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To quit or not to quit? New data shows the top reasons why people quit the gym

The data reveals that the average gym visit lasts 1 hour and 9 minutes.

Man on treadmill with sleeveless shirt in gym
Olly / Pexels

We all see the gym become progressively quieter in the second and third months of the year. According to a 2023 poll from Forbes Health, just under one in 10 people, or 8%, said their new year resolutions only lasted one month, while 21.9% reported two months. 22.2% reported their resolutions lasted four months, and only a small 1% said they managed to keep up with their goals for 11 or 12 months. 

Why do people quit the gym? In the past, I remember quitting the gym when life got too busy, and I was traveling a lot. Looking back, I wish I had made more time to prioritize gym sessions and working out in different ways because that’s when I probably needed it the most to keep up with my fast-paced schedule. Strengthening my body with exercise could have helped me keep up with the demands of frequent travel.

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We see more and more people shifting to at-home workouts due to the convenience, privacy, comfort, accessibility, and affordability. At the same time, many of us get caught up in the busyness of the day-to-day and life changes, and the gym and working out anywhere takes a backseat. Recent data from Pure Gym in the United Kingdom reveals the top reasons why people quit the gym.

Recent data

Exercise machine empty gym
Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels

Pure Gym released new data about people’s gym habits. 

The data reveals the top five reasons why people quit the gym:

  • 30% or almost a third of people had canceled their gym memberships because it was too expensive.
  • 20% or 1 in 5 adults said that their personal circumstances changed, for example, becoming a parent or feeling too tired and stressed.
  • 15% reported that they just didn’t have the time to go anymore.
  • 7% didn’t like the experience.
  • 5% said that gyms were only open at times that weren’t convenient for their schedule.

Additional insight

Man in the gym doing cable bicep curls on the cable machine
Alen Ajan / Adobe Stock

The Pure Gym data also revealed that:

  • 17% of people in the United Kingdom are currently gym members.
  • Men are more likely than women to be gym members, with 18% of men surveyed compared to 15% of women.
  • 17% of people plan to join a gym within the next calendar year, which amounts to approximately 12 million people in the UK, according to Pure Gym.
  • 20% of men are planning on joining a gym within the next year, compared to 14% of women.

How long do people stay at the gym?

man in gym wearing black sleeveless shirt with hood holding weight
Ushindinamegabe / Pexels

It varies how long people stay at the gym depending on their goals, schedule, fitness level, and other factors. The recent data showed that the average gym visit lasts 1 hour and 9 minutes.

Concluding thoughts

Man wearing a white tank top in the gym holding a weight and stacking weights on a rack
Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels

It’s clear that people quit the gym for various reasons, including a lack of time and the price of memberships. Things like more affordable memberships, longer opening hours, and shorter workout sessions could draw more people to the gym; that being said, since the pandemic, we’ve seen an uptick in at-home workouts and remote personal training.

It’s up to you if you’d like to work out at the gym, at-home, or both. You won’t really know if you like the gym or not until you give it a try on multiple occasions at various times. You might find that powering through that one-hour morning gym sesh revitalizes you, or maybe you like to blow off some steam at the gym after work or on a weekend where you have access to lots of different machines and personal trainers and gym staff. There are plenty of benefits to working out at the gym and at home.

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Steph Green
Steph Green is a content writer specializing in healthcare, wellness, and nutrition. With over ten years of experience, she…
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