Welcome back to our gym owner business profile. In each profile, we interview successful gym owners to learn what it takes to start, run, and own a health club. Everyone tells a new and interesting story. We hope you find their experiences as inspiring as we have! 300 Fitness Gym and Bar The idea of 300 Fitness Gym and Bar began like many other health clubs: Two guys who enjoyed exercising together saw an opportunity and jumped on it. In the small city of Pontotoc, Mississippi, there were plenty of other gyms. Four, in fact, serving a population of no [...]
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What motivates us to exercise regularly? Has your gym figured out the right hook to lure new members? Well, the answer to what truly inspires us to sweat it out might surprise you. Continue reading to discover how incorporating themes of mental health and wellness into your advertising campaign may boost membership sales. Reason #1: Exercise kicks the blues to the curb. As most long-term fitness buffs know, a little exercise goes a long way to reducing feelings of sadness. But for many individuals, exercise is worse than feeling bad. It’s doing something they’re bad at, while feeling lousy. Who [...]
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Growth This summer, drive gym membership for college students by offering them a great deal on your awesome club. Last year, we wrote a blog urging gym owners to reach out to cooped-up college students tired of learning online and alone. Your gym would become their oasis – a place to meet friends, expend some energy, and prepare for a new year on campus. A refuge from a rough, COVID-crazy year. This year, the kids are back home for the summer and ready to hit an exercise class or two. Let’s look at some reasons it’s the perfect time to target this [...]
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Powerlifter at Celli's Fitness Center is ready for next move Ryan Celli founded Celli’s Fitness Center in 2007 catering to strength athletes and power lifters. Since then, his privately owned gym has relocated, expanded, and added automated membership sign-up. Like many small gyms, he relies on technology to keep costs down. As he grew, he added cameras, a door controller, programable music, and a self-serve drink station along with a better gym management system. The investments allowed him to scale back hours and employ a staff of only his wife and son. However, he soon found well-placed technology returned more than [...]
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Should your gym add an enhancement fee to offset the increased cost of cleaning materials and procedures? We asked two fitness center owners their opinions. Here’s what we learned. Photos courtesy of Fit247 Does not charge an annual maintenance fee: Don Roberts, owner of Fit247, Durango, Colorado Roberts has owned his gym for 20 years and decided against charging his customers a maintenance fee. The 7,000-square-foot, 24-hour facility is in a small city with a close-knit group of customers, and he prides himself on running a very clean, organized gym. Nearly 20% of his 600 members have been with him almost [...]
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With all this coronavirus negativity lurking, just how likely is it an irate member will unleash online over a small incident at your club? Right. So you need to be ready for negative social media. How can you do that? First, put a good plan in place before a problem arises. Create a clear social media policy for your employees. In the simplest terms, a social media policy is a guideline for how everyone should conduct themselves online. Here’s a good template and guide. Establish a gym photography policy. Many larger national gyms have a “no photo” and “no video” policy. And while there’s no keeping phones out of [...]
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This fall, Planet Fitness made news when four locations in California owned by the same franchisee reopened under the designation of an “essential” business. Their tactic? Pay for a membership in the Medical Fitness Association and follow its phased reopening guidelines, while directly contacting local health officials for permission to open. The gyms petitioned their Public Health Services department citing adherence to reopening guidelines published by MFA and vetted through the CDC. The MFA guidelines, in some cases,are stricter than the CDC’s published work: expanding social distancing recommendations based on a population’s health risk and the type of exercise. The effort worked for Planet Fitness and, since then, more than 500 gyms have sought membership [...]
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There are plenty of good reasons to coax your health club members outside - autumn weather is perfect, they can benefit from the shot of vitamin D, and their participation supports their favorite gym as it regains footing after the COVID-19 shutdown. Regardless of the motivations, creating this "gym without a roof" concept is an excellent option for every club at this time. These impulsive opportunities to pack in 10 pushups or swing across extra-wide monkey bars build stamina, muscle endurance, strength, and agility - all in a few moments' time. In many ways it's because exercising in the fresh [...]
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There are two types of clubs growing in our economy: boutique centers, and low-cost, bare bones gyms. Many of those in the middle - think Gold's Gym, 24-Hour Fitness, New York Sports Club, and Town Sports - found refuge in the bankruptcy courts as COVID-19's shutdown ravaged their business models. So what can you do to ensure your gym's future in this difficult market? One method is to create a vertical within your facility by hiring personal trainers with nationally-recognized, specialized certifications. Expanding this way boils down to two questions: Who do you want to attract as a customer and [...]
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By this time, most everyone knows the basics of keeping their gyms and health clubs COVID-19 clean. Since we've figured out the basics, now is good time to consider the chemicals, techniques and emerging technologies that may make the difference in keeping your gym healthy and safe. Disinfectants When choosing cleaning products for your gym, consider that every product approved against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) includes an EPA registration number on its label. Although the CDC tracks coronavirus cases, it is the EPA which regulates chemicals and is the go-to source for correct cleaning information. Does that chemical work? To determine if [...]
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Remember when fitness was an exploding rocket, taking off like a firebrand in everyone's consciousness? The future seemed endless with new innovations blending technology and health, fun and funky athletic trends, and a swath of boutique and health club options catering to every age, income, and preference. The future will be "virtual, gamified, and totally immersive," claimed a January 2020 Fast Company article. Then came the COVID-19 shutdown and gym attendance petered out, to the point where an estimated 70% of health club members have not returned to their local gyms. Many turned to exercise at their home - a [...]
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In many ways, the COVID-19 gym shut-down accelerated an already intense competition in the virtual health and fitness marketplace. Companies such as Peloton and Mirror were already bringing high-end, high-quality workouts into individuals' homes, while club-staple Les Mills' expansion into the on-demand arena created another at-home avenueencompassing classes and training programs. Meanwhile, brick-and-mortar gym shops shut down, forcing owners to pivot and change business models within weeks. Their one option? Jump into the digital fray-which is exactly what they did-giving away free classes, offering free trials, and supercharging their online community with ad hoc Zoom classes and YouTube videos. Within [...]
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So many business owners are facing uncertainty due to the COIVD-19 crisis. Will your business weather this period of being closed down? How well can you recover once you reopen? What are the best ways of minimizing financial losses and maximizing health and safety standards for your staff and members? The best way to combat this uncertainty is to drive forward with a clear and determined strategy for reopening. This strategy should focus heavily on enforcing stringent health, safety, and sanitization protocols. When you take the guesswork out of your plan, you reduce your own anxiety as a business owner [...]
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