Can you imagine getting fit while saving the world? For Eco Gym, that is a possibility.
With three locations located in northeast Illinois, each is environmentally friendly from its construction — using rubber flooring made of recycled tires —to the fact that while people exercise they generate clean energy, which in turn goes to the local community’s energy grid.
“I think if you look at pretty much any and every company in America these days, being more green and being more environmentally friendly is at the forefront of a lot of these different companies and brands,” said Danny Zebold, the general manager at the Eco Gym Naperville. “I think we were just capitalizing on a movement and feeling a responsibility to do something better for the planet.”
Being green isn’t Eco Gym’s only unusual quality. For example, the more a member works out at the gym, the less he or she has to pay. This concept was created by one of Eco Gym’s owners. “The whole idea was to figure out a way we could incentivize people to actually get more out of their gym memberships,” said Zebold, explaining how a lot of people stop using their membership after two or three months due to lack of motivation. “So what if we could figure out a way where the more times people come on in, the less they end up paying? And that’s where Eco Gym really was born.”
Zebold said Eco Gym’s membership base is more active than any he has witnessed at other gyms. Plus, by encouraging members to come more, Zebold said they limit how many members can sign up at Eco Gym. “We want to encourage our members to workout more frequently, but we also don’t want to have an overcrowded or an overused facility where things start to get dirty and broken,” he explained. “With that being said, I see these members on a more consistent basis than at other health clubs that I’ve worked at, so I really do feel like our membership base is a little bit more active, is a little bit more engaged in the health club.”
Another thing that Zebold said sets Eco Gym apart is the kind of technology it’s implementing. Instead of cards and I.D.s, members simply need a finger to scan into biometric scanners in order to check in. The gym also uses hyperbaric therapy — a treatment that involves breathing air in a pressurized room — to help members’ bodies in the recovery process after a tough workout. “[We’re] always trying to stay on top of what the new advances in the technology in the fitness world are,” said Zebold. “That’s what we have implemented in here.”
It all comes down to keeping the members happy. “That’s ultimately what we’re in the business of: delivering people the results that they’re looking for when they join up for a fitness center,” said Zebold. “The whole flex membership — the more times you come, the lower your membership dues are — is just a way to help people and hold them accountable to themselves, to encourage them to come on in and use the facility. Where else would you be able to go do that?”
By Heather Hartmann
