EDITOR’S LETTER
Cover image: Supplied by Escape Fitness
Subscriptions Denise Gildea +44 (0)1462 471930
Circulation Manager Michael Emmerson +44 (0)1462 471932
Editor
Kate Cracknell +44 (0)1462 471906
Editorial Director Liz Terry
+44 (0)1462 431385
Assistant Editor Katie Barnes
+44 (0)1462 471925
News Editor Tom Walker
+44 (0)1462 471934
Product Editor Kate Corney
+44 (0)1462 471927
Designers Andy Bundy
+44 (0)1462 471924
Ed Gallagher +44 (0)1905 20198
Website Team Dean Fox
+44 (0)1462 471900 Emma Harris
+44 (0)1462 471921 Tim Nash
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Michael Paramore +44 (0)1462 471926
Publisher Jan Williams
+44 (0)1462 471909
Sales John Challinor +44 (0)1202 742968 Astrid Ros
+44 (0)1462 471911
Stephanie Rogers +44 (0)1462 471903 Julie Badrick
+44 (0)1462 471919 David Hunt
+44 (0)1462 471902 Financial Controller Sue Davis
+44 (0)1395 519398
Financial Administrator Denise Gildea +44 (0)1462 471930
Credit Controller Rebekah Scott +44 (0)1462 733477
A broader church
The challenge for operators and suppliers alike has always been how to connect with everyone, ensuring equipment meets the needs of all user groups, and that gym programming caters for all possible audiences. Yet today, as those audiences fragment even further – creating niche markets with ever more incompatible needs – that challenge is tougher than ever. So how can we keep up, delivering an increasingly diverse
offering within one facility? How can we remain relevant to a fi tness-savvy audience that’s getting fi tter than ever, while at the same time encouraging sedentary people to take their fi rst steps into activity? In fact, there’s always been plenty on offer in gyms to get the inactive moving, whether that’s fun,
social activities such as walking clubs or Zumba, or exercise referral schemes for the more seriously deconditioned. The main challenge with this group is getting them through the door in the fi rst place. Just as much of a challenge, however, is how to keep the very fi t coming back for more, preventing them from getting bored and ensuring they continue to see the results of their gym-based efforts. Such members may previously have felt the only option was to increase the amount of time they trained; with this not always feasible, performance often plateaued and engagement levels fell. However, gyms have now latched on to the other key training variable – intensity – with a range of high-intensity programming (HIT) that’s successfully re-engaging this group. That’s all great, but the problem is that HIT,
It’s not just programming and equipment that must address the needs of all groups; communication, both in the sector’s own marketing and in the media, must speak equally to all possible gym-goers
as the latest hot trend, is dominating the headlines, potentially alienating sedentary audiences. And therein lies the problem. As
needs become ever more incompatible, we risk putting people off before they’ve even entered the gym. This was driven home to me by a recent feature on the Telegraph website, which outlined an array of
high-intensity, high calorie burn and apparently increasingly popular workouts – from the US’ Relentless to South Africa’s Sweat 1000 and London-based Frame’s Power Hour. These tough workouts were portrayed as mainstream offerings, with Frame’s founder Pip Black acknowledging that clients’ fi tness levels had soared recently: “When we opened in 2009, our classes were so much easier than they are now.” These are all pretty terrifying messages for a sedentary audience. Will we ever win round non-gym goers if their perceptions are that gyms are even less ‘for them’ than they were before? It’s not that we shouldn’t talk about HIT. However, it’s not only programming and equipment that must
address the needs of all groups; communication, both in the sector’s own marketing and in the media, must speak equally to all possible gym-goers, reassuring them that their needs will be met by whichever facility they choose to attend. A pilot being run at Fitness Club 24 in Poland offers a great example of this. Receptionists and trainers have been divided into teams, each focused on one training goal: weight loss, conditioning and so on. Clients are segmented by goal and all programmes tailored, with like-minded members working out together: Monday circuits for those who want to burn fat, for example. There’s space for the new-to-exercise and the gym-savvy HITters in this model – and with staff segmented, each group receives not only targeted programming, but also tailored messaging and motivation.
Kate Cracknell, editor –
katecracknell@leisuremedia.com / twitter: @HealthClubKate To share your thoughts on this topic, visit
www.healthclubmanagement.co.uk/blog
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