The pandemic has taught us all how important it can be to look after our physical and mental health, and how worthwhile it is to invest in taking care of ourselves. This short book illustrates the main trends that are modifying the fitness industry worldwide and highlights contemporary relevance to strategic change. It outlines what is currently happening within the promising fitness market and analyses the major emerging trends and the scientific data, referring to startups that could become very interesting market players in the years to come. Sustainability and technology will be the subject of in-depth analysis, as they represent the main drivers that will guide the sector in the future. The book also considers the most important aspect of sustainability related to the fitness industry and wellness more generally: the Silver Economy. The analysis is supported by an extensive database involving the 100 leading companies in the sector worldwide. The novelty of this research is to provide a document analysing the typical characteristics of this market, consumption dynamics, consumer triggers, and underlying the socio-economic scenario. The treatment of key themes such as fitness-tech startups, sport strategic management and above all innovation and sustainability make the book unique and appealing to researchers, academics, students, and practitioners.
The pandemic has taught us all how important it can be to look after our physical and mental health, and how worthwhile it is to invest in taking care of ourselves. This short book illustrates the main trends that are modifying the fitness industry worldwide and highlights contemporary relevance to strategic change. It outlines what is currently happening within the promising fitness market and analyses the major emerging trends and the scientific data, referring to startups that could become very interesting market players in the years to come. Sustainability and technology will be the subject of in-depth analysis, as they represent the main drivers that will guide the sector in the future. The book also considers the most important aspect of sustainability related to the fitness industry and wellness more generally: the Silver Economy. The analysis is supported by an extensive database involving the 100 leading companies in the sector worldwide. The novelty of this research is to provide a document analysing the typical characteristics of this market, consumption dynamics, consumer triggers, and underlying the socio-economic scenario. The treatment of key themes such as fitness-tech startups, sport strategic management and above all innovation and sustainability make the book unique and appealing to researchers, academics, students, and practitioners.
This book explores the rise, size and shape of the European fitness industry by using harmonised data as well as in-depth analyses of national surveys in fifteen European countries. Following an introduction to the socio-historical and conceptual aspects of fitness, the collection presents the scope of fitness as a business and participatory activity. Furthermore, both policy and governance issues as well as community and supply angles are considered. Drawing on this unique material, the book will appeal to students and scholars of sport business, sport economics, sport management, and social sport sciences, but also to administrators, policymakers and entrepreneurs in the international and national sport and health community.
The Global Private Health & Fitness Business shows the globalization of the health and fitness industry, and its different forms of management according to different countries, the objective being to show the various business models in the fitness industry in seventeen countries around the world and explore their methods of marketing.
Legends of Fitness details the history of the health and fitness industry, touching on the individuals who have had a noteworthy impact on the industry and highlighting the equipment innovations that have played such an important role in the evolution of the industry. Only by understanding the past, can individuals fully comprehend and overcome the challenges facing the industry, and more importantly, create a viable pathway for it to prosper in the future. All royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to Augie's Quest.
This book provides a sociological perspective on fitness culture as developed in commercial gyms, investigating the cultural relevance of gyms in terms of the history of the commercialization of body discipline, the negotiation of gender identities and distinction dynamics within contemporary cultures of consumption.
These days there is only one right answer when someone asks you what you are doing after work. Hitting the gym! With an explosion of apps, clothing, devices, and countless DVDs, fitness has never felt more modern, and the gym is its holy laboratory, alive with machinery, sweat, and dance music. But we are far from the first to pursue bodily perfection—the gymnasium dates back 2,800 years, to the very beginnings of Western civilization. In The Temple of Perfection, Eric Chaline offers the first proper consideration of the gym’s complex, layered history and the influence it has had on the development of Western individualism, society, education, and politics. As Chaline shows, how we take care of our bodies has long been based on a complex mix of spiritual beliefs, moral discipline, and aesthetic ideals that are all entangled with political, social, and sexual power. Today, training in a gym is seen primarily as part of the pursuit of individual fulfillment. As he shows, however, the gym has always had a secondary role in creating men and women who are “fit for purpose”—a notion that has meant a lot of different things throughout history. Chaline surveys the gym’s many incarnations and the ways the individual, the nation-state, the media, and the corporate world have intersected in its steamy confines, sometimes with unintended consequences. He shows that the gym is far more than a factory for superficiality and self-obsession—it is one of the principle battlefields of humanity’s social, sexual, and cultural wars. Exploring the gym’s history from a multitude of perspectives, Chaline concludes by looking toward its future as it struggles to redefine itself in a world in thrall to quick fixes—such as plastic surgery and pharmaceuticals—meant to attain the gym’s ultimate promises: physical fitness and beauty.
By participating in the everyday life of fitness professionals, gym-goers and bodybuilders, The Global Gym explores fitness centres as sites of learning. The authors consider how physical, psychological and cultural knowledge about health and the body is incorporated into people's identity in a local and global gym and fitness context.
Million Dollar Muscle is a unique anthology, co-authored by a "gym rat" with a Ph.D. in Sociology and a former competitive bodybuilder, fitness expert, and entrepreneur. The book offers a sociological perspective on the fitness industry, discussing how it is driven both by market forces and the culture of individual consumerism. Within a capitalist system the fitness industry is driven by the need to earn profits. From a small sub-culture it has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. The market is now flooded with gyms, nutritional supplements, workout apparel, exercise equipment, and health and fitness magazines. With massive advertisements, and aided by the Hollywood culture and its emphasis on appearance, the fitness industry has grown to new dimensions, influencing individual choices and behaviors. Million Dollar Muscle discusses this evolution, along with what motivates people to make the choices they do. The material recognizes that these choices have important social implications. By combining an academic and theoretical approach with an "in the trenches" point of view, the book is able to bridge micro-macro aspects of the industry. It provides a comprehensive exploration of the individual choices regarding fitness, and why this is an important topic for sociological consideration. The following topics are discussed: - Market forces and the power these forces have to shape perceptions of reality; - The mechanics of capitalism and how these have changed traditional norms and customs which previously served practical purposes; - The danger of conforming to social norms; - Individual choices and how they are, in reality, driven by social forces Million Dollar Muscle is an unusual and intriguing text that successfully combines the thoughtful consideration of the social sciences with the "in-the-know" sensibility of an industry insider. Dr. Adrian James Tan, a Singapore-born American, is currently a faculty member at Southern Methodist University in the Sociology Department. He teaches courses in Introduction to Sociology, Marriage and Family, Sociological Theory, and Person vs. Society. Adrian obtained a bachelor's degree majoring in English and philosophy, and master's degrees in sociology and international affairs at Ohio University. Specializing in social psychology and ethnic identity, Adrian earned a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of North Texas, submitting his dissertation on the ethnic identity of Mexican-American children. Doug Brignole is a 37-year veteran of the fitness industry and a former Mr. California, Mr. America, and Mr. Universe winner. His competitive career spanned from the age of 16 until the age of 51. Doug is also a former gym owner, lecturer, author, fitness TV show host, and personal trainer. He writes for Iron Man Magazine, appears on MuscleXL (an iPad app) where he gives video tips on biomechanics, and is currently working on a biomechanics book that explains the physics of exercise and how one can assess which exercises are productive and which ones pose a risk of injury. He has been certified by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Council on Exercise.
Emerging in colonial India, the fitness fad that was Indian Club Swinging became a global exercise practice in the early 19th century. Used by physicians, soldiers, gymnasts, children and athletes alike, clubs were used to solve numerous social concerns and ills, and often prescribed to treat everything from depression to spinal abnormalities. This book provides a definitive account of the rise and spread of club swinging as it spread from India to Europe and America, asking why and how it became so popular. Discussing the global, commercial fitness culture of the 19th century, Indian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness explores how the popularity of this exercise reflected much deeper global and domestic concerns about body image, military preparation and education. Addressing broader questions about nationalism, gender, race and popular commerce across the British Empire, it highlights the origins of our modern transnational fitness culture and shows how it intersected with global and colonial understandings of health, medicine and education.
