Flocking to Fitness: Why Singaporean Youth Drive the Post-Covid Gym Boom

Visits to public gyms nearly doubled after the pandemic as youth return to fitness, sparked by social media and government support.

When Covid-19 started, Mr Darryl Soh, 18, struggled with managing stress from school and personal problems. It wasn’t until mid-2022 that he found an unlikely solution: the gym. “Ever since stepping into the gym and putting in the work, it has definitely boosted and benefited my mental and physical health, increasing my ability to focus better and push myself to limits that I didn’t know I could reach,” he says.

He now trains five to six days a week at the ActiveSG Bishan gym, which he describes as his “second home”.

Mr Soh is part of a wider shift among youth who returned to public gyms. According to Sports Singapore statistics, gym attendances almost doubled from 1,969,873 in 2021 to 4,076,128 in 2024.

Additionally, according to The Straits Times, ActiveSG gyms saw a 30 per cent increase in gym entries by teenage boys from 2019 to 2022, and Fitness First experienced an increase in teenagers joining in 2023 compared to 2018, with the highest increase of 2.1 per cent recorded in 2020.

Mr Nityanand Rai, 65, a fitness instructor at the ActiveSG Fernvale gym, has seen this change firsthand. “The gym occupancy rate has increased over the past three years. There's steady growth,” he observes. 

He credits the growth to social media. “I think it’s a trend to [young people] now. During Covid-19, a lot of people realised that fitness is important to strengthen immunity,” he claims. He also notes that many youth come with visual goals shaped by what they see online. “They want to look good and fit. It’s all about the aesthetics and fitness recently.”

This reasoning matches with Mr Soh’s story. “I felt like I wanted to get bigger and change how I looked, so I went to social media and researched influencers…seeing the way they were built motivated and inspired me to achieve my own physique and fitness goals,” he explains. 

Mr Soh cites an ActiveSG credit top-up as another reason he started going to the gym. “There’s a $100 SG60 ActiveSG pass to access the ActiveSG gyms around Singapore. So a lot more people think it’s cheap,” Mr Nityanand adds.

But the credits aren’t the only way the government is trying to encourage youth to be more aware of their health. Mr Nityanand lists programmes like Health 365 and Health Labs as some examples of governmental support. 

However, as the popularity of gyms rises, so do safety concerns. Mr Nityanand emphasises proper supervision for younger users. “You should be at least 12 years old to start going to the gym,” he says, “That’s the minimum, and especially for younger people, it’s important to go with your parents.” He further highlights that the correct usage of equipment is essential to minimise risk of injury.

“After growing up and giving the gym a try, I’ve understood a lot on how much dieting, sleeping and working is to the body, definitely an eye opener for me which I still try to practice every day,” Mr Soh shares.