This month we sat down with Burch Valldejuli, a co-founder of mActivity, to discuss offering recovery successfully.
What recovery options do you offer at your facility?
We have offered steam and sauna since we first opened, but this past spring we added electric cryotherapy and compression therapy services. Our personal trainers are certified in assisted stretching, and for convenience we have a partnership with Select Physical Therapy, which sublets space within the gym.
What are the benefits of offering these services to your members?
Adding cryotherapy created a huge amount of buzz both within the gym and in the larger community. Now our cryo members are raving fans. As professionals, we understand how important recovery is to help achieve one’s fitness goals. The challenge, however, was educating and enticing newcomers to try. It’s really fun to hear people’s reactions when they get hooked. Some members are now using cryo before working out and report back their level of activation is much higher.
How are you educating your members to ensure there isn’t a barrier to entry?
Much to our surprise, we have been able to resolve “cryo intimidation” thanks to our staff. They use it so much and most of them had never tried it before. By experiencing cryo for themselves, they can share their personal experiences with both members and guests. One of our staff had a resolution of knee inflammation from an old injury in just two sessions. A club member rejoined because cryo is the only thing that helps her anxiety. Now, she’s a member of the staff.
A secondary benefit of staff having unlimited use is it fosters consistent messaging from staff on the benefits of cryo and compression because they know it firsthand.
What are the best practices clubs should keep in mind when offering recovery options?
Keep in mind we were not the ones to force our staff to utilize the cryo and compression. They did it on their own. Now, it’s an employee benefit. The side effect for us is in employee recruitment and retention. We only hoped and are thrilled about how powerful adding these modalities are for creating excitement and increasing sales.
Learn more about Burch Valldejuli and her recovery options, here.
