FIT Albania Project

FIT ALBANIA PROJECT

Purpose
The FIT ALBANIA project proposed and developed by members of the Albanian Sport Sciences Association (ASSA) highlights and gives a clear overview of fitness centers in Albania (2016-2018). This report provides data on the hosting capacities of these fitness centers, the types of activities offered, the number of instructors employed, as well as the comparisons by city where these centers are located, etc.

Methodology
The research project was implemented in all major cities of Albania. This study included 120 fitness gyms. To evaluate the feedback on performance appraisal, semi-structured questionnaires and interviews with fitness managers and instructors were designed.

Results
The data show that the smallest number of fitness centers is registered in the town of Rrogozhina and Permet with only one fitness gym. In the city of Tirana, where the highest number of the population is, 61 fitness gyms have been identified. The data show that in Albania, 43.3% of gyms have 1 fitness instructor and only 1 gym employs 5 instructors. Male instructors are the ones dominating the labor market. A total of 69 female instructors and 157 male instructors are employed in 120 registered fitness gyms in Albania (N = 226 instructors). The data show that the average age of instructors is 32 (minimum age 19 years and maximum age 66 years). The results show that 80% of instructors have higher education while 20% of employed instructors have secondary education (middle school). Year 2012 has the highest number of open gyms (N-24) in Albania.
The highest number of exercisers is in the city of Tirana with 30,203 practitioners (in 61 fitness gyms) and with a big difference compared to other cities. Rrogozhina has the smallest number of practitioners with only 20 practitioners. The city of Durres has 3352 practitioners (in 11 gyms) and turns out to be behind Tirana. The second lowest number of practitioners was recorded in the city of Saranda with 140 practitioners. Mixed gyms (male and female attendance) had the highest percentage with 83.6%, followed by males with only 8.6%.

Discussion
This report assesses the fitness gym that has been identified by the project staff (until August 2018). As there is no database with the exact number and address of the gym, it has made it difficult to identify them in total. We are aware that this number of gyms identified in the project do not represent the total number of fitness gyms in Albania. This report will assist future researchers or research institutions for further studies.

Key words; fitness gyms, exercise, cities, employment

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.27293.87521final report assa fshbf 2018 final eng publish version.docx