In this report, Mintel examines consumer behaviour in the in-home fitness market, primarily in terms of equipment ownership, frequency of use and retail expenditure, but also in attitudes towards health and fitness at large. Although such equipment attracts considerable expenditure from health and fitness centres, gyms and educational establishments, this spending is not included in estimates of market size as Mintel aims to focus on the home dimension of this type of fitness activity.

In line with this intention, fitness equipment encompassed by the scope of this report is defined as comprising the following:

Visual aids - including fitness video cassettes and DVDs, books and magazines specifically aimed at exercise rather than weight loss. Diet and slimming magazines and books are excluded.

Portable equipment - including resistance equipment, exercise mats, punch-bags and trampettes.

Weights - including dumb-bells, and weights to be attached to the wrists or ankles.

Aerobic equipment - including steps and steppers, exercise bikes/healthriders, treadmills, cross-country skiing/Nordic Tracks, elliptical cross-trainers and rowing machines.

Multigyms - including all sizes of multigym and accessories, including weights benches.

'In-home Fitness in the UK, 2003' is the latest report from independent market analyst Mintel. Providing a unique analysis of the market's trends and consumers, it offers you a fresh and extensive insight into:

- A win-win situation - how in-home fitness has found its legs and is actually benefiting from growing levels of gym membership

- The keenest groups of exercisers and other key target groups

- The varying preferences for in-home exercise by gender

- A fragmented market supply - is there scope for new or more focused suppliers?

- Sophistication versus price - the winners and the losers in product development, sector by sector

- An expanding range of distribution channels

- Cost, fashion, celebrity endorsement and other factors influencing purchasing decisions and exercising patterns

- Positive attitudes towards fitness issues

- Men's greater commitment to in-home fitness than women

- How older consumers are emerging as a significant user group in this market

Providing an expert and practical understanding of the UK in-home fitness market, Mintel's latest report offers the level of information you need to understand the market as a whole, while identifying where the next opportunities for growth are going to come from. Supplying a major overview of the developments that have shaped the market, examining the category and its sectors in great detail, Mintel’s research highlights how in-home fitness has come a long way from consisting simply of dumb-bells and possibly a chinning bar.

Offering you a new and completely up-to-date examination of:

- Market drivers

- Market size and trends

- Market segmentation

- The supply structure

- Distribution

- Advertising and promotion

- The consumer trends

- Future trends

- Five year sales forecasts

Other related reports include:

- The Leisure Business - UK, Leisure Intelligence, August 2003

- Department and Variety Store Retailing - European, Retail Intelligence, June 2003

- Health & Fitness Clubs - UK, Special, 2003

- Healthy Lifestyles - Healthy Halos, Health Aware or Reckless Risk-takers - UK, Special, 2001

- Health and Beauty Treatments - UK, Leisure Intelligence, March 2003

- The Sports Market - UK, Special, 2003

- British Lifestyles - UK, Special, 2003

- Leisure: Living for Today - UK, Special, 2003

- Bicycles - UK, Leisure Intelligence, November 2003

- Fitness Classes - UK, Leisure Intelligence, December 2003

- Home Shopping - UK, Retail Intelligence, December 2003

- Sports Goods Retailing - UK, Retail Intelligence, March 2004.