Is The Fitness Industry Really Delivering the Health Outcomes We Claim?

Are We Really Delivering the Health Outcomes We Claim?

I had an interesting conversation recently with someone who works closely with our industry but sits just outside it. They’re not a gym owner. Not a trainer. Not a consultant. But they work alongside many fitness businesses and see how they operate day to day.

What struck me was how quickly the conversation landed on the same conclusions I’ve been talking about for years.

As an industry, we talk a great game about health.
But we don’t consistently deliver the outcomes we claim.

And when someone from outside the bubble says it out loud, it lands differently.

Let’s start with the uncomfortable facts.

Less than 17 percent of the population are members of a gym.
That means over 83 percent are choosing not to engage with what we offer.

Even more concerning, there are now more ex-members than current members in the fitness industry. Millions of people have tried our services and decided they weren’t for them.

That alone should force us to pause.

Yet we still measure success largely by member numbers. We celebrate openings, growth and headline figures, while ignoring what those numbers actually represent. Short stays. Early drop-outs. Cycles of joining and leaving.

If we were genuinely delivering on the health promises we make, those numbers would look very different.

Dig a little deeper and the cracks become clearer.

Many clubs do not track client journeys in any meaningful way. They don’t measure improvement, confidence, adherence or long-term behaviour change. They don’t even consistently monitor attendance beyond basic usage.

Most clubs still don’t have a structured onboarding process. No clear first 90 days. No defined checkpoints. No planned education or reassurance. Yet we confidently claim we “support” members.

How can we support people if we don’t guide them?

On top of that, many clubs don’t properly monitor their own business performance. Attrition, engagement, conversion, secondary spend, length of stay. Either not tracked at all, or looked at too infrequently to drive real decisions.

And yet, as an industry, we’re quick to position ourselves as the “first line of defence for the NHS”.

In reality, most of what we offer is access to facilities.

That doesn’t mean facilities aren’t valuable. They absolutely are. But facilities alone don’t change behaviour. They don’t build confidence. They don’t remove fear. And they don’t keep people engaged long enough to see real health outcomes.

To be clear, this isn’t an attack on every gym.

There are some outstanding operators out there. Clubs that genuinely care about service delivery. Businesses that prioritise onboarding, education, retention and long-term relationships. Operators who understand that fitness is about people, not programming.

They deserve huge credit.

But they are not yet the norm.

Too often we congratulate ourselves as an industry. We attend conferences, share success stories and talk about innovation, while avoiding the harder conversation about why the majority of the population still doesn’t feel that gyms are for them.

We’ve leaned heavily into hype and trends. HIIT. Six-week transformations. Challenges. Before-and-after photos. All of these have their place, but they are not the foundation of long-term engagement.

Exercise should not feel intimidating.
It should not feel competitive.
And it certainly shouldn’t feel like failure if someone doesn’t “stick to the plan”.

If we want to move the needle on engagement, we have to rethink how we deliver our services.

That means taking service delivery seriously. Designing real client journeys. Building onboarding that educates and reassures. Measuring success by retention, confidence and consistency, not just sign-ups.

It means recognising that health outcomes are built slowly, through trust, guidance and support, not through hype or intensity.

And it means being honest with ourselves.

If we want to be taken seriously as part of the health solution, we have to act like it. Not just talk about it.

This isn’t about blaming. It’s about responsibility.

If we genuinely believe fitness can change lives, then we need to do the work to make that true for more than just the already confident, already active minority.

Because if we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’ll keep getting the same results.

And the numbers already tell us that isn’t good enough.