Clubs & Studios
Top 10 Traits of Group Exercise MVPs
In many sports the Most Valuable Player, or MVP, award is one of the most coveted. MVPs are chosen for creating big plays or big numbers. It may not be as easy to choose the MVPs among your group exercise instructors. First, there are no winners or losers in group exercise; ideally, we’re all trying to do the same thing.
Inspiring Your Part-Time Staff
One of the most challenging aspects of fitness management is inspiring part-time staff to remain focused and invested. Many part-time fitness jobs are mundane, and even the most motivated staff member can feel unappreciated after folding endless stacks of towels or repeating the facility rules time yet again.
Raising Happy, Healthy Kids
You have probably read a lot about how today’s children are more overweight and obese than kids in past generations. But hearing actual statistics about the United States’ childhood obesity epidemic can be shocking.
Fitness Facilities Get Creative
Fitness industry revenue may be up (see “Fitness Industry Booms”), but that shouldn’t stop facility owners and managers from finding creative ways to draw new business and keep current members inspired. Here are some unique ideas for driving traffic, courtesy of HealthyWages.com:
Success Inside a Health Club
Gayle Winegar, founder and owner of SweatShop Health Club in Saint Paul, Minnesota, sensed Pilates “would be big” in 1994 after her fitness director, Jill Winegar, took classes at Rancho La Puerta.
Saving a Sinking Ship, Part 1: Bringing Your Business Back from the Brink
Owning a personal training business can be very rewarding: you can train clients as you see fit, set your own schedule and be your own boss. But being a business…
The Anatomy of an Effective Outsourcing Plan
When you decided to become an independent exercise entrepreneur, you had a core focus and a vision of how you would help your clients. But overnight you also became the accountant, janitor, customer service department, blog writer, fitness manager and CEO—all rolled into one.
Group Fitness Must-Haves
Thirty years ago there was really just one option in group fitness: high-impact aerobics. Now, as IDEA Health & Fitness Association turns 30, there are many wonderful choices. It’s impossible…
30 Essential Exercise Equipment for Personal Training
What exercise equipment would you include in your dream studio? Here, we present 30 essential pieces of equipment for a fitness studio.
Team Development: Keeping Your Team Positive and Engaged
When your dream team is happy, their attitudes are positive and they are friendly, open and welcoming. The team members get along and they take time to engage with participants and members.
Fresh-Air Fitness
Treadmills, ellipticals, indoor cycling classes—sometimes the same old thing becomes, well, old. To alleviate the boredom that can set in—and that ultimately reduces members’ motivation to exercise—many facility owners and managers are shaking up their programming by taking their clients outdoors.
Make Securing a Lawyer a Priority
While it’s tempting to use lawyers only when problems arise, it’s often wiser to proactively establish a relationship with a lawyer who can assist you with preventive measures. You may call your lawyer only once or twice a year, perhaps to get a legal perspective on an issue, but this is time and money well spent if it helps you avoid costly litigation.
Boost Revenue: The 10-Day Fitness Program
People often talk about how it takes 21 days to start a habit. But did you know that it takes just 10 days to drive new revenue and raving fans…
The Anatomy of a Successful Client Testimonial
Customer testimonials can be fantastic tools for driving new business to your door. But boring, photo-free client comments buried deep inside your website are unlikely to do the trick. To quickly capture the imagination (and training dollars) of the masses, it is critical to breathe life into client success stories.
So what makes some testimonials tedious and others terrific? Follow these four steps to avoid the mistakes of time-wasting customer snooze stories. Bring your facility’s testimonials back from the brink—and attract new-member dollars to your door.
How to Host a Profitable Educational Workshop
Hosting an educational workshop is an excellent way to raise your profile as an expert in a health and fitness specialty while providing a great additional revenue stream for your business. The teaching experience can also help you refine your theoretical and practical skills while providing attendees with valuable knowledge and information.
The “Secret Shopper” Advantage
As a fitness entrepreneur, you work hard to provide your customers with great workout experiences. But do your staff members effectively deliver on your goals? Or is there a gap between your expectations and the service your clients receive?
To find out, you might want to arrange a “secret shopping” evaluation of your fitness business. Discover the pros and cons of secretly shopping your company by hiring a professional evaluator—or by doing it yourself. It’s a unique way to determine what your customers really think.
Recommit to Superior Schedules
The group exercise schedule is one of the most overlooked, undervalued tools at a fitness facility. Too often, it’s viewed as a simple grocery list of classes for members—and is not recognized as a powerful way to drive sales.
Team Development: Refining Your Dream Team
Your team is on a winning streak. Then your alarm clock goes off and reality hits you. Your team might not be so dreamy after all.
But your dreams can become reality if you find ways to draft the right people onto your team and then retain them.
How to Train Company “Athletes”
Have you checked your staff’s morale lately? Fitness facility personnel use a tremendous amount of energy every day to connect with clients, teach the right skills, demonstrate movement patterns and align their values with their services
Give Your Facility a Mind-Body Makeover
Your club has cardiovascular equipment, free weights, fitness classes, experienced personal trainers: everything anyone could desire for achieving an optimal physique. That’s great! However, it is now time to go beyond just yoga and Pilates.