Part II: Creating a Culture of Safety If a member sues your health club for gym negligence, how can you fight the case? Can you create a solid defense that will help you successfully fend off, or at least survive, a lawsuit? To explore these questions, we interviewed an expert in risk management and fitness liability JoAnn Eickhoff-Shemek. Dr. JES, as she is known, spoke with us on our podcast recently, enlightening our team on the critical steps every gym owner can take to reduce their chances of a gym lawsuit. In Part I, we covered waivers, assumption-of-risk documentation and group training. In Part II, [...]
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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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Company Profile: Whetstone Fitness, Donnie Whetstone, owner Sometimes it takes a rainy day to see the future. The gym IFBB Pro Donnie Whetstone co-owned was closed. The keys were in his hand. And the darkened building stood alone against a gray sky, waiting for his decision. Now, he thought, I have to breathe life back into it. It’s going to be hard. Eventually, it will be worth the effort. That’s the message this 63-year-old Master Pro Body Builder wishes to impart to our readers. That no matter how hard the struggle, if you have faith in your intuition and 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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As a gym owner, you have likely been concerned with keeping the fears of your paying members at bay in the post-COVID-19 world. You probably have spent the mandatory lockdown coming up with ways to maneuver your business through the crisis and putting plans in place for your grand reopening strategy once the stay at home orders are lifted. But what about your employees? Many workers are facing huge numbers of uncertainties surrounding their jobs, as well as worrying about their own health and that of their families. Now is the time to plan how you will address your employees' [...]
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The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 (also known simply as "coronavirus") and the resulting COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every industry worldwide. Gyms, classified as "nonessential businesses," have been ordered to close until the pandemic wanes and health officials deem that it is safe for the public to return to normal daily activities in public. As a gym owner, you are no doubt feeling the strain of this unplanned closure during the normally busy spring months. Thankfully, there are many things you can do with this time to not only lessen the impact of this crisis on your business, but also to [...]
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The 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 get a great, effective workout without any equipment at all. In fact, for some people with certain injuries or range of motion limitations, bodyweight exercises offer a safe and simple alternative to heavy resistance exercises. For this reason, this article will highlight the burpee as one of the "best of [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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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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Leadership has an element of theater and what are we as gym and fitness center owners if not leaders? Personally, I got into the gym ownership business out of an urge to follow my passion. I had a burning desire to make a positive impact and make a living doing something that shares that passion with other people. All of the trainers that I've worked with over the years also appear to have been just as determined, as far as I can tell. I think that you really only get into a career in fitness to make a positive statement [...]
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You can never have too much information about where the market trends are heading. One really insightful source that I'd like to discuss is the eighth annual American College of Sports Medicine's (ACSM) Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2014. To get the most out of it I recommend that you read the entire survey report yourself. Every year for the last eight years, the ACSM has commissioned a worldwide poll of fitness industry professionals. There are some really interesting issues that turn up in this survey. One of the best things about it is that it attempts to distinguish [...]
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I believe that one of the keys to a happy life, a life well lived is developing an attitude of gratitude for the things that make life worthwhile and rewarding. I think it was Tony Robbins, whom I first heard say that, it's stuck with me ever since. In celebration of the arrival of the holiday season I would like to share my list of things for which I am truly grateful, and that I am giving thanks for this year. My List of Gratitude 1. First, I am very thankful for a career that helps people and promotes health. [...]
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Over the past week I learned a very important lesson. For my small gym, I wrongly thought that my manager and personal trainers were enough. What I realize now is that this isn't true. Having one employee dedicated to member retention is a necessity. I had a revelation: Member engagement, satisfaction, and overall care must be the responsibility of one person alone. This role has to be completely separate from anyone that has a sales, customer service or training role. As a team that operates a small gym my staff understand that selling memberships, other services and products piggybacks every [...]
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