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personal training


Few people join clubs, even fewer get personal trainers, and most PTs don’t survive. Does that really sound like a sustainable model? Scott Hopson shares his thoughts


PERSONAL TOUCH


the last 25 years, there has since been a tremendous growth in number of clubs, number of members, revenue and ancillary services such as personal training, food & beverage, spa and semi-private training. Europe, North America and Asia comprise the real core of the industry, with combined total revenues, clubs and members coming in at US$66bn, 104,480 and 116,516,000 respectively. The top 10 markets account for 72 per cent of all global health clubs, and 78 per cent of total industry revenue. IHRSA’s 2011 Profiles of Success report


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provides detailed information about health club benchmarks and performance. During the third quarter of 2011, the index (results of 17 leading US health and sports club companies, representing a total of 499 facilities) increased 8.4 per


op-level figures for the fitness industry are very positive. A relatively new market, having only truly established itself in


cent as membership dues revenue and non-dues revenue improved by 6.7 per cent and 12.2 per cent respectively. The third quarter of 2011 marked the sixth consecutive quarter of increased performance for the 17 companies in the index. Furthermore, membership accounts for the participating clubs grew by 6.1 per cent for the quarter. Given the economic downturn of


recent years, this all bodes extremely well for our industry – right? Well that would depend on your role within it – and if you are a personal trainer, the positive growth may not include you. Let’s take a look at the stats for personal trainers in the industry, using the US as an example – although in fact the picture in the UK is increasingly similar.


STATS LAID BARE In the US, with a population of 313 million people, approximately 50 million are members of the 29,000 clubs available


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


– thus 15 per cent of the American population join a health club (which does not, of course, mean they actually attend). Of these 50 million members, approximately 6 million try personal training for one or more sessions. This means 15 per cent of all members (in a good club), and a mere 2 per cent of the population, will try or purchase PT. Let’s make this clear: 15 in every 100 members, and two in every 100 people, see value in personal training. Let’s dig further. According to IHRSA, 74 per cent of club revenues come from membership dues and fees, and 26 per cent from ancillary services. Of these ancillary services, PT is the key non due- based revenue stream, accounting for 10–15 per cent of total revenues in high- end clubs and 3–11 per cent in others. Among the most commonly offered programmes by clubs, PT comes in at number one, with a whopping 91.5 per cent of clubs offering the service; fitness


september 2012 © cybertrek 2012


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