The Year In Sport Trend Report

[Jane]

Do you love year end recaps?  I sure do, so I was excited to read the Strava Year in Sport Trend Report

We surveyed 6990 active people from around the world, and combined that with 2023 activity data from Strava, to come up with insights about the trends shaping the world of exercise.  

Here's a few of the highlights I found particularly interesting:

• running was the most uploaded sport type on Strava, followed by cycling and walking
• 76% of Strava Athletes with pets say their pet helps get them exercising when they otherwise wouldn't
• women in the United States are 70% more likely than men to say that lack of a safe space to exercise is a barrier to working out.  Globally, only 9% of women cite this.
• gravel riding is growing!  In 2023 the share of Athletes uploading gravel rides increased by 55%

Check out the full report here and let us know what you think.  What surprised you the most and how do you see some of these trends changing as we move into 2024?    

[scaskey]

I actually couldn't get past the long animated movie and clicked away before seeing any report. Why not just go to the report.

[Anthlis]

"Over half of Strava athletes say a strong motivator is knowing if they don’t work out now, they won’t fit it in."

Commuting to work is a big motivator for myself. 

[mbaldwin33]

The current algorithm that determines Top Sport for Year in Sport is inaccurate. I walked 200 miles this year, and ran 1,800 miles--yet my "Top Sport" is walking. The reason is that my runs are split up between "Trail Run" and "Run" both of whose individual count of activities are less than the number of total walks I did since I typically go for a walk in the evening. You could fix this by either determining "Top Sport" by the number of miles NOT by number of activities, or if you are intent on counting activities, then count "All Run" instead of the subcategories. Either way, the algorithm is horrible and as a paying subscriber who ran 1800+ miles, one 100-miler, two 50-milers, and two 50Ks this year, it's reveals a lack of seriousness on your part to report to me that my top sport is "Walking" in the year in review feature. 

[CreakyCrank]

If anything, my cat actively tries to prevent me from exercising 🙂

• women in the United States are 70% more likely than men to say that lack of a safe space to exercise is a barrier to working out.  Globally, only 9% of women cite this.

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Based on the security statistics - I'd be interested to know why the US has such a high number compared to the global number - what makes the US less safe (or seem less safe)?  What can be done to combat it?