Imagine a scenario where everyone knows exactly how to look after their bodies. Where people are aware of their precise individual nutritional needs, as well as the best exercise programming for their body type. And imagine a scenario where they’re getting all this knowledge and guidance from their health club.
Now flip to the current situation: in a recent YouGov survey, 64 per cent of people had no idea how many calories the average person needs to maintain a healthy weight, let alone their own body’s specific requirements. Many were also unaware of the calorie content of their favourite foods and drinks. Commissioned by Diabetes UK, British Heart Foundation and Tesco, this survey provides an important reality check. No wonder obesity rates are soaring.
And the fitness sector isn’t doing enough to help at the moment, with the quality and availability of nutritional advice and programming still poor at most clubs: as a general rule, the focus is very much on ‘calories out’ at the gym at the expense of helping members better manage ‘calories in’ throughout their day.
So why is this? The importance of weight loss as a motivator is well documented: based on their retention research, Dr Paul Bedford and Dr Melvyn Hillsdon estimate it to be one of the main reasons for gym attendance for between 66 and 80 per cent of members. Similarly well documented is the importance of balancing calories in versus calories out: educating weight loss-focused members in this will set them, and with it the club, up for success.
There’s therefore a huge commercial opportunity for the fitness sector to grow its reach and drive loyalty by providing the nutritional guidance people so badly need. It wouldn’t even require a fundamental change in business model: both sides of the fitness/diet offering are deliverable through existing mechanisms, and many clubs already have the necessary expertise in-house among their staff.
Operators could bring nutrition centre stage alongside fitness, introducing DNA testing as the basis for bespoke exercise and nutrition plans – potentially even exercise that takes place entirely outside the gym. They could sell monthly health and diet memberships that include body composition analysis to track progress. Crucially these memberships would also embrace behaviour change and offer a solid foundation of education – not just a better understanding of balancing calories, but also teaching people to consume the right essential nutrients in the right quantities for their body, rather than empty calories (see p28).
Operators could also introduce eye-catching ways to bring the basic ‘don’t eat more than you burn’ principle to life around the gym floor: include a tracker in the new memberships so people know exactly how many calories they’ve expended in the gym; publicise details of typical calorie burn for each class on the timetable; and include calorie content on in-club menus and vending machines.
Ignorance lies at the heart of many bad choices. Give members the information they need to be accountable to themselves, and watch how many reconsider immediately undoing that hour in the gym with a post-workout latte.
Panatta brought together four of the most influential figures in bodybuilding history on the
stage of RiminiWellness 2026: Phil Heath, Lee Haney, Ronnie Coleman and Hany Rambod. [more...]
Imagine a scenario where everyone knows exactly how to look after their bodies. Where people are aware of their precise individual nutritional needs, as well as the best exercise programming for their body type. And imagine a scenario where they’re getting all this knowledge and guidance from their health club.
Now flip to the current situation: in a recent YouGov survey, 64 per cent of people had no idea how many calories the average person needs to maintain a healthy weight, let alone their own body’s specific requirements. Many were also unaware of the calorie content of their favourite foods and drinks. Commissioned by Diabetes UK, British Heart Foundation and Tesco, this survey provides an important reality check. No wonder obesity rates are soaring.
And the fitness sector isn’t doing enough to help at the moment, with the quality and availability of nutritional advice and programming still poor at most clubs: as a general rule, the focus is very much on ‘calories out’ at the gym at the expense of helping members better manage ‘calories in’ throughout their day.
So why is this? The importance of weight loss as a motivator is well documented: based on their retention research, Dr Paul Bedford and Dr Melvyn Hillsdon estimate it to be one of the main reasons for gym attendance for between 66 and 80 per cent of members. Similarly well documented is the importance of balancing calories in versus calories out: educating weight loss-focused members in this will set them, and with it the club, up for success.
There’s therefore a huge commercial opportunity for the fitness sector to grow its reach and drive loyalty by providing the nutritional guidance people so badly need. It wouldn’t even require a fundamental change in business model: both sides of the fitness/diet offering are deliverable through existing mechanisms, and many clubs already have the necessary expertise in-house among their staff.
Operators could bring nutrition centre stage alongside fitness, introducing DNA testing as the basis for bespoke exercise and nutrition plans – potentially even exercise that takes place entirely outside the gym. They could sell monthly health and diet memberships that include body composition analysis to track progress. Crucially these memberships would also embrace behaviour change and offer a solid foundation of education – not just a better understanding of balancing calories, but also teaching people to consume the right essential nutrients in the right quantities for their body, rather than empty calories (see p28).
Operators could also introduce eye-catching ways to bring the basic ‘don’t eat more than you burn’ principle to life around the gym floor: include a tracker in the new memberships so people know exactly how many calories they’ve expended in the gym; publicise details of typical calorie burn for each class on the timetable; and include calorie content on in-club menus and vending machines.
Ignorance lies at the heart of many bad choices. Give members the information they need to be accountable to themselves, and watch how many reconsider immediately undoing that hour in the gym with a post-workout latte.
According to research which tracked more than 147,000 people for 30 years, 90-120 minutes
of strength training a week may deliver some of the biggest long-term health rewards.
The UK's four Chief Medical Officers have published a refreshed edition of Physical activity
guidelines: UK Chief Medical Officers' report, updating the evidence that underpins the nation's
physical activity recommendations and placing greater emphasis on strength, balance, reducing
sedentary behaviour and, for the first time, supporting people taking weight loss medications.
Places Leisure has exchanged contracts to build and operate a flagship £60m water and leisure
destination on behalf of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
The Republic of Ireland will become the latest market in PureGym’s expanding international
portfolio, with the first launch planned for Dublin in 2027.
Anytime Fitness opened more than one club a day in 2025 and is on track to maintain this rate
of growth this year, as parent company Purpose Brands targets further international expansion.
The £33.9 million Leighton Leisure and Community Centre has opened in Leighton Buzzard, UK,
creating a next-generation public leisure, health and wellbeing hub for the local community.
Walnuts Leisure Centre in Orpington, in the London Borough of Bromley, has reopened following
a £17m transformation designed to secure the long-term future of the public leisure asset and
reposition it as a community wellbeing hub.
The Gym Group, has announced that it's sustained positive trading momentum has continued
through the first half of 2026 and the company remains confident about the outlook.
Panatta brought together four of the most influential figures in bodybuilding history on the
stage of RiminiWellness 2026: Phil Heath, Lee Haney, Ronnie Coleman and Hany Rambod. [more...]
