Fitness Equipment Primer

How to get your fitness center in top shape.

by Erin Brereton (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
May 2008
 

In the late 1990s, consultants found that fitness was an area of solid potential growth for The Briar Club in Houston—so it replaced its 3,000-sq.-ft. workout center with an even larger building containing 7,000 square feet of fitness space.

It wasn’t just a new gym; it was a new beginning.

"The club wanted to provide a template and statement for moving forward," says Richard A. Lareau, General Manager/Chief Operating Officer. "The new building set the tone for all future phases of our four-phase master plan."

Yes, it’s true—treadmills can now mean that much to members (and prospects). But to maximize your club’s workout area, no matter how big it may be, you still need to carefully consider space, equipment, and upkeep—and always make sure your fitness center is in as solid a shape as your members.

Sizing Up Member—And Market—Needs

And not all clubs, of course, can support a giant athletic complex—either in terms of space or member interest. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still offer something as a convenience for the people who are already on your property.

The five-year-old fitness center at White Columns Country Club in Alpharetta, Ga., for example, is just about 400 square feet—enough room to feature two treadmills, two bicycles, free weights and a limited amount of other equipment.

"To us, it’s more of an amenity to have available," says Scott Renner, General Manager. "We have quite a few large fitness clubs located within 10 minutes that provide all the options, and many of our members belong to one of them. But for convenience, this is a good place to go, too."

White Columns placed its workout area away from the main clubhouse, where formal dress is required, to make it easier for members to slip in and out for a quick workout.

More and more, though, clubs are finding that if they can find a way to provide enough fitness space on site, they can entice members to make their property the workout location of choice.

"A lot of our members also belonged to one big fitness center in town," reports Chad McAnally, Athletics Director at Haile Plantation Golf and Country Club in Gainesville, Fla. "But they were saying, ‘We’d love to work out at your center more.’"

That prompted Haile Plantation to open a new fitness center in December 2006, using 1,700 square feet that formerly housed two racquetball courts. While that was twice the workout space previously made available to members, it still didn’t take much for it to become crowded, as more members began to use it. That put a premium, McAnally says, on making the right decisions about equipment.

"We still had space limitations," he reports. "A small group of men wanted barbells and a bench.Much to their displeasure, we found that the vast majority of members were unlikely to use that equipment—so we decided we couldn’t afford to add it at the expense of things everyone could use."

So, following an important cardinal operating rule of club fitness—you just can’t please everybody—Haile Plantation added seven cardio machines, dumbbells of up to 50 pounds, a strength-training system and other apparatus, as its solution for filling its available space with the best possible mix of equipment for the widest possible use.

The Briar Club in Houston replaced its 3,000-sq.-ft. workout center with an even larger building containing 7,000 square feet of fitness space.

Everything in Its Place

While setting up or updating a fitness space isn’t easy, help isn’t hard to find. "A fitness resource company was able to tell us what we needed to have, where it needed to be located, and what the best way for people to get in a workout and move from station to station was," Renner says.

"Most of the equipment manufacturers and sales places have online programs where you can see how the layout will look," adds McAnally. "I had about six different layouts, and then we determined how things would work with the TVs."

Even after a large assisted chin-up machine had to be scrapped, because it wouldn’t disassemble to get through the front door, the problem led to a solution Haile Plantation hadn’t planned for—more much-needed floor space for exercise buffs.

McAnally cautions, however, that you should carefully assess equipment that promises to save space by giving members more than one workout. "A dual-function, inner- and outer-thigh machine was a great concept for a gym of our size, " he reports. "But [it proved to be] like a ‘one size fits all’ T-shirt; it never really fits anybody."

Working In New Equipment

Because fitness is a hot growth market, keeping up with the latest equipment trends and introductions can be a full-time job in itself. Attending fitness conferences and scouring specialized trade publications has helped The Briar Club staff find out about new equipment that would be popular in its new space, such as stationary bikes with video screens that let users "race" other people in the room—or other online users around the world. Lareau is hoping to eventually get six or eight of these bikes, which could also be used for spinning classes.

Not all of the latest or trendiest equipment pieces are sure to connect with members, though, especially in a club setting. The Briar Club discovered this was the case last year after buying three "wave" machines, which work leg muscles with a skiing-like motion.

"It was a lesson in how we needed to really tune into our demographic," Lareau says. "It is probably very popular in gyms with 25- to 35-year-olds, but our mean age is 45. I ended up trading out two of them after eight months.

"What it taught us was to get new equipment in, advertise it as something we’re thinking of bringing in, and then have people try it for two weeks, to help decide if it’s going to be used enough to keep," he reports.

White Columns CC, which views its 400 sq. ft. fitness center as more of an amenity, placed the workout area away from the main clubhouse (where formal dress is required), to make it easier for members to slip in and out.

Finding the Comfort Zones

Because clubs skew to an older demographic, just getting people into your gym can be a major challenge. "We’re focusing on bringing in Baby Boomers," says Lareau. "Especially people who know they should work out, but aren’t."

Here, too, the club has discovered it can let new equipment do a lot of the heavy lifting. "How do you attract the deconditioned?" Lareau asks. "By taking the drudgery of fitness out of the picture. The equipment now is softer, benches are more comfortable, and the designers are using more color."

In club situations where staffing is always tight, providing easy access during unattended periods is also key. "We have a locked door with code entry, so members can enter when they want to," says White Columns’ Renner. "And we still have them sign in, so we know who’s going in and out, and when."

Hygiene and cleanliness—especially in a private club environment—must also be a "number-one consideration," Lareau says. To keep fitness centers clean, many clubs make sure that disinfectant and towels are readily available, and ask members to wipe down machines after use. The Briar Club’s housekeeping staff also cleans the fitness room throughout the day.

"Each staff member has been assigned certain areas," says Lareau. "We have a sign and photo of the staff member, to say, ‘This is Roy’s equipment.’ This gives all of the staff ownership, builds relationships between them and members, and creates greater awareness among the members to help them out."

For larger issues, such as repairs, adhering to regular maintenance schedules ensures equipment will always be in top working order. Haile Plantation has its staff routinely inspect machines for cable damage and mechanical issues, as part of "a lot of [general maintenance] we do on our own," McAnally says. "We have someone offsite do repairs, on an as-needed basis."

Establishing, and sticking to, a firm timetable for replacing machines—in The Briar Club’s case, every three years—is also important, to avoid the perception that a club’s fitness center has fallen behind in the fast-changing world of workouts.

To compete effectively, then, today’s club fitness centers have to be high-tech, high-energy—and also high-maintenance. But putting in the right amount of effort is well worth it, because the effect on membership can be huge.

"We added fitness to provide the full services of a country club," Renner says of White Columns’ experience. "We started small and had less than 200 members at the time. We thought that as we grew as a club, we’d grow our fitness facility."

Even with such a small fitness area, however, Renner says that adding the amenity has already helped to fuel growth. "We now have more than 400 members, and are looking at building a new clubhouse," he reports.

At the other end of the scale, a large and engaging full workout facility like The Briar Club’s is promoting more than just healthy living—it is proving to be one of the best ways to inspire member loyalty.

"Fifteen perfect of [our new members] are joining because of the fitness center," Lareau reports. "But the most significant thing it has done is to reverse the turnover trend we used to experience, of 70 to 90 members a year. The fitness center has provided a purpose, a value, and a reason to stay to members whose children are grown. Now, just 40 leave a year."