Wodify is a leading all-in-one fitness management software, trusted by over 5,000 of the world’s top businesses. With one of the largest & most accurate datasets in the industry, we decided to create this blog series in order to share specific metrics that are proven to drive results, insights from the most successful gyms, and how Wodify customers can track their progress.
As we approached the beginning of the new year, Wodify’s Business Intelligence team began to wonder what workouts and movements are the most popular from year to year. Each year brings a new Pantone color, fashion trends, groundbreaking technology, and more, so what about working out? Any trends there? Here are the questions we answer in this post:
We’ll answer all of these questions, so read on!
We analyzed over 14 million workouts that have been programmed in Wodify to gather this information. Yes, that’s a huge number, so gear up for some extra informative conclusions.
2012: Fran
2013: Fran
2014: Fran
2015: Fran
2016: Fran
2017: 1-mile run
2018: 1-mile run
2019: Helen
2020: Diane
2021: Murph
2022: Murph
As seen in the infographic above, the back squat ran as the UNDEFEATED top movement programmed from 2012-2022.
One specific movement stood out to us throughout our research: wall walks. Yup, that’s right. Wall walks had a drastic spike in 2021 increasing from the previous year by over 50% and then increasing again in 2022 by over 100%.
Now, let's take a deeper look into data trends of two of the most popular functional fitness workouts: Fran and Murph.
Starting with Fran. According to our data, Fran is programmed 2.12 times per year at the typical functional fitness gym. Fran peaked in popularity in 2020 when it was programmed, on average, 2.69 times per year. Fran reached an all-time low in popularity in 2022 when it was programmed just, 1.47 times per year, on average, at the typical gym.
The graph below shows how Fran trended between 2012-2022.
Now Murph. Murph is an interesting one because, though, it is one of the most popular functional fitness workouts, it mostly occurs 1 time per year: Memorial Day Weekend in May. Murph is programmed less often than Fran, but still appears 1.36 times per year, on average, at the typical gym.
The graph below shows how Murph trended between 2012-2022.
This second graph shows that 80% of all Murph workouts occur in May (Memorial Day weekend).
See all this cool data we just pulled from gym owners inputting workouts to Wodify Perform?! This is the same philosophy as client performance tracking. When clients record their workout results into Wodify Perform, they can see their progress over days, weeks, months, and years!
So, the bottom line? Encourage your members to track their performance using a tool like Wodify Perform. When all of your students’ or athletes’ fitness data is stored in one place, the switching cost is higher for them to switch gyms or studios than it is to stay at your gym or studio since they won’t want to lose all of their progress. Performance tracking can increase retention by 20%. And higher retention leads to higher revenue.
We hope you found these insights & advice useful for your business! Keep an eye out for more posts in this series as we continue to explore the data in Wodify.
If you aren’t using Wodify yet, you can book a free consultation here.
Want to keep learning? Check out our other Behind The Numbers posts:
Why Fall is the Most Important Season to Nurture Your Members
How You Should Really Be Keeping Track of Your Business Data
The Secret To Saving Time & Money as a Fitness Business Owner
