This interest hasn’t disappeared, either. It consistently remained higher than normal as the months wore on, with conversation volume so far this year up 140% compared to the same time period in 2019.

That’s a lot of money spent on weights, mats, and Pelotons. And this poses some problems for gyms.

For one, people may be reticent to pay out for a gym membership after spending money on their own equipment. And on top of that, if they’ve been getting the exercise they need at home for free, why pay to do it somewhere else?

With this in mind, we looked at how much people were missing the gym.

We saw a big spike in this conversation in March 2020, but it fell fairly consistently until November. From there it grew and saw a bump in January this year. But since then, mentions of missing the gym have generally been falling.

It’s not all doom and gloom for gym owners, though. The amount of people saying they miss the gym is up 78% so far this year compared to 2019, so it’s way higher than pre-pandemic levels. That shows there are still plenty of people out there waiting to get back amongst the weights, machines, and lockers.

But gyms still have their work cut out for them. What can they do to get their numbers up? The answer may be working with personal trainers.

After a spike in mentions at the start of the pandemic (mostly driven by memes and jokes), we’ve found the number of people referring to their personal trainers has grown steadily since.

With personal trainers offering Zoom classes and people looking to get the best out of their home equipment, this makes sense not to mention that trainers can meet with their clients outside, avoiding buildings full of people. So personal trainers, who’ve maintained contact with fitness enthusiasts throughout the pandemic, could be where gyms should target their efforts.

Rather than focusing on their equipment and facilities, they should look to working with personal trainers instead. Whether this is increasing the number they form partnerships with, or using them to help promote classes, the potential here has increased during the pandemic.

Whatever the methods gyms use, they need to take heed of how different the world of fitness is today. People will have formed some very strong home exercise habits by now, and it could take a lot of reassurance and persuasion to break them.

Thanks for reading

That’s it for today. We’ll be back on Monday, so if you’re not already, get subscribed to the Brandwatch Bulletin right away.

Stay safe,

Brandwatch React team