What Impacts a Person’s Decision When Choosing a Fitness Centre?
Creators: name: Cheema, Arsh
name: Iverson, Thomas
name: Mundt, Anna Saskia
name: Sun, Kelly
name: Vaida, Eryn
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2024

description: Due to the health benefits of aerobic and resistance exercise, many universities provide on-campus fitness centres to promote healthy exercise habits. However, many students at the University of British Columbia (UBC) choose not to use UBC Recreation’s fitness centres (BirdCoop and ARC). The existing literature highlights several factors that influence fitness centre choice, including cost, equipment selection, staff attitude and expertise, atmosphere and gym culture, and physical accessibility. However, there is little data pertaining to university students, who may experience different barriers and facilitators than the general population. In order to understand why UBC students choose not to use UBC Recreation’s fitness centres, we surveyed UBC students residing on the Vancouver campus. Participants were recruited via convenience sampling using social media, verbally informing students in common areas, and presentations before lectures. The survey began with screening and demographic questions, and then collected quantitative data about factors influencing fitness centre choice, and qualitative data about features that might make participants more likely to attend UBC Recreation’s SRC North fitness centre, which is currently under construction. Of 97 eligible participants, the majority were in their first, second or third years of study (88.6%), and the majority identified as women (73.2%) while a minority identified as men (25.8%) or non-binary (1.0%). A majority of participants currently attend a fitness centre (AFC; 71.1%) as opposed to those who do not attend a fitness centre (DAFC; 28.9%). For AFC participants, the factors that most strongly influenced fitness centre choice were cost, location, and work/school schedule. For DAFC participants, these factors were location, cost, and cleanliness. However, it is not always possible for fitness centres to modify these factors when seeking to increase their customer base. Instead, it may be effective for fitness centres to focus on less influential, but more variable factors such as operating hours, personal enjoyment, gym culture, and sense of belonging. These factors, which were especially important to DAFC participants, could explain where fitness centres can differentiate themselves to increase their customer base. Based on our findings, we have five recommendations to increase attendance at UBC Recreation fitness centres: (1) Provide online fitness classes or an app to keep customers engaged on days when they cannot make it to the gym. This can counteract limitations due to time and travel. (2) Extend operating hours to attract potential customers with limited availability. In particular, many potential customers might benefit from earlier opening hours to alleviate crowding during the morning rush prior to 8:00 AM lectures. (3) Provide community events and challenges to promote personal enjoyment and community engagement. This could be particularly effective for recruiting people who lack experience in a fitness centre, since community challenges are engaging and help to disseminate knowledge. (4) Establish a ‘Bring a Friend’ program to decrease barriers for potential customers in accessing the fitness centres. This program could be particularly effective at helping to promote a sense of belonging for people new to fitness centres. (5) Make improvements to the facilities (such as to equipment and environmental features). Although participants repeatedly identified equipment quality and variety as a critical factor (which is already a key consideration of SRC North), they also highlighted several other considerations, such as natural lighting, air conditioning, accessible water fountains, and functional space. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”