Virtual Fitness is Here to Stay

Many people who thought they couldn’t work out at home learned during the COVID-19 pandemic that they could find ways to stay fit outside the gym. It just took a little bit of creativity and rethinking what it means to fit in a sweat session – likely in between zoom meetings, facilitating kids’ online learning and cooking dinner!

This year has demonstrated how important it is to invest in your health – even as many studios and gyms have closed intermittently if not permanently. Enter the world of virtual fitness. Once considered a less desirable way to work out, new and interesting options for online classes, coaching and personal training are changing what it means to exercise at home.

Whether you’re interested in yoga and Pilates, high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts or live and on-demand fitness classes, benefits to virtual exercise platforms include scheduling flexibility, endless variety, and often a cheaper price point than full-service gyms or personal training. Americans are seeing the benefits of workouts on demand and are forming new workout habits as a result.

As some gyms begin to come back online and offer more in-person options, it remains to be seen whether people will wholeheartedly return to their pre-pandemic workout schedule or opt for a more flexible and customized approach.