It's not just the sporting repertoire of gyms that's on the move. The audience is also changing. Whereas in the past it was mainly seniors who were looking for new opportunities for healthy exercise, in the future it could be mainly schoolchildren who are joining in. Their motives differ little from those of older guests.
Potsdam. The average age in fitness studios could drop considerably in the current year. At least that's what the Employers' Association of German Fitness and Health Facilities (DSSV) is assuming. Not only that current studies have established a connection between fitness especially at a young age and the incidence of later heart disease. "Due to the increasing inactivity of children and the decreasing number of school sports, certified exercise courses for the youngest children have a good chance of establishing themselves on the German fitness market," suspects DSSV spokesman Dustin Tusch.
According to Tusch, children are also affected by stress, which can manifest itself in attention disorders, concentration problems, reading, writing and arithmetic difficulties, as well as learning and behavioral problems.
Certified exercise courses in studios for children between eight and 14 years of age, which are covered up to 100 percent by health insurance companies, are able to counteract this development. But in the future, fitness facilities are also likely to increasingly provide offers for parents, for which there could at least be subsidies. Already last year, one in three employers offered their employees fitness or sports facilities at discounted rates, Tusch said. "That number will rise," Tusch believes. The DSSV also expects increasing support for fitness studios from health insurers.
More money from health insurers
Under the Prevention Act passed by the Bundestag last summer, the health insurers' spending benchmarks in the area of prevention more than doubled, he said. By the increase of the health insurance funds for prevention offers which can be expected a boom would experience appropriate courses in the current year.
A trend which can already be determined for two years will continue according to Tusch also in the current year: the Functional training. Numerous facilities will continue to expand their portfolio in the direction of holistic fitness training. The training of entire muscle groups that is common here can be carried out in exercises that are close to everyday life, usually with small aids. Instead of constantly enriching the range with new machines, the clubs are more likely to be tidied up. Open spaces need to be created where recreational athletes can use their own body weight, dumbbells or medicine balls to get in shape.
Source: Gerald Dietz, www.maz-online.de
Published on: 26 February 2016