Introduction and Personal Positioning

My initial research question was: “How can gyms reduce psychological barriers for first-time users and support long-term motivation?” However, through observation, interviews, literature and intervention testing, I realised that anxiety may not be the central issue. Beginners may instead experience uncertainty, low confidence and limited belonging in an unfamiliar social environment. This shifted the project from removing anxiety to designing a transition that helps beginners become more confident participants.

The Chinese Fitness Industry Context

The development of the Chinese fitness industry provides an important context for this research. By December 2023, China had approximately 69.75 million paid fitness members and 117,000 fitness venues. However, the industry also experienced considerable instability. In major cities, commercial fitness clubs had a reported closure rate of 14.07% in 2023, while club numbers continued to decline (China Fitness Industry Data Report, 2024).

By December 2024, the number of fitness members had increased to 87.525 million, representing a 25.47% increase, while the number of broad fitness venues reached approximately 143,000. At the same time, traditional commercial clubs declined from 36,447 to 28,683, while fitness studios increased from 42,177 to 43,232. The report also identified rapid growth in monthly and weekly memberships and smaller personal-training packages, suggesting increasing demand for more flexible and accessible fitness services (China Fitness Industry Data Report, 2025).

These changes suggest that the challenge is not simply attracting people into gyms. The industry is increasingly responding to consumers who expect flexibility, personalisation and service quality. Professional guidance is also identified as an important factor in decisions to use commercial fitness facilities (Zhang et al., 2025). Therefore, the first experience can be understood as part of a wider service-design problem: how can gyms help new users move from being customers who have entered the space to participants who feel capable and connected?

From Observation to First Intervention

At the beginning of my research, I observed a gym in Kunming to understand how members used the space. Regular members appeared familiar with the equipment, routines and social interactions. Staff also noted that middle-aged members were more likely to remain because they had developed friendships, while younger users were more willing to compare gyms based on price, equipment and environment.

These observations challenged my assumption that gym anxiety was universal. Instead, familiarity and social connection seemed to influence whether people stayed.

For my first intervention, I joined a beginner trial session and recruited four participants, aged approximately 25 on average. They worked in pairs, reflecting my observation that people often visited gyms with friends or family. The session progressed from conversation and warm-up to physical assessment, cardiovascular equipment, resistance machines and free weights.

This structure was informed by Bandura’s (1997) concept of self-efficacy: small successful experiences can gradually build confidence. It also related to Berger and Calabrese’s (1975) Uncertainty Reduction Theory, as trainer guidance, gradual equipment introduction and peer support made the unfamiliar environment more predictable.

The results were mixed. One pair considered the membership too expensive, three participants were willing to return and one felt the gym was unsuitable. I also realised that the intervention was underdeveloped because I had spent more time planning than testing. This became an important methodological lesson: practice reveals problems that speculation cannot. It reflects Schön’s (1983) concept of the reflective practitioner, in which knowledge develops through reflection on action.

A major turning point

Based on this insight, I arranged a tutorial with Georges and began contacting and interviewing five gyms in my hometown. During an interview with a front-desk staff member at HRSTART, I gained a perspective that changed my understanding of the project. When I asked whether beginners might feel shy or psychologically pressured, she replied:

“Only those who have mentally prepared themselves can enter the gym. Their decision to enter already shows that they can cope psychologically. Although they may initially feel uncomfortable or worry about others’ opinions, these feelings usually decrease with time.”

This response made me reconsider my focus. From the staff’s perspective, entering the gym is already a psychological leap. I had focused on why beginners were afraid to enter and how to remove this fear, but beginners may enter while still feeling uncertain or self-conscious.

Turner (1969), developing van Gennep’s theory, describes liminality as a state of being “betwixt and between”: a person has left one state but has not fully entered another. The first gym visit can therefore be understood as a transitional experience rather than a problem that must be completely resolved beforehand.

Ryan and Deci (2000) argue that sustained participation depends on three psychological needs:

• Autonomy: feeling able to choose what to do.
• Competence: believing that one can do it.
• Relatedness: feeling connected to the environment and others.

This changed the direction of my intervention. Rather than simply trying to “reduce beginners’ psychological pressure,” I began asking: Once beginners have entered the gym despite their uncertainty, how can we help them adapt to this unfamiliar environment?

5. Second Intervention: Identifying and Responding to Discomfort

In August, I planned my second intervention at HR START, chosen for its more accessible pricing. With staff, I distributed 20 emoji stickers representing comfort, indifference and discomfort. Existing members used them to identify spaces or equipment that might cause uncertainty for beginners. This helped connect emotional responses with specific spatial and material features.

Based on these responses and photographic documentation, I designed a small-scale intervention offering additional support in the identified areas. I recruited six participants online and offline. Before entering the gym, they completed a questionnaire. Staff then introduced them to the layout and facilities, after which each participant selected an area to try. A floor trainer provided guidance in that area.

Afterwards, participants completed a second questionnaire and recorded a 20-second voice message about their immediate reactions. The questionnaires enabled a structured comparison of perceived comfort before and after the intervention, while the recordings captured tone, pauses and emotional intensity. Coffee vouchers were provided as an incentive.

This experiment tested a low-cost process of “identifying, supporting and reassessing.” It transformed the vague experience of environmental discomfort into specific areas for improvement. However, the sample was small and the process became overly detailed. In the next stage, I plan to explore simpler and more accessible activities for understanding beginners’ experiences.

Reflection and Current Direction

The second intervention was more structured than the first, but it also revealed limitations. Six participants are insufficient to make generalisable claims, and the intervention risked becoming overly detailed and complicated. More importantly, I began to recognise that not every beginner needs the same intervention.

My research has therefore moved from asking “How can gyms reduce psychological barriers?” to asking:

“How can a multidimensional first gym experience help beginners build confidence and become part of the gym community?”

The word multidimensional is important. My current intervention does not depend on one solution. Instead, it combines spatial familiarity, equipment guidance, trainer support, peer companionship and personal choice. These elements correspond closely with competence, relatedness and autonomy in Self-Determination Theory.

The project has also changed my understanding of design research itself. My early approach attempted to solve a problem that I had already defined. Through fieldwork, unexpected staff perspectives and unsuccessful intervention testing, I learned to allow the problem to change. This iterative process has moved the project from designing an intervention to designing a transition experience.

Ultimately, I am not trying to create a gym where beginners never feel nervous. Instead, I want to explore how the first few moments inside a gym can provide enough knowledge, support, choice and connection for uncertainty to become familiarity, familiarity to become confidence, and confidence to become participation.

References

Bandura, A. (1997) Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman.

Berger, C.R. and Calabrese, R.J. (1975) ‘Some explorations in initial interaction and beyond: Toward a developmental theory of interpersonal communication’, Human Communication Research, 1(2), pp. 99–112. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.1975.tb00258.x.

China Fitness Industry Data Report (2024) 2023 China Fitness Industry Data Report. Shanghai: Shanghai University of Sport, Santiyundong and China Bodybuilding Association. Available at: https://english.news.cn/20240322/9890dfbdee3e4623a82c67cd4422062f/c.html (Accessed: 24 March 2025).

China Fitness Industry Data Report (2025) 2024 China Sports and Fitness Industry Data Report. Shanghai: Shanghai University of Sport, Santiyundong and IWF International Fitness Expo. Available at: https://www.ecosports.cn/informationDetail?id=4972 (Accessed: 24 March 2025).

Goffman, E. (1959) The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L. (2000) ‘Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being’, American Psychologist, 55(1), pp. 68–78. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68.

Sanders, E.B.-N. and Stappers, P.J. (2008) ‘Co-creation and the new landscapes of design’, CoDesign, 4(1), pp. 5–18. doi: 10.1080/15710880701875068.

Schön, D.A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.

Stickdorn, M., Hormess, M.E., Lawrence, A. and Schneider, J. (2018) This is service design doing: Applying service design thinking in the real world. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.

Turner, V. (1969) The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. Chicago: Aldine.

van Gennep, A. (1960) The rites of passage. Translated by M.B. Vizedom and G.L. Caffee. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.