Farewell

This is the last post on the FM Blog.

I hope you've enjoyed reading Ronale's, Anne's and my blog posts as much as we've enjoyed reading your intelligent, enlightening comments.

It's a cliche to say that all good things must come to an end, and as a writer I've been taught to avoid cliches like the sweaty, wild-eyed freak in the back of a Boot Camp class. But in this case, I just can't help myself.

Thanks to everyone who has read and commented over the years — and best of luck with your fitness businesses.

Tweet: Clubs and Social Networking

I just want to start this post with the following link to a recent article on Bloomberg.com: Crunch Bankruptcy Shows the Limits of Pole Dancing.

OK. I'm done now.

On to a new topic. Specifically, social networking.

Facebook and Twitter are part of the general vernacular, and I’ve been thinking about how a fitness facility can harness them. Then I read an article that made me consider that the fitness club experience may be the anti Facebook and Twitter experience. Instead of virtually connecting to everyone you may be connected to, however tenuously, Form & Fitness owner Ben Quist, Mequon, Wis., says his fitness facility is the place people can actually connect.

Member Georgia Rapkin said, “You can't see anybody on Twitter. You need that human connection to inspire you toward new ideas or new ways to market your business." I’m not sure people who tweet incessantly are looking for human connection, exactly, but I do think she’s right. After all, I’ve never been inspired by someone’s updated Facebook status.

Making a fitness facility into a social networking venue is no easy task. Quist says his studio’s layout encourages interaction between members. A bustling front desk area with complimentary coffee may accomplish the same atmosphere in a more traditionally designed club.

Is your club a social networking space? Do you want it to be?

Abs Save the Day

Usually, upon reading an article about a dishonorable fitness facility owner fleecing his clients, I’d write a blog post about it.

Same thing with reports of more clubs closing.

And the disturbing news that one of the most innovative fitness businesses in the industry has filed for bankruptcy protection.

But I’m sick of bad news, so I’m staying with the positive. Did you hear about the woman who’s life was saved in a horrific paragliding accident by … wait for it … her abs?

Peggy Williams, a bodacious-looking 47-year-old, spent weeks in the hospital but is alive not because of a helmet or body armor, but due to her fitness. The Telegraph reports that “experts said her life was saved by her high level of fitness, which meant her stomach muscles acted as a ‘girdle’ to protect her other vital organs.”

Yeah, man. Forget the bad news. For a brief moment, revel in this undeniable fact: Fitness is awesome.

Weird, Weirder, Weirdest

What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened at your fitness facility?

I mean really weird. Weirder than the time your boss got tired of the club’s name and held an Internet contest to change it. Weirder than the time a member died in the sauna and no one found him until the next morning. Weirder than the time a Hazmat team stormed the pool deck and carted lifeguards off to the hospital after a chemical leak. Even weirder than the time a member grunted so loud it made national news.

Garden Fitness, Monterey, Calif., may just have your story beat. One gorgeous California afternoon a member drove her BMW into the club’s swimming pool. Luckily, it was unoccupied at the time and the driver was unhurt. Damage to the clubs aquatic facility and its surrounding fence was unreported.

Beat that.

So, does Garden Fitness take the prize? Or do you have a story that makes a car in the pool look as normal as a club dedicated to the American Gladiators television show?

Spill it — what is the weirdest thing that has happened at your club?

Hope for Sale

As much as industry suppliers and health clubs claim they have the secret weapon to losing weight and increasing strength and stamina, the truth is there is no secret weapon. New research proves this point. It doesn’t matter how few carbs a person eats or how much protein they scarf down. Surprise! Losing weight is a whole lot simpler than that: It’s all about calories consumed vs. calories burned.

This is good and bad for fitness professionals. Drama is good. Secret weapons are sexy and clients pay more if they think you have the inside scoop on what will get them quickly and easily to their goal.

The bad news? There is no “quickly and easily” in fitness. Quick and easy are illusions. Fitness takes time, effort and dedication. But are those things sexy? Not even close.

Santa Claus and the secret fitness weapon are myths. But like kids at Christmas, fitness center members want to believe. Forget the research. Forget the facts. Maybe it’s time to accept that you’re not selling a healthy lifestyle at all. Maybe all you’re really selling is hope.

What's In A Name?

Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. He is an undisputed literary genius, but I wouldn’t pay him a dime to name my fitness facility.

For fitness businesses, names are incredibly important. The potential success for a facility boasting the best equipment, the lowest membership fees and the choicest amenities would be greatly diminished if it were named, say, Sweaty Feet. Or, Possible Results. Or, Failed Resolutions.

Like I said, a name is important.

So important to one fitness center, in fact, that its owners didn’t trust themselves to name it when they were looking to re-brand. Instead, they posted on a popular naming site, and were rewarded with dozens of choices for just a few bucks.

Everyone loves to suggest names. Try getting pregnant; you’ll see what I’m talking about. Naming a fitness facility is no different. It can even be a way to get some cheap publicity while you’re in the construction process. What if a club held a local contest to help find its name? The winner could receive a free membership for a year, and the contest could help build anticipation for the grand opening.

I’d name a few of my favorite (awful) facility names, but I’d like to keep my job. Instead, I’ll share my favorite (awful) name for a hair salon: Curl Up and Dye. The name just makes you want to submit to the scissors of a cynical, possibly suicidal hairdresser, right?

Just for kicks, what are your favorite (awful) club names?

All the Rage

I hate to revisit a contentious topic, but I’ll do it anyway. Remember all the hoopla about grunting? Depending on which side of the workout bench they were on, people focused on any number of issues: member rights, club rights, membership agreements, women in the workplace and appropriate behavior on the fitness floor. They discussed all aspects of grunting — whether or not an exerciser has the right to grunt, whether or not it helps a workout — and ended up splitting the equivalent of a whole head of hairs.

But, I’ll wager no one thought to take it one step further and consider what would have happened if a manager hadn’t stepped in to diffuse the situation.

Whether or not you agree with how Planet Fitness Manager Carol Palazzolo handled that particular grunting scenario, a recent situation (and subsequent lawsuit) demonstrates what might have happened if she’d stayed on the sidelines and let Albert Argibay grunt himself silly in the free weight area.

Someone might have gotten mad. In fact, he may have even felt a spot of rage. What kind of rage, you ask? Well, it hasn’t been named yet, but it will be.

The thing is, I don’t want a new “rage phrase” coined in a fitness center. “Spin rage” is bad enough (thank you, NY Daily News). I can think of more that would be equally bad. Can you imagine yoga rage, occurring when the instructor holds the Downward-Facing Dog just a few seconds too long? Or treadmill rage, occurring when a wannabe marathoner goes way over the 20-minute limit? How about Swiss ball rage, occurring when an exerciser bounces excessively high in an attempt to touch the ceiling?

Sadly, none of those are more ridiculous than the event that inspired “Spin rage,” wherein a man repeatedly shouted the dubiously self-motivating, “You go, girl!” accompanied by some enthusiastic grunting. It was just too much for Christopher Carter, who felt the need to remove Stuart Sugarman from his group cycle and slam him into a wall. You go, girl … er, guy.

So, thank you, Carol Palazzolo. I know it was a tricky situation, and you got a lot of flak for the choices you made that day in the weight room. But thank you for postponing, at least temporarily, a seemingly inevitable new rage phrase.

Side note: Guess what. You now need padded group cycling walls. Look for them at the next trade show.

Dream Members

What is a dream member? Cynical types would say it’s the member who joins, pays dues on time and never shows up at the club. Of course, those cynics don’t realize that that doesn’t describe a dream member at all. Think about it: The only way members will yap about a fitness center’s awesomeness is if they show up, work out and get fit. Otherwise, they’ll just complain about what a waste of time a gym membership is. And that’s the stuff of nightmares, not dreams.

Dream members are active, invested members of the fitness center. They care about the facility, its staff and other members. They want more than to secure their own health — dream members want the club to be healthy, too.

Take the two Canadian members who sprinted down a would-be car thief outside their fitness facility. One member heard a car alarm blasting in the parking lot and spotted a suspicious man. When the man bolted, the member ran after him. Another member joined the pursuit. The two chased the suspect until they caught him, then held him until police arrived.

Sounds like someone deserves a comp on a month’s worth of membership dues.

An Oak Park, Ill., exerciser owes his life to a few dream members. When Richard Prescott collapsed at Fitness Formula, eight members and Manager Jeff Long started CPR, called 911 and used an automatic external defibrillator before paramedics arrived. Let’s hear it for David Muzic, Amy Mozina, Max Vanmany, Joe DiCianni, Lisa Gregorich, Kristen Stafford, Dave Harrat and Chris Jaeger.

They’ve earned a few free personal training sessions, wouldn’t you say?

You’ve probably got a few dream members at your fitness center, too, but you just don’t know it yet. And that’s probably a good thing, since they seem to come out in emergencies — and it’s best for everyone to avoid those.

Making Your Members Feel Safe

In Fort Smith, Ark., in a six-month period, female members of Bodies for Christ fitness studio allege they were sexually assaulted and raped at the facility by James Clayton Solomon. The local newspaper refers to him as a “bodybuilder.”

He is also the club’s owner.

Solomon was arrested twice for his crimes; once on suspicion of two counts of rape, and again for two counts of second-degree sexual assault on two women. All of the alleged crimes were committed at Bodies for Christ.

These women were betrayed on several levels. First, by the club’s name. “Bodies for Christ” implies that the facility is somehow associated with the Christian faith — a belief system which does not advocate sexual assault, the last time I checked.

Second, they were betrayed by Solomon. Instead of providing his members a safe, comfortable place to exercise, he used the club as his own personal hunting ground. He met the women at his club, and he attacked them there.

People have a long list of reasons why they don’t exercise. Money, time, energy and commitment are huge obstacles for potential members to overcome before they sign on the dotted line. The last thing you need is for potential members to add “distrust” and “fear” to that list.

Solomon is clearly the exception to a rule, and his fate lies in the courts. But his actions can have a very negative trickle-down effect on clubs everywhere. It is a club’s responsibility to provide a safe environment to exercise. Are you doing all you can to make members feel safe at your club?

The Magic Pill

You tell members there is no magic pill that makes them look and feel like their ideal selves. It takes hard work and discipline to achieve their goals, and looking for the easy way out usually just loops them right back to where they started.

It’s time to start taking your own advice
But let's be honest. Aren't you waiting for a magic pill, too? You want your facility to become more successful, but you’re waiting for equipment and other manufacturers to make it happen. You hope jazzier exer-tainment options and more interactive bells and whistles that will draw new members into your facility in droves.

Stop waiting, starting doing
Manufacturers are doing their part. There are more options out there than ever before. It’s up to you to build on what they’ve developed so that your fitness center is making the most of new technology.

One step further
Try taking the new features offered on fitness equipment one step further. Did you just invest in new iPod-compatible treadmills? Have your personal trainers record a new podcast each week, then offer it as a free download on your facility’s website. You’ll add value to a membership, draw traffic to your site, introduce your personal trainers to a wide group of members and put your club’s personal stamp on a really cool feature.

Did you purchase interactive equipment that mimics dancing or playing a video game? Don’t stop there! Hook up with a local charity and organize a Dance-A-Thon to raise money. Post an eye-catching High Score board by the video game machine. The equipment can only do so much; it’s up to you to create a buzz and make these new machines a real attraction.

I say forget about magic pills. You don’t need them.