BK Fitness Survey reveals the health habits of Bangkokians
The gyms offering best value for money, the most buzzing classes and fitness trends, and who offers Bangkok's tastiest health food—all according to BK’s readers.
Virgin Active (Wireless)
Since landing in Bangkok back in 2014, Richard Branson’s high-end, high-tech fitness hub has clearly stolen your hearts, beating old timers like Fitness First (11.7%), who have been on the scene for over 10 years. Proving it’s not all about the commercial players, local boutique fitness centers like Absolute You (7.2%) and Base Bangkok (6.9%) also proved they’ve got your vote.
The statistics have spoken and it seems Bangkokians are suckers for punishment. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) involves short, intense bursts of exercise structured in a way that is great for burning fat and building fitness—think high heart rates and a whole lot of sweat. Convinced? Check out the best places to try HIIT training here. Trailing close behind are those who prefer a slightly slower (yet no less strenuous) pace, the yogis (36.9%), followed by the heavy-lifting, cardio-mad followers of CrossFit (30.3%).
It seems Bangkok is longing for a bit of Barry—multiple responses demanded “Barry’s Bootcamp,” a nightclub like, high energy, high intensity workout (apparently). Get on over here, Barry. Many of you also called for water-based workouts like aqua aerobics, while apparently there’s also a gap in the market for spinning classes to the sounds of Celine Dion. Who knew?
Improve Strength
Prolong Life Expectancy
Lose Weight
Look Good Naked
Improve Agility
Improve Sports Performance
It’s overcrowded before and after work
They never update the equipment
It’s dirty
The changing rooms stink
My membership’s limited to a single branch
I don’t feel it’s value for money
The trainers are inexperienced
Badminton!
Though 58% said they don’t play competitive sports, of those who did, badminton came out on top with 21.1%—more than double it’s runner up, football, at 10%. The sport became a national pastime under His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was awarded the historic BWF President’s Medal in 2012 in recognition of his lifetime contribution to the sport. May his legacy live on!
The treadmill :(
While 51% of us keep fit with running, apparently we’re still too lazy to go outside. Over 60% of respondents said their favorite place to train was on the treadmill, easily beating the second most popular spot, Lumphini Park (43.7%).
Counting calories.
While 38.8% of you said you’d tried crunching your calories, an impressive 31.7% found the technique effective. Meanwhile, a handful of you have braved hardcore diets like keto (14.2%), paleo (12.8%), detox (14.9%) and Atkins (3.1%), but was it worth it? Well, it’s 50/50—for each one of these methods, only around half of you sung their praises.
Whey protein (39.1%)
Caffeine (30%)
Fish oil (30%)
Nike
Adidas
Under Armour
SuperSport
With a whopping 16 stores across the city, it’s no wonder this multibrand sporting superstore has so many of you hooked.
With 56% of you using wearable tech, here are your top 4 brands:
FitBit (27.6%)
Garmin (25.3%)
Apple (17.8%)
Xiaomi (10.9%)
MyFitnessPal
Nike Run & Training
Garmin
FitBit
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