Do we honestly believe that clubs are completely missing the boat when it comes to nutrition?
Almost every professional in the fitness industry would admit that nutrition is a major factor in reaching fitness goals. One could also bet that the vast majority of fitness professionals at least attempt to keep a decent diet.
So, why don’t your members understand quality nutrition?
I don’t believe clubs are completely missing the boat. However, I don’t believe that every club is providing some sort of nutritional guidance to its members.
Should all clubs have a nutritionist or registered dietitian on staff? Maybe. But, I understand that the amount of members your club has, and your income, doesn’t allow you to put a nutritionist or registered dietitian on your staff.
According to nutritionist-world.com, the median yearly income for a nutritionist — qualifications vary by state — in the U.S. is $51,470 — for a registered dietitian, add about $20,000.
Clearly, these individuals aren’t cheap. However, they provide a crucial service to your business. Your members will need nutritional guidance to reach their desired fitness goals. It’s great that they use your personal training department and exercise in your gym three or more days out of the week. But, in six months, if they haven’t changed their eating habits, and they haven’t reached the goal their trainer set for them, they won’t blame their eating habits . . . they’ll blame the club.
Is that fair to you? No, but it’s not fair to your members if they aren’t educated about the food they put into their bodies and the affect it is having.
If you don’t have $50,000 in income to dispense towards a nutritionist (you should try), there are a few different routes.
1) Try developing a relationship with a local hospital. Most hospitals will have some sort of nutritionist or registered dietitian on staff. Provide employees with complimentary memberships in exchange for nutrition seminars, meal guides or nutrition flier to put in the personal training department.
2) Use online research. There are several companies that will help you create meal plans online for your members. Some of these companies will allow your members to log in, update what they’ve eaten and the system automatically keeps track of this information. Not only does this take some of the pressure off you, but it can also give your personal trainers some extra insight into the lives of their clients.
3) Hire a dietitian to create meal plans for different types of people. Allow your personal trainers to use these meal plans with their clients. The meal plans can be in grid fashion and allow members to log the calories of each meal, or just what they eat each day — which can be reviewed by your personal training staff.
4) Finally, don’t forget about your online resources. Use Judi Samuels blog, just below mine at ClubSolutionsMagazine.com, use WebMD (or any other medical website), LiveStrong.com or Men’s Health and Women’s Health Magazine online for simple nutrition tips you can toss at your members.
Providing quality nutrition education to your members isn’t difficult, it just requires a little extra time and effort. Because I know how awesome some of our nutritionist and registered dietitian friends are, I would recommend finding a way to hire one of these great people. However, if you are a small establishment, or just starting up, I know that could be tough on your finances. Regardless, find a way to feed your members’ nutrition knowledge and they will reach results faster, better and never want to leave your club.
Tyler Montgomery is the Editor of Club Solutions Magazine. Contact him at tyler@clubsolutionsmagazine.com
