Business of Group Fitness
A Dynamic HIIT Workout With Sand Bells
More flexible and variable than dumbbells or kettlebells, sand bells are sand-filled disks that can be lifted, slammed, tossed, curled, or flipped like a heavy pancake. The following playful workout mixes high-intensity cardio and strength training with two levels of progression, creating a user-friendly class for any participant.
Sand Bell HIIT Details
FORMAT: strength and cardio conditioning
TOTAL TIME: 55 minutes
Succeed in the Business of Fitness
Learn the strategies to develop a club or studio that inspires, thrives and affords you the personal and professional life you’ve always wanted at the IDEA World Club & Studio Summit.
Heading into its fourth year, this Summit—on how to succeed in the business of fitness—has become its own conference thriving inside IDEA World. There seem to be events popping up all over the country for people who run clubs and studios.
How to Launch a New Product
Have you ever had an idea for a product or service that you wanted to develop, but you didn’t know where to start? Developing a unique idea is only a small piece of the business-creation puzzle. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (2012), about half of small businesses do not survive their first 5 years. This isn’t because there’s a shortage of great ideas and unique products. It’s because some developers become so blinded with excitement that they fail to do the necessary research on their idea’s true viability before they go full speed ahead.
Why You Need a Client Avatar
Remember the days when all you had to do to usher in a rush of new clients was run a Facebook campaign or a Groupon® offer? Those days are long gone. The market is becoming saturated, and fitness facilities are popping up on every corner, each wanting a piece of the pie. Also, consumers are becoming more educated about fitness; they’re more cautious about where they spend their hard-earned exercise dollars—and for good reason!
How to Keep Attendees in Class
If you’ve been teaching group fitness classes for any length of time, you’ve likely experienced the dreaded student walkout. It’s the end of class—and time to stretch—and a portion of the class members start putting away equipment and heading for the door. Participants in certain classes are guiltier than others (cycling instructors, are you nodding in agreement?).
Although your program director knows this happens all the time, frequency does not make it okay.
Build a Better Club or Studio
Whether you’re the owner of a large gym, a small-studio entrepreneur, a mobile personal trainer, or a yoga or Pilates specialist, a basic tenet of keeping your edge sharp with clients is to shake things up frequently enough that they (and you!) don’t get bored. Certainly, that means changing your programming regularly, but it also means looking at your equipment with fresh eyes and considering some new tools for experimentation—all while being judicious about your budget.
The Nutrition–Fitness Hybrid: Bending the Model
What are consumers looking for when they come to your gym or studio? Sure, they want great workouts and access to the latest equipment in a welcoming, fun environment. But above all, they really want to attain their health and fitness goals.
Question of the Month
What is the leading trend in your fitness facility? Are wearables, group fitness and HIIT programs the leading fitness activities among your clients?
Share the top fitness activities in your facility and why you think they are successful.
We want to hear from you! Email executive editor Joy Keller, [email protected].
Wearables Lead 2019 Fitness Trends
Wearable technology—like fitness trackers, smartwatches, heart rate monitors and GPS trackers—are the top fitness trend for 2019, according to the American College of Sports Medicine’s 13th annual survey among industry professionals.
How to Grow Your Group Exercise Team
It’s time to build your group exercise bench. Where do you start? Here are some tips from Shannon Fable, 2013 IDEA Fitness Instructor of the Year and senior vice president of learning and product development for FIT4MOM®. Fable recommends that program directors focus on the following three areas:
The Value of Plain Language
Many web articles and other written resources promoting physical activity are too difficult for the average U.S. adult to understand, per findings by Oregon State University researchers in Corvallis, Oregon.
Finding the Right Credential: Meeting Your Potential
As your clients resolve to shed bad habits and holiday pounds, you probably have a few personal goals of your own this year. Maybe you want to better help clients in the new year or advance your career. Maybe you want to start your own business or increase your earning potential.
Do We Have Gender Equity in Fitness?
Who are the top bosses at the fitness clubs or companies where you spend your time? Is the CEO a woman or a man? Thinking about your own job, are you paid a comparable wage to others whose work is the same as or similar to yours? How would you know for sure?
Sample Class: Sand Bell HIIT
More flexible and variable than dumbbells or kettlebells, sand bells are sand-filled disks that can be lifted, slammed, tossed, curled, or flipped like a heavy pancake. The following playful workout mixes high-intensity cardio and strength training with two levels of progression, creating a user-friendly class for any participant.
Sand Bell HIIT Details
FORMAT: strength and cardio conditioning
TOTAL TIME: 55 minutes
Find success for your personal training business
If you want to know how to become a successful personal trainer and influential leader to your clients, you need to invest in yourself as a professional. How? Seek out resources, people and a personal training business plan that will enhance your career. The good news?
How to Create a Client Base
Who do you most want to work with? Since you can concentrate on so many populations or specialty areas as a trainer, it can be challenging to pinpoint what you really want to do. However, if your focus is not clear before you create your fitness business plan, you won’t know who to reach out to, potential clients won’t understand what you do, and your business may be less successful than you want it to be.
Time for New Equipment?
Evolve Fitness in Halifax, Nova Scotia, took a huge step this past summer, going from 2,400 square feet to 21,000 square feet. That meant a lot of additions, including new equipment. “It was an eye-opener, for sure,” said co-owner Matt Benvie about the process. Benvie’s experience—along with the wisdom of countless other fitness facility and studio owners—reveals some good lessons for any fitness entrepreneur who wants to add new equipment, whether it’s for a big-box gym or a small studio and whether you’re buying in bulk or buying just a few pieces.
5 Top Trends in Older-Adult Fitness
The aging of the global population is single-handedly forcing and inspiring change in many ways—both obvious and subtle. The continued growth of the older population for the next 30+ years will influence the fitness industry in ways that we probably can’t even imagine yet. To help you prepare for this growth, here are some noteworthy aging trends (counting down from least to most important from a business standpoint) that could affect you over the next 5–10 years.
Trend #5: Brain Fitness Comes of Age
Gender Equity in Fitness: Are We There Yet?
Is there an issue with gender equity in fitness, where women represent more than half the frontline workforce? Let’s investigate.
Nutrition Technology Optimization
Can technology improve people’s eating habits? This is the multibillion-dollar question challenging developers. Consumer applications and integrated digital solutions for food tracking, menu planning, grocery shopping, eating out, and nutrition and lifestyle coaching are proliferating. Innovations include scanners that identify nutrients, wearables that gauge real-time calorie intake and breathalyzers that measure metabolism.