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  • Lockdowns around the world mean people are now working out from the comfort of their own homes

  • instead of spending on in-person fitness memberships and classes.

  • The physical activity industry is worth more than $800 billion worldwide,

  • with gym subscriptions, athletic apparel and fitness monitors all making up the lucrative sector.

  • But that was before the pandemic.

  • And while business as usual has taken a huge hit, the audience for online fitness has grown.

  • I'm Joe Wicks, the body coach, and I'm also the world's PE teacher

  • because at the moment, I'm doing live workouts Monday to Friday on my YouTube channel.

  • And I've had 35 million households all around the world take part.

  • So how has the pandemic changed the fitness industry? And will it ever be the same?

  • We used to get almost 500,000 monthly active users on our platform.

  • We have just seen a 20% hit. So there are a massive set of users

  • who are still consuming, who are still working out.

  • Indian app Fitternity lets people book in-person studio and gym classes,

  • and has now pivoted to run live online workouts, recorded video sessions and one-to-one coaching.

  • Despite hundreds of thousands of fitness enthusiasts taking advantage of its digital options,

  • Fitternity still expects a 40% dip in annual net revenue.

  • So how do you think you'll transition back into real life when that happens?

  • We are not going to see January 2020 back again in July or August or September

  • because there are going to be social distancing norms. We actually believe that only 25-30% of the members

  • will be able to work out at any given point of time.

  • We now believe that when a class is taking place and Lucy is the trainer, Lucy will conduct a class

  • for seven people in front of her and she will also conduct a class on her laptop,

  • which is for 30 other people who are going to access it on livestream.

  • Many instructors who usually teach in person are now doing so from home.

  • And while some instructors charge fees for these online classes,

  • they're often less than what they'd get paid in a gym or studio.

  • Freelance trainers, like Tom Wilson-Leonard, have had to quickly adapt their teaching styles

  • to better suit a screen.

  • The teacher really has to keep up the energy through a live call,

  • and they also have to do what they are teaching

  • whereas in my usual set-ups, I rarely do any movement. I'm just teaching and guiding.

  • Are you able to still charge for your online classes?

  • Many studios are really adapting to this change and they're offering online classes

  • and they're still paying their teachers to do these classes.

  • I'm making all of my classes donation-based. In Buddhism, we call that dharma.

  • So it's a dharma method of payment. It's a way of giving what you feel you can give.

  • Before the coronavirus outbreak, MoreYoga had 10,000 monthly members

  • and 5,000 pay-as-you-go members, with about 16,000 people working out per week.

  • Now, about half of that number are practicing online each week.

  • We are looking at lots of live classes, you know, before we were doing lots of pre-recorded stuff.

  • Now we're thinking on our feet, we're getting tripods to people to put in their houses.

  • They're filming in their bedrooms.

  • This is almost the ultimate test for an entrepreneur.

  • You need to be agileyou need to have the versatility to be able to move into those new markets.

  • And then from those marketswhere's, you know, what is the angle you then take from there?

  • How do you differentiate yourself?

  • For coaches who built their businesses online, however, this is nothing new.

  • And it's helped them keep financially fit during the crisis.

  • British instructor Joe Wicks spent years growing his social media presence.

  • Now he has more than 10 million followers and regularly gets hundreds of thousands of views

  • for his free workouts on YouTube, which earn money from advertising.

  • Since Joe started running daily PE classes for children who are home-schooling,

  • those figures are now in the millions.

  • I'm supposed be doing a tour the week that the schools got shut down here in the U.K.

  • So the idea was, can I take that experience online and do a digital version of it?

  • And I've had such an amazing response. We've had 35 million views just on 15 workouts alone.

  • It has taken me nine years to get 800,000 subscribers. I've now got 2.2 million, so it's more than doubled.

  • So talk to me about what you're doing with the proceeds from those videos.

  • With these views comes a lot of revenue. We've now raised about £100,000.

  • I'm donating every single penny of that to the NHS Charities Together.

  • Joe's referring to a group of non-profits that donate money to Britain's National Health Service.

  • Brick-and-mortar fitness businesses like studios and gyms have an uphill battle ahead.

  • While some are being helped financially by governments, they still have costs like rent to pay.

  • Fitness app ClassPass was valued at more than half a billion dollars last December

  • and takes commission from studio classes booked through its platform.

  • But in April, it had to lay off or furlough just over half of its employees because of the pandemic.

  • The outbreak of Covid-19 has been nothing short of devastating for our business, especially outside of Asia.

  • We've created capability in the app for people to donate to their favorite partner venues or businesses.

  • And ClassPass is going to match up to $1,000,000 of contributions to those partners.

  • What do you think the longer-term impact might be for ClassPass?

  • We'll become a more hybrid of an off-line and digital or virtual solution for our customers

  • This will also accelerate our push into wellness.

  • The company hopes to come out of the crisis with more corporate clients.

  • I'm hopeful that our employer program where we allow employers like Google, Facebook, Morgan Stanley

  • to subsidize fitness and wellness for their employees. I'm hoping that more employers adopt that program.

  • So are there any silver linings in the home workouts boom?

  • We are seeing a lot more users entering fitnessright, and having the time to do fitness.

  • Fitternity always wanted to build virtual fitness, but it was the plan that we wanted to pursue in 2021.

  • And I think what happened made us sort of just build this and launch it faster.

  • For Joe Wicks, it might get more children exercising.

  • Come on, keep going. Hop, hop, hop.

  • I'd love to really change the culture of fitness within the education system forever.

  • I don't want it to just be a three-month thing, and that's it I'd love it to be something that goes on all year round

  • because I think the kids are going to feel better for it, I think they're going to be happier.

  • I wondered if you had any thoughts on the impact of the pandemic on the fitness industry as a whole,

  • because lots of trainers obviously train people in person.

  • So I don't think you're got to lose all of them. I think some of them might stay

  • and work at home and train because they find it's easier,

  • but I think the majority of people that love the gym and that culture that you've created will come back.

  • And I always encourage all the trainers I speak to and I mentor through social media.

  • I always say, look, you are loving being a personal trainer now.

  • You've got the energy. You're up at 6:00 a.m. You're home at 10 p.m.

  • But you will burn out eventually. You need to have another offering.

  • So definitely think about a digital product, whether it's a PDF, a recipe guide, an app.

  • You can do low maintenance things that can generate a revenue that can keep you going.

  • Thanks for watching and let's hope the fitness industry can bounce back.

  • How are you finding online workouts?

  • Let us know in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe.

Lockdowns around the world mean people are now working out from the comfort of their own homes

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