This year due to the massive COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, people started to work out at home more than ever before. Only 20 to 30% of people are currently visiting the gym. Therefore, investing money in how to build a fitness website in 2022 is not only fashionable but also quite profitable.
Even after the pandemic, the online workout industry had a huge boost: over 53% increase in total revenue.
The revenue boost was experienced not only by sports giants such as Nike but also by startups such as Fitternity. Nike Training Club hit a 100% increase in weekly clients and Fitternity increased its popularity by 200% in terms of corporate requests.
Judging from the data above, it is probably the best period to choose the online workout industry and learn how to build a fitness website.
Why Build a Fitness Website: The Market Overview
The health and wellness industry is now a highly profitable market with over $6 billion in value.
And that is only the beginning. As experts predict the growth per year will be over 31%. By 2027 the online wellness industry is expected to grow to $59 billion.
Source: CAGR, Fitness Market Forecast, WellnessCreatives
Fitness Site Market Report Scope
| The market size in 2021 | $6 Billion |
| Forecast period by 2027 | $59 Billion with 31% a year |
| The largest region online suppliers | North America, Europe, Asia Pacific |
| The largest countries online suppliers | US, Canada, India, UK, Germany, France |
| Key Companies | Adidas, Appster, Azumio, MyFitnessPal, Nike, Noom |
| Post COVID-19 Outlook | After the pandemic there are 3 main tendencies: 1) Active web market growth in 2022 2) Popular web trends like virtual training, streaming, Al personalized diet, and ML technologies 3) Increasing investments in this industry by capital venture and investment firms |
Source: MarketResearchFuture, RunRepeat, ResearchandMarkets, GrandViewResearch
Regularly, there are three popular devices people use for digital gym activities.
- Smartphones – 67,6 %
- Wearable Devices like Apple Watch and Fitbit – 27,4%
- Tablets – 5%
Source: GrandviewResearch, Statista
Going to Build a Fitness Website?
Top 5 Types of Fitness Software
The wellness industry is very versatile and includes at least 5 core types of workout software. It grew enormously in recent years due to people choosing a healthier and more active lifestyle. Not only did numerous types of apps have emerged but also different web personal and group coaching websites.
Here is an overview of the most popular types of sports software:
Gym and Club Management Systems
Gym and club management systems are software that gives businesses the functionality to manage
- schedules
- memberships
- facilities.
This system functionality includes:
- Membership management
- Administrative task management
- Class Scheduling
- Billing
- Storing member information to know in a database
- Automate marketing
- Notifications.
Gym and club management systems are usually used by sport-focused companies:
- gyms
- athletic clubs
- dance and yoga
- aerobics
- swimming and gym centers
Examples: Vagaro, GymMaster
Fitness Apps
Workout apps have an enormous impact on people’s health and well-being. According to Flurry, users become more involved and dedicated to their workout routine and health in general once they start using gym apps.
1) Diet and nutrition apps
Diet and nutrition apps are used by people who want to:
- lose or gain some weight
- eat healthier and keep track of their food diary
These kinds of apps need to utilize graphics, notifications, and visualization, in general, to keep their clients motivated in using the app.
Examples: Lose It, Fooducate
2) High-intensity interval training apps (HIIT)
HIIT apps are used for quick workout sessions, but with high-intensity exercises. This type of app is great for more workout-advanced customers.
Examples: Tabata HIIT Interval Timer
3) Activity Tracking Apps
Activity Tracking Apps are mobile apps that help users to keep track of their daily activity by checking out clients’ statistics on their phones, smartwatches, and sports trackers. Usually, these apps are integrated with a GPS to track users’ covered distance and speed.
Examples: Runkeeper, Runtastic, Nike+ Running
4) Personal Trainer, Studio Apps or Workout Apps
Personal trainer and studio apps offer customized training programs and personal trainer services. Some studio apps serve only for booking or canceling offline sports sessions.
Examples: Aaptiv, Sworkit, Handstand
5) Meditation and Yoga Apps
Meditation and yoga apps provide their yoga lovers with different daily sessions according to users’ levels. They can both provide clients with recorded videos and live sessions.
Examples: Daily Yoga, Down Dog
6) Running Apps
Running apps help to track users’ running results including distance, speed, and elevation. Usually, running apps can track users’ results with the help of a phone, smartwatch, or a client’s sports tracker.
Examples: Runkeeper, Strava
Fitness Aggregators
Aggregators are a middleman between gyms and customers. They provide users with the ability to search for the best gym or program cost-, time-, and location-wise.
These aggregators collect information users need to know about gyms and sports centers all over the Internet and offer detailed information on the gyms and their programs.
Usually, aggregators like ClassPass or Gympic offer the features of searching, booking, and paying for the clients’ workout sessions.
With the COVID-19, some sports aggregators, like ClassPass started to offer online classes.
Examples: ClassPass, Gympic
Brand Websites
Fitness brand websites are promo- websites of a certain brand that wants to promote their business. Typically, this kind of website has some general information users need to know about their gym or a studio. Such sites aim to
- showcase their services and areas of expertise
- best professional trainers and the timetable of classes
Examples: Phive, Studio Fitness
Fitness Websites
Fitness websites are websites not only have features of brand websites but also offer a range of additional services for workouts and a healthy lifestyle.
Whilst workout apps tend to target a very specific niche, like nutrition or activity tracking, online sports sites often specialize in providing clients with as many services as possible. Usually, they include:
- Online personal or group training
- Live streams
- Nutrition plan
- Recorded video training
- Personalized program
Examples: Omstars, BodyStar, Booyafitness, DailyBurn
Today we are going to take a closer look at this particular type of software, namely workout website: its core features, ways of monetization, and how to build a fitness site. Stay tuned!
Want to create a fitness website?
Top Fitness Websites
My Fitness Pal
MyFitnessPal is a US website and then an app released in 2005. It tracks diet and exercise. The company’s revenue was $7.57 million in April 2021.
Now it’s the most popular fitness platform in the US and UK and the most known software with over 74% global user coverage visits in the world.
ClassPass
ClassPass is a New York-based website that offers membership programs from 25,000 studios all over the world.
The company was founded in 2013 and has raised around $549M in 9 funding rounds. In 2020 ClassPass became the first unicorn startup of the decade.
Active.com
Active.com is a website that provides users with a variety of classes, sports, and recreational activities, facilities, and venues. It was founded in 1998 in San Diego, California, and fundraised $15.5M.
Fitternity
Fitternity is one of the largest websites in India founded in 2013, it has raised $7.5M in 6 funding rounds.
Before the lockdown, Fitternity offered its services for booking fitness and gym classes through its platform. However, when the COVID-19 hit, it had to
- pivot to offering online classes
- pre-recorded workout videos
- personal online coaching
Since then Fitternity experienced an increase of 200% in corporate bookings.
Alomoves
Alomoves is an online video site that offers yoga and other classes. In February 2020, Alomoves had a major user growth and the number of total visits sums up to over 1M a day.
DailyBurn
DailyBurn is a workout and nutrition tracking site and app that is headquartered in New York and was founded in 2007.
The site attractiveness has been influenced by people being on lockdown, unable to visit a gym.
Why Do Businesses Need a Fitness Website
According to the Wall Street Journal, there is a trend in the wellness industry of using online training and on-demand or live streaming workout sessions.
It is predicted that 2021 is going to be a fitness year with a huge amount of worldwide users. If a brand has an offline business, now it’s the best period to go digital, providing them with a wider range of opportunities and international growth. Even an enthusiast like Steve Kamb, founder of Nerd Fitness, developed a famous website out of his desire to be healthy and run his online community. So, regardless if you’re a big company or just a solo gym freak, now it’s your best time!
Here are the main reasons why you need to consider building an online site:
- Additional channel for attracting customers
- Little competition on the market
- Growing market
- Constant users availability
- Cost saving on equipment, location, and staff
The gym dropout rate in the first eight weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic started was considerable.
This happened first of all because some gyms are not able to follow sanitary standards. Secondly, due to peoples’ busy schedules and gyms being far-located gyms weren’t ready.
Being remote is our reality now, so businesses must be prepared for the new virus pandemic and protect themselves from material losses and their users from the lack of a healthy lifestyle.
10 Core Features for Creating a Fitness Website
Registration
With registration, you’ll be able to collect some basic info on your users and target them later in case they haven’t tried your website services yet.
Registration feature includes login and signup. Both these features don’t need to be too complicated. The uncomplicated way out is to have a social media integration on the site, it can be either Facebook, Google, or both.
User Profile
A user profile needs to have some basic settings, like changing the password or your contact information. Users will want to have the ability to view
- their previous classes
- their billion information
- upcoming classes
Search
Users can search by type of training, by the studio, or personal trainer. This is tightly connected with what type of fitness software you are offering.
You can either partner with studios where they have already selected professional trainers and have the qualifications to coach customers or your online training software can include independent trainers who are free and have skills to offer their services on the website.
