As your club’s group fitness manager, you are the master of the group fitness schedule! By carefully balancing tranquil yoga and stretch classes, with intense, in-your-face boot camps and unique, innovative trends, you skillfully provide diversity, fun and intensity within your members’ in-gym experience. No squat, shimmy or speed interval is unintentional on your part: each move is masterfully coordinated by you to intrigue, maintain and please your members.
From pole dancing to aqua aerobics, from Arial Yoga to Latin dance, you have tried (and maybe, in some cases, avoided) every fitness trend available today. You’ve seen fads zip in and out of style, class popularity rise and fall, and fitness class megaliths withstand decades of sweat.
Each member, with unique taste, physical needs and personal goals, relies on you. As the group fitness manager, you rely, in turn, on each member for feedback, support and retention rates. So, how do you create a diverse class palate that will please everyone?
With the 4 R’s of group fitness, that’s how!
What are the 4 R’s, you ask? Reputation, Results, Reliability and Retention. Creating a diverse palate of classes that appeals to everyone (but, doesn’t alienate large demographics of members) can be simple and easy if you mind these 4 R’s.
Locker room chit-chat is better than any other type of advertisement. One positive blurb of feedback draws more members to class, leading to a thriving group fitness program. The opposite is true as well — one negative comment spreads and poisons the opinions of other group fitness-goers. Good feedback spreads quickly, but, bad feedback spreads faster than athlete’s foot on a dirty locker room floor. And, no one wants that.
Now, locker room banter has a streaming direct line into the world — it’s called social media.
Good social media feedback equals good reputation. Good reputation equals more good social media presence. Good social media presence equals class retention and lifestyle assimilation. Lifestyle assimilation equals more extensive positive feedback.
We can all name a few classes that have a tight stronghold on all facets of members’ lives; clothing, habits, terminology and way-of-living. Finding and embracing classes with this type of depth, success and reputation is the first step towards pleasing the vast majority of your members.
The next two R’s funnel to create the chatter-cloud that bolsters reputation: Results and Reliability.
As you know, members attend classes that work (or, at least make them feel like they’re working). If members come to sweat, they expect to sweat. If members come to relax, they better darn well feel relaxed. And, if members come to class to lose weight, they expect to count each drop of sweat as one drop closer to their goal. The proof is in the pant size — members truly do want to quantify their hard work in each class and see/feel the results of their hard work.
The reliability of a format is another way of assuring your members will not be inclined to drop nasty notes in the comment box. Consistent instructors, carefully designed programs and reliable results (a little R and R there, you see?) All lead to a positive group fitness climate. This spans all demographics, fitness levels and members.
Why even bother nurturing your members’ needs? Membership retention and renewal is the tip-top “R” on the fitness and health club totem pole. Your overarching goal as a group fitness manager or club owner is to provide a palate of classes to keep your members happy. If they are happy, they will stick around. If they are really happy, they will attract their friends, co-workers and family members. Carefully monitoring your classes’ numbers as they ebb and flow seasonally and weekly will give you keen insight into their successes.
Taking a deep look at who you are aiming to retain and attract when selecting classes for your schedule is paramount. That’s where the other three “R’s” can swoop in and assist you: What results are your members looking for? Does your palate of classes represent all of their needs? Are you taking into account their feedback and the reputation they’ve built for each format? Do you pay attention to social media reputation and lifestyle assimilation when incorporating new classes? Are you providing reliable instructors and formats?
Let’s put a simple cycling class through the 4 R’s test. Does cycling have a deep-seated REPUTATION and cult-following with vast social media and press presence? Most definitely. Does indoor cycling garner RESULTS? Weight loss and conditioning occur for most, and even compromised demographics can perform cycling at modified levels to see results. So, the answer is “yes.” Is the indoor cycling instructor I have selected RELIABLE? And, what are your indoor cycling RETENTION numbers like? Cycling is a largely successful class on Group X schedules and as you can see, it soars through The 4 R’s.
Creating, maintaining and re-vamping your ideal group fitness schedule is an intricate process that massively affects the success and reputation of your club. If you see class attendance numbers drop, see a spike in feedback or need a boost, use The 4 R’s to adjust, assess and improve them, because, after all, from Pilates to kettle bells, and from hula hoops to Latin dance — navigating the group fitness universe and catering to your members is your domain.
Cristina Peerenboom and Kirsten Potenza are the founders of POUND Fitness. They can be contacted at info@poundfit.com.
