This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
The Motor City club (above left and far right) opened in Dubai in May. The Community Clubs (right, and above right) were a strategic acquisition


has always been a signifi cant element for FFME, but over the last 12 months it’s gone up from 35 per cent of members participating to 43–45 per cent. “That combination – a high PT


uptake and high levels of group exercise participation – makes your product very strong. Not only does it allow you to grow revenues across other areas of the business besides new membership sales, but it also drives retention, because once again members are getting a higher level of ‘touch’ in the clubs.” In addition to improving the member experience through higher levels of interaction, have there been any group exercise (GX) innovations that have helped boost participation in this area? “One of the things we’ve introduced is


a new group exercise programme called Futuro T.U.F.F. – The Ultimate Fitness Firster. It’s been designed by our head of GX, Nathan Brown, who’s a former world kickboxing champion,” says Flooks. “Most people exercise in one direction – running on a treadmill, for example – but T.U.F.F. is based on 360-degree training and is all about, as we call it, ‘torching fat’. It’s exclusive to FFME and is now the most popular GX class in the Middle East – more popular than Zumba, more popular than BodyPump. Every single TU.F.F. class is over-subscribed. “It’s great for our PTs too, as they run


the T.U.F.F. classes, so they can build relationships with members in the studio as well as on the gym fl oor.


september 2012 © cybertrek 2012


“We’ve also introduced some great


gym fl oor small group training sessions, from TRX and ViPR to PurMotion” – the latter is a frame-based system, launched in the Middle East and designed by fi ve-time Olympian Jorge Bonnet, which incorporates add-ons that allow up to 10 people to train at one time. These sessions all sound fairly


hardcore, but FFME also offers more familiar GX sessions in an extensive studio timetable. I mention my visit to Kuwait at the end of last year, where obesity levels were frighteningly high and physical activity levels low – even among some club members, such as the ladies who attended every day to meet friends and sit in the spa. Might group exercise be the ‘way in’ for non gym-goers? “For ladies, group exercise is off the


chart,” says Flooks. “It’s similar to what you saw in Kuwait in that, in our ladies- only clubs, ‘club’ is the operative word. Members will spend four or fi ve hours of the day there, have a coffee and cake with


their friends or staff. But they’ll also do lots of classes while they’re there, perhaps back-to-back sessions. We honestly can’t make our GX studios big enough.”


THE 3 ES Botha takes the baton: “But as you say, we do have a massive crisis here in terms of diabetes: one in three people across the Middle East has it. And four countries in the Middle East are listed among the top 10 fattest countries in the world. “So education around the importance


of nutrition and exercise is a critical component of our success – it’s the fi rst of what we call our ‘Three Es’. Money is less of a barrier to exercise here – it’s simply a matter of education, of explaining to people why they need to be active and eat healthily.” Adds Flooks: “We’ve just introduced


a nutritional programme called Health First. It comprises 13 seminars over 13 weeks, educating people about things like portion size, sugars, proteins and


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 49


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134