Gyms are scrambling to add squat racks for the strength-training renaissance

The past couple of decades have seen a boom in science showing that resistance training has a wealth of benefits, beyond looking big and strong. Lifting weights can help you feel younger for longer, delay chronic illness, boost bone health, and reduce pain. It may even improve your self-image. Weight-lifting isn’t even necessarily about getting big – it can actually help you stay lean and toned. In fact, studies show strength training beats cardio, when it comes to fat burning.

“What the evidence is showing is that building muscle through strength training, as opposed to using cardio to manage weight, has a much greater effect on promoting longevity,” the “Smarter Workouts” author and fitness industry consultant Pete McCall told Business Insider.

But, while scientists and trainers have known this for a long time, it has taken a while to catch on more broadly. Before the pandemic, studio classes, like spin, were booming. From 2018 to 2019, gym-goers were hungry for cycling, stair climbing, and rowing, according to data from the Health & Fitness Association, the trade group representing gyms, studios, and the fitness industry at large in the US.

COVID triggered a sharp pivot.

The boom of strength training in 2020

McCall, who is a consultant for the cardio icon StairMaster, says this trend is only just getting started. “You’re going to see a lot more interest in the next few years in strength training from all age groups,” McCall told BI. “The 20-somethings, the 40-somethings, the 60-somethings will all be gravitating towards strength training, just because of the benefits it provides.”

A conundrum for gyms

This sharp shift requires some adjustment for gym owners. In most gyms, the weight section is one small corner of their floor plan, and it is becoming increasingly crowded.

“Suddenly, now they need more plate-loaded equipment, they need to find space for that,” Kufahl said. “Strength equipment takes up a lot of space, they need to be bolted in. To move strength equipment around is a big task for a lot of gym operators and it requires some planning, it requires determining what to do with the flooring.”

Crunch gyms have spent the last few years investing in more lifting platforms and clearing space for strength training, Maietta, the Crunch district manager, said. Recent renovations around the country have included more than $200,000 worth of new equipment, which buys new dumbbell racks, plate-loaded strength equipment, and Olympic lifting platforms, according to press releases. Other priorities include more open-plan turf areas for functional strength training with weights like kettlebells, Crunch CEO Jim Rowley told Athletech News in January.

It doesn’t have to be a shot in the dark, either. Gyms have access to all of the data stored on their treadmills showing exactly how often people are using them.

“I can go and use a code on an elliptical or I can use a code on a stair climber and get an idea of how many hours it’s been used over the last month, three months, six months, whatever it is,” McCall said.

Gym managers can use that data to determine how they might want to remodel their space — and some do. “Some health clubs are building new locations without cycling studios, I mean, that’s how much that group fitness is being affected,” McCall said.

A new demand for specialized muscle gyms

Increasing enthusiasm for strength-training and longevity is also a boon for the fitness industry – potentially keeping people in the gym for way more years than they might have been capable of before. Strength training is ideal for extending your “play span,” your ability to keep doing what you love as you age.

Maietta, the Crunch manager in New York, said he (41) is still showing up athletes who are years younger than him. He credits that to his lifting.

“What strength training really affords people is to make age just feel like a number,” he said.