The much-talked-about fitness boom of the 1980s may finally have arrived. Judging by the sheer number of fitness products and apparel lines displayed at the National Sporting Goods Association exposition at McCormick Place, manufacturers believe there`s gold under those aches and pains.
A study released Monday by the association confirms the manufacturers`
expectations.
Frequent adult participation in fitness activities increased from 32 million Americans in 1989 to 41.6 million last year, a 29.1 percent gain, according to Thomas Doyle, the association`s director of information and research.
”Four years ago (in 1987), one in five adults participated in some fitness activity. Two years ago (in 1989) it improved slightly,” Doyle said. ”One out of four Americans exercises now at least twice a week.”
Just as remarkable, Doyle said, is that there has been a significant decrease in the percentage of people who do little or no exercise.
In 1991, 39.7 percent of adults said they took part in some fitness activity fewer than six times a year. That number fell from 42.3 percent in 1989 and 45.3 percent in 1987.
”But non-participation increases dramatically the lower the income,”
Doyle said. ”This is not good for us as a society. The poorest and weakest are not taking care of themselves.”
Non-participation by the lowest-income group was relatively unchanged in all three surveys, in 1987, `89 and `91. In the most recent, 55.1 percent of those making less than $15,000 a year said they did little or no exercise. By comparison, only 28.3 percent of those making more than $50,000 a year said they did little or no exercise.
Fitness activities included in the study are aerobic exercise, bicycling, calisthenics, exercise with equipment, walking, running and swimming.
Data confirming the increase in fitness activities were supplied by the show`s manufacturers.
Sales of fitness equipment rose to $2.07 billion in 1991 from $1.73 billion in 1989, Doyle said. Walking-shoe sales rose to $1.37 billion in 1991 from $1.24 billion two years earlier.
Doyle noted that women are doing a better job of maintaining fitness regimens than men.
According to the survey, Doyle said, 35 percent of women responding said they didn`t participate in any exercise program in the last year, while 45 percent of men said they didn`t.
”Women tend to talk about their health more and tend to do more about it than men,” Doyle said.
