Mid-market gyms feel the heat in Singapore's 'golden age' of fitness

SINGAPORE: When personal trainer Sharon H started taking clients in April, she offered them the option of training in ActiveSG gyms, their own homes or her flat, which has a dedicated exercise space.

The 29-year-old told CNA she wanted to fill the “gap in the market” for clients who prefer more privacy and convenience, as the fitness scene is “saturated” with big box gyms.

About half of her 10 to 15 active clients work out at her flat. The rest train with her in ActiveSG gyms or their homes.

Hindrances like queues for machines at ActiveSG gyms and limited equipment in condominium gyms are counterbalanced by greater affordability and convenient locations.

When the trainer herself started exercising regularly around 2018, she followed videos on YouTube. She still primarily works out at home.

This mix of home workouts and shared facilities exemplifies the "increasingly fierce" competition cited in True Fitness and True Yoga's abrupt closure of all their studios in Singapore earlier this month.

Parent company Kontafarma cited "unprecedented" challenges: the growing popularity of boutique studios, more residential gyms reducing the need for external memberships and the rise of online training options.

But taking a wider view complicates this explanation.

“We are in what the industry calls the ‘golden age of fitness and wellness’. There has never been greater awareness (of) the importance of exercise,” said Mr Sean Tan, co-founder and president of the non-profit Singapore Fitness Alliance.

More people in Singapore are keeping active. Sport SG data showed that 76 per cent of residents exercised at least once a week last year, a figure that has risen almost every year since before COVID-19, when it stood at 66 per cent in 2019.

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