David Flench, president Medical Fitness Association. Recently our Gym Owner’s Podcast welcomed David Flench, president of the Medical Fitness Association, for a conversation on how gyms benefit from offering medically integrated healthcare services. Here's the lowdown on what we learned. To listen to our podcast, click on the embedded YouTube link. What is the Medical Fitness Association? It is a nonprofit professional membership organization providing industry standards, certification opportunities, educational programs, benchmark data, professional development and networking to improve the operational success of medically integrated health and well-being centers. It strives to be the resource for new and established gyms [...]
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It can be scary converting your fitness center’s database over to a new gym management software program. Every client phone number, account, and credit card is listed in that database and now you’re handing it to another firm for import into a new software application. What if something, maybe everything, gets lost? Tangled in a web of encrypted material, like an exploding black hole… Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but converting data from one software program to another is the number-one reason gym owners put off switching gym management software companies. Owners hang on to their old software because they [...]
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Part 1: Waiver Law and Assumption of Risk We know protecting your gym and personal training business from lawsuits is a top concern. That’s why our podcast team recently interviewed Dr. JoAnn M. Eickhoff-Shemek, Founder and President of the Fitness Law Academy, LLC and Professor Emeritus, Exercise Science, at the University of South Florida. AKA "Dr. JES" is the author of “Law for Fitness Managers and Exercise Professionals,” and is internationally known in the areas of legal liability, risk management and fitness safety. This blog is the first in a series summarizing our incredibly interesting conversation. We hope our series enlightens you on what your fitness business [...]
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Ah, history … it repeats itself. If you’re old enough to remember Gold’s Gym before it turned into an aerobics studio, then you’ll appreciate the irony in the American College of Sports Medicine’s “Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2023” results. It originally published in the January/February 2023 edition of the ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal. Now in its 17th year of publication, the Worldwide Survey identifies 42 top-rated trends gleaned from past World Survey lists and emerging trends. Selecting the trends are editors representing corporate, clinical, community, commercial and academia. The list is then sent by Survey Monkey to more than 125,000 individuals involved [...]
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Read About Our Updated Task List Feature Recently, in response to customer requests, the software team at Gym Insight updated our tasks application. The newly redesigned Task List is robust and easy to use, resulting in increased employee initiative and fewer lost opportunities. Here are five ways the Task List feature saves you money. 1. Encourages employees to begin working before you arrive. The truth is, many employees don’t start doing stuff until the owner walks through the door. To get them moving on time, our new “assign task” feature allows owners/managers to do just that — assign tasks. This way, when an [...]
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What could be better than exercising every day and hanging out in your own awesome health club? If owning a gym is your dream job — keep reading our blog. The truth is – opening a gym is a lot more than just buying gym equipment and unlocking doors. Succeeding at owning a gym takes planning, perseverance, moxie, and money. Today, we've spoken with experienced gym owners to learn four of the most common mistakes new gym owners make when getting started in the business. Understand your lease fully before signing on the dotted line! #1 — Signing a lease too quickly [...]
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Operating a gym within a set of rules creates structure for both club owners and members. Whether your gym rules are created for safety purposes or just to build a harmonious, fitness-first experience, they are a significant asset to any well run health club. 1. Gym rules define your club’s culture. The fact is many gyms do not post or enforce any rules. Recently, I trained as a guest at a national chain. This company has a reputation for indulging power lifters and gym rats. Although I knew this, the facility’s condition shocked me. Heavy weight sets were left on abandoned. [...]
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Let’s be real. Many gym owners run their clubs via spreadsheets and direct deposit. We call that “pen-and-papering” a gym. How do we know? Because we owned fitness studios for decades. That’s why we started Gym Insight. We know the right gym management software can help owners grow their gyms without costing them a fortune. Profile of ProFitness of Greenville, South Carolina In 2014, Pete Marston bought a small, struggling 24-hour gym with a friendly crowd ready for a hands-on owner. The recently retired manufacturing executive ran the club without gym software, manually renewing clients. It was time-consuming, but he [...]
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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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The gym today is different than it was 12 months ago. It’s changed. Maybe we have, too. There have always been rule keepers and rule breakers, but now, it’s like they live on either side of your fitness club, and they’re driving each other crazy. The culprit? Masks, social distancing, germ wars … the list goes on and on. Meanwhile, you and your staff are stuck in the middle. As a gym owner, you need to manage all these senarios to minimize any potential harm Clearly communicate your gym’s policy. First, educate your staff. Define your gym’s coronavirus policy, and what national [...]
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6 Short Answers To Help Simplify Your Search 1. What insurance coverage must my health club keep? General Liability Commercial PropertyProfessional LiabilityWorkers’ Comp 2. Do these policies cover every event on property? Professional liability insurance for personal trainers is a must! No! There are many exclusions, and optional coverages may be needed to fully insure your gym. For instance, problems caused by tanning beds, club events, independent contractors, or within onsite businesses may not be covered under every general liability policy. As your fitness club grows, consult with an insurance advisor first before adding such services as childcare facilities, or undertaking breakout expansions [...]
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Contacting gym members through text messaging is a great idea. Your health club is a vital part of their lives, and by keeping in touch with them, you express interest in their fitness and health while staying mindful of communication trends. So what could go wrong? Well, let’s talk about that. Text Messaging Is Communication; Every Word Represents Your Brand Studies suggest most people open their text messages. Estimates are as high as 98 percent. We love the ease and simplicity, and, in large part, prefer texting to receiving a phone call. Yet, the act itself is infused with a [...]
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Taking control of your gym's business during the ongoing economic crisis caused by COVID-19 is not simple. It's always been expensive to acquire new members-estimates suggest it costs 3x as much to lure a new client in the door as to keep the one you have. But in today's uncertain environment, retaining and expanding your client base is both critical and complex. So how can you maximize every gym member relationship? By understanding customers' concerns, clearing up misunderstandings quickly, and using real-time information to make informed updates to your business model. Nothing does this quicker than a survey. Surveys allow [...]
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Structure Your Offerings with Client Programming for Fitness Client programming is your menu of good things that you offer your market. In the fitness business, it's one of the fundamental dimensions that define a successful training practice. The big-box fitness brands can afford to stand back and cover all of the programming bases. As a small gym business owner, you are probably better served if you focus on one or a few. The irony, of course, is that the corporate brands would do better if they could do the same. However, in my experience, excellence doesn't scale all that well. [...]
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Data Is The Answer But What Is The Question? Whether you are a new club owner, a professional trainer, or a veteran of fitness club management you can always benefit by extracting more information from the data that you generate in your gym business operations. With every transaction or response received from prospects or members, you create data. This might come in through your payment system, setting up a new account in your membership management system or getting a response from an email blast that you send out to a list. In most cases, these days the data will come [...]
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