INDUSTRY VIEW
DR. HEATHER MCKEE • BEHAVIOUR CHANGE SPECIALIST
The growth opportunity we’re still missing: designing for adherence, not motivation
T he tness industry has never been better at getting people started. There is more access to facilities than ever before, more choice of ways to move, more apps, more data, more tech. And yet, long-term adherence to movement remains stubbornly low. This is the tension at the heart of the sector: we have optimised for entry, but not for endurance. The assumption underpinning much of the
more features, but in re ning the behavioural architecture of the experience. This means shifting focus in three critical ways: 1. From intensity to consistency 2. From outcomes to effort 3. From motivation to skill building Designing for consistency
means making the “minimum viable workout” feel like success i.e. a workout you can do on your worst of days not just your best of days. Designing for effort means rewarding showing up, not just performing. Designing for skill means helping people build the capability to return, especially after disruption because drop-off is not failure, but part of the process. “The next wave of growth in fitness won’t come from getting more people through the door. It will come from helping more people stay.” There is also a growing signal within the industry that reinforces this shift. As digital connectivity increases, social disconnection is rising. Operators who are winning long-term are not just offering access to tness, they are creating environments of belonging, identity, and shared experience. Because people don’t just stick to workouts they stick to places, people, and identities that make those workouts meaningful. If the last decade was about access, my hope is that the next will be about adherence. And the operators who recognise this shift who design for real human behaviour, not idealised motivation are where the next wave of growth lives. Dr. Heather McKee (PhD), Behaviour Change Specialist & Keynote Speaker
industry is still that if we can motivate people enough through inspiration, incentives, or information they will continue. But what I’ve seen in over 20 years in this industry and from the behavioural science literature is that relying on motivation alone is part of the problem. Motivation uctuates daily. It is shaped by stress, sleep, work, and life. Designing systems that rely on people feeling motivated consistently is, by de nition, designing for drop-off. The real opportunity lies elsewhere. It lies in designing for adherence. When we look at the minority of people who sustain exercise long term, the difference is not stronger willpower. It is better systems. They have designed their environments to reduce friction. They’ve made their behaviours small, simple and fun enough to repeat. Their progress feels visible and meaningful and crucially, they recognise the movement experience itself as rewarding. Where the industry continues to misunderstand behaviour, change is that we tend to focus on outcomes (weight loss, performance, transformation), when behaviour is driven by something much more immediate: how it feels to show up today. If the experience is too hard, too complex, or too unrewarding in the moment, people disengage regardless of long-term goals. The next opportunity for the sector is not in adding
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2026
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