Watford gym warns about "gymtimidation"
47% of people feel anxious in a gym
A gym in Watford says over a third of people end up cancelling their memberships because gyms make them feel anxious.
That's despite gyms expecting to see a huge spike in the number of people signing up as the new year sets in
47% of people feel anxious in a gym
According to research from Anytime Fitness UK, 47% of people feel anxious or nervous in a gym, whilst 43% feel intimidated. For 32% of people these feelings are so bad, they end up cancelling their membership.
When asked why the gym is intimidating, just under half said it was because they didn't know how to use the equipment and 39% felt unsupported by the staff.
"People, ironically, feel they need to get in shape before joining"
Tom Davies from Anytime Fitness adds: "One big one that came out of the research is people, ironically, feel they need to get in shape before joining to the gym, which is totally counterintuitive.
"And frankly, that's not the case either. We are welcoming of all shapes, sizes, ages, colours, creeds, there is a real cross section of society in our gyms."
Women more likely to cancel their membership
The researched also showed this is an issue that impacts women more than men: "Females were far more inclined to cancel or certainly consider cancelling their membership.
"That judgement, that hugely over indexed with women rather than men."
According to Tom, staff have a big part to plan in making everyone feel comfortable and welcome: "Having friendly, knowledgeable, and well-trained staff in the first, one, two, three, four weeks is really crucial.
"It's where we see the majority of people give up. So, they need to be interacting with staff."