Les Mills: Develop the Best Studio You Can Afford

Guidelines for functional and experiential studio design

by Laura Watilo Blake (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
June 2007
 

Les Mills Group Fitness System takes the headache out of group fitness programming by offering a series of eight pre-choreographed exercise classes, which are now offered in 10,500 fitness clubs around the world. Les Mills certifies instructors to teach the various programs, which are easy for class participants to follow. The Les Mills team also makes studio design easier with these instructions for an operationally effective space:

• Cost per head: If an instructor costs $30 per class and you can only accommodate 15 people in a studio, you can only achieve a cost per head of $1.50 at maximum-capacity usage. Make sure the studio will accommodate enough people to increase attendance and reduce the cost per head. Les Mills recommends a minimum capacity of 30 to 40 people in a main group exercise studio.

• Space per attendee: For most classes in the Les Mills program, 43 square feet should be available for each attendee. For spinning classes, a space of 21 square feet per bike for participants is enough.These guidelines will make a class comfortable, but you can always squeeze a few more in, if necessary.

• Stage for instructors (non-cycling classes): If there are more than three rows of attendees, you will need a stage, so participants beyond the third row can see the instructor easily. The minimum recommendations for a stage are: 6.5-foot depth, 8.2-foot width and 0.8-foot height. This implies 53.8 square feet for a single instructor to teach comfortably on stage. However, this stage size can accommodate two instructors for team teaching, if they adapt the range of their movements to the available space.

• Stage for instructors (cycling classes): If you have only one row of bikes in your studio, you do not need a stage. But for rooms with more than one row and fewer than 40 bikes total, Les Mills recommends 24 square feet for the stage: 4.9-foot depth, 4.9-foot width and 0.66-foot height. This implies 16 square feet for each instructor on stage, excluding the stereo. This is because the instructors’ bikes are placed very close together on stage, to enhance the feeling of riding in a pack.The depth of the stage will be bike-dependent.

For more information about Les Mills programs, visit www.lesmills.com .


See related stories:
Feeling the Burn
The “Formula” for Fitness Success