Clubs & Studios
Staying Safe and Legally Sound as a Fitness Professional
As a fitness professional—whether you’re a personal trainer, studio owner, or online coach – you’re not just shaping bodies; you’re managing legal responsibility. One minor accident or paperwork oversight can…
Empowering Your Studio with AI to be Smart, Safe and Strategic
As a fitness club or studio owner, AI (artificial intelligence) isn’t just a buzzword – it’s a powerful partner that can help elevate the member experience, optimize operations, and drive…
Fitness Floor Staff Salary and Compensation Guide
Fitness Floor Staff positions are typically entry level, and responsibilities include monitoring equipment, supplies and people in the facility.
Among the facilities represented in the 2010 IDEA Fitness Industry Compensation Trends Report, 28% employ fitness floor staff. Most are employees (97%) who are paid by the hour (98%). They average 19.5 work hours per week, earning an average of $11.75 per hour. From 2006 to 2008, their hourly rate increased by just $0.25; from 2008 to 2010, there was a more significant increase of $1.50 per hour.
Fitness Director Salary and Compensation Guide
Fitness and program directors hold one of the most influential leadership positions in the health and wellness industry. These professionals are responsible not only for overseeing programming, budgets, and staffing…
Fitness Management Career Paths in 2025
For many fitness professionals, the natural career progression eventually leads beyond the training floor or group exercise studio and into leadership roles. While coaching clients and leading classes provide valuable…
How to Become a Life Coach in 2025
If you’re like a lot of successful personal trainers, you know from years of working with clients that even the best fitness evaluations and strength, cardio and weight management programs aren’t always enough. The problem–life gets in the way. From my own experience as a personal trainer, regardless of how great my programming was, it had zero value if my clients had adherence issues. Many of the hundreds I’ve helped over the years followed a plan for a while and then went back to their old self-sabotaging ways.
Invest in Yourself: A Roadmap to Professional Growth for Fitness Pros
As fitness professionals, we’re experts at helping others invest in themselves. We create growth plans, set milestones, and celebrate our clients’ achievements. But do you have an intentional growth strategy…
The Female Gym Experience
Women who train in gyms expressed both positive and negative emotions, from feeling “always on display” to “sometimes empowered”, in a survey study that explored women’s body image and gym…
Mentorship in Action: Introducing IDEA’s Fitness Mentor Network
The fitness industry is ever-evolving, presenting new challenges and opportunities for growth. Professionals in this field must stay ahead by continuously learning and adapting to changes in training techniques, coaching…
Fitness Business Challenge and Triumph
Photo credit: Deb Fuller Bettencourt How did the pandemic affect your fitness business? What did you do to rise above and continue to reach and teach your clients? If…
Transform Your Fitness Facility
The traditional fitness facility has typically been viewed as a place to work out and play sports in order to change one’s physical appearance. However, this has shifted. Wellness—which includes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness—has become the buzzword of the decade, and today’s fitness facilities have begun offering a myriad of services, hoping that people will view these locations as the local wellness center. To cover the full wellness spectrum, however, you need to combine forces with other health modalities.
With Gyms Open, Are Clients Ready?
With many gyms open again—some after long closures—IDEA put three questions to five fitness pros from around the country: Are you now operating at full capacity? How are clients adapting as…
New Council Offers Louder Voice for California Fitness Professionals
“Health is essential.” This was one of many key remarks made during a press conference to announce the re-opening of California fitness facilities.
Return to Work: Prepare Your Staff
Are you ready to return to work? Don’t reopen without carefully considering the needs of your staff. They are your customers too!
Connecting With Clients Outside the Club Walls
During challenging times, supporting client fitness, health, and wellness is vital. As a personal trainer, it’s increasingly more important to ensure that your clients are empowered to stay strong, motivated to continue training remotely, and have the tools needed to stay connected to you. As the innovator and leader in sports and fitness technology, Polar has several solutions to help personal trainers connect to clients beyond the club walls.
Three Ways to Keep Your Clients
You know the work it takes to get a new customer in the door. You’re spending money on marketing, time making sure your website listings are right, and energy on promotions and intro offers to get the word out. It’s not easy. But remember—it costs less to keep an existing client than it does to acquire a new one. Getting them to return again and again will help you keep your lights on and your business bustling! With that in mind, let’s look at three actions you can take to retain your clients.
Virtual Group Fitness Classes
Exercising in front of a television, computer screen or mobile device is nothing new. Since the advent of VHS tapes, fitness programs have offered users an opportunity to get their sweat on whenever they choose in the comfort of their home. Over the past several years, however, fitness facilities have leveraged new technology to offer virtual classes on-site in hopes of luring exercisers out of their living rooms and into the group exercise room.
How to Make First-Time Gym Clients Feel Welcome
Your gym should be a welcoming space.
First-timers should feel comfortable—and wanted—walking in and working out or taking classes.
Not only is being welcoming an important part of the human contract, but it’s doubly important for your business. First-time customers, of course, can become repeat customers and even members. Making sure their first experience at your gym or studio is positive is important for your bottom line.
How to Prepare for Shopping’s “Busy Season”
As the holidays approach, so does the three-day Super Bowl of Shopping.
Black Friday (Nov. 29), Small Business Saturday (Nov. 30), and Cyber Monday (Dec. 2) are all circled on any good bargain-hunter’s calendar.
Enticing them can mean a chance to bolster your retail sales. AND, if you present the right deal, you can earn a customer who will return again and again.
Get Out of the Red!
Is your fitness business not performing as well as you’d like? Maybe your fitness facility is experiencing too much turnover, so you’re constantly training new staff instead of taking time to grow your business. Or perhaps your clients are leaving, and you’re losing money because of it. Challenges like these are tough for a business owner. The good news is that you can turn things around. The first step is to determine exactly what your problem is. The second step is to create a plan for change.