For many years the fitness industry has viewed itself as an essential component of the healthcare delivery system in America. The problem is, broadly speaking, no one outside of our industry views us this way. Look no further than the healthcare crisis of our lifetime (COVID-19) when all of our doors were shuttered. Even more recently, look at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health; one of the pillars discussed was physical activity. In the administration’s whitepaper published from this conference, the fitness industry wasn’t mentioned — not once.
The wake-up calls abound. As hard as it is to hear, members of the public health and medical communities, as well as our lawmakers and even the general public, view us as more of a non-essential, entertainment commodity than an essential part of our public health infrastructure. This reality coexists with escalating healthcare costs due to chronic lifestyle diseases (diabetes, heart disease, etc.) that our industry could be well-positioned to address through physical activity and exercise. In order to shift perceptions and take advantage of the market opportunity that exists, our industry must be viewed by external stakeholders as a professional member of the allied health community, which we currently are not.
The central issue at hand when we talk about professionalization is the lack of trust and inclusivity. Simply put, the overwhelming majority of the stakeholders I listed in the previous paragraph don’t view our industry as trustworthy or inclusive. When you read that, I realize some might be offended, but it’s objectively true. For years our industry has been mired with bad actors who have utilized dubious sales and business practices, or individuals who called themselves “fitness professionals” extolling quick fixes associated with fat loss, just to make a buck. Even if you consider that assessment subjective, what is objectively indisputable is that our industry has only reached a market penetration of 15 percent to 20 percent of American consumers.
