It takes passion to run a small gym. Not just an interest in hanging around weights, but a true desire to be in the industry, to pull it off when so many factors are pushing against you. We all want you to succeed, but what does it take to make it in today’s competitive fitness industry? Who are the ones succeeding? Most Americans are not gym members! Fewer than 40% of people in the United States currently have gym memberships, according to Policy Advice’s research. That totals about 64 million people who visit a club regularly. So although the number [...]
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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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Summer 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 is here to sort the trendy tools from yesterday's devices. Fitness is, after all, a niche in the consumer marketplace. It branches into segments and subdivisions based on demographics and income levels. So, Let's look at those trends or at least, point to authoritative sources about them. Opposing Trends in [...]
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Of Belly Laughs and Leg Lifts I was listening to some comedians talking on a podcast recently. It seems to be a thing in comedy for comics to interview their friends and idols. However, I was struck by the similarities between owning a gym and running a comedy club. The fitness and entertainment professions both appeal to the general public as markets. They each bring in people to participate in some sort of experience. Although, they do it in different ways, perhaps. The Changing Culture of Comedy Lately, comedy clubs are growing in popularity and revenue. The number of would-be [...]
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Categories for client programming must align to sales goals and be complementary to one another. After all, the most fundamental activity in any business is selling. In a people-business like fitness, it's as true as ever; gym business owners have to do some selling to survive. Fortunately, you don't have to start again from scratch to get every sale. The secret is that, as your gym members come to you on a regular basis you have a warm and receptive audience for your products and services. Your Client Programming And Sales Audit If you have never done such an exercise, [...]
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Where Do Gym Owners Go From Here? You may have noticed that with the rate of innovation for computer technology is thundering along. But what does that mean for your small gym business, your members, and the way you're going to develop your operations in the near future? There are two types of equipment that are most relevant to the industry: Management software and payment processing. The needs of gym staff are reasonably consistent, but the hardware is changing faster than you can say "Zumba class." E-commerce Thrives On Mobile Devices The mobile revolution is putting processing power into smartphones [...]
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