Almost half of Brits now prefer to exercise at home with one in five never returning to the gym

Home has become the new fitness haven for Brits with an average saving of £100 a month compared to going to the gym, a new study revealed. Nearly half (44 per cent) are now preferring to exercise at home for convenience (65 per cent), value for money (50 per cent) and ease (48 per cent), with over a third (38 per cent) feeling it’s easy to access different apps, workouts and motivation at home.

The research commissioned by the award winning Sky Q platform and Fiit, showed that following the on and off closure of gyms and leisure centres since March, the alternative set-up of exercising at home was relaxing (31 per cent), quieter (30 per cent), and more enjoyable (24 per cent), with almost a third (32 per cent) preferring the option to choose to exercise when it suits their calendar. Sky Q is the only UK TV platform to offer an integrated fitness app, helping you train smarter and harder – all from your TV, easy.

Fiit ambassador, Dr Hazel Wallace, who’s partnered with Sky Q said: “Working out at home can be very difficult without any guided support or motivation to get you through. Fiit on Sky Q solves that problem by offering you a range of quick, effective, instructor-led classes in the comfort of your own home. Staying active is not only important for our physical health - but our mental health too.  With all the upheaval over the last year, it is more important than ever that we take time out in our day to look after our health and wellbeing.”

Two thirds (64 per cent) of adults used exercise to improve their mental and physical wellbeing during both lockdowns, with many preferring the benefits of not feeling pressured (30 per cent), judged (26 per cent) or embarrassed (21 per cent) and instead feeling more confident (21 per cent).

Almost seven in ten of us have continued to exercise at home since the first lockdown and are keen to keep up this habit - with 39 per cent admitting they want to keep going for at least a year. As a result of this new trend, the average exercise fan plans to spend two days less in the gym - even when restrictions are fully lifted. With a fifth not planning to return to the gym at all.

And as some feel more comfortable working out at home, 33 per cent of Brits are trying new forms of exercise including core, weights, cardio, yoga and cycling, since the start of the pandemic.

Fraser Stirling, Group Chief Product Officer at Sky said: “It’s great that people are feeling more confident to try new forms of exercise at home. Having Fiit on Sky Q makes it so easy to work out that you can’t use the usual excuses! Even if it’s a quick 15-minute session, everyone can join in with classes and training programmes, straight from the heart of your home and all on the big screen.”

Notes to Editors

Study conducted by OnePoll for Sky Q

About Fiit on Sky Q

Sky Q is the only UK TV platform to offer an integrated fitness app, and from today, you can enjoy over 600 on-demand classes, created and led by Fiit’s 35 industry-leading trainers, including Adrienne Herbert, Cat Meffan, Corinne Naomi, Gede Foster, Gus Vaz Tostes and more. You can pick your class by studio – Cardio, Strength and Rebalance – or by trainer.

Having Fiit on Sky Q gives you a one-on-one training session with a fitness expert covering a range of classes, without the need to leave your home. If you’re training from your living room with the main Sky Q box, or transforming a spare room into a studio with the Sky Q Mini, it’s easy to open the app with a quick voice command like ‘Launch Fiit’, or say “fitness” to open the new fitness destination on Sky Q.

You can now sign up to Fiit’s range of 2, 4 or 6-week training plans, which can be tailored to your level, whether you’re just starting your fitness journey, or taking it up a notch.

In the coming months, Fiit Club will be live on Sky Q, so you can train with friends in group classes, and compete in a live leader board. You’ll also be able to connect your tracking device to your account (via your phone) so you can monitor your heart rate stats on screen and earn Fiit points when using Fiit on Sky Q.

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Across six countries, we connect our 24 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.

Sky offers bespoke and flexible services across TV, broadband, phone and mobile, with Sky Mobile recently named Uswitch’s network of the year 2020. Our technology, including the market leading Sky Q, connects people to the everything they love - TV, music, games, online video, fitness and educational content, all in one place easy. Our streaming service, NOW TV, brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, I Hate Suzie and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 though Sky Studios. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, while Sky Arts the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel, makes arts accessible for everyone. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity and we’ve put in place a new programme to invest £30million across our markets over the next three years to tackle racial injustice.