Skip to main content
Cameron Saunders

Cameron Saunders

CEO of ukactive, the UK's trade body for the fitness and physical activity sector, and former Managing Director of 20th Century Fox UK.

Sep 10, 2026

1:30
How is the industry doing then? Are gyms in good shape?
1:33
Gyms are in extraordinarily good shape.
1:36
Gyms are growing pretty much, like, a million extra gym-goers every year over the last few years.
1:42
It's gone from, uh, about nine and a half million people a couple years ago to twelve point two million regular signed-up monthly gym visitors.
1:49
So it's grown from fourteen percent of adults being a gym member in twenty twenty-three to eighteen percent today.
1:57
And what's to me is really interesting is you're looking increasingly with your twenty-five, thirty-fours, your Millennials, some of your younger audiences, you're looking at penetration of thirty, forty percent.
2:07
So it's becoming the mainstream and normal thing to do.

7 MINS LATER

8:54
Do you also feel, Cameron, that the gym's own marketing has a role to play in this, right? Because it usually shows gym-goers as all being young and fit and muscly, plus the gym instructors also tend to meet that description as well.

We value your privacy

We use cookies to understand how you use our platform and to improve your experience. Click “Accept All” to consent, or “Decline non-essential” to opt out of non-essential cookies. Read our Privacy Policy.