The Complete Guide to Fitness Facility Management

Sarah Bolitho, Paul Conway

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Sport
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781472900562
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Gestión industrial

The Complete Guide to Fitness Facility Management is the must-read guide for any fitness professional who aspires to become a manager. Managing a fitness facility is different to all other forms of management, and requires a range of skills, knowledge and expertise. This book reflects the different needs of this particular market – from legal obligations, staff management best practice, budgeting, marketing and sales, to customer service, health and safety, personnel management and much more. Gym chains and leisure centres are more popular than ever, but it is a cut-throat business of targets and high turnover - learn how to make your business a success, stand out from your peers, and make your mark on the industry. This is the first UK-focused book to outline the skills and knowledge needed to be a successful gym manager - a core manual for any fitness professional with career ambitions and a necessary purchase for managers looking to improve their skills or upskill their staff. This is the essential handbook for fitness professionals promoted to gym management.

THE MODERN FITNESS FACILITY

INTRODUCTION

Part One provides a background to the purpose and context of the book and the role of the fitness manager. In Chapter 1 we look at how the fitness industry has grown from its beginnings with ancient games and contests, to the Women’s League of Health and Beauty in the 1930s, the modern concept of running and jogging (for fun as well as for fitness), through to the freelance instructor teaching a class within a school hall with the ubiquitous – and usually badly put together – cassettes, to the current diversity and availability of fitness centres, franchised or licensed group exercise classes, online videos, retail DVDs and holistic programmes that are offered today.

It then considers how the roles of fitness manager and fitness professional have evolved and developed, together with the birth of the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs), an organisation that aims to promote a high standard of professionalism in our industry.

Chapter 2 considers the wide range of different environments and the many types of fitness facility available that need managing, whether it is the upmarket chains of health clubs or the slightly grubby little room at the back of the boxing club (what is that odd smell?). Just as the range of exercise disciplines has increased hugely over the last few decades from basic keep-fit classes or jogging to Zumba and high-intensity training, so the locations where fitness and exercise is offered has expanded and now includes dedicated fitness centres, health clubs, hotel fitness suites, personal training gyms, and standard gyms as well as the outdoors, home-based facilities – and a resurgence of classes offered in the good old local community centre or village hall.

In Chapter 3 we provide an overview of the operational team that are likely to be in place in a fitness facility and briefly consider their roles, including those of the owner-operator or head office together with the other staff who may be involved in larger facilities. The specific roles of the fitness manager and fitness coordinator are considered in Chapter 4.

Finally we consider the future – and anticipate what trends we might see developing over the next few years.

INTRODUCTION

From the caveman running away from a predator or running towards lunch, the original marathon and the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, to the physical requirements of the military and emergency services and now the focus on activity levels to maintain a healthy life, mankind has always recognised the importance of ‘fitness’. However, the way we approach and accomplish fitness has changed considerably since the days when it was purely a question of survival of the fittest.

In previous times, fitness was achieved by, and related to, the functions and activities we had to carry out in everyday life. Nowadays, and probably for the first time in history, we have created an environment where we have to go out of our way to be active – possibly why so few people actually bother in everyday life – which is why the fitness industry is growing.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FITNESS INDUSTRY

The modern fitness industry has evolved from early caveman seeking food or safety to the ancient Greeks with their halteres – lumps of rock with a hole as a handle used in their games and possibly the original version of the modern dumbbell or kettlebell. There is also the strong influence of the development of gymnastics in the early 19th century and calisthenics in the early 20th century to the more familiar versions of gym and aerobics – in all their many forms – that we see today. The concepts of ‘fitness’ and ‘exercise’ are relatively new ones as our distant ancestors did not need to go to the gym, they chased dinner, ate it, then rested to conserve energy. Even a few hundred years ago our ancestors didn’t need aerobics, they had manual jobs or were employed to do heavy-duty household tasks – or were of a social class where activity was deemed unnecessary. More recently, activity was part of everyday life through walking to work, manual tasks or visiting the shops on a daily basis but this has changed with the rise of the convenience lifestyle – encompassing everything from ready meals to online shopping and the rise of the motor car. The beginnings of the modern fitness movement was starting to emerge in the early 1900s with the first fitness chain opened by the ‘father of bodybuilding’, German-born Eugen Sandow, who called them Institutes of Physical Culture. In the US, the burgeoning fitness trend could be seen in the 1930s through people like Jack LaLanne who opened the first fitness club in 1936 in California, and organisations such as the Women’s League of Health & Beauty created by Mary Bagot Stack in 1930. Mary’s vision was to create ‘a league of women who will renew their energy in themselves and for themselves day by day’. Classes were a mixture of hard work and fun, and the league grew in popularity. Now part of the Exercise Movement and Dance Partnership in England and with a worldwide network, the Fitness League, as it is now known, is still going strong and has adapted well to the modern fitness environment – a testament to Mary’s vision. Following on from these developments, in the 1960s and 1970s in America Dr Kenneth H. Cooper, the ‘father of modern fitness’ introduced the term ‘aerobics’ to the world when he advocated the benefits of regular exercise in disease prevention, stating: ‘It is easier to maintain good health through proper exercise, diet, and emotional balance than it is to regain it once it is lost.’ His message and ideas, based on thorough research and data evaluation, became the model from which modern-day fitness has evolved and continues to thrive.

In the 1980s, the aerobics movement gained huge momentum via Jane Fonda’s (feel the burn) Workout, and her video coincided with the growth of the home VCR, which brought the fitness session to the masses. We had the Green Goddess, Mad Lizzie and Mr Motivator putting us through our paces on television and the new video offerings followed by the growth of the ‘celebrity’ DVD market with media personalities and their trainers jumping on the bandwagon with their various styles of fitness and exercise, including the now ubiquitous ‘before and after’ workouts showing celebrities’ body transformation post-baby, or other dramatic weight loss.

Also in the 1980s, the growth in exercise classes with music in community venues in the UK led by largely untrained people resulted in YMCA Training and Development setting up the first Exercise to Music/Aerobics Instructor courses, so people could learn and become qualified in how to instruct safe and effective classes using music – a must as society became more litigious.

Following the birth of the aerobics instructor and growth of classes, the modern gym also evolved from the boxing gyms of the 1930s through the spit and sawdust, or bodybuilding gyms such as Gold’s, which appeared in the mid-1960s, to the modern fitness facilities that started to spring up in the 1980s and 1990s, then to the range of larger chains that proliferate today. This led to training courses specialising in this new side of the industry – the gym instructor and the personal trainer. Together with the different equipment disciplines and technologies being developed, this has resulted in many different types of fitness facility now available all over the UK, catering for a wide range of users.

While holding a valuable place in modern fitness, the ‘gym’ provides a relatively static environment in terms of variety of provision with cardiovascular equipment, resistance machines and free weights. We may see new equipment such as fit balls, suspension straps, kettlebells, sandbags, ViPR and others, but they are designed to be used alongside the traditional gym rather than instead of it. The group-exercise arena, however, has shown far more change and growth. The old-style studio timetable has evolved from offering just aerobics, and possibly step, classes into a diverse programme of classes that will appeal to a wide range of customers. Classes are no longer restricted to one or two choices usually based on an hour of repetitive movements, or choreography that may change only a couple of times a year – often to the point where the participants knew the routine as well as the instructor – into an exotic mix of classes of different lengths and intensities. We now have body conditioning, Pilates, yoga, multifit, 20 20 20, abs blast and even burlesque classes sitting alongside equipment-based sessions such as circuits, studio resistance, group indoor cycling and suspension training classes. We have fusion-style classes such as Yogalates, Piloxing, Boxercise and Cardio Combat. There are also numerous styles of class that appeal to those who are more concerned with their wellbeing than their fitness, the less fit or mobile including chair-based, relaxation and meditation, yoga and stretch. Add to that the rise of the licensed or franchised group-exercise offerings such as Les Mills and BTS, and the studio becomes a strong selling point for the facility – not just something added on.

There is added competition for the more traditional fitness facilities in the form of new-style franchises such as CrossFit, military-style ‘boot camp’ fitness, Zumba, Bokwa, Just Jhoom and Booyaka, which are run in local community settings – a return to the early days of aerobics perhaps – and which have mass appeal and can attract customers away from a facility, and need to be considered when you are planning or expanding a fitness facility.

As the industry grew, so did the need for some form of governance and control. The Exercise Association started this process, and it is now in the hands of the Register of Exercise Professionals, or REPs. REPs was launched in 2002 as an independent public register that provides a system of regulation for instructors, coaches and trainers to make sure they meet the standards set by the health and fitness industry, the National Occupational Standards. It is an independent public register and aims to promote assurance and confidence in the public and employers of the knowledge, qualification and competence of instructors in performing their role, and to protect them from unqualified trainers. REPs is discussed further in Chapter 11 and 15.

In 1981, an international network for fitness clubs, the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) was formed to promote, protect and grow the health and fitness industry. As of June 2013 it had more than 9,000 members and 600 associate members in over 76 countries worldwide. In the UK, ukactive (previously the Fitness Industry Association) launched in 1991 as growth in the UK market took off.

So what of the future? Without a crystal ball it is impossible to predict the future of the fitness facility, however, one thing is certain, while new and exciting developments will appear (and disappear – remember sliding?) there will always be a core provision of the gym and variations on the aerobics class that keep customers coming. Keeping up with these trends is important – but with caution as you need to make sure anything new is going to appeal to your customers and not just be a fad. Instead, keep ahead of your competition and the market by offering a good range of studio classes, highly qualified and knowledgeable instructors and excellent customer care while keeping up with new trends as they appear.

INTRODUCTION

Health Club Management (2014) states that there are 6,019 fitness facilities in the UK and 8 million gym users. Furthermore, 167 new public and private fitness facilities opened in the period up to March 2013, and this has been up year-on-year since 2010. It is estimated that 12.6 per cent of the UK population use a fitness facility, and this figure has not greatly changed over the last few years – so hanging on to your customers is important. There are many different types of fitness facility, and they tend to fall into four sectors, each with its own aims and target customers. Firstly, the public sector, which includes leisure centres and fitness facilities that are under the control of the local council. Often the local council will run its own fitness centres within a leisure centre or run stand-alone fitness facilities, in which case they are known as a Direct Service Operator (DSO). However, many types of council now outsource the running of the centre to a private company or a trust. This can be beneficial to the council as they can bring in specific expertise to manage the facility, or part of it, to ensure that the highest standards are set as well as the best possible return. A contract between both parties will be in place and will cover leasing terms, who is responsible for overall control of the building, profit-sharing terms, and so on.

Still within the public sector, some schools have facilities that are used by pupils during the school day or term, which then open up to the community outside school hours. These facilities may be outsourced to other parties or organisations on an occasional or regular basis when they are not being used by the school.

Second, the private sector: the national chains and smaller individual clubs or centres, as well as the newer budget-style fitness facilities. These include established companies such as David Lloyd, Fitness First, Virgin Active, Bannatyne’s, DW Sports Fitness, Energie, Greens, LA Fitness, Nuffield Health Fitness and Wellbeing, Total Fitness. These chains have recently been joined by an expanding group of smaller chains that follow a budget plan for delivering fitness and include national chains such as EasyGym, PureGym and the Gym Group, among others. An interesting observation about the growth of the budget clubs seems to be a move away from staffing and running gyms with a fitness manager and fitness instructors, to a gym predominantly being manned by self-employed personal trainers. Additionally, there are a number of small independent operators that may have one site or a few sites in a more local area.

The private sector also includes facilities based in workplaces, hotels and residential developments, which are usually restricted for use by employees, guests or residents.

The third sector includes facilities that are run as charities or on a ‘not for profit’ basis. A charity must adhere to the Charity Commission’s strict guidelines of operation, which include guidance on annual return, trustee reports, good practice and financial procedures. A board of trustees oversees the organisation and has total responsibility for the charity. The trustees do not normally work in the business...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part One The modern fitness facility
• 1 The fitness industry and the rise of the fitness facility
• 2 Fitness facilities
• 3 Key staff
• 4 The management team
• 5 The fitness team coordinator/supervisor
• Part Two The fitness facility
• 6 The gym/fitness suite
• 7 The studio
• 8 Screening, assessment and tracking
• 9 Other areas
• Part Three The core skills
• 10 Management skills
• 11 Staff management
• 12 Customer care
• 13 Managing and building the business
• Part Four The background procedures
• 14 Operating procedures
• 15 Legal obligations
• Appendices
• References
• eCopyright