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Continue reading →: Recovery Equipment – Is It Worth It?The costs and concerns with bringing recovery equipment into your gym.
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Continue reading →: COVID – 19 Clean – What’s Next For Gyms?Current and future technologies recommended by the EPA to keep gyms and health clubs clean.
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Continue reading →: Who’s Training in Your Gym?Generational differences in your members and how to effectively support and communicate with each group.
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Continue reading →: Keeping Gym Clients on the RosterHow mastering a skill and meaningful connections keep exercisers coming back to a gym or studio.
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Continue reading →: Train Your Gym Staff Like ProsThis article covers basic sales training steps for fitness club employees and how their core knowledge will become their best tool.
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Continue reading →: Unite & Organize – Proving Gyms Are EssentialThis article encourages gyms to work together to sell the idea of “health clubs as healthcare” by standardizing practices and lobbying lawmakers.
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Continue reading →: Use Surveys to Safeguard Your Gym Against COVID -19This article helps gym owners learn how to use surveys to communicate and learn from members.
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Continue reading →: Take Advantage of That Clean Gym!This article covers marketing your gym after the COVID-19 shutdown and training employees in proper cleaning techniques.
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Continue reading →: Barbell Cage Versus Leg Press Machine Versus Smith Machine: Which Leg Equipment Should You Prioritize?This article guides gym owners on the advantages and disadvantages of the three most common leg equipment.
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Continue reading →: How to Find Natural Leaders Among Your EmployeesThis article gives guidance on how to find and support the natural leaders among your staff.
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Continue reading →: Reopening Your Gym After COVID-19This article covers the best steps to reopening your gym after a pandemic/
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Continue reading →: Should You Have a Physical Therapist Working Out of Your Gym?This article discusses the benefits of opening up your gym to physical therapists and other health professionals.
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Continue reading →: How to Empower Your EmployeesFour management techniques to creating proactive, happy employees.
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Continue reading →: Exercise Series 9: The BurpeeThe exercise series so far has focused on weighted movements such as the bench press, squat, and kettlebell swing. We’ve highlighted these movements because they are some of the most effective exercises that a person can do to build strength and overall functional fitness. However, it is completely possible to…
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Continue reading →: What areas of knowledge does a basic personal fitness training certification cover?Learn what a basic personal fitness training certification covers in this easy-to-read article.
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Continue reading →: Exercise Series 8: The CrossFit "Thruster"The CrossFit program uses some unusual movements that you might not be used to seeing in your gym. One such movement is known as a "thruster". You might still hear non-CrossFitters calling this movement a thruster, but the name was made official by CrossFit in 2001 and has stuck ever…
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Continue reading →: “What is the ‘Slow Season,’ Anyway?” – Expert Guide to SummerHealth clubs often go through a “gym slow season” throughout the summer due to vacations, family commitments, and outdoor activities. To counter the slowdown, consider additional revenue streams and focus on tasks like marketing plans, staff management, and facility maintenance. Read on for steps to reinventing this traditionally slow gym…
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Continue reading →: Exercise Series 7: The Kettlebell SwingPreviously in the Exercise Series, we have covered major weightlifting movements such as the deadlift and bench press. Today, we’ll be looking in detail at a lesser-known exercise known as the kettlebell swing. This is another highly effective and beneficial exercise that requires excellent form to avoid injuries. As a…
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Continue reading →: CrossFit – Should You Encourage or Discourage it in Your Gym?You would be hard-pressed to find a more polarizing and controversial modern exercise trend than CrossFit. Known for extremely intense workouts that combine core concepts from weightlifting, cardio, gymnastics, and even yoga, CrossFit is a "love it" or "hate it" experience. Regardless of your personal feelings on the topic, we’re…
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Continue reading →: Is it better to hire salaried trainers or accept freelance trainers who work out of your gym?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…
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Continue reading →: Setting Up Your Gym: What "Extras" Should You Provide?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…
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Continue reading →: Are Your Fitness Trainers Qualified to Teach Nutrition Guidelines?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…
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Continue reading →: Exercise Series 6: The Pull-Up or Pull-DownExperienced 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"…
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Continue reading →: What kind of atmosphere are your gym members looking for?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…
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Continue reading →: Exercise Series 5: The Bench PressPerhaps 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…
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Continue reading →: How to Avoid Potential Liability Pitfalls of Owning and Operating a GymOne 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…
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Continue reading →: Exercise Series 2: The DeadliftIn 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…
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Continue reading →: Exercise Series 1: The SquatAs 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…
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Continue reading →: Maintaining an Optimized FacilityAs 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…
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Continue reading →: How to Lead Your StaffBeing 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…
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Continue reading →: 7 Reasons Client Programming Is The Key To Fitness Club SuccessStructure 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…
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Continue reading →: Why Client Acquisition Is Impossible and Other Gym MythsBreaching the Barriers of the Fitness Business Gyms should always be about positivity and overcoming obstacles. So, it’s worth taking a look at a few of the hurdles you’re likely to encounter in fitness entrepreneurship. I’m not saying you should forge ahead recklessly. You need a plan and contingencies. However,…
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Continue reading →: 11 Tips About Starting Your Own Business in FitnessBuilding Your Dream by Starting Your Own Business in Fitness If you are the kind of person, like me, who enjoy fitness and being at the gym, the dream of starting your own business in fitness is the logical next step. Fitness is so wide-open because it’s a people business.…
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Continue reading →: Survey of What Is On The Horizon for Special Populations in FitnessSurvey of What Is On The Horizon for Special Populations in Fitness Specialty Fitness Fills Niches and Gyms Humans come in a delightful diversity of shapes, sizes, and physical needs. I think it is super-rewarding to see people achieve spectacular levels of fitness achievement. It is even more rewarding when…
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Continue reading →: Diamonds Are Forever but Club Retention Changes DailyGlittering Membership Management Performance Indicators If you can do things that keep and reduce change to the minimum your club might just be on the path to finding diamonds. Retention is the key concept of club management. It brings your small gym business dreams to life. That is a constant,…
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Continue reading →: Success Starts at Certification for Fitness Club FoundersProper Preparation for The Gym Business Getting prepared and qualified to be a fitness club founder is like laying the foundations for a home or a mighty fortress. The better the foundations, the longer the structure (of your fitness business) will last, and the higher you can build. If you’ve…
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Continue reading →: What are the Hottest Trends in Fitness Clubs and Gym EquipmentSummer 2019 Professional Fitness Equipment Like all of the other trends in the world, the fitness industry is splitting to extremes. On one end, it’s all simple things that promote core strength and resistance training. On the other, it’s the technology that pushes the envelope. Not to worry, Gym Insight…
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Continue reading →: Fitness Business Success is All About Measuring ImprovementsManagement Metrics and Where You Find Them Like fitness programming, gym business management is about setting goals and defining improvements. It’s how you measure them that provides the framework to get the work done. You can’t know what you’ve achieved until you’ve measured it. Whether it’s measured in lean body…
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Continue reading →: The Gym Management Software Fitness Club Tools of InsightInsight was my solution for my own gym management headaches. As a computer science graduate and fitness club owner, I had some options. I didn’t hesitate to dive in and write my own code when the business started to get complicated. Great idea, right? Well, it turned into a bigger…
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Continue reading →: Gym Management Software and Fitness Business Basic EconomicsFitness is one of the more efficient industries, in the economic sense. The same is true about gym management software. It’s a good thing in that competition leads to better products and services. On the other hand, it goes in the opposite direction as well. Economics drives free markets toward…
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Continue reading →: Gym Business Owners Face These Urgent Issues Right NowGym Management Software And An Inquisitive Mindset I think there is only one way to survive in the fitness industry in the next few years. As a gym business owner, be ready to make changes quickly and often. Be curious about what’s around the corner. The changes that are going…
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Continue reading →: Gym Business Sales And Some Negotiation Lessons from TVThe Principle of Winning For all of the modern technology in the world, the principles that make the foundations of business are as accurate as they are old. While we designed the Insight Gym Management Software Suite to be a tool that will drive efficiency and profitability, it does so…
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Continue reading →: 7 Small Business Entrepreneur Hacks I Found On The InternetLeverage These Life Hacks to Produce More Results Technology has brought a whole new style of entrepreneur into existence. Independent trainers, small gym business owners, or even franchisees of big-box chains, like Gold’s Gym, can make the most of some of the life hacks that complement the things they already…
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Continue reading →: Meet Special Population Demands With Continuing EducationFitness clubs should always have new projects in development and owners should be continuously searching for the next big thing in gym business niches. Special populations represent many different niche specializations that have been boiling up for some time. Reaching out to special populations will benefit everybody involved. Your club…
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Continue reading →: Automating Fitness Club Customer Relationships for The WinGetting Organized Is The Key To Winning Organizing your gym members, prospective future members, and members at the edge of retention, is much easier if you have an automated system to manage the process. It’s one thing to have a list of customers and something completely different to have a…
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Continue reading →: Sustainability Insights For Fitness Club OperatorsGoing green is a great idea, and it also happens to appeal to many consumers, including many of the people who’re likely to join your gym. You may be hearing the term Sustainability; it’s basically the technical term that means going green. Sustainability For Gym Facility Endurance As a buzzword,…
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Continue reading →: Are Fitness Club Waiting Lists Good Or Bad For Business?Let’s Talk About Success What does it mean to have a waiting list? First, you should be thrilled that your fitness club is so in demand! If you have a strict upper limit on capacity such as class spaces adding new members beyond that limit can be a dangerous game.…
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Continue reading →: Starting A Gym Business Means Sacrifice Struggle And RewardBackground for Success Starting a gym business is probably a dream for a significant fraction of the population. Whether you’re in this country or around the world you may yearn to open a fitness club someday. If you think you have knowledge and finances, that dream may even turn into…
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Continue reading →: Tying Technologies Together for Better Client OutcomesWearables Have Hit The Big Time for 2019 According to Club Industry, one-in-six consumers now use a wearable digital device, such as a smartwatch or fitness tracker. In the valuable 18 to 34 demographic, the trend is even more pronounced, with one-in-three. It’s starting to look like there’s a critical…
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Continue reading →: Gym Businesses That Help Members Slow DownIf you started a business where the point was to chill out and relax, it might seem like the opposite of fitness. However, it would have to utilize many of the client programming aspects of a fitness club. Stress Good And Bad I want to cover the full spectrum of…
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Continue reading →: Is There Such A Thing As A Few Hours A Week Fitness Business?The Short Answer Is Still "No!" That guy who wrote a book about having a business in only X hours per week now has a book out about fitness. OK, that’s nice. So, completely separate from that, what I’m wondering, is whether there can be a gym business that you…
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Continue reading →: Why Company Cultures Still Matter in The Fitness BusinessFour Organizational Culture Types Did you know that there are four different categories of organizational culture? I didn’t. Some researchers at the University of Michigan figured it out, and I’m glad they did. So, let’s take a look at these four cultures and see how they show up in with…
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Continue reading →: How CRE Trends Have Fitness Entrepreneurs Moving To The MallIf you’re a fitness entrepreneur at any stage of the gym business, you’re likely to have a need for a space in a building. If you want to open your doors somewhere, you will have to face the commercial real estate (CRE) industry. For you, negotiating a tenancy might be…
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Continue reading →: Can Client Programming Deliver Corporate Wellness?So, what’s the point of implementing a corporate wellness program? Is it about building company culture and togetherness? No, at the highest level, corporate wellness is about having healthier, more productive employees. On the most practical level, it’s more about minimizing costs and workers who get more done with less…
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Continue reading →: Gym Business Leadership To Motivate 5 Key ConstituenciesSwinging The Lead in Your Sphere of Influence In entrepreneurship, business ownership, and in fitness management, leadership is what you bring to the gym as a founder or manager. It is the one factor over which you have the most control and which makes it possible for small startup gym…
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Continue reading →: Fitness Business Decisions Based on Bayesian PriorsYou may be thinking, "OK, Gym Insight, what are you doing posting about esoteric mathematical concepts like Bayesian Priors?" First of all, it’s 2018 and living in the future demands that we apply futuristic methods. Second, I promise not to start quoting mathematical equations. Finally, there is probably something that…
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Continue reading →: Happy Fitness Club Members And The Questions They AskJust because you have happy fitness club members, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to be completely free of issues. Even the most smooth-running gym business is going to have occasional payment disputes. When it comes to questions about customer credit cards and payments, you have to get it right.…
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Continue reading →: Is This Gym Equipment Startup The Future Of Fitness?Gym equipment is evolving rapidly, and we see some highly innovative designs coming down the line. New machines and systems match physical activity and data science to improve the workout experience. I think we can expect to see some amazing new gym equipment products emerging in the next few years.…
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Continue reading →: Reflecting for Belief And Clarity In Your Gym BusinessSilicon Valley Venture Capitalist Know This Secret There’s a secret to business and entrepreneurship that they don’t teach in business school. It’s something that the smartest investors in the world of startups all understand instinctively. The venture capitalists of Silicon Valley know that, to find an investment that returns big…
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Continue reading →: Abandon Client Retention for A Leaner Business ModelSometimes it’s when you go against the grain that you do your best work. If you’re in a competitive marketplace, (and let’s face it, in this industry, who isn’t?) you have to fight for every advantage. Your membership retention rate is one of those things that can make an impact…
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Continue reading →: 7 Fitness Industry Hacks for Aspiring Gym OwnersThere’s not much that a little creative ingenuity can’t overcome. The fitness industry is one where you can get a start with or without vast sums of capital to invest. While it might seem easier to do with truckloads of financial backing, there are plenty of things you can do…
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Continue reading →: The One Gym Business Startup Thing You Need To SucceedAs an enthusiastic new gym owner, you’ve probably already found a place in the market with enough potential customers to build a business. Once you commit to your particular niche in the fitness business, there’s one thing you’ll need. It’s the information about customers and sales that will take you…
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Continue reading →: What Are The Hot Trends In Fitness for Summer 2018Continuing Trends in 2018 One thing is sure about the summer of 2018; fitness businesses aren’t going to disappear anytime soon. While it’s technically possible to do all of your workouts from home, that is not the choice that people are making this year. What’s hot in mid-2018 is the…
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Continue reading →: How To Quit Worrying And Learn To Love Data SecuritySecuring Your Membership’s Personally Identifiable Data Now might be a good time to look at Data Security and what gym businesses need to keep in mind. For example, if you take electronic payments, you have to follow the rules of the Card Payment Industry. Your business needs data about your…
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Continue reading →: Make Networking Part Of Your Fitness Club Value PropositionFitness is a people-business; it’s about networking to make connections, whether it’s between mind and muscles, you and the best vendors, or members using your club to connect in their careers. It’s a business model that’s about helping others find success and good health. As a gym business owner, networking…
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Continue reading →: 3 Alternate Revenue Streams To Boost Your Fitness BusinessGetting Beyond The Gym Business Basics Developing alternate revenue streams for your new fitness club is the next stage for any ambitious gym business venture. If you hope to grow your business beyond the basics of club memberships, it is vital to have additional sources of income to achieve long-term…
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Continue reading →: How Client Programming Consolidates New Member RetentionIn fitness, client programming is the key to operational success. There are several reasons for that. Let’s explore them and look at why it is that gym business operators can’t ignore this organizing principle. The best way to consolidate new gym membership sales is to draw your new members into…
































