Fitness or Fetish?

I’ve always thought “stripper fitness” was less of a trend and more of a gimmick. But the promoters of a recent event in Utah apparently disagree.

The first pole fitness competition in Utah took place in Davis County, and the resulting controversy served up a bit of media attention. Not surprisingly, the event promoters are claiming that not only is this a legitimate fitness activity, but they hope it will one day become an Olympic sport, much like gymnastics.

Really?

I think media-savvy promoters hijacked the word “fitness” to give this event legitimacy it does not deserve. And here’s why:

1. The event is officially called Pole Fetish 2009. Not "Pole Fitness," but "Pole Fetish." If the promoters were trying to keep the event out of the gutter, right off the bat it’s an epic fail.
2. The event is co-sponsored by Ogden Adult Dance & Fitness. If their services are for “adults only,” as is stated in the business’ name, it implies that it isn’t appropriate for children. And while all fitness pursuits are not safe for children due to muscle and bone development, we all know physical fitness is appropriate at any age.
3. The event rules state that, “Performers were required to keep on the same clothes from start to finish, as well as wear something that covered breasts and buttocks.” Last I checked, I don’t recall seeing similar rules in the sport to which the promoters keep trying to compare it. Shawn Johnston never got a .10-point deduction for tossing her leotard at the judges.

Maybe I’m a fitness purist. Maybe I’m being puritanical about the whole thing. But I stand by my belief that “fitness” and “fetish” are not interchangeable terms.

Empty Gesture

Australian fitness trainer Paul “PJ” James is gaining weight. On purpose. So far, he’s put on more than 40 pounds eating junk foods he’s spent years warning clients away from, and by not exercising.

In a Herald Sun article, James says he’s packing on the pounds to better understand why his clients have such trouble losing weight.

I think he’s full of it.

People who have difficulty losing weight struggle with more than just sweating off an excess of body fat. They usually have other challenges to overcome, such as food addictions, lack of fitness expertise, psychological issues like guilt and anxiety, or physical limitations that make traditional exercise difficult.

James has none of these obstacles. He not only knows exactly how to lose weight, but also how to be fit enough to model underwear.

Let’s call this what it is: a gimmick. Whether or not he convinces any potential clients that he’s walked a mile in their shoes, he’s already a PR success both here and Down Under.

James obviously hasn’t convinced me that he’s throwing away his health in a selfless quest for empathy, but I’m not his target market. Has he convinced you? Is this something you or other personal trainers think is worth your time — and your waistline?

Finding the Silver Lining

These days it’s hard to escape bad news. One story after another tells of clubs with padlocked doors, displaced exercisers and plummeting profits.

But there are some bright spots in the fitness landscape. Ed Ruane, owner of Life fitness facility in North Lawrence, N.Y., opened his heart and a collection box to the victims of a deadly local fire. He says the club will match dollar for dollar the money collected at the front desk.

Your business may be struggling, there are others who have it worse. Remembering that — and offering a hand to help — is the best way to see the silver lining in any dark could.

The Fitness Industry’s Reputation is Far From Good

Despite great strides made in the industry toward better business practices, it is still plagued by a not-so-good reputation because of the bad behavior of dishonest facility owners.

One example is a criminal case that was brought against Club 24 in Santa Maria, Calif. Club 24’s owners, Wilson Marx and Frank Smith, are facing felony and misdemeanor charges for allegedly deducting unauthorized fees from members’ credit cards and bank accounts.

Another fitness center also faces charges over member payments and fees. Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett sued The East Hills Racquet and Fitness Club, operator of the Edgewood Tennis Fitness Club, because members didn’t get what they paid for. The facility closed abruptly in February, leading to complaints from members who already paid for memberships or tennis court time, but didn’t get refunds.

Yet another fitness center agreed to pay more than $32,000 in fines and restitution after the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office received complaints from people who purchased memberships before the facility’s ownership changed, but still had to pay new initiation fees. Planet Fitness, Lancaster, Pa., formerly Lancaster County Racquetball and Fitness Club, agreed to pay the fine to settle allegations that the fitness center failed to honor existing contracts after ownership was transferred.

These examples are not the only ones out there. Many fitness centers still make it quite difficult for members to quit, continuing to charge them for months because they didn’t go through the necessary “hoops.”

Illegal and sneaky (legal or not) business practices need to stop. People already find it difficult to join a fitness center. Knowing that it will also be difficult to leave, or that they will be charged “hidden fees,” will only add to their excuses to not join in the first place. These dishonest business owners hurt fitness centers everywhere, and contribute to the bad reputation that the industry suffers.

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.

Bally’s to be “Speared”?

Now I think I’ve seen it all. As if Bally’s hasn’t had enough problems, a recent blog on iVillage reports that the company is considering making Britney Spears its next spokesperson.

Is this a joke? I can’t think of a worse spokesperson for a fitness facility chain than Spears. With all of her boozing, drug use, lack of morals and just plain loser of a persona, is this the kind of image Bally’s wants to associate itself with? And, don’t they realize that by Bally’s associating with Spears, it translates to Spears being associated with the fitness industry as a whole?

I get the reasoning behind health club operators wanting to associate their brand with a celebrity, but while Spears’ name may be big, it’s big for all the wrong reasons. If Bally’s execs think that she’s really going to make a turnaround just because she’s working out every day, they better not count on it. And, even if she did, her reputation is what it is, even if a bunch of foolish young people do consider her an “idol.”

Maybe this is all a bunch of hype with no truth to it, and let’s hope so. Because this could be another “spear” in the back, not just for Bally’s, but for our industry, as well.

Controversy: Is It Worth It?

I’m not Catholic, but even I have an issue or two with the Equinox Fitness Club ad that’s gotten Boston’s Catholic population’s rosaries in a twist.

The ad ran in Boston magazine, and is pictured left. Three attractive nuns are sketching a chiseled, nude man, while another presses her body against a metalwork door and watches.

Forgive me, but what does this have to do with fitness?

The company told the Boston television station WCVB that, “Our ad campaigns are based on personal motivation and fantasy and, throughout history, the body has been considered a form of art.”

Um … could they repeat that, please? In English? I’m still not clear what this ad has to do with fitness.

It seems obvious that Equinox was hoping to ruffle feathers, get some free press and maybe even attract a fallen angel or two wanting to lose a few pounds. But, for the company to pretend that the ad serves any purpose other than provocation is, quite frankly, insincere.

Of course, this begs the question: Is there anything wrong with that? People in Boston are talking about Equinox — and there’s only one Equinox facility in the city, so it stands to reason that its profile has most definitely been raised. And isn’t that the purpose of marketing, after all?

Perhaps. But, is it worth it? I don’t have any numbers handy, but it’s my understanding that Boston is a pretty Catholic town. Why risk alienating such a large population of potential members? C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts is fired up about the ad, saying it is “exploiting and mocking and sexualizing Catholic religious imagery.”

For their part, the local nuns have risen above the situation. “It is crass, but there are a lot of crass things that I don’t pay attention to,” Sister Martha Moss told WCVB. Sister Kathryn Hermes added, “We know that these things come and go, and the best thing is to let them go.”

It’s too bad Doyle can’t count to 10 and realize his reaction plays right into Equinox’ publicity-seeking hands. See, if everyone followed the nuns’ examples and ignored the ad, then Equinox’ attempt to get free press would go straight to … well, you know.

Big, Black Boxes of Sin

I don’t know about your members, but I go to the gym for one reason: to watch hot chicks and smokin’ guys shake their stuff. There, I said it. I don’t run for an hour on the treadmill for my health; I do it so I can get an eyeful of scantily clad women lip-syncing to top 40 hits, or bumping and grinding next to a shirtless, scowling rap star. Don’t call the cops just yet — I’m not doing anything illegal. I’m just watching the videos playing on the TVs scattered throughout the club. Those big, black boxes of sin are chock full of sex, I tell you. SEX!

OK, so the previous paragraph is not entirely true. I don’t actually go to the gym to watch music videos. I do run on the treadmill for my health, but I’ve only clocked an hour once and that nearly killed me. But there is a group of concerned — no, HORRIFIED — students in Utah who are doing whatever they possibly can to get that filth off two area Gold’s Gym closed-circuit televisions.

I promise you, this time I’m not kidding.

Five “organizations that fight pornography in the community are upset with the videos at the gym and say they have collected nearly 1,000 signatures on a petition calling on Gold’s Gym to quit showing the videos,” reports KSL5. Dallen Johnson told the KSL5 reporter, “I’ve had to leave, honestly! There have been four times I’ve run out of the cardio cinema because of racy and inappropriate things being shown, things I personally view as pornography.” You know, there are certain shoe displays so alluring that I view them as pornography, but I’m not demanding that the stores take them down. I just want a discount.

Jesse Yaffe says the injustice goes even further. Not only does Gold’s broadcast porn, but apparently those sadists force him to watch it. “Once you are a member here, you basically don’t have the choice anymore,” Yaffe told the reporter. “You’re forced to watch indecent material because it seems everywhere you go there’s a TV.” And you thought your members wanted entertainment options!

Gold’s Gym officials in Utah, bless their hearts, are taking the time to listen to the students’ complaints. “Gold’s says music helps to energize people who are there to exercise, and say they don’t want anyone to be offended at the gym during their workout experience,” reports KSL5.

However, it seems the offenses don’t stop at lascivious videos. The students have demanded that Gold’s install blinds on the group exercise room because the exercisers’ “dancing” is “very provocative.” Unless the cocktail-loving ladies from Flirty Girls Fitness have stumbled into a Gold’s by mistake after a wild night of pole dancing, I fail to see how group exercise could be so provocative it should be behind closed doors.

Don’t get me wrong. Some people prefer a more modest environment to work out in, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Heck, we’ve written about facilities that cater to those people. But it’s my opinion that Gold’s should stay strong. A club should not change to accommodate the few — nor should it do so in a manner that suggests all of its other locations are doing something wrong or indecent. If the students are unhappy there, then Gold’s should refund their money and send them on their way.

And I’m not kidding about that, either.

Do You Negotiate?

It’s a famous plot device in nail-biting hostage movies: A stone-jawed president says, “We do not negotiate with terrorists!” — leaving the hero to figure out how the heck to get those hostages back (one of whom, naturally, is his wife/girlfriend/child) without giving an inch. In the movies, things usually work out, thanks to lots of explosives and a studio system that requires happy endings. But, in real life, no-negotiation policies don’t always end happily.

So, do you negotiate? On your membership prices, I mean. To be honest, I wasn’t even aware that this was a possibility until I read a blog entry by a woman looking for advice on how to find a good deal on a fitness center membership. Her readers advised her to negotiate the membership fee, and claimed the only type of facility that won’t bite is YMCAs/YWCAs/JCCs.

Reading this, I couldn’t help but feel foolish. I’d compared membership fees before, and I always seem to get the short end of the stick. Some self-satisfied schmuck on the treadmill next to me pays half of what I do a month, making me resent him, the club and my own lousy business sense. I dread going to car dealerships for the same reason — playing hardball with a salesman is not my idea of a good time — and I don’t want to feel the same way as a fitness facility prospect. And, by the way, the enlightening blogger has a book deal, so you can bet she’ll reveal her own gym search experience in print before too long.

Interestingly, with two large chains and a YMCA competing for her business, the blogger chose the Y — and for reasons that had little to do with the membership fees. It was about the way she felt in the facility, and how she perceived the Y’s commitment to identifying and meeting its members’ needs.

So, maybe negotiating on price isn’t the answer. Maybe fitness centers can afford to play the role of stone-jawed president and focus on building an atmosphere that members want to pay to experience. And, you don’t want your members to feel like I did for not negotiating a better deal for their own memberships.

Are You Charity-Minded?

With the holiday season in full swing, fitness centers have moved into charity mode with food and toy drives for those in need. The spirit of the season motivates many to give, but what about when the season is over? Does your fitness center think about charities year-round, or are you too focused on profit?

To give fitness centers a larger purpose, Patricia Laus and The Atlantic Club , Manasquan and Red Bank, N.J., created Clubs for the Cure. The organization is challenging every fitness center in the U.S. to hold a fundraising event between January 1 and March 7, 2008, to support Augie’s Quest to cure ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). The goal is to raise $3 million for Augie’s Quest by March 7.

Fundraising and charity drives not only raise money for a good cause, but they also motivate your members to exercise (as with races, group exercise challenges or other “active” events), and give your facility great publicity and a reputation as a charity-minded organization. No amount of “New Year’s Resolution” ads in your local paper can give you the type of publicity that comes with sponsoring a news-worthy event for an important cause.

So what are you waiting for? Make your own New Year’s Resolution to make your fitness center more charity-minded. It will benefit others, and may have the added bonus of helping your facility, too.