Hot biz: specialty exercise aftermarket

Entrepreneur,  Dec, 2003  by Chris Penttila

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Today, yoga and Pilates are more than fads; they encompass a lifestyle with huge market potential. According to a June 2003 Harris Interactive/Yoga Journal survey of 4,000 Americans, 7 percent said they are practicing yoga--a 28.5 percent increase over 2002. One in six respondents said they planned to try yoga for the first time within the next 12 months.

Companies are bending over backward to reach this growing market. Yoga and meditation gear--from clothes and mats to DVDs and music--populates retail shelves. Yoga classes aimed at pregnant women and kids as young as age 3 are rooting firmly in suburbia. Men now comprise 23 percent of U.S. yoga enthusiasts. "There's been a maturation of the market," says Dayna Macy, communications director for Yoga Journal, a magazine that boasted 20 percent circulation growth between 2001 and 2002. "There are all kinds of ways to capitalize on the yoga boom," Yoga-inspired foods, gear aimed at men, instructors who work inside schools and large corporations, and franchising are just a few largely untapped markets.

Roughly 4.7 million Americans also take Pilates, a workout that builds abdominal strength. Maria Leone, owner of Bodyline Fitness, bought into the Pilates studio in Beverly Hills eight years ago and bought it out completely from a partner one year later. Her Pilates on the Go video series, developed about three years ago with business partner Holly Correa, 39, is muscling onto shelves, with an estimated $200,000 in 2003 sales.

If you want to teach, keep your overhead low early on by finding a small gym or chiropractic office that will rent space for one-on-one sessions, suggests Leone, 37. "But you'll need great promotional skills," she says. A Pilates session can range from $50 to $70 per hour. "There's still so much room for growth," Leone says. Meditate on this market, and breaking in might not be such a stretch after all.

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