Best Practices
Underutilized Business Strategies, Part Two
As a fitness entrepreneur, you have many tools at your disposal to help grow and run your business. Some are designed to address specific areas—marketing, sales or operations, for example—while others help you build the structure and outline the framework that will bring all of those individual parts together.
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:
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.
Fewer Repetitions Means Better Results?
Short-duration workouts have become popular over the past several years as the time-crunched seek out effective ways to exercise. Recent research adds more support for the benefits of fast workouts and indicates that less may even be more, provided you have appropriate equipment.
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.
Community-Based Classes Boost Activity Levels
One of the biggest challenges facing the fitness industry is how to encourage more people to get moving. A government-sponsored activity program from Brazil may offer helpful insights.
Dubbed Academia das Cidades—or City Academies—the program offers residents free access to fitness facilities, exercise classes and fitness professionals. The participants also receive dietary guidance. Since its inception in 2002, City Academies has expanded to thousands of cities nationwide.
Do You Need a Better Technology Policy?
If you've spent any time at all inside a gym, you've likely experienced this scenario: You're humming along on your treadmill when Joe Talksalot hops onto the machine next to you and proceeds to speak loudly into his smartphone. To distract yourself from Talksalot's not–so–private conversation, you scan the gym floor—and over in the corner you see a woman doing backbends while contorting her neck to maintain a visual on her tablet.
The Group Fitness Trifecta
Measure your progress with a three-pronged approach to metrics.
Creative Ideas that Inspire
Barrelesque at Rock in Opposition, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is a mash–up of various dance styles, Pilates and yoga. It includes barre techniques, but it also spices things up with burlesque–style dance movements. Open to all levels, this class provides a dynamic workout in a playful environment.
Games at My House Fitness® in Winter Springs, Florida, is a school recess–inspired experience for adults.
New Versus Tried-and-True
Group fitness programmers face the same dilemma every new season: how to balance tried-and-true popular class formats with burgeoning trends to keep things fresh and dynamic. One goal is to retain current members as satisfied, repeat customers; the other goal is to attract new participants and build excitement. Both objectives are relevant to generating and sustaining business, and both demand equal attention. But other factors also come into play, such as available instructor talent; training/certification requirements; and potential investment in new equipment and license fees.
Are You Creating a Supportive Customer Experience?
Whether you run a large personal training facility or a one-person business, treating your customers well should be at the heart of everything you do.
To Motivate or Terminate?
Your employees directly affect the success of your business. They work with your clients, sell your products and engage in frontline, day-to-day operations. Some employees are a pleasure to manage, and others—well, not so much. Working with an exemplary employee who is productive, independent, motivated and delightful is every manager’s dream. On the flip side, some employees are just bad hires and the decision to let them go is straightforward. Unfortunately, staff management isn’t that black and white.
Thinking of Opening a Studio?
Many fitness professionals dream of designing a studio that reflects their unique perspective and approach to health and fitness—a place where they can grow their business, their brand and their client base (and, of course, their paycheck!) on their own terms.
There’s a huge appeal to running your own space, especially if you’ve been working long enough to imagine how you might design a space specifically suited to your clients’ needs and your vision.
The Best Interview Questions You’re Not Asking
The search for top talent can be difficult and is often made no easier during the interview process. How do you choose questions that will elicit the information you need to select the right person for the job?
GROOMing Habits, Part Two
If you’ve ever struggled to fill open classes or you’ve ever wanted more qualified fitness pros on your staff, it’s time to get proactive and ensure that you have the team of your dreams. GROOMing Habits is designed to arm you with the tools to make it happen. In the first installment, we covered Groundwork and Recruitment. Now let’s explore the final components: Options, Opportunity, and Manage & Meet Expectations.
Top Five Technology Roadblocks for Personal Training Staff
Gone are the days when all that your personal training department needed in order to stay ahead of the curve was a gym full of the latest fitness equipment and a team armed with clipboards, stopwatches and maybe a heart rate monitor or two. Now there’s a barrage of fitness technology, such as wearable activity trackers and mobile apps. Many fitness managers are contemplating if, when and how to formally integrate these new tech tools into personal training services.
Lessons From the Trenches, Part Two: The Challenge of Leadership
Great leaders don’t just point the way; they also give clear directions. However, it’s not always a simple task to inspire and motivate even the most willing of followers. Once you’ve thrown your hat into the leadership ring, you’ll be faced with new challenges. In part two of this series, we’ll expand on finding the leader within, and we’ll explore the best ways to handle challenging situations.
Friendly Competition: We Can All Get Along
When Jack and Jenna Oliver opened Above the Bar, a CrossFit® facility in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, 2 years ago, they knew it wouldn’t be an overnight success. However, they didn’t expect the competition to be so fierce. First, they had to deal with a Planet Fitness grand opening (with $10 monthly memberships); then, another CrossFit facility set up shop just a few miles away. Despite the competition, their box was so successful that they moved to a larger location—only to find out that a 24 Hour Fitness® was opening up less than a mile away!
Seven Reasons People Join a Fitness Facility, Part One
The daily responsibilities of owning and managing a fitness facility can be overwhelming. Along with all the usual details, like class scheduling and staff management, a primary concern is the danger of reduced revenue due to member turnover.