Are you ready for the January rush? It’s the time of year where people make resolutions to get to the gym and finally lose the extra weight they have been carrying around all year. As a result, it’s time for you to look at your existing group fitness schedule to see if it will accommodate for the influx of new members. After all, not everyone will want to sweat it out on cardio equipment — look to your Group X schedule for options that will appeal to members looking to burn major calories.
I recommend trying the following:
- Adding cardio classes to your schedule during peak hours to help alleviate the congestion.
- Offering classes at non-peak times like 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. This helps to spread out your membership demand.
- Offering classes in the morning and lunchtime also helps to spread out membership demand, because many members adjust their schedule to avoid the hectic rush that begins after the New Year.
- Advertise your newly added classes as a means for encouraging new members to take advantage of more options.
- Adding classes such as Zumba, which accommodate a large number of people, helps immensely in getting members out of the cardio room. I also like Zumba because of the energy level it brings to the club. Potential members consistently get excited when they observe a filled class with high energy.
Please feel free to contact me with any group fitness topics you would like for me to address in my future blogs. In the meantime, here is to a happy and healthy Thanksgiving to all!
Joseph Duffy has been in the fitness industry since 1990. He has taught group fitness classes at multiple clubs, and currently is the director of group fitness at Boom Fitness. Duffy has his own consulting business that assists owners with building group fitness programs from the ground up, as well as providing scheduling and staffing input. He can be reached at jdny1@me.com.
