Reaching the 80%: Inclusive Fitness Strategies Backed by Behavioural Science
The fitness industry is experiencing a shift—an increasing awareness of the need to reach the 80% of the population who currently don’t engage with traditional fitness services. This growing recognition presents an exciting opportunity to foster a more inclusive and supportive approach to physical activity. While some fantastic work is already being done, there’s great potential to make these efforts more widespread and impactful.
Drawing from two decades of experience in health-related behavioural science and the fitness sector, I want to explore practical ways we can successfully engage and retain a more diverse range of people in physical activity.
Workforce Development: Cultivating Empathy and Inclusivity
Fitness and physical activity professionals are the heartbeat of the industry, playing a crucial role in shaping welcoming and motivating environments. Many enter the field due to a personal passion for sport and exercise, often having experienced their own health transformations. While many professionals have equipped themselves with the vital knowledge and skills to understand the physiology of chronic conditions and create tailored exercise prescriptions, many of the clients they could be helping currently lack the confidence and ability to begin an exercise programme, or to follow their prescription consistently. Thus, to truly connect with a broader audience, we must ensure our workforce is equipped with the skills and understanding needed to meet the specific needs of those who struggle with physical activity for a variety of physical, emotional, psychological, practical and social reasons.
Key steps include:
Broadening recruitment: Attracting individuals who may not have a lifelong love for exercise, and those from diverse backgrounds who are passionate about helping others, to work in the sector. This can foster relatability and make sure that members can interact with staff who know their struggles.
Enhancing education: Providing training on the psychological and social aspects of physical activity behaviour, alongside exercise prescription, to support lasting behaviour change.
Fostering a culture of compassion: Helping professionals develop empathy for those facing barriers to exercise, so they can create a judgment-free and encouraging environment.
This emphasis on workforce development is even more vital because exercise professionals are the grass roots of our industry, and many will go on to leadership roles in the future where they can be positive drivers of change. Some great examples include Crunch’s ‘no judgement’ culture, which is supported by comprehensive staff training, and David Lloyd’s inclusion resource groups where team members from diverse backgrounds connect, share their experiences, and push for more inclusive practices.
Organizational & Strategic Change: Making Health a Priority
Fitness businesses that are successful in reaching a wider audience have a strategic commitment to health, supported by long-term planning and leadership engagement. Meaningful steps towards this might include:
Establishing leadership roles focused on health, such as a Chief Health Officer, who can develop and implement health-focused strategies that align with the wider business strategy, and ensure that health is deeply embedded throughout the organisation’s mission and operations.
Appointing board members with public health or healthcare expertise who can provide invaluable insights and oversight relevant to the health strategy.
Measuring impact based on community needs, ensuring that progress is evaluated in meaningful ways by listening to the voices of those the organisation seeks to serve. For example, evidence for long term physical and mental health-related outcomes, such as changes in blood pressure, blood glucose and mood, is more motivating for both potential clients and funders than measures of short term adherence.
Product & Service Innovation: Creating Welcoming Spaces
Understanding diverse customer needs is fundamental to successfully reaching new markets. I’ve collated a breadth of evidence for the barriers to engaging in physical activity and exercise among inactive people and those living with long term health conditions. Here are some ways to break down those barriers and make fitness more accessible and appealing:
Flexible engagement options: Behaviour change is hard, which makes many people’s journey to an active lifestyle messy and non-linear. Added to which, people living with long term health conditions will experience flare-ups in symptoms and go through different treatment phases, which all influence their motivation and ability to be active at different times. Offering memberships and programs that accommodate these bumps in the road, allowing individuals to try, pause, and restart their physical activity journey without financial penalties or feelings of failure will encourage individuals to stick at it for the long term. Providing flexibility shows the individual that their provider truly understands their circumstances and wants to support them regardless, which in turn builds significant brand loyalty.
Designing inclusive and accessible spaces: Creating environments where everyone feels comfortable is vital. Individuals with long term conditions and disabilities consistently report high levels of motivation to be physically active, but many have struggled to find facilities and services where they feel they fit in or are catered for. When designing facilities it’s important to consider how they work for someone with a visual, hearing or mobility impairment, as well as wheelchair users and people living with obesity. This encompasses a wide range of considerations that include layout and equipment, but also signage, music and lighting, changing facilities, and more. Seeking input from people with a range of disabilities and needs, and having them physically test out the space, can be hugely insightful and avoid unintentional barriers for potential customers.
Providing services that align with health goals: While aesthetics and performance-focused goals are important for some, the evidence for inactive individuals and those living with health conditions shows they are more motivated by the benefits of physical activity that relate to quality of life such as pain reduction, enhanced mobility, and improved mood. Programs and products that clearly target these outcomes will attract those individuals who don’t connect with ‘fitness’ but do want to be fit for everyday life.
Personalised support: Recognizing that each person has unique motivations and barriers is consistently highlighted as imperative to supporting behaviour change. The ability to identify the factors that drive or inhibit each individual’s engagement with physical activity enables the end to end customer experience to be uniquely tailored to them, in turn increasing the likelihood that they will be successful in developing an active lifestyle long term. For example, a simple questionnaire can be designed based on behavioural science that will reveal not just the individual’s conscious motivations and potential barriers such as likes and dislikes, but the unconscious drivers of behaviour such as beliefs, norms and emotions. Specific evidence-based behaviour change techniques can then be delivered to tap into those conscious and unconscious drivers. With the use of technology this can be partly or wholly automated, achieving personalisation at an affordable cost.
Some innovators in this area include Matchbox Life who are creating Active Life Centres, a concept completely focused on health and happiness that includes tailored, easy to follow workouts, and the option to pause memberships for up to 8 weeks. Better Health offer memberships tailored to people with disabilities at lower prices, and allow members to bring someone with them to provide personal support or care, while Everyone Active recently launched the You+ membership which aims to target six pillars of wellness including sleep, recovery and social wellness alongside movement.
Branding & Communication: Shifting the Narrative
Research on engagement in fitness services clearly shows perception matters. The way fitness products are marketed can not only influence whether individuals will engage with them, but can effect a cultural shift towards physical activity and exercise being seen as for everyone. The following are approaches that can put inclusivity at the heart of fitness brands:
Showcase diversity: Representation in marketing materials should reflect a wide range of abilities, body types, and backgrounds. Given that in Europe 35% of the population has at least one long term health condition, rising to 60% in the USA, and more adults live with a BMI greater than 25kg/m2 than under it, this should be reflected in both images and messaging.
Reframe fitness messaging: An emphasis on aesthetics and competition can be hugely demotivating for many, because they consider achieving a fit physique or high performance to be either unachievable or unimportant compared to other goals such as better mobility or reduced pain. Similarly, messages about ‘being consistent’ can be off-putting to those with low confidence or who experience flare ups in their condition. Sharing the real life stories of people who have struggled to be physically active will showcase the reality for many people, and help to build others' confidence in their ability to increase their own activity.
Emphasize fun: The number one reason cited for continued engagement in exercise (or any other behaviour) is enjoyment. Making physical activity feel like a ‘want to do’ rather than a ‘have to do’ encourages long-term engagement. This can be enhanced by building a sense of community and showcasing activities that have a social aspect.
Craft motivating health messages: While long-term benefits like disease prevention are crucial, humans do not enjoy feeling anxious or worried, so we tend not to engage in imagining a potentially negative future, which limits the impact of messaging about long term health benefits. Instead, people are more motivated to engage in physical activities by more immediate rewards, such as better sleep and increased energy.
Celebrate small victories: Reinforcing that every movement matters can make fitness feel more achievable and rewarding, and this fosters long term engagement and brand loyalty.
Use person-first language: Ensuring that communication is respectful and empowering for all individuals creates a world without limitations. For example, people with a disability, rather than disabled people, puts the person at the forefront, not the condition.
Some notable examples of progress in these areas include GymNation with their stated intention to ‘democratise fitness’ and make going to the gym less intimidating, more affordable, accessible, and fun, backed up by member testimonials citing the sense of community as a key reason for their patronage. It is also great to see chains like Snap Fitness putting their safety policies front and centre, including detailed protocols for how they deal with harassment and inappropriate behaviour from either staff or members. A vital step to creating a truly inclusive brand and attracting a diverse membership.
A Collaborative Future
The fitness industry has a tremendous opportunity to make a lasting difference in public health. By drawing on the evidence base and implementing the science we can foster inclusivity, and make strategic shifts, to create a sector that truly supports people of all backgrounds and abilities in leading active, healthier lives. At The Collective I use science-based methods combined with a deep understanding of human behaviour to help organisations create, review and refine their health strategies, as well as define and measure outcomes, to effect tangible change and business growth. An illustrative example of how this process might be deployed:
“Thinking differently” leadership workshop - A collaborative session with key stakeholders and senior leadership team, using proven systematic tools to identify target market segments, define strategic goals, and re-think the customer lifecycle with health & inclusivity at its core.
Data gathering & evidence synthesis - To ensure decisions are fully informed, the existing market data, scientific evidence & best practice case studies will be combined with appropriate primary data collection (e.g. staff surveys/skills audits, focus groups with potential members from relevant communities, etc.). These multiple sources will be combined to produce a comprehensive set of evidence-based recommendations for consideration.
Health strategy co-creation workshop - Presentation of recommendations to leadership team and representatives of relevant groups, e.g. staff, people with health conditions, health-related partners, etc. Agreement on strategic priorities, quantifiable outcomes and finalisation of an actionable roadmap for execution.
Implementing for impact - Oversight of the roadmap’s execution, providing a dedicated focus on implementation, including; maintaining active engagement of key stakeholders; retaining a strategic focus across multiple departments and team members; problem-solving and iteration of implementation plan where obstacles are encountered.
Evaluation and dissemination - Measurement and reporting of agreed outcomes, ensuring desired impact meets expectations and positioning the organisation’s achievements as credible, innovative and world-leading.
If you want to discuss how we can collaborate to drive more change and help more people benefit from a more active life, get in touch - lou@wearethecollective.world. Together, we can build a fitness culture that welcomes and supports the many—not just the few.
