If you have just opened a brand new gym, you are probably in the process of making some crucial hiring decisions. As a business owner, you know how your staffing choices affect your day to day work life, your responsibilities, and your bottom line. If you find yourself confronting the dilemma of hiring in-house personal trainers versus allowing freelancers to work out of your gym space, keep the following factors in mind. Benefits of keeping trainers on staff and paying a salary or hourly rate Often means more consistency and reliability When you hire your trainers as regular staff, you [...]
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If you are getting your gym ready for opening day, chances are you have already assembled a checklist of equipment you would like to stock. Barbells, dumbbells, benches, racks, cardio machines, and weight machines are all standard fare and will likely be the bread and butter equipment that most of your soon-to-be patrons use. But, why stop there? It’s almost always a good idea to have additional workout options, peripheral supplies, and “extras.” The more “complete” the user experience when working out at your gym, the more your patrons will feel like their membership is well worth the cost. If [...]
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The vast majority of people who join a gym and start a workout plan have some sort of goal in mind. It could be to lose weight, to put on muscle, to get in better cardio shape, to lower blood pressure and improve health markers, or any number of other worthy pursuits. Exercise is obviously an important component of each of those goal plans, but it’s only part of the full picture. If you want your gym members to be able to reap the full benefits of a healthy lifestyle, it’s always a great idea to keep a trainer on [...]
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Experienced trainers and observant readers may have noticed by this point in the exercise series that each movement we’ve covered so far is one of the “big 6” exercises that target major muscle groups over the entire body. Each of these exercises in turn can be classified as a “push” or “pull” in their simplest forms. In the bench press, for example, you “push” the bar upward and away from your chest. With the barbell row, you bend over and “pull” the bar toward your chest. So, you can imagine by the names “pull-up” and “pull-down,” we will be dealing with a [...]
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No two individuals want the exact same experience from joining a gym. Likewise, no two gyms offer the same atmosphere and experience to their customers. Trying to please everyone is needlessly complicated and may actually undermine your authority as a “specialist” in a certain fitness niche. For example, no one goes to a box gym chain expecting world-class martial arts training, and no one would go to an old school boxing or lifting gym wanting to join a spinningclass. Your atmosphere tells your customers what your gym is all about. The fitness niches your trainers excel in, the services yourcustomers are likely to find in your facility, and even the likely [...]
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Perhaps the most iconic and famous weightlifting move known to beginners and advanced lifters alike, the bench press is another compound movement you will assuredly see members performing in your gym. As with each other movement in the exercise series, knowing the proper form and equipment your gym patrons will need in order to stay safe and healthy puts you ahead of the game in terms of being able to provide a quality experience for your members. Benefits The bench press is known for sculpting fit and strong upper bodies. Chiseled pectoral muscles and bigger arms are the main draws for [...]
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One unfortunate reality all business owners must face is that the risk of being held legally responsible for accidents on your business premises is greater than ever. This is especially true for gym owners. In the fitness industry, where clients will be engaging in intense and possibly dangerous physical activity using equipment provided by your facility, you must take every precaution against potential liability pitfalls. What are some gym liability risks you should be aware of? Though an exhaustive list of legal risks would be nearly impossible to put together, the following are the biggest or most common problems gym [...]
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Like the lifts we’ve covered in the exercise series so far, the barbell row is another weightlifting movement that often causes gym owners some anxiety. It’s a compound movement done with heavy barbells that carries a risk of serious injury when done improperly. It can be tempting to outlaw or restrict exercises like this in your gym out of the fear of injuries and liability issues. However, barbell rows, just like squats, deadlifts, and other major compound movements, are so incredibly beneficial to most exercisers that you would be doing your gym members a disservice by banning them altogether. In this post, we’ll be [...]
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Overhead presses are one of the six most popular weightlifting exercises that your gym members will likely want to perform during workouts. As such, it’s important that you, as a gym owner, understand what proper form looks like and what equipment your patrons will need to stay safe. Benefits The overhead press movement works the arms, shoulders, upper back, and core muscles. Though you may feel like you’re doing a solely upper body exercise, you are using the muscles in your back and abdomen to stabilize the heavy weight overhead, which makes the overhead press an excellent choice of exercise [...]
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In the first exercise series post covering the squat, we discussed a number of reasons you, as a gym owner, should know the major exercises your gym members will be doing. Enforcing higher safety standards, knowing red flags to look out for when you’re on the gym floor, and understanding what equipment your gym members will need are all essential things you can handle when you know the basics of each exercise. Today’s post will cover another major movement: the deadlift. Benefits of the deadlift A compound movement that uses several major joints and large muscle groups, the deadlift is one of the best exercises [...]
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As a gym owner, you might not feel the need to concern yourself with the actual exercises your clients are performing. After all, if your business is running smoothly and you have properly delegated responsibilities to your trainers and staff, then why would you need to get involved with the fitness side of things? The answer to this question is multifaceted, but it essentially boils down to two reasons:• In order to provide the best service to your members, you must understand what they want from your gym.• In order to keep your members safe and happy, you must understand how each [...]
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Fitness trainers are the bread and butter employees of gyms and fitness centers. Knowledgeable, effective trainers lend credibility to their workplace and make clients feel like their money is well spent. However, underqualified or ineffective trainers might have the opposite effect, leading clients to seek fitness expertise elsewhere. How can you, as a gym owner, ensure that your trainers are offering the best and most current industry knowledge and maintaining high standards for health and safety? A good starting point is to evaluate their third party fitness certifications. These credentials prove that a trainer has passed a fitness organization’s tests [...]
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As a gym owner, you work hard to devise engaging fitness programs, keep a qualified rotation of trainers on staff, and offer a variety of equipment for your customers to enjoy. But there is one often-overlooked aspect of maximizing your client retention and member satisfaction: optimizing the building itself. Your physical building space is the face of your business. Before your clients walk up to the front desk and greet the first employee they see, they will make a snap judgement about your gym based on what they see around them. Consider the environment and ambiance of your gym, and [...]
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In the modern era, few businesses can get by without taking advantage of all the myriad technology upgrades available. Utilizing the best business software can propel your gym to a new level of productivity, security, and success. What can great gym management software do for you? Save time and money When your software takes over the automation of menial tasks and shoulders the burden of the everyday work load, your staff is set free to do more important work that only humans can accomplish. Your employees’ time is much better spent in face to face interactions with clients and trainers [...]
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Being a great leader to your gym staff is similar to being a great boss or manager in any business where you lead a team. Team management principles are mostly universal regardless of your business, but with some creativity, you can utilize fitness principles you already use every day to hone your management skills and build a strong and cohesive team of employees for your gym. Maintain a good working relationship with your staff. Remember that happy people work more efficiently. It’s a fact that employees with the highest mental and emotional satisfaction work harder and more efficiently than employees [...]
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