1.

Introduction
In the twenty first century, India is witnessing an outbreak of various health problems due to the new sedentary lifestyle embraced by a majority of urbane population. The most prevalent among these evils are obesity, and the resultant cardio vascular diseases and diabetes. As a result, there is an increased awareness among the upper and middle class Indians towards proper diet and the inclusion of fitness/exercise in the everyday routine to reverse the risk factors associated with the health. Hence, coupled with the idea to keep the health disorders at bay and also, to enhance ones aesthetic appearance, stemmed from the glamour laden visual entertainment media, there has been an upsurge in the enrolments to the fitness centres. The gymnasiums are no longer seen as the places reserved only for some sweat drenched freaks toiling hard with weights to gain precious muscles, but with several new gyms opening up and the existing ones throwing open their hi-tech zones with add-ons like spinning, sauna and salsa, there has been a tremendous change in how we view the fitness in todays world.

2. About the Study

We conducted a survey in the Gyms of Bangalore to gather the peoples perspective towards fitness, health, workout and the use of Nutritional Supplements. The study took place from June 2010 to Nov 2010 in Bangalore. In depth interviews were conducted with the trainers and customers chosen from a wide spectrum of gyms. The use of a well formatted questionnaire selectively prepared for gym clients and trainers provided a comprehensive picture of a common mans perception towards fitness and health.

3. Aims and Objectives

The aim of the study was to provide a better understanding of the behaviour and attitudes of the gym goers and the fitness trainers of Bangalore by the use of qualitative research methods. Qualitative methods aim to cover the perspectives from a wide spectrum of individuals related to this field. The Objectives were as follows: 1. To determine what factors directly or indirectly influence peoples behaviour and beliefs with regards to fitness/workout. 2. To examine attitudinal difference between the trainers and common gym goers.

The gyms covered in this survey are classified under three categories based on the annual enrolment fees as: A Class Gym: Annual Fees >Rs 12, 000 B Class Gym: Rs 12,000 >Annual Fees > Rs 7,000 C Class Gym: Annual Fees < Rs 7,000

4. Gender wise Distribution in Gyms

Similar to the other fields which require physical endeavours, the fitness sector also witness a higher presence of males, both in terms of customers and fitness trainers.

Gender wise Enrolment in Gyms

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% A B C 70 65 95 Females Males 30 35 5

Exhibit 1 A look at the Exhibit 1 gives a clear picture of the distribution of individuals based on gender among the three gym categories. The female preference is mostly towards the A and B Class gyms as compared to C, with majority female participants in the B Class gyms. This can be derived from the fact that B Class gyms provide a better environment to the lady folks both in

terms of safety and guidance when compared to Cs, and are also not as heavy on the pockets as the As. Also, as large portion of females get enrolled in group activities (like Aerobics or dance, the facilities not available in Cs), so coupled with the above factors, B Class gyms come out as the winners among the fairer sex.

Focusing towards the profession of the gym goers (Exhibit 2), we can see the distributions of males categorised under Working and Students for the three gyms. While As are dominated by the professionals, Cs are the preferred choice among the students. A possible explanation of this trend needs us to focus our attention on the enrolment fee parameter of the gyms. While the Cs, with their low fees are within an easily access of the low income group comprising of students but with an obvious compromise on the equipments and guidance, the As are still seen as the places of workout for well to do individuals. Hence, B gives a middle path options to the individuals who cannot strain enough financially to get an A Class Gym enrolment, but are also not very satisfied by the C.

Profession of the Gym Goers(Males)

100% 10 90% 30 80% 70% 60% 50% 90 40% 70 30% 20% 10% 0% A B C 60 Student(Males) Working(Males) 40

Exhibit 2.1

To get a similar analytical view of the female gym goers, we need to expand out categories of survey. In order to have a complete picture of the female enrolment pattern to the gyms, we need to add a new section of non working females, which is the House wives (Exhibit 3). The presence of females in the C class gyms is very negligible, which can be attributed to the factors of behaviour and safety. While the Bs have the highest concentration of the Housewives, As are the favourite choices among the Working women. All the observations residing on the fact that More the spending capacity, the better the facilities you will go for.

Profession of Gym Goers (Females)

100%
90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 10 A 20 B 75 50 15 30 Housewife(females) Working(females) Student(females)

Exhibit 2.2

As the above study shows, most of the urbane fitness conscious population is with the B class gyms, though the enrolments tread line for the As is also going up, slowly but steadily. So for the big players to increase their market penetration they need to tap this immensely potential middle and lower middle class sections with a huge population base of individuals with increasing private incomes, growing awareness and changing saving behaviours.

A possible way for the big franchises to conquer the blossoming opportunities could be the introduction of relatively cheaper versions of their existing chains, like aping the successful

business model implemented in the case of low cost airlines. With such a growth on the horizon, it will be early to say which category of gym will be a clear winner. Moving ahead and looking on the age wise composition of the gym goers (obtained by a union of gym goers from As and Bs), we find certain similarities among both the genders. The age that is holding the maximum chunk of the pie is between 20 30 years (Exhibit 4 & Exhibit 5).For the males, after peaking to 50% (Exhibit 6), the graph falls sharply thereafter, indicating the presence of fewer individuals comparatively in other age groups, but in case of females the fall is more gradual, suggesting a substantial number of females in those age segments also.

Age group of the Gym Goers (Males)

10% 20% below 20 years 20% 20 30 years 30- 35 years above 35 years

50%

Exhibit 3.1

Age group of the Gym Goers (Females)

5% 20% below 20 years 20 30 years 40% 30- 35 years above 35 years 35%

Exhibit 3.2

Comparative Age wise distribution (Males & females)

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

Females
Males

0%
below 20 years 20 30 years 30- 35 years above 35 years

Exhibit 4

5. The Nutritional Supplements

With a massively expanding middle class along with its increasing awareness towards preventive therapies, rising discretionary income and favourable growth environment, the Nutraceutical* sector is propelled on a high growth path with the figures at 21% annually, and the entire nutritional supplement market in India is set to double its current worth by 2013. In the study, we can see the distribution (Exhibit 7) of the use of supplements by the individuals over the three gyms. The study only comprises of male respondents as females using nutritional supplements for recreational purposes are still very low. Though the figures stand nearly the same for Bs and Cs in the use of supplements, there is a significant difference between the brands preferred in both the segments. Though individuals in Bs and As mostly go for American Brands, predominantly Whey Proteins from Optimum Nutrition, Ultimate Nutrition and GNC, those in Cs prefer more of Indigenous brands, like the Couchs Formula and Venkys.

Percentage of individuals using supplements (Males)

40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 20 % of individuals using supplements (Males) 35 30

5%
0% A B C

Exhibit 5

When asked for the deterrents towards the Supplement use, a majority of them replied that they do not consider the use of supplement a natural way to build body or achieve fitness, and that they want to rely more on the natural diet rather than on some add ons to the diets. Also, among the individuals consuming supplements the impediments were pricing of imported brands and lack of standardization among the Indian brands, due to which most of the Indian brands suffer from low credibility issues. This highly unorganised Nutritional supplements market poses a enormous growth opportunity to the big players in this sector as a large untapped consumer base is still waiting to be unlocked. The Nutritional Supplements Industries should focus on their pricings to capture a large chunk of the fitness minded population of the country. The nutritional brand with an aggressive pricing strategy tied with an equally extensive advertising can immensely improve their growth prospects by securing a large share of supplement consuming population. With the recent approval of the Food Safety and Standards Bill by the Indian parliament the above task will become easier, as this bill will boost quality of Indian functional foods and supplements, increase export opportunities and open the Indian market to the international community. The bill will make it easier for foreign companies to establish partnerships and other trade links with Indian companies, that was not seen till now and increase the sweep of products available to Indian consumers. This will bring wide range of products within the easy reach of the common man by greatly bringing down the product pricing as the import duties could be avoided. So the only thing lying in between the present market scenario and the nutritional supplement market going on a boom is the Presidents approval of the bill.

* Nutraceuticals are dietary supplements which are generally used to fill nutritional deficiencies in food and to prevent diseases. Among the individuals using the supplements, the type of supplement that is preferred the most is Whey Proteins, used for muscle building. Other categories of supplements preferred are fat burners and those for general fitness and endurance. Exhibit 8 presents the gym wise use of various categories of supplements.

Type of Supplement Preferred

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% A B C 80 90 90 10 10 5 5 5 5

General fitness and endurance

Fat burner Muscle Builder/weight gainer

Exhibit 6

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Age Wise use of the supplements

45% 40% 35% 35 40 35 below 20 20 30 years 30- 35 years 15 10 5 5 5 15 35 above

30%
25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% A B C

Exhibit 7.1 The age wise distribution of the supplement gives an idea about the age groups of the individuals that mostly go for the nutritional supplements. As evident, the age group which has the highest consumption of supplements among all the three categories is between 20 and 30 years, which is also the age group containing maximum gym goers. These are the primary focus areas of the Supplement companies that are eying to capture the Indian nutritional market.

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The amounts spend per month by different age groups in the three gym categories are as follows:

Age wise spending on Nutritional Supplements/month/person

Rs. 7,000 Rs. 6,000 Rs. 5,000 Rs. 4,000 Rs. 3,000 Rs. 2,000 2000 2000 1500 4000 6500

5000
4000

below 20

20 30 years
30- 35 years 35 above

Rs. 1,000
Rs. 0 A 0 B 0 0 C 0 0

Exhibit 7.2

While a person in Gym A spends somewhere between Rs 2000 to Rs 6500/month depending on his age, same figures for a Bs is from Rs 2000 to Rs 5000, and the lowest being for an individual from gym C, that stands around Rs 1500/month. Note: These figures are only for individuals who spend amounts on supplements, these in any case do not indicate that all the individuals of these gyms spends this much amount.

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6. The Gym Trend

With around 42 cities currently having a population over 1 million nearly half of which falls under the category of younger population (10 -35) India presents a huge growth opportunity in this sector . India has 765 fitness clubs with total membership of 0.23 millions, as of 2008. But the fitness industry is highly unorganised and under penetrated, with only 0.4% of the individuals having fitness club membership, while the same figure stands around 16% for the USA. This is despite the fact that India has the growing patient of diabetes, cardio vascular ailments and obesity among the city dwellers. While the Indian fitness industry is growing at a massive pace, the organised domestic and foreign players hold a small section of this pie. The market share of the top five clubs in India is 14.4% while the rest still lies with the highly unstructured mom-and-pop gyms.

Increase in the Gym enrolment over the years (2009 -2010)

12% 10% 8% 7 6% 5 4% 2% 0% 0 2008 2010 10 A B C

Exhibit 8 The percentage increase in the gym enrolments can be seen in the Exhibit, the maximum growth is seen in the B class gyms followed by Cs and then As.

Indian Health and Fitness Industry face a number of hurdles in providing quality services to the customer, like: 13

1. The industry does not have standards for facilities, trainers qualifications, type of equipments, quality of services etc. 2. No proper Accredited Training Institutes for the gym staffs including the trainers, due to which the industry is facing with a dearth of qualified and trained professionals. 3. As India does not have quality equipment manufacturers most of the high end gyms keep imported training equipments thereby raising the overall financial burden on the members. While the low end gyms are still far away from providing these world class facilities. 4. The soaring rentals/prices in the metro cities make it difficult to find a suitable gym space within the stipulated budget. As location being a very important factor towards the success of a gym, many new gyms suffer from revamping and scaling due to the location issues. 5. The Government support in this direction is minimal; this sector still does not enjoy an industry status in India. Also, we do not have any tax benefits on our fitness centre spending. A lot needs to be addressed by the Government to transform this sector from the current unorganised to a highly structured one leading to a quality service offering. This will range from establishing Institutions/Regulatory bodies for setting standards for the fitness Industry, encouraging a favourable environment for the World class Training Institutes to spring up and looking into the provisions of providing tax rebate on the fitness spending.

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7. The Fitness Trainers

A well qualified trainer is as important for a gym as a pharmacist is for pharmacy; he not only imparts appropriate guidance to the individuals seeking advice but also cares about the proper functioning and maintenance of the gym equipments, thereby reducing the risk of injuries to the clients. However, due to the absence of any regulatory mechanism in place, many facilities either dont have a trainer or he is not qualified enough, thereby exposing the gym goers to various health hazards.

Percentage of certified trainers in the gym

70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% A B C 7 35 % of certified trainers in the gym: 65

Exhibit 9 As we can see the percentage of certified trainers is considerably low for C class gyms, even the off the roof expensive A class gyms dont have total score in this. Few organisations certifying the trainers in the country are Reebok, ISSA (international Sport Science Association), ACSM (American Council of Sports Medicine), IFA (International Fitness Association) and ACE, to name a few. Due to the relative toughness of the ACE (American Council of Exercise), there are few trainers who go for this certification. The basic course consists of 80 hours, with 30 hours of theory and the rest practical. The exam basically needs the trainers to demonstrate their knowledge in anatomy and exercise physiology, kinesiology and biomechanics, strength training, nutrition and many more through a pattern of multiple choice questions and real time scenario analysis, which forms the practical

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part of the exam. To earn the certification the trainers need to secure a pass percentage of 70 or above depending on the course and Organisation. Eyeing at the tremendous potential in the Indian Fitness Industry which has a long run before any indications of saturation, the Big Gym players have also started fitness Training Academies to offer fitness courses to their own fitness trainers and also to the outside trainees at a fee, examples are the GGU (Golds Gym University), Talwalkars Academy and K11 Fitness Academy to name a few. On shifting our focus to the number of trainers per gym the same picture of inadequacy is painted again as was with the case of number of certified trainer. While the As have around 6 to 7 trainers during the peak times (mornings and evenings), Bs have 4 and Cs have a mere 2, with the level of qualification even lower.

The Number of trainers in the gym

C 2

The Number of trainers in the gym:

Exhibit 10 Assuming the number of customers to around 30 at the peak timings, the ratio of number of customers to trainers for the different categories of gyms is as follows: Gym Index =

A Class gyms = 5 B Class gyms = 8 C Class gyms = 15

If a gym is to be considered safe and customer viable, where everyone gets ample trainers attention and gives enough free time to the trainers to maintain a safe and secure working 16

environment ( correcting and helping clients doing workout in an improper or harmful way), the Gym Index should be lower than 8. Unfortunately, most of the Gyms in our country fall well above the safety limit of Gym Index value, thereby creating a hazardous environment for the gym dwellers; this is evident from the growing cases of young individuals reaching to the doctors with Gym related injuries. The Union Government has taken a due notice of the matter and is in the process of devising an oversight mechanism comprising of a certifying authority and a periodic regulatory system for the gyms in the larger interest of the health concerns of the gym goers. The gym industry has a peculiar aspect regarding supplements, due to lack of any kind of advertisement or publicity about the Supplement/brands in the world outside fitness, a usual gym goer relies solely on Trainers guidance regarding the use of supplements. The Trainers viewpoint about the brands varies across the gym types. With the provision of a dietician in the A class gyms, the nutritional analysis and management of the clients is done by him, hence, barring trainers interaction with clients on this matter at least inside the gym premises. But the same is not the case in the Bs and Cs, where the trainers, assuming the role of a dietician also, have a major influence in deciding the use/brands of the supplements. The brands running popular among the trainers in the gym arenas of As and Bs are Ultimate Nutrition/Optimum Nutrition/GNC for Whey protein (Muscle Building), Hydroxy Cut (fat burner), Amino Acids/Glutamine from BodyFuelz and Optimum Nutrition. While again with the inadequate financial strength among the C class customers, the choices of the trainers are also in accordance to that, comprising of mostly home grown brands. So for Nutritional supplement companies to take the advantage of Point of Sale, they should not only focus on developing an effective distributors network, but also lay emphasis on making their brands popular among the trainers, who will act as bridge between the distributors and the end consumer. To garner the interest of the trainers the firms can provide certain incentives with the sale of their products; this may initially put some burden on the firm but will eventually pay rich dividends when the brand becomes popular among the trainers, and thereby riding on the successful wave of Viral Marketing. The annual pay package of the fitness trainers on an average is not very lucrative. As few people in India have an understanding of the profession it is not considered a serious vocation. But this scenario is now undergoing a change with the increase in demand of well qualified individuals for big fitness centres owing to the upsurge in the awareness of the common man towards fitness. While the Trainers pay check fall between 1.2 to 2.4 lakhs per annum (in As and some of Bs), they usually supplement their income by taking personal Training sessions. Fitness expert working with the high profile customers including the entertainment or corporate clientele are earning attractively with pay based on the number of sessions and duration.

The survey revealed the distribution of the trainers among the three gyms based on their ages/experiences in this field (Exhibit 14). Not very hard to guess, Bs and Cs are dominated by young trainers (with lower experiences) while As have a relatively older population of trainers

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(with relatively higher experiences). The above observation is in line with the fact that an increase in experience brings improved avenues. The presence of females in this segment is very low; with less than five percent of trainers as females this is still considered a males job.

Age group of the Trainers

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 60 70 25 15 10 20 35 above 30- 35 years 20 30 years 10

90

below 20

10%
0% A B C

Exhibit 11

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8. Interesting information gathered from the survey in a Nut shell

Peak Timings in the gyms are mornings and evenings, with evenings being a little more crowded than mornings. While mornings witness a higher presence of females, evenings are the favourites among the males. So if you are targeting female segment try to hit the gyms during the earlier half of the day. The gym goers unanimously voted to the fact that they dont like to work out during the weekends. This is also evident from a very low turnout of customers to gyms during weekends. The popular pattern of the frequency and duration of workout is 5 days/week and 45mins to 1 hour. While aerobics are favourite gym activity among the females, males mostly go for weight training. The gym goers indulgences in other physical activities (like sports/recreational activity such as camping/trekking) are minimal, with the exception of routine walks. The percentage of able bodied individuals is highest in Cs, an interesting finding. Gym trainer along with the usual guidance also give personal training sessions, the numbers of personal clients the trainers cater to in A, B and C are 15, 10-12 and 2-4 respectively. The behaviour/ etiquette of the trainers is good among all the three gyms with trainers among Bs a little better, another interesting revelation.

9. Estimates of Sampling Errors:

As in the case of any sample survey, estimates from this study, as presented in the report, also suffer from two major sources of errors: non sampling and sampling errors. Non sampling errors arise basically from the procedural mistakes made during data collection and processing. This may include the inability to interview the correct individual, misunderstanding of questions on the part of either the interviewer or the respondent, and data entry errors. In order to minimize the non sampling errors a number of required precautions were taken during the implementation of the study. However, we acknowledge that despite these efforts, the non-sampling errors are impossible to avoid. Sampling error, as the name suggest, arise due to the variation in the data obtained from different samples selected for the study. The samples of respondents selected for this study were from a spectrum of individuals related to this field. All possible measures are been taken to curtail these errors.

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Exhibits: Exhibit 1 Exhibit 2.1 Exhibit 2.2 Exhibit 3.1 Exhibit 3.2 Exhibit 4 Exhibit 5 Exhibit 6 Exhibit 7.1 Exhibit 7.2 Exhibit 8 Exhibit 9 Exhibit 10 Exhibit 11

Page No Gender wise Enrolment in Gyms....................................................2 Professions of the Gym Goers (Males).........................................3 Professions of the Gym Goers (Females)....................................4 Age group of the Gym Goers (Males)............................................5 Age group of the Gym Goers (Females).......................................5 Comparative Age wise distribution (Males & females)........6 Percentage of individuals using supplements (Males).........7 Type of Supplement Preferred.........................................................8 Age wise use of the supplements.....................................................8 Age wise spending on Nutritional Supplements/month/person.............................................................9 Increase in Gym enrolment over the years (2009 -2010)..10 Percentage of certified trainers in gyms.....................................11 The Number of trainers in gyms.....................................................12 Age group of Trainers..........................................................................14

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