The Nigerian fitness culture and industry recently has grown significantly over the past last four years, especially in the major cities.
Contributing factors are the presence of more fitness centers/studios, better health consciousness among the millennia, and a strong social factor – which is on millennia’s desire to look good.
For some reason, almost everyone wants to look and feel trim, lean and strong, which was not common 10 years back. With this consciousness comes the opportunity to live a healthier and more enjoyable lifestyle.
“Many Nigerians are still not fitness aware and many more who are aware are not motivated or willing to commit to living a healthier lifestyle,” said Foluso Ogunwale founder and chief executive officer of iFitness Center Ltd at the unveiling of the firm’s branch in Ikeja, Lagos recently.
According to Ogunwale, making fitness common is crucial to us. The more common it gets, the more access there is to more Nigerians. No doubt, when people live a healthier lifestyle, they become more productive to themselves, more productive in their workplace, and more importantly, they are available to live happily with their family.
“Physical fitness has a lot to do with life expectancy in the country and people are not conscious of the importance of exercise, they live life in a way that their health begins to decline.”
He added that providing a fitness chain is the solution! That is; making fitness common in Nigeria by providing a chain of decent, convenient and affordable fitness centers.
“Therefore, we have to unlock the market by providing an experience (a fun experience) in each of these centers to inspire our members into embracing the lifestyle and taking charge of their health.”
“When people fail to do regular exercise, it could result in them having high blood pressure, diabetes, even at a younger age. What we are trying to do is to raise awareness on the importance of exercise. This way, premature deaths, and diseases will be far away from those that regularly engage in regular exercise,” he said.
Diabetes as of last year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2018 report, kills 1.6 million people annually and 17 million die of cardiovascular problems. These premature deaths are real and largely preventable.
Ogunwale explained that the firm want fitness to be an integral part of the urban lifestyle, not just an option that you pick and drop at every slight excuse.
“In planting our branches, can we ensure that our network is brilliantly laid out to provide convenience for our members? This means that we, intentionally, locate our branches in places that are either densely commercial spots (workplaces) or highly residential spots (close to homes),” he said.
ANTHONIA OBOKOH
