Monthly Archives: August 2004

Improving the value of your club memberships not only makes you more attractive to prospects, it improves the club atmosphere and makes your current members appreciate what they have that much more. With a few simple innovations, you can separate yourself from the competition and create a unique health club membership that offers more than [...]

While the methods for testing body fat have changed little in the last 10 years, the popularity of body fat testing has grown dramatically. This popularity has left many club owners wondering if body fat testing should be viewed as a source of additional revenue or as a free service to club members. Body fat [...]

Try to imagine your club without treadmills or strength training equipment. It wouldn’t function properly or sell many memberships. The same applies with the use of computers in the industry. If you really want to succeed, you must utilize the available database management systems and take advantage of the tools provided with them. Like your [...]

As club owners, one of the most misinformed buying decisions we make involves the purchase of our business insurance coverage. It is difficult enough trying to determine the “type” of coverage we should have, but we are also faced with the question of how much protection we need. From a property insurance perspective, you should always [...]

Most sports flooring manufacturers are happy to tell you that hardwood floors are easy to take care of. It’s true, they are. Just a regular dust and damp mopping, occasional resurfacing, try not to drag anything across it that would scratch it, and your floor should look great for years. However, there is one battle [...]

Efficient, “express” exercise, preferably within 30 minutes, is winning throngs of converts as today’s increasingly time-crunched individuals struggle to fit everything into each day. Now, it’s all about getting in and out of the gym quickly. Nevertheless, exercisers’ goals haven’t changed, with most wanting to lose or maintain their weight, reduce their risk of disease [...]

Most health club owners think of marketing as just another expense of running their business, no different than payroll, accounting or other overhead items. What they fail to realize is that marketing actually offers their business great financial leverage opportunities. An advertisement costs a club owner the same amount to run whether it produces one [...]

With the nation’s gyms experiencing a large influx of new members who suffer from chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and musculoskeletal disorders, today’s fitness professionals must understand the complications or contraindications of exercise so they can effectively work with these members. To broaden your club’s member services capabilities, creating a network of [...]

The #1 reason for a health club to have a website is to bring in new business. Online recruiting is quickly becoming the most cost-effective means of reaching new members. However, there are some important considerations to make your website a successful marketing tool. First, you need to have a good website. This is the [...]

America seems to have given up on its fight against obesity. Airline’s pilot’s seats are being made wider. Automobile cup holders are being made to accommodate jumbo drinks. Department stores specializing in larger sizes are flourishing. Even coffins are now being “supersized.” Sadly, it also seems that many have also resigned themselves to raising a [...]