Fitness habits have changed throughout the years. From traditional sports to going to the gym, the way we play sports has changed very much — mainly throughout the pandemic season. The Real Research study shows that more people are using online videos to workout at home or outdoors than going to the gym or practicing group sports.

Highlights

  • 36.27% of participants consider working out extremely important.
  • Over 90% of respondents workout at least once a week.
  • Respondents prefer short workouts rather than time-consuming exercises.

The progress of academic education levels worldwide, along with improved living conditions and technology that help humans in their routine tasks have led towards a more sedentary lifestyle. The need to practice sports has gained a voice in today’s society, both for shape-improvement and health purposes.

People’s lives today are busier than before, between work and social life, there is little time for exercise, and this is very clear in this study, people prefer short, efficient practices. Besides, cities grew, roads became more chaotic, and the gym trip became more time-consuming, which leads people to choose activities at home or outdoors accompanied by workout videos.

That said, working out is extremely important for people’s health. For some, it comes naturally; physical activities are not part of their day-to-day life for others. However, not for all. What are people’s habits? Did fitness eventually become part of the COVID-19 trend, or did people start exercising prior to the lockdown?

Surprisingly, most respondents exercise regularly. However, a large part confesses to having just started doing physical activities in the past few months.

Over 90% of Respondents Workout at Least Once a Week

In order to understand fitness habits globally, the first question in the Real Research survey was directly linked to the regularity with which people practice physical activity. To the question, “How often do you workout?” 91.74% of respondents said working out at least once a week.

However, the primary response is only once a week, with 24.87% of the respondents, followed by ‘5+ days per week’ with 19% of responses. In the middle were responses like ‘2-3 days per week’ with 18.04% and ‘2-3 days per week’, with 16.07%. Interestingly, this can mean that society is divided into two groups of people: those who exercise once a week and those who practice activity very often to the point of being part of the routine.

In line with this, most of the people (36.27%) consider working out ‘extremely important’.

As we can see in the image above, most of the respondents consider physical activity important. To the question, “How important is the workout for you?”, 36.27 % consider it extremely important, 25.9% very important, and 20.23% moderately important.

This means that the awareness of the importance of exercise for health and fitness has been growing throughout the years for most of people, independently of their country and situation.

People Prefer Outdoors and Short Workouts

After many years of indoor sports, practices are at their peak, it seems that the mindset of practitioners of activity has been changing. There are more people exercising outdoors than in going to the gym today.

People also bet more on exercise less time-consuming as their life becomes more stressful and busy.

To the question “Where do you work out?”, 24.13% of the respondents said they do it at home or outdoors with workout videos. This is followed by the traditional going to the gym activity with 20.57% of responses.

Even though the preference is the workout videos, the opinions were divided. 19.63% of respondents have a personal trainer, and 14.27% go to group classes.

Although people workout often and in various places, short exercises are the preferred practice. To the question ‘How much time do you spend on a workout session?’, 28.63% of the respondents said ‘30-60 minutes’ and 27.9% answered ‘less than 30 minutes. Surprisingly and despite the people’s stressful lifestyles, 23.77% said ‘1-2’ hours, and 19.7% are working out more than 2 hours.

Specific Goals Work as an Incentive for Fitness Practice

As with everything in life, setting goals and objectives helps us achieve the long-awaited accomplishment or milestone. Defining professional sports competitions or among friends or defining goals is a proven way to motivate people.

To the question “Would competitions or goal setting increase your fitness motivation”, 36.17% of the respondents admitted that competitions motivate them and 28.9% said that what works best for them is setting goals. ‘Somewhat yes’ follows in third place with 27.33% of the respondents.

Methodology

Insights derived from Real Research’s “ Fitness Habits Globally” fielded to both genders of all ages in November 2020.

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