One of the most interesting parts of high school was watching my classmates go from scrawny kids to fully grown, buff adults in just a few years. This transformation was, of course, in large part due to the biology of aging from 14 to 18, but there was also another force at work — the gym.
It really felt like something had changed during the pandemic. By senior year, not only were many of these friends now thickly muscled and capable of lifting a lot of weight, but they had fully bought into their weightlifting journeys — Blender Bottles, Gymshark, new diets and all. For some, the gym had even replaced their seasonal sports.
I did not share too much in their gym efforts, though I could certainly understand why they were doing it. Their workout programs had payoffs physically and many told me that it was just as much an exercise in mental health as physical health. I couldn’t shake the feeling, though, that regardless of the merits of this gym culture, something about all of it screamed corporate tinkering in young American minds.
When I arrived at UW I found this same gym culture alive and wanted to figure out if young people really have turned to the gym more than they used to and why.
It appears that Americans, especially young Americans, are using the gym more than they were 10 years ago. The number of times Americans visited a health club rose from 4.6 billion visits in 2010 to 6.7 billion visits in 2019, an increase of 45%, according to a 2020 Health and Fitness Association report. Millennials and Gen Z now make up 80% of health club members globally, according to a 2019 Les Mills global fitness study. And since the pandemic, current gym use is nearly double what it was before the pandemic, largely thanks to Gen Z, according to online health magazine Fortune Well. Gym check-ins for the first quarter of 2024 totaled 184 million, almost doubling pre-pandemic levels and Gen Z makes up 29% of new gym joiners, according to Fortune Well.
Health clubs should take an active stance on social media to highlight the “rockstar” personalities in their gyms, according to Les Mills. This touches on what has been a key factor in this generational shift in exercise — social media. As with so many things in our generation, social media and digital content appear to be at the heart of this story and a key driver of the market forces behind the rise in gym culture.
Take the case of Sam Sulek. Sulek is a 22-year-old bodybuilder and YouTuber whose daily weightlifting uploads quickly earned him celebrity status. In 2023, Sulek’s YouTube channel grew from 8,000 subscribers to 2.26 million, gaining 1.8 million subscribers between August and October alone, according to VidIQ. Sulek’s channel now has 3.71 million subscribers. Sulek’s Instagram account boasts six million followers and he has gotten 19.1 million total likes on TikTok.
In June of 2023, supplement brand Hosstile signed an advertising contract with Sulek, Sulek said in a June 2024 YouTube video. Sulek’s second-most viewed YouTube video, “Fall Cut Day 21,” has 3.9 million views and begins with Sulek sitting down to breakfast at a table cluttered with nine different supplement containers from sponsor Hosstile. Since then, Sulek has allowed his contract with Hosstile to lapse.
Another glaring success story in the fitness industry is the fitness apparel company Gymshark. Founded in 2012 out of a Birmingham, UK, garage with one sewing machine, Gymshark has since grown into a multi-national company, employing over 900 employees, according to Gymshark’s website. In 2023, Gymshark founder and CEO, Ben Francis, became the UK’s youngest billionaire, according to Athletech News. One critical component of Gymshark’s success has been its partnerships with numerous influencers (including Lex Griffin and Nikki Blackketter of YouTube) and athletes like professional boxer Katie Taylor, according to Forbes Magazine. Gymshark currently has a total social media following of over 18 million, according to their website.
Thus, Gen Z has a huge appetite not just for fitness, as indicated by high gym memberships, but also for fitness content on social media platforms and YouTube and fitness accessories like protein powder and apparel. This creates a kind of chicken and egg situation, where it is unclear which gave birth to the other. Gymshark became a $6 billion company in just over a decade partly because there is clearly a strong market of people who want both workout clothes and to present the image that they work out. After all, no one really needs to wear Gymshark to get a good workout. One might need tight-fitting undergarments like sports bras or compression shorts, but, besides that, any old T-shirt and sweatpants work fine in the gym.
Like any brand name garment, wearing Gymshark is also about presenting a certain image — or adhering to one. It is impossible to determine how much social media and clever advertising are responsible for leading Gen Z to the gym and for getting them to part with their money for accessories like protein powder and name-brand cut-offs, and how much more Gen Z just cares about their health and musculature than other generations.
It makes complete sense for a supplement company to sponsor someone like Sulek, whose superhuman physique lends their product creditability and subtlety plants the idea that you too could become like Sulek if you use his protein powder. The same idea applies to Gymshark’s sponsorship of its own team of fitness influencers and athletes.
This is nothing new and engaging with the fitness industry is unquestionably better for people than practicing other harmful habits, but people need to remember that fitness is still an industry and driven by money. You have your own reasons for going to the gym, but, increasingly, big businesses also have an interest in making sure you buy into the gym universe.
