September 26th, 2022, Kineree Shah
In this piece we dig into YouGov Profiles, an audience intelligence tool, to understand how Americans and British gym-goers track their fitness activities.
Among Americans and Britons who say they hit the gym as often as possible, at least one in five track their fitness or diet through fitness apps (28%). Over a fifth of American gym-goers keep a tab through diet or food apps (22%) while in Britain almost one in six do so (16%). About two in five British and American gym-goers say they do not keep a track of their fitness or diet – the largest single portion of our responders.
Nearly two in 10 British and American gym-goers prefer the old-school way of tracking their fitness activities in a notebook. More than a tenth of consumers from both countries maintain a record of their fitness or diet activities either on notes in a phone, in a spreadsheet or on a wall chart, respectively.
Among Britons and Americans who use fitness apps, three in five have iOS operating phone systems (61% and 60%) while more than half use Android (54% and 50%). Nearly the same proportion are also more likely to say they are interested in trying the latest technology, products, services and apps (52% and 49%).
As for those who use diet/ food apps, one in five Britons (28%) have iOS while a quarter of them are Android users. In the US almost an equal number of users use either operating system (34% iOS and 33% Android). Americans (36%) are more likely to say they are interested in trying latest tech than Britons (24%).
Breaking down the data by gender reveals a nearly a third of British males and quarter of females who say they hit the gym as often as possible say they use fitness apps (30% and 23%). When it comes to diet/food apps there isn’t much difference between both genders (16% males; 15% females) but for wall charts, British female gym-goers use them more than their male counterparts (11% vs 7%).
Among American gym goers both males and females use fitness apps (28% each) and notes on a phone equally (15% each). Males are more likely to use food apps (24% vs 19%), notebooks (21% vs 14%), and wallcharts (14% vs 11%) than females. As for spreadsheets, American female gym-goers use them more than males (16% vs 13%).
Two in five American and British females don’t keep a track of their fitness activities (42% and 43%). In comparison only a third of males from both countries don’t do so (35% and 33%).
A further dig into Profiles indicates that Britons and Americans who track their fitness activities or diet are more likely to say they take supplements to improve their performance during training (46% GB; 54% US) and follow fitness influencers on social media (38% GB; 54% US) than the general population (15% and 12% respectively).
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Methodology
YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for US and Britain is nationally representative of the online population and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.