Yesterday on CTV News, I said that parts of the fitness industry are going to die.
I know a host of gym owners all over the world, and I’ve been saddened to see some of them close their doors. I know that many others are struggling mightily. These are good people in tough times.
I don’t have any contacts in the big-box centers, but I know the Les Mills chain in New Zealand is in trouble, and 24 Hour Fitness is considering bankruptcy. Other chains have had to lay off staff, and I’m sure it’s a dark time. These are generally huge facilities with a lot of rent to cover, and their cash flow is gone.
None of that is good. I want people active and moving, and I don’t care where they do it. I’d like to see more great gyms, not less.
With the “fitness apocalypse” upon us, I thought I’d let you know how 204 is doing.
How Are We?
Generally, we’re good. We feel very confident in our ability to adapt to any situation.
That might be because of our history: We started as a small collection of gear in the back of a 2008 Honda Civic, and the current situation feels like a return to our roots. We made people fitter with one kettlebell a decade ago, and we can help people in their homes now. We’re also really good at the media thing, so broadcasting and communication are right up our alley.
Sure, this has been a very challenging time, but we were 100 percent prepared for it, and we aren’t panicked right now.
We have a long-term plan, and when we were forced to close, we were certain we’d be closed for months, not weeks. We took a measured approach and asked ourselves, “How can we help our members most over the next months?”
With a plan in place, we took the recent government announcement to keep gyms closed in stride, even if our local representatives don’t agree with Georgia Gov. Kemp, who said “there’ll be people in gyms that’ll be a lot safer than they would be going to the grocery store.” We’re in the health business, so we’ll stay onside of all regulations, and we’ve never been a “bare minimum” facility. We always plan to do better than what’s recommended.
As I’ve written before, we knew what was coming because of friends in Asia, Australia and Europe. We’re also part of the Two-Brain gym network. This collection of entrepreneurs funneled all its info to Chris Cooper, who analyzed it and told other business owners what to do as closures spread across the world.
We are not reacting to the government. We’re out front of it. For example, we already know exactly how to meet and exceed the standards put in place by many other governments. When ours catches up, we’ll just say “OK,” fine-tune according to local variations and go about our business.
Adapting to Online Coaching
In reality, the move online was tough only because it required a significant change of service in a very short time. We had to contact each member individually to find out what equipment they had, and we had to set up new login systems and broadcasting procedures. That took a bit of time, and we appreciated the patience of our members.
But we’ve never been afraid of a little work, and after a few long days we had the new system up and running.
I’m incredibly proud of our staff and clients: We didn’t miss a day of training.
The Strongest People in Winnipeg
I’m very grateful for our members. We’ve had to bid a temporary farewell to some, but times are tough everywhere, and we feel for anyone who’s concerned about income right now. Others weren’t interested in online coaching, and that’s totally understandable. It’s not what they signed up for. We love each and every person, and we’ll see you again as soon as the time is right.
For those who wanted to keep training, we challenged ourselves to implement a program that would ensure our members received huge amounts of coaching and could still work toward their goals. We’ve used the lighthouse metaphor a lot because it’s a good one: We wanted to provide a constant point of focus in a storm.
So we talked to our peers to find out exactly what helped their clients most. Then we implemented our plan: customized workouts and daily accountability delivered by a coach. That’s the core of our current program. The Zoom classes are actually a bonus.
See, just about every gym is offering some sort of online class. And if you want to see a supermodel trainer broadcasting a routine from an amazing studio, you can. We can’t compete with that, and we’re not trying to—even if we’re constantly upgrading our Zoom class procedures to make things better.
The core of our current service is coaching. The super-trainer in the studio can’t compete with that, and eventually even the coolest program will stop providing results without customization for the individual.
Our members have at their daily disposal a fitness professional who knows everything about them—their goals, their training history, their equipment, their space, their injuries and mobility limitations, their preferred training times, their nutrition and mental state, and so on.
Customized Coaching
Our coaches get texts like this hourly:
“My ceiling is too low for overhead squats today. Should I do back or front squats instead?”
“I’m struggling with my diet right now. How can I make changes to feel better?”
“I’m feeling really down right now. Can you fire me up to do a workout?”
When we met as a staff as we moved online, personal coaching was our point of emphasis because we knew it would keep our members on track. We thought Zoom classes would be fun, too, and we were thrilled to see that people loved them. But we knew they wouldn’t be as effective as a coach delivering a totally customized program.
We also knew that it would be important to create lots of other events to keep people smiling through isolation and social distancing. That’s where our Good Vibes Challenge came in, as well as various contests (TikTok!), cooking shows, social nights and online presentations from some of the experts in our membership.
In May, we’ve got an online partner competition coming, as well as positivity training, more cooking shows and more special presentations online.
As the lockdown continues, we’re absolutely inspired to see everyone adapting to the current situation. We’re motivating each other, and we’re getting fitter every day. We’re staying together as a community.
Crystal and I would like to thank every single person for their commitment to fitness in a challenging time. You inspire us.
The Future
So what’s next?
Well, we’re going to keep improving our current service. We’re learning more every day, and when a gym owner we know anywhere in the world says “this really helped our clients,” we’re borrowing the idea. We’re also listening to our members and using their feedback to improve.
And we’re planning—always planning.
When we emerge from this crisis, we want to serve clients even better, so we’re using this time to figure out how to do that.
One example: We’re thrilled to add registered dietitian Sheryl Dancho to our team. If you’ve met Sheryl, you’ll already know that this is amazing news.
As I said at the beginning, a lot of things are dying. But if you were at our financial seminar hosted by Scott Madams last night, you’ll know that the world is not ending, and there are lots of opportunities to grow and evolve.
Things will change, but we believe they’ll change for the better. In the meantime, we’re committed to personalized coaching, online delivery and complete customer satisfaction. We still strive to give you the best hour of your day.
As in 2009, we exist to make people fitter and healthier. Nothing about that has changed.
As always, thank you for your support and your sweat!
