LIFE4FITNESSPRO

Levels of sport and physical activity are particularly low in Portugal, with 73% of the population reporting that they never do so (European Commission, 2022), with the well-known negative consequences that this entails in terms of health (World Health Organization, 2018). However, of the Portuguese who practice sports and physical activity, 30% do so in gyms (European Commission, 2022).

Studying trends in the fitness sector allows the adjustment of services, products and training in this area (Franco et al., 2024), providing a better response to the fitness industry, enabling the population to increase their practice of sports and physical activity.

The use of technology in sports has been growing in recent years, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, with the following categories appearing in the top 20 trends in the fitness sector worldwide: use of wearable technology, use of smartphones exercise Apps, data-driven training technology, and online personalized training (Newsome et al., 2024).

Some studies carried out in clubs/gyms have demonstrated the importance of using technology in these spaces for customer satisfaction and retention (Ferreira-Barbosa et al., 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024). However, there is still little knowledge about the technological resources that professionals in the field use most directly in their intervention with participants.

Fitness professionals are one of the determinants of the quality of services in fitness clubs/gyms, influencing satisfaction and consequent adherence to sports and physical activity practice (Ferreira-Barbosa et al., 2022).

To better understand fitness professionals, a study was carried out in 2020 to characterize these professionals in Portugal (Ramos et al., 2021), as well as their job satisfaction (Ramos et al., 2021) and quality of life (Vieira et al., 2022), with data prior to the COVID pandemic. It would be important, after the pandemic context has passed, to carry out a similar study again to understand the current reality. Considering the characteristics of their professional performance, which increases their physical exhaustion, studies have been carried out to characterize injuries in fitness professionals (Ferreira et al., 2024; Vieira et al., in press).

In particular, the pedagogical behavior of fitness professionals influences the satisfaction of participants (Franco et al., 2012), and consequently their adherence to the practice, thus highlighting the importance of these behaviors. Specific instruments have been developed to know pedagogical behaviors of fitness professionals, and studies have been carried out to understand these behaviors and their influence on participants (Alves et al., 2013, 2014; Dias et al., 2020; Franco et al., 2012; Luís et al., 2021; Simões et al., 2023). New technologies now make it possible to enhance the in-depth study of the pedagogical behavior of fitness professionals (Campos, 2023).

The existence of fitness professionals with the appropriate qualifications to enhance the quality of their intervention is a valued aspect in the fitness industry (Franco et al., 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). Greater knowledge about fitness professionals is particularly important, not only to identify and/or reformulate the requirements needed to perform these functions, but also to be able to adapt the skills required of professionals in a more objective way, in line with the nature and specificities of the work they perform (Franco, 2020).

When it comes to promoting healthy lifestyles, fitness professionals have a key role to play in this regard. Several European projects have been implemented, funded by the European Union's ERASMUS programme, including the following: New Health 2022 and Healthy Lifestyle Network Europe. In addition to producing digital tools (videos, App, Lifestyle scan, e-learning course, e-book, digital platform), these projects focus on developing qualification standards for professionals who work more focused on behavioral change in terms of healthy lifestyle, as well as training these professionals to act in this sense (https://new-health.eu/en).

Keywords: Fitness professionals; Healthy lifestyle; Technology and innovation

Specific objective

• Understand the trends in the fitness industry.
• Understand how fitness professionals use technology with their participants.
• Characterize fitness professionals in sociodemographic and professional topics, as well as job satisfaction, quality of life and occupational injuries.
• Understand the pedagogical behavior of fitness professionals, using new technologies.
• Develop digital tools to promote healthy lifestyles, as well as qualifications for training professionals who work in this area.

References

• Ferreira-Barbosa, H., García-Fernández, J. & Cepeda-Carrión, G. (2024). Intenções Comportamentais, Uso da App do Ginásio e Satisfação Global dos Membros: Uma Análise Multigrupo. Cuadernos de Psicología del Deporte, 24(2), 267-284
• Franco, S., Simões, V., Santos-Rocha, R., Vieira, I., Ramalho, F., & Ramos, L. (2024). Tendências do Fitness em Portugal para 2024. Retos, 57, 88-100. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v57.105198
• Ramos, L., Esteves, D., Vieira, I., Franco, S. & Simões, V. (2021) VidaProFit: Characterization of Fitness Professionals in Portugal: VidaProFit. Motricidade, 17(1), 42-53. https://doi.org/10.6063/motricidade.20727
• Simões, V., Rodrigues, J., Ramos, L., Alves, S., & Franco, S. (2023). Desenvolvimento, validação e aplicação piloto do Sistema de Observação de Feedback de Instrutores de Fitness em Aulas de Grupo (SOFIF-AGF). Cuadernos de Psicología del Deporte, 23(3), 206-225. https://doi.org/10.6018/cpd.560631
• Vieira, I., Esteves, D., Ramos, L., Simões, V. & Franco, S. (2022). Quality of life of fitness professionals in Portugal: Comparative and correlation study. Frontiers in Psychology 13:958063. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.958063

Related projects

• Healthy Lifestyle Network Europe (HLNE): ERASMUS project 101133533
• New Health Program (NH2022): ERASMUS project 603212-EPP-1-20018-1-NL-SPO-SCP

Sponsors

• ERASMUS – European Union