Increasing Male Student Participation in Group Fitness

Although facility utilization reports reflect a large male presence in the campus recreation center, group fitness programming participation for this population is often scarce. This trend is common in campus recreation centers all over the country, regardless of institution location and size.

But why is this the case? If male students frequently utilize the facility, why are we unable to capture their participation in group fitness classes? When evaluating these questions, I decided to go to straight to the source.

I surveyed male facility users regarding their perceptions toward group fitness and what aspects encouraged or discouraged their participation. Many of the male students surveyed reported they chose not to participate in group fitness classes because of the stigma that it was, “Just for girls.”

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Others surveyed communicated they did not feel represented in group fitness programming as most instructors and attendees were female. The final reason many opted not to participate in group fitness was they simply were not interested.

Upon identifying some of the barriers to male student participation, I was able to utilize this information to make key adjustments in group fitness programming. Through application of these principles, we’ve experienced consistent increases in male student group fitness participation each academic year.

Here are a few recommendations for how to successfully increase male student participation in group fitness.

1. Diversify Recruitment and Hiring

In my experience, classes led by male instructors tend to have the highest number of male attendees.

This finding shows the impact that diverse representation among fitness staff has upon the demographics of those that attend their classes. For this reason, I prioritize recruiting, hiring and retaining a diverse staff of group fitness instructors making sure that male instructors are among my hires as well.

To successfully do so, I cast a wide net of recruitment to help attract qualified male candidates for group fitness positions. This includes using a variety of internal and external partnerships to increase awareness about available positions to demographics that may typically be overlooked.

Through this intentional promotion of diverse candidate recruitment, I’ve successfully increased the number of male group fitness instructors on my staff and experienced subsequent increases in male student participation as a result.

2. Upgrade Marketing Efforts

As we began to implement many of the changes suggested by the male students surveyed regarding how to increase their utilization of group fitness classes, initially we saw little to no changes in the number of male attendees.

I later learned this is because many are not aware of the new class formats we implemented based upon their recommendations. Therefore, I began working with the marketing team to develop a strategy to increase awareness and alter previous stereotypes and assumptions about group fitness classes.

We decided to start by making changes in the type of images used to promote our group fitness programming. Typically, the photos used to promote group fitness classes showcased a female instructor teaching a class full of mostly female participants.

However, as we looked to update our marketing strategy to attract more male participants, we determined a need to diversify our promotional imagery. Thus, we began to showcase our male instructors and male participants in our marketing efforts as well.

This minor change in marketing strategy helped to increase male participation in our group fitness programming almost instantly. We began to see male students participating in classes such as cycling, yoga and even Zumba, which were typically exclusively female attended.

3. Create a Judgement-Free Zone

Increasing male student participation in group fitness goes beyond simply encouraging them to attend classes. We must create an environment where they feel comfortable and welcome while present to retain their participation.

A few of the male students surveyed also admitted they felt a great deal of “pressure” when attending group fitness classes. Specifically, the pressure to lift the most weight, run the fastest and to out-perform their female class counter parts.

Thus, an important part of supporting the growing attendance of male group fitness participants was creating a judgement-free zone within the group fitness classes.

We accomplished this by working with each instructor to carefully cultivate a class environment that promoted self-competition and encouraged group support.

Aim to conduct group fitness classes in a way that allows all participants to remove the pressure to compete or impress within class, and simply allows them to enjoy the group fitness experience.

We found this shift in instructional focus enhanced the overall class experience for all users and helped us to sustain our growing population of male attendees as well.