Nurtures addiction to staying fit

DSN Retailing Today, Dec 16, 2002 by Mike Troy

Advertisements for health clubs, athletic shoe companies and other sports-related products that rely on well-conditioned, attractive athletes as product pitchmen are missing what has increasingly become the marketplace's new reality. The demographic group with the greatest potential to impact the financial results of retailers of sporting goods, athletic footwear and apparel are the nation's aging Baby Boomers.

These weekend warriors, numbering nearly 77 million people between the ages of 38 and 56 who were born between 1946 and 1964, often have different attitudes about health, fitness and sports than their own television-addled and video game-addicted kids. They understand the benefits of regular exercise and recognize it is a necessity if the effects of aging are to be delayed.

"Baby Boomers are said to have invented the fitness movement and have always been involved in exercise as a way to improve their looks and their lives," according to the most recent state of the industry report by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) "Over the long term, demographics seem to favor the fitness industry. Older Americans, age 55 and older, have moved into exercise in extraordinary numbers and this bodes extremely well for the future as the leading edge of the huge Baby Boom generation advances into their mid-50's."

Conversely, America's youth and their waning lack of interest in athletic pursuits have served as a convenient scapegoat for soft sporting goods sales, yet it is the under 40 crowd that continues to be courted even as older Americans have joined health clubs in record numbers. SGMA's state of the industry report noted that older Americans are contributing significantly to the membership growth at health clubs. During the 13-year period from 1987 to 2000, the number of health club members age 55 and older increased nearly 400% to 7.4 million. In addition, the number of health club members age 35 to 54 also increased substantially during the same time frame, rising 125% to 11.9 million.

The benefit of improved health is the reason 82% of Americans age 50 and older exercise and why more than half of them say they have always exercised regularly or fairly regularly throughout their lives, according to the American Association of Retired Persons.

"Physical health is ranked among the top three most important life areas by one in five Boomers and is one area that many Boomers would like to improve," according to an AARP study released last month called Boomers at Midlife: The AARP Life Stage Study.

While the motivation for exercising and participating in sports is generally for the health benefits, competitive juices continue to flow for those older than 50 and explains why AARP last year introduced a series of mini triathlons called TriUmhs. After holding seven of the events last year the program was expanded to 15 events this year, including one last week in Phoenix that required participants to swim 300 meters, bike 20 kilometers and run five kilometers

"Participation has varied state to state, but we have had at least several hundred people participate in each event," said Barbara Foelber, a spokesman for AARP. "A great percentage of the folks are first-timers."

The inevitable result of the increased activity among the huge segment of the population in its 40s and 50s is that injuries are on the upswing.

The increase became so noticeable the Consumer Product Safety Commission decided to look at the cause of emergency room visits during the past decade. In a report released in April 2000, the commission found that emergency room visits by Baby Boomers that were caused by involvement in a sports activity increased 32% to 365,000 in 1998 from 276,000 in 1991.

"This increase in injuries, which occurred in 16 popular sports activities, was due primarily to Baby Boomers' increased numbers participating in these sports," according to the commission.

Seven sports, including bicycling, golf, soccer, basketball, exercise and running, weightlifting and in-line skating, showed the most significant increases in injuries requiring emergency room treatment. Taking into account those sport injuries that didn't warrant a trip to the emergency room, but still required attention by a medical professional, the commission estimated the number of sports injuries was approximately one million in 1998, compared to 778,000 seven years earlier. The increased activity among Baby Boomers and the resulting rise in injuries even prompted an orthopedic surgeon in Philadelphia to label the trend "Boomeritis."

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