Gyms are opening at a rapid rate with successful take-up, and nowhere is this more evident than Virgin Active's newest outlet in Soweto.Virgin Active Red Jabulani, with no pool, no meet-and-greet staff or kids' facilities, is a slimmer version of a full-service Virgin Active gym.But the energy is upbeat. Patrons listen to hip-hop and kwaito while working out. At certain times of the day, a resident DJ is in the house. Video screens are available that describe how to operate the machinery.The no-frills approach means membership fees - at R199 a month - are lower than for full-service outlets.By comparison, Virgin Active's three high-end "Classic" gyms, in Johannesburg and Durban, charge up to R2,700 a month. To join Old Eds in Houghton, for instance, a membership without a gym subsidy is R760 a month, or R545 a month if you train in off-peak times.The Economist magazine noted that the Jabulani gym had become the most successful of the chain's clubs to be launched in South Africa, "drawing Sowetans for squats, lunges and lifts to DJ beats".Ross Faragher-Thomas, MD of Virgin Active South Africa, said: "It's not about whether it's a township market. We believe there is pent-up demand and it's not being serviced."He said more people were appreciating the value of keeping fit and customers were now more aware of health issues.Other factors boosting gym membership included the expansion of urban areas like the East Rand and West Rand, and the "densification" of areas like Sandton and Rosebank in Johannesburg and the CBD of Cape Town. Medical schemes continued to offer incentives, such as subsidised gym membership, for their members "to make healthier choices", Faragher-Thomas said.While the big two, Virgin Active and Planet Fitness, are expanding, smaller operations including Pilates and yoga studios and chains such as GO Health Clubs are also springing up.So is this all too much for the market? Far from it, it appears.Faragher-Thomas said health club membership was much lower in South Africa than in many other markets. In parts of the US and Europe, up to one in five of the population uses gyms. "South Africa has less than 8% of the population penetration."Virgin Active has seven Red clubs, and will open another 10 of these a year over the next five years. Up to 10 larger full-service clubs will also be opened over the same period.Faragher-Thomas said the "Red" concept was about "getting the right product into the right catchment area; it's about affordability and the type of offering. These are busy commuters; they are younger, trendy, tech-savvy. We've designed the club and product around that." The more mature operations in South Africa and Europe are doing very well, while the prospects for Australia and Asia are exciting At Jabulani Red this week, Katlego Pule, 25, who is studying for a BCom at the University of Johannesburg, said he had been a member of the gym since last year and worked out five times a week. "Health is important ... and you get to make friends with people who do the same thing as you."Another patron, who declined to give her name, started working out at the gym a week ago, and has been there five times since signing up, because she wants to lose weight.She has never joined a gym before and none of her family or friends go to gym. "I was 55kg and now I'm 61kg. I want to lose 10kg."Manager Thato Moyo said most members were between 16 and 40, although one was 86. "He's fitter than most average gymgoers."The Economist, citing figures from the Medical Research Council, said South Africa was the plumpest country in Africa, with 61% of the population obese or overweight.Virgin Active opened its first club in Gaborone in December. It has been in Namibia since 2001 and last year opened a second club in Windhoek. A club opens in Kenya early next year.Faragher-Thomas said full-service clubs, which form the major slice of the group's offering, had also become leisure destinations where families could spend time together in a "cost-effective" way.Brait owns 80% of Virgin Active after it bought the business for R12-billion from UK entrepreneur Richard Branson and CVC Capital Partners last year.The gym in Jabulani had "all the requirements needed from a product-offering point of view and has good energy", said Brait executive director John Gnodde."We're accessing a section of the marketplace that wasn't there before. The more mature operations in South Africa and Europe are doing very well, while the prospects for Australia and Asia are exciting." Ultimately it's about offering the right product at the right price."Planet Fitness has 23 fitness clubs, one Platinum club in Sandton and nine JustGyms, its brand for lower-income consumers.Another eight JustGym clubs will be opening in the next 12 months and the group is gearing up to open at least 10 new clubs a year for the next five years.Planet Fitness plans to launch in the rest of Africa within the next 18 months to two years...