Skip to content

Programs & Equipment Survey

category Article Categories

Programming

Meeting the Challenge: Variety, Activity for All

A major component of the fitness professional’s job is to inspire people to become more active and to continue a program of activity throughout their lives. As obesity and hyperkinetic disease rates continue to climb, we are constantly challenged as an industry to promote and motivate healthy living.
The 12th IDEA Fitness Programs & Equipment Survey shows that the fit…

Lifestyle Coaching

One-third (34%) of those who responded
to the 2006 IDEA Fitness Programs & Equipment Survey offer lifestyle coaching, and of those, 48% are personal fitness
trainers. This is reasonable considering how trainers are well positioned to understand their clients’ lifestyle issues. Twenty-five
percent of trainers and 21% of health club managers feel lifestyle coaching will grow.
…

Special Programs for Special People

The people who seek the services of fitness businesses approach with a variety of goals and physical capabilities. A person can fulfill multiple “types” by being, for example, an amateur athlete, apparently healthy, with a chronic injury. A person with physical disabilitie…

Estimated Average Age of Clients

Interest in attending planned exercise programs appears to rise and fall depending on age. The chart below shows the average age of members and clients, according to IDEA business and program director members responding to the IDEA Fitness Programs & Equipment Survey.
…

Trendsetting

Public-health officials and the press talk about good health and weight loss, but dedicated fitness professionals are doing the work of inspiring people to exercise. Using creative ideas, good science and great personal rapport, the fitness community is purposefully working behind the headlines to change lives.

IDEA Stats: How Do You Set Your Fees?

Fee-for-service models are preferred by 57% of IDEA members who responded to the 2003 IDEA Fitness Programs & Equipment Survey. Even those who use a membership dues model are charging for some programs.
These were the options offered on the questionnaire:
annual membership dues access all programs offered

annual membership dues plus separate fee for some classes or programs

pay for individual session/class or “package” of sessions or classes

Fitness Trends Report

The IDEA mission to Inspire the World to FitnessTM begins with each of you. Your expertise in integrating equipment and fitness activities is the key to attracting and retaining exercisers.
The more people are attracted to—and retained by—your programs and facilities, the more people will exercise. Their participation helps build your business, which enables you to provide more programs and equipment. That is a circle of fitness worth completing for everyone.

8th Annual 2003 IDEA Fitness Programs & Equipment Survey

idea fitness managerCustomer Profile

Percentages in this section are likely the respondents’ estimates or observations. Respondents may not have had reference data.

The estimated percentages do not equal 100% because of rounding.

Fitness Programming Equipment Trends

Strategically developing your fitness business is like planning a garden. A gardener has many elements to consider—location, climate, space—and the elements can go together different ways. There are as many “right” ways to put together fitness programs and equipment as there are garden styles. And like a gardener, you have the opportunity to change things around every year.

Key Trends in Programs and Equipment

Managers and staff in the fitness industry are very resourceful. The quality and quantity of activities they produce show a flair for innovating an apparently unending blend of exercise formats and equipment. This capability is captured in the results of the 2001 IDEA Fitness Programs and Equipment Survey. IDEA members reported on their clients, programs, equipment and work environments, and painted a landscape of tried-and-true activities integrated with new options.

6th Annual IDEA Fitness Programs and Equipment Report

Everyone wants to know them and to benefit from them. Fitness consumers demand them—except
for those who try to avoid them.
What are the newest fitness trends?, we ask.
A trend, according to Webster, is a “line
of general direction and movement” or a “current style or preference.” Being trendy
is being fashionable. And in fitness, there can be a lot of fashion!

What Do Facilities Pay?

Every facility follows a business model, which impacts all costs,
including salary levels. When looking at these figures, keep in mind how costs are associated with revenue. For example, it is simpler to
associate the cost of a personal trainer with the revenue of a session fee than it is to associate the cost of a fitness instructor with the revenue of a membership fee, which allows access to an entire facility. These cost-revenue associations may impact compensation.

What Do Facilities Offer?

With so many fitness activities available, how do you determine which ones are a good fit for your business? Asking current customers is your first step to answering that question. Surveys, informal conversations and tracking participation are good ways to find out what clients are interested in. The second step is to see what other facilities are offering, both locally and nationally, and predict if your customers will like the same programs their customers do.