Make Fitness an Adventure: Offering Fitness Retreats and Retreat Ideas

Staci Alden shares why your health club should consider offering fitness retreats, including four retreat ideas to utilize.

A retreat is a two to 14-plus day adventure, usually offsite from the facility and in some cases outside of the country. The schedule during a retreat usually consists of a combination of excursions, classes and workshops. Retreats are meant to be a unique, immersive, and interactive opportunity for members to experience their favorite classes with their favorite instructors in a new environment. 

Here are just a few reasons your facility should be thinking about adding retreats to your offerings:

Exposure to Potential Members. Often, members bring spouses, friends and family on retreats who may not be members of your facility. This exposes more people to your offerings and instructors through an unforgettable experience. 

Learn More: Adding Workshops to Your Health Club and How to Get Started

Community Building. Retreats allow members to meet other members, and by traveling and sharing meals, they get to know one another on an entirely new level.

Setting Your Club Apart. A retreat shows your facility is invested in supporting a life well-lived. While your facility may be beautifully equipped with the latest and greatest equipment and spaces, it has valuable resources and cares about helping members discover what they need.

Unique Instructor Opportunity. Retreats allow instructors to get paid to take their teaching on the road in new environments and teach to participants who are truly immersed in the experience.

Revenue Generation. If you are strategic about costs and pricing and give yourself plenty of time to market, retreats can be a great way to earn extra revenue. 

Learn More: The 2022 Club Solutions Leadership Retreat

Here are a few retreat ideas you can use as you consider leading a retreat:

• Women’s Retreat: Women only, celebrating each other, lots of fun ice breakers, and developing friendships.
• Yoga Retreat: Various yoga classes and workshops of various styles and diving into a deeper understanding of the practice.
• Wellness Retreat: Slow-paced with lots of healthy and delicious food, meditation workshops and nature walks.
• Challenging Adventure: Training to summit a mountain or complete a bike trail or train, travel and compete in a race.

The possibilities are endless regarding the type of retreat your facility can offer. I recommend starting short – two-to-three days – being conservative with the schedule and what’s included, and keeping the location more local to your facility. Work with your team as you brainstorm the type of retreat you want to offer and the classes, workshops and instructors you want to feature. 

Stay tuned for Part Two: Planning a Fitness Retreat.

Staci Alden

Staci is committed to helping group fitness managers elevate their programs, instructors and leadership skills through consulting, writing, presenting and her YouTube channel. For over a decade she has overseen a team of over 100 private Pilates and group fitness instructors at a luxury health club in Seattle, Washington. Get in touch with Staci through stacialden.com, Facebook, Instagram or connect on LinkedIn.