At Sports Marketing Surveys we know that exercise is a crucial part of how people live their lives. Our studies show time and time again that exercisers appreciate the wide range of benefits to health, mental health, weight loss and their social life.** These are fundamental things to leave behind and the loss of preferred sports and activities will have profound impacts on the people who play them.

Where was the exercise market at the start of the Coronavirus crisis?

Our first findings suggest that 46% were already doing some form of exercise at home in the very first days of the Coronavirus crisis. Based on an estimate of 52 million adults in the UK, this figure would mean that almost 24 million people are exercising in their homes. The appetite for home exercise stretches across the country, with over 40% of respondents in all regions saying that they already exercise at home, peaking at 53% of Londoners. Exercise is an almost universal love in Britain. It transcends socioeconomic boundaries, education level, regions, ages and genders. In fact our results suggest that you could drop into almost any house at random, and expect to find a 40% chance or better that some of the household exercise at home in some form.

In the early days of coronavirus, the signs were that this number is likely to increase even further. An additional 21% of respondents added that although they did not previously exercise at home, they are now planning to do so. This is perhaps unsurprising given the curtailing of other avenues for exercise. Many team sports for example had already seen fixtures for the weekend of the 23^rd March cancelled due to Coronavirus, and plenty of people quickly realised that many other pursuits would not be compatible with rules around social distancing and touching shared surfaces and materials.

Even if the uptick in home exercise is expected, it is worth pausing to reflect on what this means for the exercise industry. An additional 21% of people exercising at home would mean nearly 11 million additional participants. These are people who may well be in the market for exercise equipment including weights, treadmills, exercise bikes, rowing machines, yoga mats, personal training programmes, online classes and many other pieces of equipment and services. Exactly how much they invest in new equipment is a topic that SMS will return to, but it is worth noting that a recent study on the running market, suggested that regular runners spend £160 per year just on activewear.** As new people take up new activities, or increase their frequency with which they take part in old ones, sports brands may well see an increase in spending on exercise equipment and apparel, at least in the short-term.

It may be telling then that 18-24s were the group already likely to do the most exercise at home. 62% of this group reported exercising at home, above the national average. A further 17% planned to start doing so when we asked them. Meanwhile it was people aged between 25 and 44 who were the most likely to consider taking up exercise from home for the first time.

Will this grow further?

Our fieldwork will continue to track the ongoing situation and report on how habits change as the lockdown wears on. Will gymgoers turn increasingly to home exercise, or perhaps to sports like running or cycling? What proportion of people will end up abandoning exercise altogether because their favourite sport is unavailable? How will consumer purchases reflect the new constraints? To find out more, or if you wish to understand more on a particular issue or subgroup, please contact Sports Marketing Surveys.