Equipped For Results

Stocking a fitness center with the best equipment to meet members’ personalized needs is crucial to a successful fitness program.

by Diana Mirel (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
August 2007
 

 As fitness options continue to come into higher demand at clubs and resorts across the country, properties are realizing that simply plunking a few treadmills and bikes into a small fitness room will no longer cut it. Having a properly equipped fitness room with state-of-the-art machines that cater to all members’ fitness levels and demands will often prove to be key in getting members and guests to forsake separate health club memberships and turn clubs and resorts into their workout rooms of choice.

As a first step in the equipment planning process, clubs and resorts should consider the demographics, goals and fitness levels of their members. The fitness facility at Trilogy at La Quinta (Calif.), for instance, is equipped for an active adult community of people ages 55 or older.

Blue Star Resort and Golf caters to active adults, who are 55 or older, with its equipment.

“With the 55 and up group, you’re going to put in different equipment than you would find in Gold’s Gym or World Gym, where the average age is 25 to 30,” says Michael Santonino, Director of Wellness for Trilogy’s Blue Star Resort and Golf. “We have more people looking at cardiovascular exercise.”

While the Blue Star fitness center is stocked with treadmills, elliptical trainers, recumbent and stationary bikes and an indoor walking/running track, the resort does not ignore strength training. The fitness center also has circuit equipment such as chest press, leg press, lower-back machines and cables and pulleys. The machines are similar to equipment used for physical therapy, with adjustable ranges of motions that cater to a mature clientele.

The facility also has an adjustable upper body machine designed for use by people with wheelchairs. “You don’t have to be in a wheelchair to use it, but there is a seated chair that someone in a wheelchair can easily pull off and wheel right up to, to work their upper body,” explains Santonino.

Clubs unsure about machine usage should build some flexibility into their equipment purchasing and leasing decisions. To ensure that it can make the adjustments that might be need to keep its fitness center properly equipped, Forsgate Country Club in Monroe Township, N.J., negotiated a deal with its equipment provider that allows it to trade in equipment based on usage (or lack thereof).

“If we find out that we don’t have enough treadmills, but the stair steppers aren’t en vogue, we can do a trade-in,” says General Manager Det Williams. “We’ve negotiated [the ability to leave] that open, so we can continue to tweak the needs within the equipment. If we have too much strength equipment, we can reduce that if we want more stretching equipment.”
Additionally, strategic placement of machines will further personalize a facility for members. Making the most popular pieces the focal point of the room can encourage more usage. “If you’re a female walking into a facility and the first thing you see is a bunch of ‘bicep boys’ with dumbbells, you’re not going to be encouraged to look at the rest of the facility,” says one industry expert. “Try to market the most popular pieces of equipment.”

A Perfect Balance
After surveying members to find out what machines and programs they are looking for in a fitness facility, it is important to design a good balance of activities. “You have to get your cardio in; you have to have resistance or strength training; and you have to have flexibility training,” says Kelly Michael, Director of Fitness at Red Mountain Ranch Country Club in Mesa, Ariz. “You should offer a wide selection of equipment to meet the needs and fitness goals of your members.”
If a club or resort does not have enough space to include all three, cardio equipment is typically the most important element to have, followed by strength and then flexibility. Treadmills are typically the single-most popular piece of equipment in fitness centers, followed by elliptical trainers, stair steppers, recumbent bikes and stationary bikes.
“Treadmills are at the top of the list,” says Jim Brand, General Manager of the Bradenton (Fla.) Country Club. “People are going to run or walk on a treadmill as they watch TV forever.”

Bradenton CC replaces its treadmills each year and elliptical trainers every other year, to ensure that the equipment is up-to-date and to cut down on maintenance.

At Bradenton CC, Brand reports, cardio equipment, and specifically the treadmills and elliptical trainers, are the most popular pieces in the facility, particularly with women. “For cardio, I would say it’s about 60/40, women to men, on both the treadmill and elliptical trainer,” he says. While the women may be a bit more into cardio, he adds, the male members utilize the club’s strength training areas more often.

For strength training, circuit equipment that works different muscle groups continues to be popular in clubs and resorts. Bradenton CC’s eight-station circuit training area features machines that work the chest, shoulders, legs and arms, offering members and guests a “one-stop shop” for their weight training needs.

“People can actually get a good workout all the way around the stations in that one trainer, and that seems to be more popular now than it was five years ago,” says Brand.

New technology is also helping to make circuit training even more popular and user-friendly. Trilogy at La Quinta, for example, utilizes a sophisticated computerized coaching system that allows members to input their personal codes into each weight machine to find out how many reps they did, and at what weight level, the last time they were on the machine.
In addition to circuit equipment, free weights are an important piece of the fitness puzzle. “You can’t open a fitness center without having free weights,” says Michael. A wide range of dumbbells can provide just the variety men and women need for their workouts.

While Brand hesitated when members requested free weights in the fitness facility, he’s found that they’ve become very popular. “I hesitated at first because without a spotter or director on hand, it could be dangerous if you’re lifting or bench-pressing by yourself,” he explains. “But generally, most of our people come in at earlier hours to do weights, or they come in with a partner, so someone will be there to help them.”

Keep Them Ticking
While treadmills are typically the most popular pieces of equipment in fitness centers, they also require the most maintenance, because they get the most wear and tear. “Machines do not last long, which is unfortunate, but true,” says Michael. “On usage, you could probably get about 7,000 miles out of a treadmill.”

Bradenton replaces its treadmills each year, not only to ensure that the equipment is up-to-date, but also to cut down on maintenance. The club replaces its elliptical trainers every other year. In contrast, much of the strength training equipment requires very little maintenance, aside from regularly lubricating the rods.

Many clubs purchase a maintenance contract with equipment manufacturers to ensure that the machines are properly maintained. “We have a monthly maintenance schedule with the machine manufacturers,” Santonino reports. “They come out every single month and check each of the machines to make sure they are working properly. They oil them, look at the treadmill belts, and make sure that all the boards on the treadmills and ellipticals are working properly.” Along with preventive maintenance, a maintenance contract allows clubs to simply call the manufacturer if a problem arises.

Of course, plenty of maintenance can be done in-house, as well. Most importantly, cleaning machines is a must. “If you do not keep your machines clean, people’s sweat will eat them up; they’ll just rust right through,” says Michael.
When something goes wrong with a machine, members should know where to report a problem. “As part of our rules, members are not allowed to try to fix machines,” says Michael. “They may break and members think they can fix them, but no; as soon as something goes wrong, they must call us.”

Buying vs. Leasing
There’s no getting around that equipping a fitness center properly will have its price. “Your money is going to be dropped in the treadmills, ellipticals and circuit equipment,” says Michael. Cardio machines tend to be the most expensive pieces, followed by circuit equipment, free weights and then resistance and flexibility equipment.

Cardiovascular equipment can range from $2,000 to $8,000 per piece, with standard stationary bikes running in the $2,000 range and high-end treadmills running about $5,000 to $6,000. Circuit equipment can range from $2,500 to $5,000.

While Trilogy currently purchases all of its equipment, high price tags have the company considering a leasing program down the road. “The outlay of cash is huge,” says Santonino. “The [computerized coaching system] alone is $100,000. Each piece of equipment is anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000. If you get 10 pieces of cardio, that’s over $50,000. So, we are looking at leasing.”

Leasing can not only lower costs in some cases, but also allow clubs to replace and update equipment easily. But purchasing equipment can provide greater discounts in the long run.

“In the initial purchase I received a huge discount, and that made my mind up real quickly,” says Brand of his decision to buy. “Rather than lease over a period of time for $70,000, I purchased my equipment in the area of $40,000 to $50,000. From that point on, I have just replaced items as needed. So, in the long run, it was cheaper, at least for our club.”