News

o    “Huge, addressable market that is ready to engage” - Professor Smith, MMU
o    Benefits of exercise and ability to socialise overcome barriers to exercise
o    92% of respondents would consider using power-assisted exercise

A new study shows that older adults would engage with exercise with the right encouragement, communication and access to safe spaces. When these needs are met, perceived barriers to exercise are far less significant than operators assume. 

The research from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) debunks the notion that barriers such as cost, physical limitations and fear of injury heavily influence decision-making. Instead, social factors and personal beliefs about the benefits are far greater drivers of motivation to exercise. 

More than 1,200 adults aged 60 and above were involved in the study, which explored the main barriers and motivations for older adults in undertaking power-assisted exercise.

Conducted on behalf of Innerva, the world’s leading manufacturer of power assisted exercise equipment, the cohort included both exercisers and non-exercisers as well as users and non-users of power-assisted exercise. The research was part-funded by a grant from Innovate UK as part of the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge - Designed for Ageing, which aimed to harness the best of UK design talent and inclusive user engagement to develop solutions that helped people thrive in later life. 

Professor Paul Smith, who led the research project, said the results were surprising. “We asked 28 questions about barriers to exercise and discovered that when people understand what power-assisted exercise is, these barriers have minimal impact on their decision-making, with no single barrier standing out as a major obstacle to exercise. In fact, older adults are more influenced by social factors and personal beliefs about the benefits of exercise, principally whether they believe the exercise is beneficial for their health, is an opportunity to socialise and are encouraged by what other people think of it. These factors have a far greater impact on their intentions than barriers.”

After learning about power-assisted exercise, 92 per cent of respondents said they were willing to try and use the equipment and recommend it to others. 

“The older adult market is ready to engage once they are made aware of the exercise options available. Older adults are a significantly more loyal market segment than other demographics and are highly likely to share their positive experiences with friends. This is a huge, addressable market that is available and represents a great opportunity for fitness and community operators.”

Researchers employed latent cluster analysis – believed to be a first for UK fitness industry research – to understand the different ways in which older adults perceive the benefits and barriers to engagement with power-assisted exercise, and to show the extent to which different groups with different combinations of perceptions are likely to try or continue to use power assisted exercise, and to recommend it to others. For example, one group of older adults represented a group of older adults in poorer health, who saw significant personal and social benefits and only minor barriers to engaging with power assisted exercise. This group was heavily female in terms of demographic and included many individuals with multiple health conditions. This group stated they were extremely likely to try or continue to use power assisted exercise, and extremely likely to recommend it.

Respondents were segmented into six clusters, ranging from those most likely to use and recommend power-assisted exercise to those least likely to use and recommend it. Only one cluster representing eight per cent of those respondents was unlikely to use and recommend it. This cluster represented individuals who were not motivated by social interaction, tended to be less healthy and less active currently and were sceptical of the benefits of exercise. The remaining clusters all had relatively modest concerns about barriers to participation, and included both healthy and unhealthy individuals, and active and non-active individuals.

Laura Childs, Marketing and Communications Manager at Innerva, said: “With an ageing population, encouraging exercise among older adults should be a national priority. This is the first time the fitness industry has spoken to older adults on this scale to understand their barriers and motivations for exercise. The results are incredibly exciting and highlight the vast potential of the older adult market. This demographic is essentially on the verge of embracing exercise, simply waiting for the right encouragement – but no one has stepped up to seize the opportunity.”