Sport and games have become much more wide-spread in recent decades, and fitness centers are springing up everywhere. The number of people doing fitness has grown tremendously: fitness is in the top 3 of sports in The Netherlands. How come?

Let us first look briefly at sports in general. In today’s society most people spend their time on intellectual and mental rather than physical activity. The dictum ‘A healthy mind in a healthy body’ (mens sana in copore sano) was already a motto for the ancient Romans. Balancing the mind and body is seen as vital for health and well-being in our days as well. Since we are still genetically programmed to be physically fit, sports offers the opportunity to experience intense physical efforts.

“Mens sanain corpore sano.”

Fitness in particular offers the advantage over regular team sports that it can be done at any time instead of the planned volleyball or soccer match. Some fitness centers open at 5 AM or are even open 24/7. So, as an individual, you can choose the most convenient time in a busy schedule. What motivates such a huge number of people to

do fitness? We can distinguish a number of moti-vations. First of all, people do fitness because they want to keep a good health. Being in a good condition makes them less vulnerable for illness and they know daily or weekly exercise is good for their heart and veins. It gives them the feeling to be in control over their health. Other people do fitness because they want to look good. Men want to shape their muscles and women want a slender figure. It will make them look more attractive to others and increase their self-esteem

Fitness is also a kind of safety valve or an escape from daily routine. It feels as a way to release emo-tions, to free the mind and to keep the body supple and energetic. Physical exercises compen-sate for the daily mental activities and stress.Finally, going to a fitness center or sport school can be a social activity. It allows people to meet others or to do fitness with a friend. In addition, doing fitness with a friend sometimes is used as a big stick to go the fitness centre. It is not always easy to keep the discipline to work on your health, condition and figure. It has been reported that people in the UK spend over 40 million euro’s on unused subscriptions to fitness centers and sport schools.

What are the implications for fitness centers? In order to attract and keep customers, they have to accommodate these different needs. Some centers follow a strategy in which they offer just fitness

WHY FITNESS IS IN GOOD SHAPE.

apparatus for people who want to work on their health and body. They target the individual athlete and offer also company subscriptions in order to get members.

Others extend their services by offering group lessons in f.i. ‘Zumba’ or ‘Steps’, accommodating the need of people to do fitness as a social activity . A recent trend is to offer an additional service like yoga, which is more of amnetal experience rather than physical intense.

Finally, at the high end of this continuum we find the fitness centers which have wellness facilities as well, enabling visitors to really go for a healthy mind in a healthy body.

by Hette SpoelstraDirector at WHY5Research Netherlands

MOTIVATIONALRESEARCH

2011NOV

WHY FITNESS IS IN GOOD SHAPE