22% of Australia gym goers cancelled their membership due to COVID-19

Almost a quarter of Australia gym goers (22%) cancelled their membership due to COVID-19 while and 27% of club members have found it hard to get back to the gym since restrictions eased.

The revelations, emerged from Canstar Blue’s annual review of gyms and fitness clubs, with the consumer review and comparison website this year also looking at Australian gymgoers thoughts and preferences about gyms, their features and culture.

The survey of 1,000 gym goers also found that, through the pandemic, 41% maintained a regular exercise routine despite gym closures.

Commenting on the findings, Canstar Blue spokesperson Dean Heckscher says a number of Australians with gym memberships utilised online training options when gyms were closed but some are finding it hard to get back into the gym.

Heckscher advised “virtual workouts and online personal training sessions offered by gyms have been popular during the pandemic, with one in four Aussie gymgoers indicating they utilised these online features, but we’ve also had a substantial number of gymgoers - 27% - tell us that they’ve been finding it hard to get back into the gym since COVID-19 restrictions have eased.”

Canstar Blue’s Customer Satisfaction findings.

Looking at gym culture, the survey found that only one in 10 respondents think it is acceptable to approach a potential romantic partner at the gym.

F45 Training retains Canstar Blue’s Customer Satisfaction Award 
Looking at member satisfaction, F45 Training retained its status as being the most satisfactory fitness centre for the fourth consecutive year in Canstar Blue’s 2021 Customer Satisfaction Awards.

Having asked customers to rate gyms and fitness centres on overall satisfaction, as well as flexibility and perks, atmosphere, value for money, staff availability and equipment and facilities, Heckscher noted “F45 Training not only achieved five stars for overall satisfaction - giving it the crown - but it’s also the only fitness centre to achieve five stars in atmosphere and staff availability.

“Genesis, Crunch Fitness, Anytime Fitness, Plus Fitness and Jetts also performed impressively with four stars each for overall satisfaction.”

Canstar Blue’s research revealed some other insights about Aussie gym-goers as well, including:

• Only 31% think their gym has implemented additional cleaning measures since COVID-19

• 24-hour access (46%) is the most popular gym feature used, followed by group fitness classes (37%) and personal training (34%)

• One in four (25%) have tried multiple gym chains

Click here to view customer satisfaction research and ratings for over 1,800 brands across more than 300 consumer products and services on the Canstar Blue website.

Main image: F45 Training.