Rates of obesity continue to increase among Americans, suggesting more can be done to encourage healthful behaviors, such as regular exercise. This report will explore exercise participation and preferred activities among various demographics. Challenges and motivations regarding exercise will also be reviewed, and what opportunities there are for brands to engage with consumers. Mintel will also evaluate the role that technology plays, in terms of apps, online programs, and tracking devices.

This report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Exercise Trends – US, October 2012, as well as the June 2010 and October 2009 reports of the same title.

This report provides readers with an in-depth understanding of the current exercise market in the US. The purpose of this report is to analyze exercise and fitness trends, habits, and behaviors among the American population. Sales of specific products will not be included in this report.

Value figures throughout this report are at retail selling prices (rsp) excluding sales tax unless otherwise stated.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through Lightspeed GMI to explore consumer attitudes and behaviors toward exercise. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis, and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in July 2014 among a sample of 2,000 adults aged 18+ with access to the internet.

Mintel selects survey respondents by gender, age, household income, and region so that they are proportionally representative of the US adult population using the internet. Mintel also slightly over-samples, relative to the population, respondents that are Hispanic or Black to ensure an adequate representation of these groups in our survey results and to allow for more precise parameter estimates from our reported findings. Please note that Mintel surveys are conducted online and in English only. Hispanics who are not online and/or do not speak English are not included in the survey results.

In addition to quantitative consumer research, Mintel also conducted an online discussion group among a demographically mixed group of adults aged 18+. This discussion group was asynchronous (ie, not run in real time), functioning like a blog or bulletin board, with questions remaining posted for a predetermined period of time. This method allows participants to respond reflectively, at their leisure, or to log off to think about any issues raised, and return later to respond. Participants were recruited from GMI’s online consumer panel with responses collected in August 2014. All quotes are included verbatim, and as such, include typos and other grammatical errors as they originally appeared.

Mintel has also analyzed data from Experian Marketing Services, using the Simmons National Consumer Study (NCS) and the Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Study (NHCS).

The Experian Marketing Services, Simmons NHCS was carried out during January 2013-March 2014 and the results are based on the sample of 24,005 adults aged 18+, with results weighted to represent the US adult population. Additional data from Experian Marketing Services, winter 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 are included for February 2007-March 2008, February 2008-March 2009, February 2009-March 2010, February 2010-March 2011, January 2011-March 2012, January 2012-March 2013, and January 2013-March 2014.

While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (White, Black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.

The following is a list of abbreviations used in this report.

BMI

BMI is an index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify overweight and obese. BMI does not directly measure body fat. Generally accepted groupings for BMI classifications are:

• Underweight: BMI <18.5

• Healthy weight: BMI = 18.5-24.9

• Overweight: BMI = 25-29.9

• Obese: BMI = 30+

Within Mintel’s consumer survey, BMI calculations are based on respondent self-reported height and weight, and therefore may differ from actual recorded values. Mintel classifies respondents into three BMI categories, combining underweight and healthy weight respondents into one group for analysis purposes.

Generations, if discussed within this report, are defined as:

* also known as Generation Y or Echo Boomers.

In order to provide an inflation-adjusted price value for markets, Mintel uses the CPI to deflate current prices. The CPI is defined as follows:

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.

The CPI and its components are typically used to adjust other economic series for price changes and to translate these series into inflation-free dollars. Examples of series adjusted by the CPI include retail sales, hourly and weekly earnings, and components of the national income and product accounts. In addition, and in Mintel reports, the CPI is used as a deflator of the value of the consumer’s dollar to find its purchasing power. The purchasing power of the consumer’s dollar measures the change in the value to the consumer of goods and services that a dollar will buy at different dates.

The CPI is generally the best measure for adjusting payments to consumers when the intent is to allow consumers to purchase, at today’s prices, a market basket of goods and services equivalent to one that they could purchase in an earlier period. It is also the best measure to use to translate retail sales into real or inflation-free dollars.

Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics definition.