Senior gym trends

In the next 3-5 years, the elderly gym will never be an "adapted version" of ordinary gyms with large-print equipment. Instead, it will become a high-premium vertical category in the community elderly care ecosystem that combines health intervention and social attributes. Low-priced mass-market stores and high-quality small and beautiful stores will coexist for a long time. But those who can survive three years must be players who put "emotional value" before "fitness effect."

To be honest, I ran elderly fitness programs in more than 20 cities last year, and the one I was most surprised by was the 120-square-meter store in Gusu District, Suzhou: there were no heavy weight barbells or spinning bikes, but only hydraulic resistance equipment with handrails. The walls were all made of soft materials, and there was a tea table in the corner, where chrysanthemum tea and barley tea were brewed all year round. The average age of the 320 members is 62 years old. Annual passes cost RMB 1,980, and private lessons cost RMB 240, which is RMB 30 more expensive than nearby young people’s gyms. Last year’s net profit was nearly RMB 400,000. The boss used to work in community care for the elderly and was not from the fitness industry at all.

I sat in the store all afternoon, and what I heard most was not the coach shouting "add another group", but Aunt Li saying that her grandson had just won the Mathematical Olympiad award, and Uncle Wang showing off that he caught a three-pound crucian carp last week. After practicing for 20 minutes and resting for half an hour, fitness seemed like a casual thing. You may not believe it, but one-third of the members in the store were originally forced to come here by their children. After coming here twice, they had to run here with umbrellas when it rained - there was no one to accompany them at home, and there were many people of the same age here.

The most controversial issue in the industry right now is whether elderly gyms should take the inclusive route or the premium route.

One group believes that the elderly are sensitive to consumption and must be affiliated with the community to receive subsidies and obtain a 100-yuan annual card to attract people. Many public gyms in Pudong, Shanghai, indeed follow this path. You can practice for 99 yuan for a year, and there are long queues at the door at 6 a.m.. They have indeed solved the basic exercise needs of many ordinary elderly people. However, the problems are also obvious: the equipment has been broken for half a month and no one has repaired it. There is no professional coach to guide. Last year, an old man lost his footing and fell while practicing. In the end, the street lost hundreds of thousands of yuan. Now the operator is worried about whether to accept the contract for the next year.

The other group is the idea of ​​​​the boss in Suzhou: the young and energetic old people in the city now do not lack the fitness money, but what they lack is a safe, comfortable, and caring social space. The data in the "2024 China Elderly Sports and Health Consumption Report" can also support this: urban young people aged 60-70 are willing to spend an average of 3,860 yuan on sports and social activities every year, which is more than what many young people can save every month. I have been in contact with an owner of a high-end elderly gym. Among his clients, there are even elderly people who buy private training classes just so that "a young person can chat with me for two hours every week."

What’s interesting is that in the past few years, the first batch of gyms for the elderly were basically practitioners who were originally engaged in fitness for young people, and 90% of them suffered huge losses. I saw a boss in Chengdu in 2022 who copied the routine of a gym for young people. He gave the elderly people a physical examination first when they entered the door. He pointed at the report and said that the person had osteoporosis and muscle strength decline. He tricked people into buying a private training class worth 30,000 yuan, but it turned out that he was useless after less than half a year. The elderly in the entire community told each other that he was a liar. Even the guy at the door delivery station knew to give the elderly at home a warning.

Players who are living well now are those who have crossed over from the pension industry and have understood the consumption logic of the elderly: don’t be forced to pay, and if you are good to Aunt Zhang, she can attract the sisters from the entire square dance team to apply for cards. If you cheat Uncle Wang, he can stay in the community and say bad things about you for half a month.

Now we can see many emerging new directions: Several elderly gyms in Hangzhou have been connected with community hospitals. The elderly’s exercise heart rate and blood pressure data are directly synchronized to personal health files. If the movement is incorrect or the indicators are abnormal, the system will immediately warn. In some pilot areas, personal accounts with medical insurance can even be swiped to buy fitness cards. If this policy is liberalized on a large scale, the increase can be increased several times. There are also courses offered in cooperation with universities for the elderly. After completing the course, taking a sports skills certificate can be counted as credits to the university for the elderly. Many elderly people sign up specifically to go back and show off to their old sisters.

My biggest feeling after running so many projects is that running a gym for the elderly is not essentially a fitness business at all, but an "offline third space for the elderly" business. If you keep an eye on other people's body fat percentage and muscle mass every day, you will most likely not be able to do it for a long time. If you remember every day that Aunt Zhang is diabetic and cannot eat sweets, and Uncle Wang has bad joints and cannot do squats, you will be able to do it for a long time. After all, for people of this age group, being happy and having someone to accompany you is much more important than practicing your vest line.