Gym membership in the UK is more popular than ever – and generation Z are a key demographic boosting the numbers. Gen Z are also drinking less than previous generations. So why are gen Z choosing working out over hanging out at the pub?

“I see on social media, people saying, if you do this, and you do this, and you do this, then you’ll feel better, and then you’ll look better,” Isabel Brooks, a freelance reporter and “zillennial”, tells Helen Pidd.

“It’s framed as this mental health advice, but it feels like it all boils down to being a kind of the best version of yourself, and that feels inherently capitalist, inherently individualistic.”

But don’t they want to see friends at a pub or a club?

“It’s expensive,” Isabel says. “I mean, my gym subscription is £28, and I can drop that in a flash on a birthday pub event at a London pub, especially where the pints are like almost £7.”

Helen also visits charity worker Niyi Akinseye at a gym in central London, where he works out for four hours a day. He’s made friends at the gym, but wishes that their generation were more connected.

“I often reflect that I see people in the gym more than I see my mum or any family member, but you don’t say hello to them. You just walk past them awkwardly. And I think that’s what I’ve really encouraged myself to break down, to do, to actually get to know the people you see every day.

“History is one of my passions outside of fitness. One of my favourite periods of time is, for example, the French Revolution. And a lot of those ideas were formed by young people going in pubs and discussing ideas. And I think there’s definitely something missed by people of our generation not meeting more and actually discussing the real issues that are going on in society right now.”

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