During the past 12 months AFS has undergone a huge transformation. Within that time frame our growth has been extraordinary. We've added more benefits, more partners, and more value that make up a compelling case for membership, including our ROI calculator.
During these past several months, AFS has also traveled across the country, literally - from being headquartered in Chicago to now the Bay Area.
Whether or not they admit it to you, most clients and club members care about calories. Has someone at your facility ever asked any of the following:
“Are the calories on this treadmill/elliptical/bike accurate?”
“How does this equipment know how many calories I burn during my workout?”
“This piece of equipment says I burned 600 calories. Is that right?”
If so, you know that it can be difficult to explain caloric expenditure to clients and club members.
In the last five years, one in every three deaths in the USA was attributed to Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). The latest statistics have also revealed that 60% of Americans don’t take part in regular physical activity and 25% are not physically active at all.
On a positive note, research tells us that statistics like these could be significantly improved if more people simply started exercising on a regular basis.
We all hope and pray it doesn’t happen at all, let alone to us, but the reality is – bad stuff can happen. It did last year to a Midlothian, VA fitness center, where a 9-year-old girl fell into a swimming pool and drowned.
According to the guidelines on the fitness center’s website, there is no lifeguard on duty at the gym. The guidelines also say "Children 13-and- under require adult supervision; adult must be in wet area at all times."
Technology and fitness are joined at the hip - the best gyms are known for having the best gear. After a while, however, there is only so much gear that a gym can buy! There is another way that you can use technology to differentiate yourself from competition in the fitness world, and it is actually much less expensive than investing in new machines every quarter.
Savvy gym and studio owners are now investing in mobile apps that are geared towards fitness - a high ROI activity that provides a great deal of value to patrons who do not have the money for a personal trainer or the organizational skills to keep up with their own stats.
How do people typically find your fitness studio? Through word-of-mouth? Driving by? What about your website?
If you don’t have a website (no, a Facebook page won’t cut it) or if your site isn’t bringing visitors into your studio, there’s work to be done. There are over 1.17 billion monthly searches on Google. Here are the seven things your site must have to ensure you’re showing up for these searches.
Whether you have a tiny usable training area or more space than you know what to do with, our team can help you design and lay out a functional training space. We work diligently to plan a space that is not just operational but optimally designed for your specific goals.
Here are the steps we’ll take when designing your training space.
I've been lucky enough at AFS to meet and speak with some of the best studio owners in the country (and some outside the U.S.). During these encounters I always come away learning more about our ever-changing, diverse, yet incredibly rewarding industry.
This couldn't be more true than my recent meeting with Brent Gallagher at the IDEA Show back in June. Brent's professionalism and drive have been evident in the success of his business venture Avenu Fitness & Lifestyle in Houston, Texas.
In their ground-breaking 2016 study, Marketing Best Practices Research Report, the Association of Fitness Studios (AFS) asked respondents which cycling certification(s) they held. As you can see from the chart below, Schwinn is #1 by a nice margin, Spinning is #2 and then there’s a big drop off to several others.
While this is great news for Schwinn and its certified instructors, it begs the question, “How can I leverage my Schwinn certification – and its #1-in-the-industry positioning - to enhance my career?” As a famous author once said, “Let me count the ways.”
Throughout my many years managing big-box health clubs and consulting with other fitness studios, the issue of how to effectively handle cancellations was always top of mind with my training teams.
How many times has this happen to you... You get up at 5am, throw on some clothes, and get to the studio or health club just in time for your 6am client. You might arrive a few minutes early and get the chance to check your email when, low and behold, at 5:40am there's an email from your 6am client stating they had to cancel. Great way to start of the day, huh?
• Trainer, Manager or Owner • Beginner or Veteran • 500-10,000 sq.ft.