EREPS - ACSM Fitness Trends Survey
English

Thanks to an important collaboration between the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the European Register of Exercise Professionals (EREPS), a European survey on fitness trends is now a reality. Alexis Batrakoulis, the Professional Standards Committee’s Deputy Director for EREPS, has served as the study’s author.

The survey results showed that the European health and fitness sector is systematically growing with the number of fitness users has increasing by 72% in the past 10 years. More-over, almost 10% of all European adults are users of fitness services with a penetration rate of 7.6%. According to this data, the European fitness industry can be considered a vibrant sector shaped by many innovations.

Better conclusions
Since 2006, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has been administering an annual worldwide survey of fitness trends in the health and fitness industry. The aim has been to support owners, operators, program directors, health club managers, and fitness professionals with making important business decisions to support customer engagement through a positive exercise experience. Although the worldwide survey has been including data from respondents based in Europe, up until now the targeted sample size has not been large enough to produce secure conclusions.

A lengthy project
EuropeActive and the European Register of Exercise Professionals (EREPS) in collaboration with ACSM has now conducted a separate research project exclusively focused on the European region. Alexis Batrakoulis: “It has been a challenging, but also very interesting and useful project that will help the European health and fitness industry to shape its own future.”

Pan-European approach
The objective of this study was to conduct the first pan-European survey of trends in the health and fitness sector for 2020 by applying the ACSM methodology (as previously described). Data specifically for Europe provides insights into trends that are present in this region while supporting international comparisons.

ISM 2019
Alexis Batrakoulis is also the author of the article presenting the survey results in the November/December issue of the ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal and will be presenting the results at the International Standards Meeting on 21 and 22 November in Copenhagen, Denmark. Julian Berriman, the Director PSC said: “We are delighted to be working with the ACSM to further inform their worldwide survey of fitness trends. The insights provided into European trends will provide valuable information for all industry stakeholders.”

Visit ACSM's website for the full report

Blog Category: