{"id":148496,"date":"2025-10-27T22:11:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T22:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/148496\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T22:11:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T22:11:16","slug":"gen-z-is-hitting-the-gym-to-take-back-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/148496\/","title":{"rendered":"Gen Z is hitting the gym to take back control"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 44th Dublin Marathon this Sunday will see 22,500 runners take to the streets. Until now, most spots went to repeat entrants through a priority system, but organisers have announced that the early-entry scheme will be scrapped in a bid to bring in more women and first-time runners.<\/p>\n

The change is reflective of a wider trend. Running has never been more popular or more competitive, with a growing amount of young people desperate to secure places at the starting line.<\/p>\n

Not too long ago, marathons, at least in my mind, felt like the territory of borderline Olympians. These days, it seems the couch-to-42k pipeline has become a rite of passage for many 20-somethings.<\/p>\n

Practically overnight, everyone around me has developed strong opinions on brands of gels, carbon-plated shoes and run belts. And it\u2019s not just my circle; people everywhere seem to be catching the running bug.<\/p>\n

Recently, Harry Styles shocked fans by not only running the Berlin Marathon but finishing with a highly coveted sub-three-hour time.<\/p>\n

Sweeping change<\/p>\n

Marathons, though, are only one expression of a much broader shift sweeping through my peer group.<\/p>\n

Young people are turning to regular exercise and clean eating in droves, creating an uptick in gym memberships, run club sign-ups and personal development programmes in a way never seen in previous generations.<\/p>\n

According to recent reports, Gen Z \u2014 those born between 1997 and 2012 \u2014 are the key demographic driving the boom. Around 30% already hold gym memberships or use fitness facilities regularly, with another 25% planning to join.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Gen Z are drinking far less than their predecessors, consuming roughly one-third less beer and wine than previous generations and embracing alcohol-free alternatives at significantly higher rates.<\/p>\n

This visible commitment to health and fitness has drawn plenty of media attention, with headlines quick to brand Gen Z as the \u201cboring generation\u201d. Countless articles have been published pointing out how young people are seemingly swapping out pints for protein shakes, and late nights out for quiet evenings in.<\/p>\n

As a fellow Gen Z-er, I can see how the label has stuck. From the outside, our choices around how we spend our time and money can look, admittedly, a little dull.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople everywhere seem to be catching the running bug. File photo<\/p>\n

We go to therapy. We read self-help books. We meal-prep, count macros, and doom scroll for hours. We\u2019ve steered away from drugs and binge drinking, we\u2019re having less sex, and house parties feel like relics of another era.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve noticed this shift play out in my own life. Friends are harder to pin down on a Friday night as someone always seems to be training for yet another half-marathon or slipping away early to make their 6am spin class.<\/p>\n

At social gatherings, I have found myself on more than one occasion nodding along while someone waxes lyrical about protein intake, a topic that has somehow crept into the realm of polite small talk, right alongside the weather and weekend plans.<\/p>\n

Taking control<\/p>\n

For a while, I treated my refusal to join the gym or buy into the ever-growing fitness fad as a kind of badge of honour. But now, as I slowly lose more friends to the relentless cycle of training schedules and recovery days, I feel as if the whole thing has gotten out of hand.<\/p>\n

Gen Z\u2019s embrace of fitness may seem like a positive, especially as modern life forces us to be increasingly sedentary.<\/p>\n

But this move away from \u201cfun\u201d and excess isn\u2019t just about prioritising wellness over hedonism; it\u2019s a symptom of what it means to be a young person in these uncertain times.<\/p>\n

As my peers and I enter adulthood, it is clear that the world we are entering isn\u2019t a particularly hospitable one. Between an unstable job market, skyrocketing asset prices and an ever-worsening cost-of-living crisis, the path to success has never felt so intangible.<\/p>\n

The old model of \u201cdo well at school, get into a good university, secure a stable job, buy a house, start a family\u201d no longer seems to apply, leaving a feeling of disillusionment about traditional milestones.<\/p>\n

\"EmilieEmilie Murray: ‘Gen Z\u2019s embrace of fitness may seem like a positive, but it\u2019s a symptom of what it means to be a young person in these uncertain times.’<\/p>\n

The gym, on the other hand, provides a clear path to setting and achieving goals, and for many young people it delivers a badly needed sense of agency.<\/p>\n

In the absence of reliable career ladders or affordable housing, maybe my generation has turned to something where progress is measurable. A heavier deadlift, a faster mile, a new personal best, are all tangible proof that discipline still pays off.<\/p>\n

And since the fitness trend doesn\u2019t seem to be going anywhere and my Friday nights clearly aren\u2019t changing anytime soon, I suppose it\u2019s time to bite the bullet and dust off my trainers\u2026 or, more accurately, finally buy some.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 44th Dublin Marathon this Sunday will see 22,500 runners take to the streets. Until now, most spots…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[18,525,135,1625,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-148496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-fitness","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-fitness","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115448426640818764","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}