People keen to get active with easing of lockdown

8th July 2020

Matt Sanders

Lockdown has done more than reduce the spread of Coronavirus, it’s also made people want to get fit.

According to a Coronavirus survey carried out by Sport England, 60% of the population is planning to get more active as lockdown restrictions begin to ease.

Data from the survey reveals that following an initial spike in activity levels early on in lockdown, we collectively became less energetic as schools, shops and workplaces started to reopen.

At the end of 2019, Sport England’s Active Lives survey revealed 28.6 million adults were exercising moderately for at least 150 minutes each week – figures that were a record high.

Of course, life in lockdown has made it harder for people to keep up their pre-Coronavirus levels of activity. The survey shows that 52% of those questioned feel guilty for not having done more exercise. While 32% admit it will be a challenge to sustain their lockdown activity levels as restrictions ease.

However, the outlook for the sport and fitness sector does seem positive.

62% of people plan to continue their daily walking and cycling habits as we start to move out of lockdown. And Lisa O’Keefe, executive director of insight at Sport England talks about “a real opportunity […] to build on the good habits people have created.”

There are encouraging signs elsewhere too. Results from a survey carried out by PwC in May this year reveals that many of us are keen to get back to the gym.

According to the PwC survey cited by Leisure Opportunities, nearly a third of gym users (30%) said they missed it a lot, and gyms were rated the activity people would most like to return to immediately once facilities opened again (17%).

Gym goers aged between 25 and 34 proved to be the most ready to return to their gym routine – 43% said they were all set to make a return as soon as the gym doors reopened.

Speaking about these findings, Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader of industry at PwC said: “For the gym sector, there’s a hardcore base of customers who can’t wait to come back.”

She continued: “There’s every opportunity for operators to maximise consumer willingness to spend through the summer once they are safely able to open.”

At Paragon Structures, we’re committed to providing the facilities people need to be as active as possible. We specialise in sports facility construction for both the leisure and education sectors.

Our state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly, tension fabric buildings offer a rapid build time and low construction and on-going maintenance costs.

Take a look at the recently completed golf and cricket centres at Millfield School in Somerset and discover the benefits this new sporting environment brings to the pupils and the wider community.

Get in touch with the team to find out more.