Exclusively Women Fitness Center | Blog: Inclusive Fitness Initiative

A photograph of Obama strolling shirtless along a Hawaii beach has riveted international attention. Odds are it will encourage couch potatoes to "shake their booties" and make the apparently recession-proof fitness industry grow even bigger during the coming year. The photo could not have come at a more opportune time. The Christmas-Chanukah holidays are when people traditionally eat and drink too much. Who knows how many decided against a second helping or another drink after it? The whole thing could have been a clever marketing ploy for the fitness industry. Obama is certainly a hot brand.

While some may rush to buy exercise equipment or dust off what they already have, most will join health clubs. American Fitness in its May-June 2002 issue wrote that the fitness club industry is hardy during tough economic times and, in 2007, the Minneapolis-based Mercanti Group found that health club membership topped 41 million in the United States and revenues exceeded US $17 billion annually. Since 1983, the business has grown by 8 percent yearly. In 2008, worldwide memberships topped 85 billion.

Necessity Rather Than A Luxury

Research by Roper Starch Worldwide indicates that an aging population views such memberships as a necessity rather than a luxury but that older exercisers feel intimidated by the jocks, spandex and competitive atmosphere in many gyms and want their own workout spaces. Also, they are bashful over knees, back and hips shot from running. To accommodate them, gym owners wait eagerly for the next elliptical training machine that offers an intense but low impact workout.