Home exercise participation statistics describe several different things: whether people exercised at home, which activities they did there, and where they performed strength training. The figures below come from three distinct sources—a national Irish sports monitor, a convenience survey in one rural North Carolina county, and a weighted U.S. survey of muscle-strengthening activity. Their populations and questions differ, so they provide useful snapshots rather than a single comparable measure of home exercise worldwide.
Contents
- Home exercise participation statistics: Ireland’s home-location trend
- Home exercise participation statistics: seasonal differences in Ireland
- Home exercise participation statistics: activities in rural North Carolina
- Home exercise participation statistics: why respondents were active at home
- Home exercise participation statistics: U.S. strength training at home
- Home strength-training activities in the U.S. survey
- Sources
Home exercise participation statistics: Ireland’s home-location trend
Ireland’s Irish Sports Monitor reports the share of sports participants who took part in sport at home. Its measure covers involvement in sport and physical activities during the past week; it is not the share of all residents who exercised at home. The annual series shows a pronounced increase in 2021, followed by lower readings in subsequent years.
| Year | Sports participants reporting sport at home |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 11% |
| 2021 | 32% |
| 2022 | 19% |
| 2023 | 16% |
| 2024 | 15% (±0.9 percentage points) |
The 2021 figure is the series high among the years listed. By 2024, the reported share was 17 percentage points lower, though still 4 points above 2019. These comparisons describe reported locations among sports participants; they do not establish why the figures changed or show that individual people moved from one exercise setting to another. The 2024 estimate includes a reported margin of ±0.9 percentage points. Irish Sports Monitor 2024, Table 1
Home exercise participation statistics: seasonal differences in Ireland
The same monitor gives seasonal estimates for 2024. The share of sports participants reporting sport at home ranged from 14% to 17% across the four seasons.
| Season in 2024 | Reporting sport at home |
|---|---|
| Spring (March–May) | 17% |
| Summer (June–August) | 14% |
| Autumn (September–November) | 15% |
| Winter (December–February) | 14% |
Spring was 3 percentage points above both summer and winter, while autumn sat between them. The spread is modest, and the table does not explain the reasons for it. The report defines winter 2024 as January and February 2024 plus December 2024. As with the annual values, these are shares of sports participants, not percentages of the full Irish population. Irish Sports Monitor 2024, Table 5
Home exercise participation statistics: activities in rural North Carolina
A survey of 297 adults in one rural western North Carolina county asked about physical activity during summer 2020. Respondents completed the survey from August 3 to September 15, 2020. It was a convenience sample, so its results should not be treated as representative estimates for the county, North Carolina, or the United States.
Among respondents, 57.8% said they frequently used their homes for physical activity, 39.7% said they sometimes did, and 2.5% said they never did. Among the 208 respondents reporting home activity, common selections included indoor housework (67.8%), yard work or landscaping (60.6%), workouts or exercise (57.2%), playing in the yard (55.8%), gardening (51.9%), and outdoor sports or games (40.4%). Respondents could select more than one activity, so these percentages are not parts of a whole and do not describe exclusive categories. The inclusion of housework and yard work also illustrates that the survey’s home-activity measure was broader than formal workouts alone. Physical Activity Among Adults in Rural Western North Carolina During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Results and Table 2
Home exercise participation statistics: why respondents were active at home
The same group of 208 respondents could select multiple reasons for home physical activity. Maintaining health or fitness was cited by 76.0%, and mental health by 74.5%. Exercise was selected by 66.3%; reducing sitting time by 64.4%; and doing something normal by 60.1%. Taking children outside was cited by 47.6%, while 13.5% cited connecting with others.
These responses indicate that participants associated home activity with several goals, including fitness and mental well-being. Because people could name multiple reasons, the results do not rank one motive against another as mutually exclusive choices. They also reflect a survey conducted during summer 2020 and should be read in that period’s context, rather than as a current measure of motivation. Physical Activity Among Adults in Rural Western North Carolina During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Table 3
Home exercise participation statistics: U.S. strength training at home
A separate U.S. source examined muscle-strengthening participation in the 2009 HealthStyles survey. Among weighted respondents reporting muscle-strengthening activity at least two days per week, 69.0% reported home as a location (95% confidence interval: 64.4%–73.3%). This is a location estimate within a group already meeting that activity-frequency threshold, not the percentage of U.S. adults who strength-trained at home.
The reported home location share varied across frequency groups: 64.0% among those strengthening muscles 2–3 days per week (95% CI: 58.5%–69.1%); 71.9% among those doing so 4–5 days (95% CI: 62.7%–79.6%); and 81.3% among those doing so 6–7 days (95% CI: 65.4%–90.9%). The estimates rise across these groups, but the confidence intervals are wide and overlap. The figures describe associations in this survey, not evidence that exercising at home leads people to strength-train more often. Respondents could report multiple locations. Muscle-Strengthening Activities and Participation Among Adults in the United States, Table 3
Home strength-training activities in the U.S. survey
The HealthStyles study also recorded types of muscle-strengthening activity among respondents who reported doing it at least two days per week. Handheld or free weights were reported by 58.3% (95% CI: 53.7%–62.8%), and calisthenics by 54.6% (95% CI: 50.0%–59.1%). Weight machines were reported by 40.1% (95% CI: 35.5%–44.9%), resistance bands by 24.2% (95% CI: 20.1%–28.7%), and yoga or Tai Chi as a strength activity by 16.1% (95% CI: 12.3%–20.7%).
These are activity-type percentages for the qualifying strength-training group, not home-only equipment shares. Multiple types could be reported. Read alongside the location result, they show that home was a commonly reported setting for regular strength training in this 2009 survey, while the listed methods ranged from weights and machines to calisthenics and bands. The survey’s age and scope matter: it cannot by itself establish present-day U.S. home exercise rates. Muscle-Strengthening Activities and Participation Among Adults in the United States, Table 3