For years I’ve talked about what I believe is one of the biggest opportunities in the fitness industry: the people who don’t currently use us.

We spend huge amounts of time competing for the same small slice of the population. We build bigger gyms, install newer kit, create more sophisticated programmes, add the latest tech and compete hard on price. Yet most of it is still designed for people who already understand gyms and already want what we’re selling.

The numbers should make us think. UK gym penetration sits at around 17%, so roughly five out of six people aren’t members of a gym. That doesn’t mean they don’t exercise. Sport England’s Active Lives research shows 64.6% of adults in England do at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week. But it does mean millions choose walking, running, cycling or home workouts over our facilities, while around 11.8 million adults are still classed as inactive.

That raises two questions: why aren’t more people choosing us, and what would we need to change to make them want to?

Maybe We’re Solving the Wrong Problem

Spend long enough in fitness and you forget how strange a gym looks to someone who’s never exercised. We know what a squat rack is, what reps and sets mean, and why anyone needs six benches and a wall of dumbbells.

Now imagine walking in after 20 years without exercise. You don’t know the equipment or the language, you’re not sure what to wear, you don’t know if you’re doing anything right, and you assume everyone else knows far more than you. Then you’re asked to pay £40 to £60 a month for the privilege. And we wonder why people don’t join.

One of the most interesting findings from Sport England’s work on inactivity is that we don’t need to convince people exercise is good for them. They already know. The challenge is making activity easy, practical and attractive, in an environment where they feel comfortable. Perhaps the problem isn’t that people don’t understand the benefits. Perhaps we haven’t made our solution attractive enough to them.

We’ve Built an Industry for People Who Like Fitness

Look at most fitness marketing: muscular bodies, heavy weights, sweat, transformation photos and technical exercises. The language follows suit: push harder, smash your goals, no excuses.

There’s a market for that. But imagine you’re 52, haven’t exercised since school, feel self-conscious and have just been told by your GP to get more active. Does that advertising say “that’s somewhere for me”, or does it confirm everything you feared about gyms?

We sometimes confuse aspiration with intimidation. We show people what they could become without first showing them they belong. For the disengaged market, belonging comes first.

Studio35 Shows What’s Possible

Concepts like Studio35 are interesting because they’re deliberately built for people who don’t see themselves as “gym people”. It isn’t chasing the experienced exerciser who wants the biggest free-weights area. It offers a 35-minute circuit, equipment set up for the individual, a clear start and finish, coach support and a less intimidating environment.

To an experienced exerciser, none of that sounds revolutionary. That’s the point. It isn’t designed for them. It’s designed for the person who looks through a gym window and thinks, “That’s not for me.”

The market is enormous. If penetration is around 17%, raising it nationally by just one percentage point means hundreds of thousands of extra members. We don’t need to convert everyone, just a fraction of the people who currently don’t consider gyms an option.

Established Gyms Don’t Need to Reinvent Themselves

This doesn’t mean ripping out your equipment. Established gyms can do a huge amount with what they already have. The first step is recognising that a beginner may need a completely different product inside your existing product.

Walk through the whole experience as someone who’s never felt comfortable in a gym. What do they see in your advertising? What happens when they enquire? How are they greeted? What happens in their first workout, the morning after when they ache, when they miss a week, or when the initial motivation fades? For this market, those answers matter far more than your newest piece of kit.

Create a Real Beginner Product

Most gyms say they cater for beginners. Few have built a product for them. A generic workout card and a tour of the changing rooms isn’t a beginner programme.

Why not create a six-week “Start Moving” programme with an initial consultation, a simple health and goals assessment, two or three coached sessions, an easy six-exercise programme, weekly contact, progress reviews and introductions to suitable classes? Limit it to people new to exercise, and suddenly they’re not joining a gym full of experts. They’re joining a group of people who feel exactly like they do.

Psychologically, that’s a big shift. Commercially, you haven’t spent £50,000 on equipment. You’ve changed the product wrapped around what you already have.

Rethink Onboarding Completely

Onboarding is still one of the biggest missed opportunities in our industry. For an experienced exerciser, access might be enough. For a beginner, it rarely is.

Signing the direct debit isn’t the end of the sale. It’s the start of the relationship. Manage the first 90 days deliberately: consultation, programme set-up, a coached first workout, contact after the first few days, a two-week review, an invitation to a suitable class, progress measures and structured 30, 60 and 90-day check-ins.

Technology helps here. Your CRM should know when someone joined, their goals, their programme, their last visit and whether their behaviour has changed. If a new member comes three times in week one and then disappears for ten days, something should happen: a message, a call, a coach checking in. What shouldn’t happen is silence followed by an automated email three months later asking why they cancelled.

For experienced exercisers, motivation is largely internal. For beginners, accountability may be part of the product they’re buying.

Make Programming Simpler, Not More Impressive

Our industry loves sophistication. Customers love simplicity. A beginner doesn’t need an app with 400 exercises and dozens of metrics. They need: do this, then this, then this, you’re done, well done, see you Thursday.

Circuit concepts like Milon understand this because they remove decision-making. Traditional gyms can do the same: signposted beginner circuits, QR codes with simple demos, 20, 30 and 45-minute programmes, machine-only plans or a simple route around the gym for the first month. Technology should remove friction, not add it. If someone needs a tutorial for your app before they can train, you’ve missed the point.

Add Beginner-Specific Classes

Compare two timetables. One has HIIT, MetCon, Bootcamp, Advanced Conditioning and Body Blast. The other has Beginners Strength, First Steps Fitness, Introduction to the Gym, Beginner Circuits, Move Better 50+ and Back to Exercise. Which feels more accessible?

The exercise doesn’t have to change much. The positioning changes how accessible it feels. Schedule beginner sessions at quieter times too. Nervous members get a calmer environment, and you boost utilisation when staff, kit and space are already available.

GLP-1 Users Could Be a Major New Audience

Our industry needs to take this seriously. The rapid growth of weight-management medication is creating a population actively trying to improve their health, many of whom have struggled with traditional fitness.

NICE guidance on medicines such as tirzepatide makes clear they should be used alongside dietary change and increased physical activity. That’s a clear opportunity for properly trained fitness professionals to support exercise, strength, confidence and long-term habits. There are clinical boundaries: gyms shouldn’t prescribe or give medical advice. But supporting someone with appropriate exercise alongside treatment is a very different thing.

Imagine marketing that says not “come and smash a workout” but “Losing weight? Let us help you get stronger, fitter and healthier along the way.” That’s a completely different conversation.

Sell What Fitness Gives People, Not Fitness Itself

Ask a regular why they go to the gym and they’ll talk about training. Ask a non-exerciser what they want and they’ll talk about climbing the stairs without getting breathless, playing with the grandkids, sleeping better, having more energy, feeling more confident, staying independent or simply getting out and meeting people.

Those are the products we should be marketing. ukactive research also highlights mental wellbeing as a key motivation, yet so much marketing still leads with equipment. Nobody wakes up desperate to try your new plate-loaded leg press. They wake up wanting to feel better.

Your Marketing Needs to Look Different

Look at your website and social media through a non-exerciser’s eyes. Is everyone young, lean and in Lycra? Is it all heavy weights and sweat? Where are the 55-year-olds, the beginners, different body shapes, the coach patiently showing someone a machine, two members chatting over coffee?

Your imagery quietly says who your club is for. If people can’t see themselves in it, they’ll assume you’re not for them. Language matters too. Try “Never been comfortable in a gym?”, “Want to get stronger but don’t know where to start?” or “Want more energy for everyday life?” Now you’re talking about a problem they recognise.

Market to Life Stages, Not Just Demographics

“Women aged 35 to 55 within five miles” is an audience, not a proposition. Think about situations instead: returning to exercise after children, being told by a GP to get active, using weight-loss medication, approaching retirement and wanting to stay strong, losing confidence, kids leaving home, moving to a new area, or returning after illness with the right support.

Each group has different motivations, fears and barriers, so marketing, onboarding and support should be designed around their situation, not just their age and postcode.

Lower the Barrier to the First Visit

We’re obsessed with getting people to join. For this audience, joining can feel like too big a step. Offer a coached trial, a beginner open evening, a coffee and chat, a health check, a 30-minute intro session or a six-week programme before asking for full membership.

The first goal is simply to get someone through the door without feeling they’re being sold a membership. Once they’re comfortable and have met someone they trust, the conversation changes completely.

Change Your Sales Process

If someone says “I’ve never really liked gyms”, that’s not an objection. It’s the most useful thing they’ve told you. Ask why. What happened before? What worries them? What would success look like in six months? What support would help?

Let their answers shape the tour. If they’re intimidated by equipment, introduce the coach who’ll show them. If they’re nervous about busy times, tell them when it’s quiet. If they want company, introduce classes and community groups. You’re not selling the building. You’re removing the reasons they’ve never joined one.

Train Your Team for a Different Customer

A brilliant trainer isn’t automatically brilliant with someone who hates exercise. Your team needs empathy, an understanding of behaviour change and the ability to explain things without jargon.

For one member, adding 20kg to their deadlift is a big win. For another, walking into the gym alone for the first time is just as big. Both matter. And that culture has to run through reception, sales, managers and coaches. The whole club needs to say: people like you come here.

Build Community on Purpose

Social connection may be the strongest retention tool for this audience. Walking groups, beginner clubs, coffee mornings, socials, attendance challenges, charity events, workshops, buddy schemes and small-group training all help people build relationships.

When someone moves from “that’s where I exercise” to “that’s where my friends are”, leaving becomes a much bigger decision. For independents especially, that’s something a large low-cost competitor struggles to copy.

Measure Whether It’s Working

How many new members are first-time gym users? How many complete onboarding? How many attend in their first seven days? What percentage are still coming at 30, 60 and 90 days? Which programmes retain best, and which staff are best at keeping beginners, and why?

CRM data, access control, apps and automated messages can flag changes in behaviour before someone cancels. But the technology shouldn’t replace the relationship. My rule is simple: automate the process, personalise the interaction. Let the system tell your team someone hasn’t been in for ten days, then let a human pick up the phone.

There’s a Strong Commercial Case

This isn’t charity. The UK fitness market is worth billions and has more than 11 million members, yet penetration is still low. Most operators fight for people who already value a gym membership, moving members from club to club and competing on price.

Attracting someone who wasn’t considering any gym is different. You’re not taking market share. You’re creating market.

Picture an independent gym with 1,000 members that builds a dedicated beginner proposition. Five genuinely new-to-exercise members a week is around 260 a year before attrition. At £40 a month, that’s around £124,800 in annualised membership revenue before PT, small-group training, premium programmes, retail and referrals. If those members stay for years, the real prize is lifetime value.

It Makes You Harder to Compete With

If your offer is equipment, access and price, someone can build a bigger gym and charge £5 less. That’s dangerous for independents, hotel clubs and mid-market operators facing low-cost chains.

If your offer is relationships, coaching, accountability, community and results, it’s much harder to copy. Don’t try to beat a £20 gym at being a £20 gym. Build something a £20 access model struggles to deliver: support.

Stop Blaming the Consumer

We sometimes talk about inactive people as if they just lack motivation or discipline. I’m not convinced that’s fair. If millions know exercise is good for them and still don’t use our facilities, maybe we should ask less about what’s wrong with them and more about what’s wrong with our proposition for them. That’s a product design challenge, and product design challenges can be solved.

What I’d Do if I Ran a Traditional Gym Today

I wouldn’t change everything. I’d create a business within the business:

• Identify local groups who don’t feel gyms are for them and build specific propositions for each
• Launch a named beginner programme with a clear journey, plus dedicated beginner sessions and classes
• Retrain the sales team around conversations rather than facility tours
• Rebuild onboarding around the first 90 days
• Simplify programming and use technology to spot disengagement, followed by personal contact
• Explore GLP-1 and weight-management exercise support, plus strength and healthy-ageing programmes
• Add community activities that aren’t all about exercise
• Change the imagery and language in my marketing
• Talk to inactive people locally, ask why they don’t use gyms, and listen

The 85% Isn’t One Market

Don’t make the mistake of treating “non-gym users” as one group. A 70-year-old worried about losing strength, a busy 35-year-old parent, someone on GLP-1 medication, someone with gym anxiety, a lapsed exerciser and someone on a low income all have different needs and barriers.

So don’t build one generic campaign. Segment the opportunity. Understand your local market, decide which groups you’re genuinely equipped to help, and become exceptionally good at helping them.

The Biggest Growth Opportunity May Be Outside Fitness

We talk a lot about innovation: AI, apps, wearables, recovery tech, new kit. But perhaps the biggest innovation available isn’t technological. It’s designing a fitness business around someone who doesn’t currently like fitness.

The UK has more than 11 million gym members, which is extraordinary. But most people still haven’t chosen a gym. That shouldn’t depress us. It should excite us.

If we keep designing gyms for people who already love them, we’ll keep fighting over the same customers. If we can create places where someone who hasn’t exercised for 10, 20 or 30 years walks in and thinks, “Finally, somewhere designed for me”, we grow the market itself. That means new customers, new revenue streams, stronger retention, higher lifetime value, greater relevance to healthcare and communities, and far more people getting healthier.

Stop fighting over the 15 to 17% who already use us, and start asking what we need to do differently to become relevant to everyone else. The biggest untapped market in fitness isn’t looking for another gym. It’s waiting for a fitness experience it actually wants to use.

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Want help putting this into practice in your gym? Black Raccoon Consulting are gym and fitness business consultants with over 25 years’ industry experience in sales, marketing, member retention and operations. Book your free 45-minute business call or explore our services.

Ryan Charlesworth, Founder, Black Raccoon Consulting