re: Will Class Based Gyms Survive?

It's no secret that luxury services are among the first to get cut when the American family looks to reign in spending:

- massages
- country club memberships
- gym memberships
- eating out (remember circa 2007 Quiznos charging $12 for a friggin lunch sandwich?)
- mental health counselling
- hair/nail salons
- Starbucks

I think your typical gyms are going to suffer greatly; people who are serious about their fitness now realize that they can't depend on their local gym anymore. Home gym equipment makers are going to see an explosion in sales, provided they make intelligent decisions about pricing because the serious lifter doesn't want to get stuck in this situation again.* Other people who aren't so serious about their fitness, but still want to "get some exercise" have rediscovered walking, jogging, and being outside at parks and such. For the classes/gyms you're talking about though, fitness is the secondary offering...what they really offer is the social aspect. When this all ends, I think people will be craving social interaction and that may help keep these type of places afloat. People will be reluctant to pay some absurd fee like $100-$150/month to socialize though, so these companies need to be very smart in their pricing.

Just my thoughts, I could be entirely wrong about all of this.

*The "serious lifter" category is where I am (note that doesn't mean I'm a good or even advanced lifter ), but I will be joining the home gym master race after this without a doubt. All the strength/physique progress I've made since I've been back in the gym the past 2 years without missing a single workout is going to evaporate of this coronavirus shite drags on. Strength and muscle take a long time to build and can be lost quickly, so I'm pretty furious that all my hard work is getting wiped out and I'll never put myself in that position again.