INDUSTRY VIEW
PROF. DAISY FANCOURT • UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Why the tness sector needs the arts
T he tness sector has been one of the great success stories in public health over the past two decades. It has helped to normalise exercise as a routine, essential behaviour, something people build into their weekly lives not just for enjoyment, but because it is understood to be fundamental to health. But if the tness sector wants to continue growing, it’s going to need to embrace the arts.
encourage people to train more ef ciently, more regularly, in a sustainable way. Dance, rhythm-based training, music-led classes and expressive movement all sit naturally within a tness environment, and extending this to other arts offerings within tness spaces could help consumers to engage more deeply. Third, the arts also activate other
mechanisms that the tness sector is currently under-leveraging, such as emotional
In my new book Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Transform Our Health, I make a similar case for the arts to the one that was made for physical activity a few decades ago: that it is a fundamental pillar of health and wellbeing. The scienti c evidence now clearly supports this. Regular engagement in the arts reduces the risk of developing depression, chronic pain, dementia and age- related physical decline, while increasing wellbeing, social connectedness and longevity. This research isn’t just relevant to the arts sector, but also to the tness sector. First, consumers are increasingly prioritising holistic wellbeing as much as physical outcomes. They are interested in activities that will simultaneously support physical, psychological, social and emotional health. In line with wider system-level shifts towards preventative health, they want to invest not just in their immediate health but on their future health. In other words, health, for consumers, is increasingly about more than just tness. And the arts offer the chance for tness providers to expand their own offer to meet this holistic, creative need. Second, the arts are very effective ways of regulating emotions and strengthening psychological processes that support behavioural change like self-esteem, mastery and agency. These are the same mechanisms that can help
expression, creativity and social bonding. Indeed, one of the tness sector’s persistent challenges is sustaining engagement over time. Drop-off is often driven not by lack of access, but by lack of enjoyment, meaning or connection. There is clear consumer demand for more immersive, socially-engaged, personal offerings, as shown in the growth of boutique studios, group training and experience-led formats. Hybrid tness- creative programmes are more likely to build habit and loyalty, reducing drop-off and increasing lifetime value. The tness sector has already changed how people think about exercise. The opportunity now is to broaden that achievement. Integrating creative,arts- based activities into the tness mix are not about dilution, it is about strengthening the overall offer so that it is more personalised, holistic, preventative, engaging and ultimately wide-reaching in its impact on health and wellbeing in its fullest de nition. Prof Daisy Fancourt, Professor of Psychobiology & Epidemiology, University College London “Drop-off is often driven not by lack of access, but by lack of enjoyment, meaning or connection.”
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2026
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