Clubs & Studios
9 Simple Ways to Keep Your Clients
The success of your business relies solely on your ability to attract and keep clients. Use these tips to enhance the client-trainer relationship so that you can focus more on providing quality service to your current clients and less on finding new ones.
How to Compete Against Discount Clubs
You’ve worked long and hard to get your fitness facility off the ground, and while you’re doing okay in your community, you’ve noticed some of your membership base trickling away. Upon further investigation, you realize that while you’ve had your nose to the grindstone, managing your facility and planning for growth, a discount club has opened up not far from you. Not only that, but a handful of specialty boutique studios have carved out some market share. Where do you fit in, and what can you do to keep your place?
7 Keys to Creating an Unforgettable Onboarding Experience
Do you want to strategically and consistently educate and motivate your new clients so they feel like they’re getting incredible results—and so you’re getting a steady flow of referrals and earning positive social proof? Are you ready to not just deliver but over-deliver? If your answer is yes, then one of your most important next moves is to create a step-by-step onboarding process.
Learn, Connect and Thrive at the IDEA® World Convention
Education is the foundation of the IDEA World Convention, but this fitness event offers plenty more than stellar instruction. For Jonathan Bernath, publicist-turned-personal-trainer, it’s where he discovered the “fitness family” that would guide him in his new career.
How to Find Your Epic
The fitness industry is a rewarding and inspiring place to be. However, it’s not without its challenges, and getting ahead with passion alone can be difficult. The most successful fit pros know that to build an epic life and career, they must invest in education and learn from those who’ve been there and done it.
Fitness Facility Membership by the Numbers
In 2016 America, traditional commercial health clubs—multipurpose, fitness-only and corporate facilities—served 32.2 million members, a 3% decline from 2015, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. Studios served another 18.2 million, a 15% improvement.
Nonprofit facility membership rose 6.9% from 2015 to more than 24 million. Collectively,
studio facilities claimed 40.7% of total membership.
Most Popular Club Activities
The three types of workout equipment used most often in health clubs in 2016 were treadmills, resistance machines and free weights, according to the IHRSA 2017 Health Club Consumer Report. Among group exercise and training programs, yoga topped the list, with 36% of members reporting participation. Stretching (24%) and calisthenics (23%) ranked second and third.
Do Rewards Encourage Gym Visits?
Researchers from Case Western University in Cleveland wanted to determine if providing gifts to new gym members would incite them to visit the gym on a regular basis. The scientists specifically chose new members, theorizing that this group’s motivation to go to the gym was high.
IHRSA Global Report Shows Worldwide Growth
The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association has released its annual global report, and it shows great promise for the fitness industry. According to The 2017 IHRSA Global Report: The State of the Health Club Industry, global health club revenue reached $83.1 billion in 2016. The report also showed that 162.1 million members visited 201,000 facilities last year.
Get in the Game!
Fitness facilities compete to offer cutting-edge movement trends, but what about cutting-edge technology? The fitness world is becoming ever more virtual, and incoming clients are looking for more than a fun indoor cycling class or a cool cardio machine; they want to play a game!
Sample Class: Kids’ Beach Boot Camp
Kids don't usually line up to do squats and lunges, but they'll happily walk like a crab or run faster than a wave! Trick your littlest clients (aged 3—12) into getting a great workout with this quick–moving format packed with cleverly themed exercises.
Kids' Beach Boot Camp Details Goal: to engage kids and keep them moving while they have fun and feel successful Total time: 55—60 minutes Equipment needed:
What’s Your Exit Strategy?
Have you heard the saying "Begin with the ending in mind"? Over the years, this axiom has probably helped you solve complex math problems, create a science–fair project, or even write a research paper. But you may have forgotten this sage advice when it comes to planning something with even higher stakes: your career.
Learning, Growing and Thriving for 35 Years
For nearly a decade, Robyn Krueger, MS, owner of Core Synergy Fitness in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, has traveled to the IDEA World Convention in pursuit of personal and professional advancement.
What’s Hot in Equipment: Fitness Pro Favorites
Fitness professionals like their equipment—from "tried-and-true" to "oh, so new." And equipment companies like to fill convention halls with fresh gear to help trainers and clients hit their goals. Of course, fitness pros also enjoy new gadgets for the pure thrill of them—and will sometimes go for equipment that targets a fun goal over a hypertrophy goal, for example.
Creative Ideas That Inspire
H.I.I.P. Hype (High-Intensity Interval Painting) in New York challenges body, mind and creativity. Ninety–minute sessions begin with a warm-up followed by short intervals of high-intensity body-weight exercises interspersed with periods of painting. The energy participants generate while exercising helps them express themselves more freely when they paint, according to organizers. The last 15 minutes of class are reserved for a cool-down, as well as painting presentations. Mats and art materials are provided.
“How did you finance your personal training business or studio when you started it?”
The journey I took to open my own facility was long and happened in small steps. I was working in a big gym in Washington, D.C., when I decided it was time to step out on my own. My landlord was also a client, and when I told her what my intentions were, she suggested moving out of my studio and into a one-bedroom apartment in the same building. I turned the living room into the workout space and used the bedroom as my living space. I financed the move through what little savings I had, $2,000, plus a $1,500 loan from my parents.
Gym Memberships Pay Off
Many people who want to join gyms are skeptical that it will actually help them reach their fitness goals. A new study from Iowa State University may assuage those doubts—and help gyms to convert more browsers into buyers. According to the research, published in PLOS ONE (2017; http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/jour
nal.pone.0170471), gym members tend to have significantly higher levels of strength and cardiorespiratory fitness and are generally more active than nonmembers.
Sustainability Important For Gym-Goers, Says Survey
When it comes to exercise, people might give greater effort if there’s more at stake than calories or improved performance. A recent survey suggests that gym-goers might be motivated to work harder if their energy is converted to power for the gym.
Least Active Cities in the U.S.
Each year, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association conducts national online interviews to determine activity participation, activities of choice, and other sport- and fitness-related statistics throughout the U.S. One data point involves activity levels by city. After compiling and analyzing responses from 32,658 interviews for the 2016 Tracking the Fitness Movement report, SFIA determined which parts of the country could need extra motivation to move in 2017. Here is SFIA’s list of the 10 least active cities/metropolitan areas:
Creative Ideas That Inspire
At several City Surf Fitness locations in Texas and Louisiana,
City Surf
offers participants the benefits of surfing—even though there aren’t any waves nearby. According to the website, the class is taught on SURFSET® RipSurfer X boards and features “fun surf-inspired movements, utilizing surfer-specific muscle groups.” Classes are open to every fitness level, and instructors provide modifications for more or less intensity.