Inside the Club Blog

For a couple of years, my stepdad has been talking about wanting to try high intensity interval training, or HIIT. Being an athletic individual, he is stuck on how it could help him repeatedly get over the rim to dunk a basketball. For someone in his 50’s, he’s already closer than I’ve ever been. This [...]

All of us at one point or another have most likely gone through a job interview. Unless you are one of the select few that have owned your own business since you were 16, you’ve probably sat in some sort of interview, whether it was in person or on the phone. I once had an [...]

Almost four years ago I was working for a newspaper in a small town in Northern Indiana. The paper had a rich history dating back more than 100 years. It had pictures of editors and writers hanging on the walls, and newspapers framed, which highlighted major events in the town. When I came on at [...]

How crucial are stock photos to your club’s website? In the past few months I’ve noticed the presence of more and more stock images comprising the majority of photographs on club websites. In fact, I even stumbled upon a club’s site last week that had a photo section comprised of 100 percent stock photos. There [...]

In operating a major fitness facility there are many things for members to potentially complain about. Even if the club is flawless, I bet the moment the sauna malfunctions, or an e-blast has a misspelling, a member will complain. Not all complaints are malicious, and not all will end up flooding your Facebook wall or [...]

Does your club host its own boot camp, or are you losing business to the studio down the street? If you have a boot camp, do you charge extra, or is it free to your members? Do you have space inside, or are you restricted to hosting your boot camp outdoors when the weather permits? [...]

A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Rodney Steven II, the owner of Genesis Health Club, concerning Senate Bill 72 in Kansas. If you missed the article you probably didn’t see that Steven had contributed $45,000 to political campaigns in hopes of passing Bill 72. Bill 72 has been designed to potentially level the playing [...]

I’m currently in gym membership limbo. Over the past few months I’ve been in negotiations with my previous club, and on the lookout for a new option. Currently my options have consisted of — resigning my gym membership, joining a small-box facility near my house, the new YMCA near my house (not my idea of [...]

Earlier this week, I wrote a special blog concerning the passing of the great Joe Weider. However, I wanted to give such an icon a little more adulation — so I interviewed a close friend and former Mr. Olympia contestant, Tom Platz, to discuss what Weider meant to bodybuilding and the fitness industry. Platz originally [...]

The fitness industry lost an icon on Saturday March 23, 2013 with the death of Joe Weider. Weider passed away at 93 at Los Angeles hospital from a heart attack. He is survived by his wife Betty, his daughter and three grandchildren. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Weider designed multiple training courses in the 1950s [...]