How to Harness the Roaring Trend of Animal-Inspired Workouts

We often compare elite athletes with animals: Fast like a cheetah. Strong like an ox. Agile like a hummingbird.

To get fitter and healthier, humans are taking inspiration from the animal kingdom. Here are two trends we spotted in this direction, each presenting unique opportunities you can pounce on for wild profits:

1. Humans Want to Move like Animals

If you notice people doing exaggerated, animalistic stretches in your gym, rest assured: It’s not the cast of Cats taking over.

Fitness trendsetters are adding animal movements – or primal movements – into their workouts, from crocodile crawls to sideways ape.

Source: Tenor

The regime has been around for a while, but received renewed attention in recent years:

• #PrimalMovement has 2.4B+ views on TikTok

• This animal flow tutorial gets 1.4m views on YouTube

• Pinterest searches for “primal movements” grew 120% from 2022 to 2023

The moves may look goofy, but they target muscles that we normally neglect, enhancing body awareness, agility, and a host of other benefits.

Even better, you can do this bodyweight exercise wherever there’s a floor, making it an easy way to break up a sedentary workday.

The Opportunity: Fun in Fitness

Business builders can tap into today’s fun-craving consumers and organize their own “animal fitness” classes. Rent out yoga/dance studios or other community spaces, and offer private bookings for birthday parties or corporate events.

You can niche down and target audience with different fitness goals, such as:

📱Teens: They spend 7+ hours per day looking at screens… A fun, animal-inspired workout with peers could be just what they need to improve mental health, posture, and social skills.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Families with young children: It’s an opportunity to do silly movements together – something parents might be too busy for normally – and form deeper bonds.

Source: HelloWonderful

Or, host a training program to certify primal movement instructors. Partner with existing trainers who can design the curriculum. You can take care of the logistics and marketing.

A 2-day workshop offered by Primal Play brings in ~$663 per participant. Similar programs cost $659 at Animal Flow.

2. Humans Want to Exercise with Animals

To channel our inner beasts during a workout, sometimes we need said beasts (reads: puppies) to be there and cheer us on.

Nope, we're not doing a downward dog joke here. Source: Google Trends, six months rolling average.

Workout sessions with cute animals are becoming increasingly in demand. “Goat yoga” gets 40k searches per month globally, per Ahrefs.

One puppy pilates session got 1.5m views on TikTok – it was hosted by Woof Wellness, a NYC-based fitness studio that lets you exercise with rescue pups and adopt them.  

Pet parents are also connecting with their fur babies by working out together, and their activities are not limited to the gym. Some sports enthusiasts would even take their pups to wilder adventures (safely).

The Opportunity: Fashionably Fit

Lululemon became a $56B+ company by making high-quality yoga pants when yoga was getting popular. With any fitness trend, you can usually count on fashion to follow suit.

The pet clothing industry is set to reach $7B by 2028, and you can take a share by selling animal-inspired athleisure wear, or matching sports outfits for people who exercise with their pets.

Imagine matching swimsuits, ski suits, or rollerblading outfits… You can leverage AI for the design, and work with “petfluencers” to promote your product.

From shedding to shredding. Source: SnowBrains

Don’t just settle on aesthetics – partner with material scientists or biomimicry experts, and use animal adaptation mechanisms to design performance-enhancing workout gear.