Over the past few years, functional fitness has continued to grow in popularity. As a result, clubs are evolving to accommodate for this growing trend.
Here, Jennifer Beaton, the vice president of fitness for The Bay Club Company, discusses functional fitness and how a partnership with Aktiv Solutions has helped the company’s clubs offer efficient and beautiful functional spaces.
CS: What are your thoughts on functional training spaces and programming and why they’re such important additions to The Bay Club Company?
JB: The industry is moving more toward a functional approach. Our members are asking for it. Boutiques are really involving functional training. So to keep our members and keep them engaged, we’re always looking for unique solutions that provide functional training opportunities. We’ve been looking at how to progress our functional spaces to continue to stay relevant in the industry.
CS: What type of functional spaces and programming does The Bay Club Company offer?
JB: We’ve introduced a variety of things. We’ve brought in NC Fit, which was founded by Jason Khalipa, the 2008 winner of the CrossFit Games. We’ve also introduced turf areas within the clubs, removed equipment and brought in solutions such as Aktiv Solutions that provides opportunities for storage and cross-training and the ability to do bodyweight exercises. We also continue to bring in new toys that allow for more functional training, kettlebells, bumper plates, tires — all of those items. We’ve been doing group programming around that and our personal training has evolved as well.
CS: What are keys to boasting a great functional training space?
JB: Space for one, so members can do dynamic functional training. Having good storage solutions is also very helpful, because of all the toys everyone is using now — being able to keep that well organized and maintained. Another essential is a variety of easily accessible cardio equipment. Airdyne bikes, skiers and rowers have all become super popular because you can do HIIT training quite easily.
CS: What problems has Aktiv Solutions solved for The Bay Club Company?
JB: Aktiv Solutions came out and they walked all of our properties with us. We’ve installed them in four locations so far and are looking to expand that. They’ve been a great partner with us. They spend a lot of time in terms of design and function, because every club is unique.
The first club we installed at was in San Francisco is a very unique building. It’s a very old building, so the installation and stability of the walls was a challenge. Aktiv Solutions spent an extensive amount of time with us to make sure we had a solution that provided the safety we needed. The storage solutions as well — again our members and trainers are using so many more toys now, that trying to keep everything organized and off the floor and the space looking clean was difficult. Aktiv Solutions has definitely been able to help us organize our spaces to create more space and to visibly keep it looking sharp.
CS: Why should other club operators consider working with Aktiv Solutions?
JB: It’s unique. Unlike some of the other options out there, it provides the functional ability and a storage solution. It combines the two. It makes it super functional and compact and helps you be able to offer the best of everything. Aktiv has been phenomenal to work with. It’s been a great partnership.
CS: Is there any other advice on design and functional spaces you’d like to share?
JB: Spend the time to have Aktiv Solutions come out and walk the space with you. They’re the experts in terms of design, so they can bring ideas to the table that may not even be on your mind.
For more information on Aktiv Solutions, visit http://aktivsolutions.com/.
