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I've never been to the same gym as Eric Drinkwater, a sports scientist at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia — in fact, we live more than 1,000 kilometres apart — but as soon as we started talking on the phone, we discovered we shared the same gym instructor, half a world away in Los Angeles.
We are just two members of a growing cohort of people who are not tied to a schedule or venue and are being trained online by coaches they have never met. This is a phenomenon that has been waiting to explode since the advent of the internet and smart devices, and the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the catalyst to make it explode.
In 2016, Fitness app downloads surpassed 200 millionWhen the pandemic hit in 2022, that number was close to 900 million, only to drop slightly in 2023. As the coronavirus swept the world, many gyms were forced to close temporarily, but when they reopened, many people's exercise habits had changed, and some, like me, never went again.
But is there any difference between working out alone at home rather than in a group or crowded gym? After all, the benefits of exercising with other people are numerous. “The social aspect of fitness training is important to many people,” says Drink waterfor example…
Source: www.newscientist.com
