That’s an easy question to answer. People will always want to be fit. Just look at all the diet products and infomercials these days. Billions of dollars are spent by consumers wanting to look and feel better. More and more people want to be in better shape and healthier. With the rise of cancer and other diseases from the chemicals placed in our foods more people are realizing the only way to be disease free is to eat right and workout regularly. Even in a recession, people will always find time and money to go to the gym. Even here at our corporate location, we have a couple members on unemployment but not ready to give their gym membership.

The Health and Fitness industry is an industry worth about 18 million dollars and it continues to trend upwards year after year. Regardless of the economy almost 50 million people take part in this industry joining gyms throughout the United States. In the next 2 – 3 years gym memberships will reach close to 75 million according to industry experts. With more people becoming health conscious gyms will continue to be recession proof. The investment into the gym industry is usually much less than almost any other industry including fast food, retail and service based.

The gym industry is also one of the few industries where other profit centers can be added to the existing business to generate extra income. These profit centers are pretty much like a business in itself. A juice bar can be set up to sell healthy smoothies and protein shakes. A vitamin and supplement store can be created within the gym. Dance classes, MMA, wrestling or boxing can be included in a separate area as an extra charged to members. Personal training and custom diet plans should be available to all members as another profit center. Many employers are encouraging or requiring their employees to join gyms so that they are healthier which will cause less call outs from work and reduce insurance premiums. Many businesses agree to corporate membership plans with gyms to accomplish this. Health insurance companies provide monetary benefits to members when they join a gym and complete a certain amount of visits. They feel as they become healthier it should cut down on health care costs. One thing is for sure, as long as the obesity rate continues to rise in America, the health and fitness industry will keep to climb upward.