Why don’t men do group fitness? The BODYCOMBAT Experiment

This is a video summary. Full report from the detailed surveys can be found below. It is rare that men make up more than 20% of a group fitness session. We wanted to find out why.

For Men’s Health Week, we linked up with EMD UK and Freedom Leisure to host a Body Combat class for men who had never participated in a fitness class before. The group consisted of gym-goers and non gym-goers.

We expected them to enjoy it, but the results even surprised us.

We want to say a special thank you to the team at Freedom Leisure, whose incredible support allowed us to host this unique experiment. By understanding the perceived barriers preventing more men from taking up group exercise, especially those who are not gym members, we hope the industry can start breaking them down and encouraging more men to participate!

We want to say a special thank you to Freedom Leisure Area Manager and Les Mills coach Jamie Hyde, who hosted the workout, as well as facilitated the focus group.

For background research you can read more below:

Article Part 1 – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-men-dont-do-fitness-classes-surprising-results-jonathan-tustain/

Article Part 2 – https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-did-men-respond-first-group-exercise-workout-bodycombat-/

For more information about STARDIO visit – https://stard.io/

For more information about Freedom Leisure and Perdiswell Leisure Centre visit – https://www.freedom-leisure.co.uk/centres/perdiswell-leisure-centre/

For more information about Men’s Health Week visit – https://www.menshealthforum.org.uk/mhw

For more information about EMD UK, visit – https://emduk.org/