Women's Health Survey: Running, Walking Most Popular Exercises

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Posted Sep 30, 2015

Today is National Women’s Health and Fitness Day. Health is an important factor for all types of people. But there are some health related conditions or issues that impact women more than others. There are also some fitness trends and activities that tend to be marketed more toward female consumers. So how do women’s health and fitness issues differ from others? And what are their favorite methods for staying fit and healthy?

women's health

Health Importance

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 90% of overall respondents agreed that health is important to them. However, just 65% said they consider themselves to be at least somewhat healthy. Female respondents were just 1% more likely to consider health to be important, and just as likely to consider themselves healthy.

Healthy Habits

There are several different factors that go into creating a healthy lifestyle. Overall, 56% of respondents said they get regular checkups or health screenings. Another 56% said they eat at least a somewhat healthy diet. And 48% of respondents said they exercise regularly. Women were 3% more likely to get regular health checkups, but 1% less likely to say they have healthy eating habits, and just as likely as men to say they get regular exercise.

Fitness Activities

More specifically, 17% of respondents said they exercise at least once a day. 15% do so four to six times per week. 23% exercise two or three times per week. 10% only do about once a week. 23% of respondents said they rarely ever exercise. And 12% never do. Women were less likely than men to exercise every day, but more likely to do so two or three times per week.And when it comes to specific workout styles, the most popular among women were running, walking, swimming, biking and yoga. 70% selected running and walking as their favorite methods for getting exercise, making it the most popular. It was also the most popular among male respondents, with 61% selecting it. But weight training was much more popular among men than women.You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Mile 3, leading ladies from FlickrWhat do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on September 29 via AYTM’s online survey panel.