This month we sat down with Derek Gallup, the executive vice president of group fitness, fitness, operations, combat sports and education at ufc gym, to discuss cryotherapy.
Why do you think cryotherapy is now a trending offering in the fitness industry?
Cryotherapy is the cornerstone to the recovery aspects of fitness. A quick two-to-three-minute treatment is all it takes to receive the healing benefits of cryotherapy. Research shows cryotherapy can reduce inflammation and improve performance. The newest research is showing cold treatments can actually increase levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that gives us feelings of pleasure and reward.
What tips do you have for other facilities who want to offer cryotherapy?
One of the keys to success with cryotherapy is to make sure all team members in your facility get to experience cryotherapy and can speak to the wide range of benefits. Your entire team can then speak of the real-world improvements in their lives that cryotherapy has given them personally.
What are some common mistakes club owners can make with cryotherapy?
Cryotherapy does take management to be successful. Set up hours of usage for your cryotherapy when your gym is the busiest as the added labor to ensure members are serviced properly can be a limiting factor to success. You can help to reduce labor costs by placing cryotherapy near the front desk, thus optimizing your team by ensuring all front desk employees are trained on using cryotherapy and can keep a watchful eye on members as they engage in this beneficial treatment.
Do you feel cryotherapy has staying power?
People want to feel better. They will continue to look for ways to become the best versions of themselves and search out these treatments in your facilities. At UFC GYM and UFC FIT, we believe it is our responsibility to help people empower their fighting spirit in our members through great workout experiences which include not only how we train but also how we recover. Cryotherapy will be an important aspect of our members’ fitness journeys today and in the future.
Anything else you’d like to add?
For many years in fitness, we have been very focused on working out and believing the secret to reaching our goals was to work out harder and push our bodies further. This may be true, but we are now finding recovering from workouts is just as, if not more, important than the workout itself in achieving the best results. At UFC GYM and UFC FIT we are featuring recovery as an important part of our members’ fitness journeys to enable people to truly become the best versions of themselves.
Derek Gallup’s Three Tips on Cryotherapy:
- Educate your team on the benefits so they can be advocates.
- Make sure you have additional management to operate the system.
- Advocate to your members the benefits of cryotherapy and how it can help them recover.
