The announcement that gyms will be reopening soon means that the fitness and leisure industry could be about to wake up from its Covid hibernation. With this in mind, we’ve been having a think about what the world might look like. Will the gyms bounce right back, and members pick up where they left off? The answer is that we don’t really know for certain. Nobody does! What we can do is prepare, adapt and make some predictions as to how the landscape might shift and how trends might develop.

The Great (British) Outdoors

Gyms will inevitably bounce back but this may take a little while. My view is that owners and trainers will be looking outside the box and mitigating the worries and concerns of their members and clients by taking them outdoors. Not entirely, as the physical gym space will still be important, but in some format or another. Especially whilst social distancing is still a thing. Operators do not want to just give up on the other 50% of their capacity. So, what can they do? Let us use outdoor spaces if we are fortunate enough to have them — unused car parks, patches of grassland, gravel beds and AstroTurf areas.

Container Gym solutions

A solid, stable and semi-permanent solution that is configurable in a number of ways. Multiple containers can create a great training space — two or more containers with a cover spanning the void create an outdoor/indoor gym, whilst modified containers allow you to train inside or outside them. Our partner Beaverfit has recently brought the ‘Shred Shed’ to the market. A small, compact solution that requires very little space and is incredibly versatile. It’s effectively a gym in a box with an incredible amount of functionality and storage to boot.

Outdoor functional training rigs

Most of us have a rig indoors in our gym now. But we don’t see too many outdoor rigs. Is it the British weather? Maybe, but we have seen a big growth in outdoor rigs in Germany with one of our partners. This Summer may be the time to invest in an outdoor rig. These things last for years and are amazing for small and large group PT sessions. Structured classes are easy to run on rigs and you can fashion any design that comes into your head.

Outdoor racks

All of our training racks are suitable for outdoor use. Most people don’t have a big enough garage or house to fit a fully commercial rack, so why not get an outdoor solution? It could be temporary for the Summer or a permanent addition. Our racks range from folding racks to garage racks and basic outdoor half racks, to fully commercial Elite Racks. We’ve got something for all budgets and needs. Whatever the world decides for us this year, we as an industry need to be ready. Let’s focus on solutions and drive our industry, and society, forward together.