The rapid advance of technology is democratising fitness, giving consumers more choice than ever before and leaving businesses facing difficult dilemmas, says new Pure Gym CEO Humphrey Cobbold.

Speaking at the European Health & Fitness Forum (EHFF) in Cologne, Germany, during FIBO week, Cobbold said technology is empowering consumers, providing choices where decisions were previously made for them, and he acknowledged that it’s a struggle to adapt.

Citing air travel as an example, Cobbold said passengers are now able to choose their airline, flight, class, boarding options and seat at the touch of a button. He noted the same technological advances are “democratising fitness” and said that gym operators - many of whom “have a fixed cost and asset base from which they have to generate a material profit” – face painful changes as they adapt their business models to embrace new developments.

Cobbold – who is on the cover of this month’s Health Club Management magazine – is perhaps better placed than anybody to interpret the challenges and opportunities afforded by technology. The 50-year-old was formerly CEO of online cycling retailer Wiggle, where he drove rapid sales growth to take the company from being a start-up to a market leader in just four years.

Cobbold forecasted that we’re only just reaching the “end of the beginning” in terms of changes brought about by technology, and said focusing on what young gym users want will be key to long-term success.

“This technology revolution is coming from the bottom up – young people get it much quicker than we (over 50s) do,” he said.

“We need to ask ourselves ‘how do we reach 15 to 25-year-olds who see the world differently? How do we shape it to make it appealing to them?’”

An exclusive interview with Humphrey Cobbold on Pure Gym’s future plans can be read in the April 2015 edition of Health Club Management magazine, pp. 30-34.

Health Club Management will be on hand throughout FIBO 2015, live reporting on the latest developments throughout the show and posting them straight to the Health Club Management website. Head of news Jak Phillips will also be live-tweeting from the event, follow him on Twitter by clicking here.