Clubs & Studios
Maximizing Your IDEA Membership: Top 5 Most Popular Professional Resources
As fitness professionals, we know that staying ahead of trends, maintaining certification, and building a thriving business are crucial to success. At IDEA® Health & Fitness Association, our mission is…
Fitness Business Challenge and Triumph
Photo credit: Deb Fuller Bettencourt How did the pandemic affect your fitness business? What did you do to rise above and continue to reach and teach your clients? If…
Transform Your Fitness Facility
The traditional fitness facility has typically been viewed as a place to work out and play sports in order to change one’s physical appearance. However, this has shifted. Wellness—which includes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness—has become the buzzword of the decade, and today’s fitness facilities have begun offering a myriad of services, hoping that people will view these locations as the local wellness center. To cover the full wellness spectrum, however, you need to combine forces with other health modalities.
With Gyms Open, Are Clients Ready?
With many gyms open again—some after long closures—IDEA put three questions to five fitness pros from around the country: Are you now operating at full capacity? How are clients adapting as…
New Council Offers Louder Voice for California Fitness Professionals
“Health is essential.” This was one of many key remarks made during a press conference to announce the re-opening of California fitness facilities.
Return to Work: Prepare Your Staff
Are you ready to return to work? Don’t reopen without carefully considering the needs of your staff. They are your customers too!
Connecting With Clients Outside the Club Walls
During challenging times, supporting client fitness, health, and wellness is vital. As a personal trainer, it’s increasingly more important to ensure that your clients are empowered to stay strong, motivated to continue training remotely, and have the tools needed to stay connected to you. As the innovator and leader in sports and fitness technology, Polar has several solutions to help personal trainers connect to clients beyond the club walls.
Three Ways to Keep Your Clients
You know the work it takes to get a new customer in the door. You’re spending money on marketing, time making sure your website listings are right, and energy on promotions and intro offers to get the word out. It’s not easy. But remember—it costs less to keep an existing client than it does to acquire a new one. Getting them to return again and again will help you keep your lights on and your business bustling! With that in mind, let’s look at three actions you can take to retain your clients.
Virtual Group Fitness Classes
Exercising in front of a television, computer screen or mobile device is nothing new. Since the advent of VHS tapes, fitness programs have offered users an opportunity to get their sweat on whenever they choose in the comfort of their home. Over the past several years, however, fitness facilities have leveraged new technology to offer virtual classes on-site in hopes of luring exercisers out of their living rooms and into the group exercise room.
How to Make First-Time Gym Clients Feel Welcome
Your gym should be a welcoming space.
First-timers should feel comfortable—and wanted—walking in and working out or taking classes.
Not only is being welcoming an important part of the human contract, but it’s doubly important for your business. First-time customers, of course, can become repeat customers and even members. Making sure their first experience at your gym or studio is positive is important for your bottom line.
How to Prepare for Shopping’s “Busy Season”
As the holidays approach, so does the three-day Super Bowl of Shopping.
Black Friday (Nov. 29), Small Business Saturday (Nov. 30), and Cyber Monday (Dec. 2) are all circled on any good bargain-hunter’s calendar.
Enticing them can mean a chance to bolster your retail sales. AND, if you present the right deal, you can earn a customer who will return again and again.
Get Out of the Red!
Is your fitness business not performing as well as you’d like? Maybe your fitness facility is experiencing too much turnover, so you’re constantly training new staff instead of taking time to grow your business. Or perhaps your clients are leaving, and you’re losing money because of it. Challenges like these are tough for a business owner. The good news is that you can turn things around. The first step is to determine exactly what your problem is. The second step is to create a plan for change.
Get Your Fitness Business Ready for the Holidays
Whether you’re getting your first frost warnings or temps have dropped from 100 degrees to a balmy 95 where you live, summer is just about over.
That means it’s time to plan for the holidays at your fitness business and the ensuing new year’s rush.
2019 IDEA® World Convention: Igniting Passion With Purpose!
Purpose, passion and people! The fitness industry is all about forging relationships that lift others up. Fitness professionals have energy to spare, and they are dedicated to mentoring new generations of pros, networking with peers, and motivating clients and participants every day.
Transforming Your Fitness Facility Into a Wellness Center
People originally viewed fitness facilities simply as places to work out and play sports in order to change their physical appearance. However, this has shifted. Wellness—embracing physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health—has become the buzzword of the decade, and today’s fitness facilities have begun offering a myriad of services. To cover the full wellness spectrum, however, you need to combine forces with other health modalities.
Career Advancement for Everyone
Thousands of fitness professionals consider the IDEA World Convention to be the best investment they can make to further their careers. That’s largely because the event delivers robust, multilevel education covering all facets of the industry. But there’s more to it than that, according to fitness industry veteran and this year’s IDEA Jack LaLanne Award recipient, Jay Blahnik.
3 Tips to Create Rapid Change in Your Business and Get Out of the Red
If your fitness business is struggling right now, then this is for you. I am going to share with you my three tips to create rapid change in your business and get out of the red. First things first, let’s agree on the three ways to make money in your business. The first is to cut an expense. The second is sign up a new member. And the third is to sell a current member something new.
The Instructor-or-Influencer Challenge: Social Media and Fitness Instructors
Exceptional group fitness instructors are influential. But is their influence an outcome of great instruction or its origin? When group fitness pros apply for a job, practical teaching skills and knowledge of exercise and movement top the list of “must-haves,” so what about social media influence? Is it relevant? It’s becoming more commonplace to judge group fitness candidates on their social media presence, but should this be the case?
Ignite Your Passion and Watch Your Career Thrive at the 2019 IDEA® World Convention
You’re a forward-thinking, highly skilled professional who works tirelessly to Inspire the World to Fitness®. After hustling for clients, teaching countless classes and paying bills, the question is, what do you do for yourself to make sure the passion that drove you to become a fitness leader continues to burn bright?
Build a Better Club or Studio
Whether you’re the owner of a large gym, a small-studio entrepreneur, a mobile personal trainer, or a yoga or Pilates specialist, a basic tenet of keeping your edge sharp with clients is to shake things up frequently enough that they (and you!) don’t get bored. Certainly, that means changing your programming regularly, but it also means looking at your equipment with fresh eyes and considering some new tools for experimentation—all while being judicious about your budget.