Renowned US-based health and fitness expert Thomas Plummer has issued a warning to the UK fitness industry with regards to the advent of low-cost memberships.

Addressing delegates at Leisure Industry Week 2011, Plummer drew on his extensive experience of the US market to reveal that budget models were a "micro-trend".

Plummer told delegates: "[The US] is in the middle of a micro-trend and it's going to spill over here. You will get around three or four years of disruption and then it will fail. It's failing in the US.

"There is only so many members in a marketplace. Some of you over here are thinking I'll just halve my price, I'll be a budget club. Some of you are already doing that. It'll work for a couple of years."

Plummer stressed the need for operators to move away from a membership-driven model to a results-driven one in a bid to cope with increased competition that "is coming".

Meanwhile, some of the other trends Plummer believes will define the sector going forward is a move towards smaller facilities and the advent of functional training "as a tool".