without spending in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, for example, respondents told us that they were spending $42.75 on average a month and 38.7% were doing all fitness for free, but 67.7% of respondents said they were working out the same amount or more frequently.

This year, respondents told us that they spent a monthly average of $78.37 on fitness. That’s a pretty steep increase from last year at this time when you told us you were spending an average of $48.75. 

We still have yet to return to 2019 spending numbers, but spending was flat before the pandemic. A few theories on why we haven’t rebounded fully:

Pre-pandemic, you were spending on variety.

In 2019 and 2020 before the pandemic, when we asked you what you did for fitness, and we let you select as many options as you wanted. Across the board, every fitness format’s numbers were up when compared to today. That suggests that your routines included a lot more variety – and variety, especially when it comes to boutique fitness, can add up. It’s also interesting that in 2019, the average spend was pretty close to what a base ClassPass membership at the time was $115 a month for the 70-credit package (this gives a view into the platform at the time).

You haven’t all returned to the gym 

Since last year when most COVID restrictions were lifted from the gym, we’ve been tracking a fun metric: return to gym. At the end of 2022, 66.79% of respondents had returned to an indoor gym or studio and in 2021, that number was 36.23%. 

There’s still a large percentage of you doing all fitness for free

Walking outside or using your apartment or home gym are activities that spiked during the pandemic. And although many of you have gone back to the gym or returned to some form of in-person fitness, there’s an element of behavior change that stuck for some respondents – not spending money. Compare the 26.23% of respondents who did all fitness for free in 2022 to the 6% in 2018, 3.87% in 2019, and the 8.72% in 2020 (pre-COVID) and it’s clear that some free habits were formed at home.

Keep in mind that the 26.23% not spending on fitness in 2022 is a dramatic decrease from the 52.95% who told us they were doing all fitness for free in 2021.

You’re not all back to your gym memberships

We’ve also been tracking the number of you who put a membership on hold in 2020 and whether or not you’ve rejoined. This year, 59.93% of you told us you put a membership on hold in 2020 and 35.03% have rejoined. It’s important to note that these two numbers represent different levels of commitment from the fitness consumer. Returning to a gym is as easy as a drop-in class or a class package. Rejoining means committing to one place. Here are the memberships you’ve committed to:

• 23.3% are members of big box gyms, which we define as any sort of gym where a human can find a floor full of cardio or strength equipment like Anytime Fitness, Equinox, Lifetime fitness, etc.
• 35% are members of boutique fitness studios
• 19.35% are members of aggregators like ClassPass.

That adds up to 77.65%, a larger percentage of respondents than the percentage of you who told us that you returned to the gym (66.79%), which tells us about 11% of you have two memberships.

How Does Connected Fitness Like Peloton, Hydrow, and Tonal Fit into your Fitness Routine?

TL:DR: Connected Fitness purchases are slowing down, but the majority who already own connected fitness machines are holding onto them. Only 1.36% of survey respondents told us they sold a connected fitness machine this year.

Peloton recently went on the defensive with a commercial stating that “92% of members who start the year with Peloton stick with their memberships.” And they used that messaging for a good reason: There is a general sentiment that everyone is selling their Pelotons. We’ve seen that in Bustle. We’ve seen it in The New York Times. We’ve seen it on CNN.

This year we asked about buying and selling connected fitness equipment, specifically. As you read these numbers, keep in mind that these are a subset of the respondents who told us that they are doing digital fitness as a part of their routine, which was about 54% of survey respondents.

Of the people doing digital fitness, we asked if they own a piece of connected fitness equipment like a Peloton, Tonal, Mirror (aka the Lululemon Studio), Hydrow, etc. This year, 37.14% of respondents who do digital fitness told us they own a connected fitness device – that adds up to 19.32% of total respondents.

Here’s what you told us you own currently (remember these purchases could have been made at any point).

• 84.43% of the connected fitness owners own a connected bike (16.41% of total respondents)
• 15.57% of the connected fitness owners own a connected treadmill (3.03% of total respondents)
• 7.78% of the connected fitness owners own a connected Mirror (1.51% of total respondents)
• 6.59% of the connected fitness owners own a connected rower (1.28% of total respondents)
• 4.79% of the connected fitness owners own a connected strength machine (.93% of total respondents)

We also wanted to know what the overall traction of purchasing or selling connected fitness devices this year. Out of all of our survey respondents, here’s what you told us:

• 12.7% bought a connected fitness device
• 1.36% sold a connected fitness device
• 85.94% neither bought, nor sold a connected fitness device.

Compare the 12.7% who purchased any connected fitness device in 2022 to the 22.6% who purchased Pelotons specifically in 2021 and it tracks with the overall slowdown of the connected fitness space. According to Club Industry, “For fourth quarter 2022, Connected Fitness revenue was $295.6 million, down 55 percent compared to fourth quarter 2021.”

For those who did make a purchase in 2022, here’s what they bought:

• 58.78% of those who made a connected fitness purchase bought a bike (10.13% of total respondents)
• 18.24% of those who made a connected fitness purchase bought a treadmill (3.14% of total respondents)
• 8.11% of those who made a connected fitness purchase bought a connected rower (1.40% of total respondents)
• 8.11% of those who made a connected fitness purchase bought a connected Mirror (1.40% of total respondents)
• 6.76% of those who made a connected fitness purchase bought a connected strength machine (like tonal) (1.16% of total respondents)
• 0% of those who made a connected fitness purchase bought a connected boxing machine (we included this because of the sales data – keep reading)

Things sold this year: Remember, only 1.36% sold a piece of connected fitness equipment. Here’s what they sold.

• 46.81% of those who sold a connected fitness device sold a connected bike
• 22.66% of those who sold a connected fitness device sold a connected treadmill
• 10.64% of those who sold a connected fitness device sold a connected rower
• 8.41% of those who sold a connected fitness device sold a connected strength machine (like Tonal)
• 6.38% of those who sold a connected fitness device sold a connected boxing machine
• 0% sold a connected Mirror

New to the survey this year: Mental Health and doing fitness with friends

TL:DR: Mental health routines are evolving, but a majority of you do something specifically for the sake of your mental health.

• 56% have some sort of mental health routine, like meditation, journaling, therapy, or gratitude
• 28.4% of respondents speak to a professional therapist at least once a month
• 25.7% of you joined a fitness group specifically to make friends.

A lot of the work that we do at aSweatLife – in real life and in creating community – falls under combating loneliness and creating connection. The pandemic only widened the gap between humans, increasing loneliness. According to reporting by the Economist, the lonely are not just sadder; they are unhealthier and die younger.

So, sure, it’s fun for us to walk around saying, “Everything is better with friends,” but life truly is better and more fulfilling when there are more meaningful relationships in it. The Harvard Study of Adult Development proves over and over that the greatest predictor of a happy, long life is the quality of relationships one has. 

According to Cigna, 52% of Americans report feeling lonely while 47% report their relationships with others are not meaningful.

All of that is to tell you that we added questions this year to dig in a bit on your mental health practices and whether you’re seeking out friendships through fitness. 

This year we asked you to tell us whether you have a mental health routine. We included meditation, journaling, therapy, and gratitude in that category and 55.6% of you told us that you do at least one of those things routinely. We also asked about seeing a professional therapist at least once a month and 28.4% of you said that you do. That’s higher than the national average. The annual numbers that Statista reported were around 21.4% of US women and 12.1% of US men who seek therapy. It should be noted that the national averages are numbers of those who go to therapy in a year, and we asked about each month, so it’s apples and oranges, but still a great comparison. 

This is the section where we included numbers on working out alone or with friends – and that’s for a good reason – go back up to the bit about loneliness, relationships, and overall wellbeing for more on that. But we asked whether respondents worked out alone or in groups more frequently and 83.7% of you told us that you were more likely to work out alone. We also asked whether you’ve joined a group to make friends through fitness like a meetup, aSweatLife, The November Project, a run club or a walking group, and that number was 25.7%.

Your predictions for the future of fitness

Every year, we ask you to share your wildest dreams on where you think fitness is going. I absolutely love these answers every year, because I can tell a lot about each anonymous respondent based on their predictions. Are they hopeful? Do they just want to be left alone at the gym? Are they sick of a specific fad in particular?

This year was particularly fun to read through because for almost every answer, there was an equal and opposite answer. Let’s dig in. 

Digital fitness/tech is here to stay – aka, “The robots are coming” 

I will never get over how many of you think holograms are going to be making their way to a workout near you. I honestly googled “workout holograms” just to make sure I hadn’t missed something and guess what, I had. There was legitimately a hologram-based concept called HalograFit in 2013 that is no longer open and there’s this terrifying hologram concept. You kids keep me young. 

Here’s what a few of you said about tech, robots and holograms.  

• “Robots will workout along with us.”
• “We have workout mirrors now… maybe holograms are next??”
• “treadmills with holograms.”
• “Better app/algorithm generated routines”
• “There will be a lot more people getting regular exercise when augmented reality devices become more commonplace. It will allow people to gamify more mundane everyday activities that will result in more active lifestyles.”
• “People will continue to rely on technology to achieve their fitness goals.”
• “Exercises based on our DNA. We already are decoding DNA to figure out what we should eat.”

“Digital fitness is gone forever”

Revisiting our digital fitness numbers quickly: we saw that just over 85% of our respondents were doing some form of virtual fitness at the height of gym closure in the summer of 2020. Today, data shows us that 45.58% aren’t doing any digital fitness. While we’ve seen the share of respondents who tell us that they’re doing digital fitness decrease, it’s a non-zero number. AKA – the digital fitness part of the industry isn’t dead, behavior is just continuing to change.  

Here’s a brutally honest and insightful quote from one of you: “Unfortunately I think many connected fitness apps/machines will struggle or go out of business. (Lululemon mirror is being offered for 1/2 price, iFit is discontinuing some of their equipment & scaling back their programming, etc.)”

“Fitness at gyms and studios will make a full comeback”

Again our numbers support a partial comeback for now – 66.79% have returned to a gym – and given that we’re trending up year over year on return to gym, you just might be right, respondents. 

Here’s what some of you said:

• “I think fitness studios are going to come back full swing soon. I much prefer in person classes b/c I can only take 5am workouts and I can’t do a 5am workout at home (not motivating).”
• “I think boutique fitness is making a comeback as well as people getting outside more.”

“We need to connect more than ever”

There were so many predictions around the reason that folks will be driven back in-studio: connection. Please refer to the mental health section of the state of fitness for why we’re in support of that. 

Here’s what some of you predicted:

• “It will continue to be more social as people continue to have less social needs met through work.”
• “Continue regrowth of community based and social fitness whether it’s tied to a physical location (gyms, studios, etc) or social groups that use fitness to link people like aSweatLife, Chaarg, etc.”
• “More community, more mental and physical strength building.”

Pickleball. Full stop.

If you’ve been on anything with a screen lately, you’ve heard about pickleball. In fact, the game makes a prominent appearance in the new Apple TV show, Shrinking. Repeatedly, it was stated that it’s the fastest growing sport in America, and it is. You’ve noticed, you like it, and you’re talking about it.

Here’s what you said about it: 

• “Pickleball is blowing up!”
• “Way more pickleball courts or classes-the courts by us are always jam packed.”
• “It will continue to take us outdoors, exploring new sports (like the boom in pickleball, cross country skiing etc) and will focus on sports with longevity that we can continue to do as we age (ie cycling over running).”

“Fitness? In this economy?”

At the time of writing and analyzing this report in February of 2023, inflation rates were raised by the Fed for the eighth time this year, the cost of living continues to go up and this week, I read what felt like a novel on why eggs cost so much right now. 

But despite that, the latest job report shows that unemployment is currently at only 3.4%. That doesn’t stop us from seeing the tech sector do layoff after layoff. 

So to say that people are a little nervous about the economy isn’t an untruth. And, honestly, who can blame them? After these past few years, things simply feel turbulent.

Here’s what you said:

• “As economy worsens people will be forced to work like our ancestors did, and so less working out for the sake of working out.”
• “People will be spending less money (the economy is not doing well, and boutique gyms, overall spending money on fitness often is one of the first things to go if you need to watch your spending), also people have adopted different ways to work out due to COVID (realizing they may not need to go into a big box gym), they can work with a trainer virtually, etc. There are many other options.”
• “With the number of layoffs, the economy and the increased cost of living in this past year, less people are able to afford the cost of boutique fitness so it often becomes a supplement to their fitness routine vs their primary.”

Love for low-impact 

We’ve watched this piece of the fitness universe for a while – if you’ve ever had that feeling of, “I’ll never do another burpee in my life,” this is for you. Mindbody’s Wellness Index showed support for this trend that you have all keyed into – 33% of their respondents said that they prefer to do low-intensity exercise and 17% said that they prefer to do high-impact or high-intensity training. 

Here’s what some of you said about it: 

• “Walking is the new hot workout which is hilarious because it’s so elementary! But it works and it can be free so I’m into it.” 
• “People want cheaper options, easier access, and will prioritize mental health and low intensity workouts over HIIT or cycle.”
• “More low impact, less HIIT.”
• “Steady state, low-impact cardio is about to make a comeback. All I see are girls walking on an incline at the gym.”
• “Low intensity workouts will make a huge comeback as well as follow-along youtube videos.”

We’re just going to title this section “personal goals” and hopes for the industry.

We asked you what you think the future of fitness is and some of you took that as an opportunity to share your big, hairy, audacious goals. We’re here for it, so we’re going to give those goals some “ink.”

Here’s what some of you said: 

• “3 half marathons and the full Chicago marathon.”
• “I’ve seen yoga in bars. Now I wanna see yoga on Mars!” 
• “Some type of cryo workouts, like the opposite of hot yoga!”
• “I hope for an ongoing focus on inclusivity and community!”
• “Running faster than I did pre-pregnancy.”
• “I will be running a half marathon in Mexico City with my run group, also running back to back marathons Chicago and NYC…possibly running Hood To Coast as well.”

Have thoughts or questions on what you read here? Leave a comment below!