About Justin Cates

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The 2010 IHRSA Awards
March 2010 - Each year, during the annual IHRSA Conference and Trade Show, well-deserved awards are given to individuals and companies exhibiting qualities that are the best our industry, as well as communities, have to offer. This year was no different, and our industry should be proud of those selected to receive these awards. Read Article...

The Amazing Greta Wagner
Leader of the Sports Center at Chelsea Piers
January 2014 - Entering the New Year of 2014, I've now had the privilege of conducting cover story interviews and authoring cover story articles for half a decade. In that time, I have had the honor of speaking and corresponding with many incredible industry leaders, and frankly, some true legends. Throughout that time and experience, I have been most fascinated by a natural phenomenon that occurs with so many of those cover story subjects. That phenomenon is: one's personal background and upbringing carries forward later in life into their careers, and what they accomplish in our industry just makes sense when coupled with who they are, as described by them. Read Article...

The Apple Athletic Club
Always the Place People's Lives are Enhanced
May 2011 - The Mission Statement... What is it, and what's in it? Is it the purpose for a company's existence or a guide for how to operate? Is it overly detailed or broad in scope? Who writes it, and is there accountability for it? Once it's written, how public is it and in what ways? These are all great questions for any company to ask during the formative steps of initial development. These are also great questions for a seasoned company looking for a new way of doing business to ask itself in an effort to improve. Read Article...

The Club Insider Advertising Team
Your Connection to the Best!
October 2013 - This special edition of Club Insider completes our 20th full year of publication (See 21 Years and Counting! on Page #3). Moving forward, we would be remiss if we did not give the proper credit to a group of companies that has made the continued publication of Club Insider possible. That group of companies is The Club Insider Advertising Team: Your Connection to the Best. Read Article...

The Club Insider Advertising Team
Open For Business and Ready to Assist Yours!
June 2020 - In March of this year, the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Coronavirus Crisis, reached the United States of America, and it changed all of our lives. Our booming economy shut down almost overnight. Our sense of freedom was restricted. Our future became uncertain. A few months have now gone by, and the task of reopening is upon us. Life will not be normal for a long time, but we are now playing the hand we have been dealt as best we can. We are innovative and resilient. We will win as best we can until we can win absolutely once a vaccine has been found and distributed worldwide. Through these tough times, Club Insider has tried to do its part with our coverage of the pandemic. For the first time in our history, we dedicated not just one but two complete editions to one topic: COVID-19 and how it is affecting the health and fitness club industry. Read Article...

The Club Insider Advertising Team
Dedicated Leaders in a Great Industry
August 2021 - IHRSA 2021 is on the horizon, and we are beyond excited to soon be reunited with our friends and colleagues from around the industry in Dallas, Texas, October 13 - 15. If you haven't booked your air, hotel and registration, do so today by going to ihrsa.org/convention! This is the event you do not want to miss. To that end, kicking off our IHRSA 2021 coverage, and doing our part in serving the loyal advertisers who have helped Club Insider survive the pandemic thus far, we want to provide a must-meet list while you are attending IHRSA 2021. Read Article...

The Eagle Has Landed
August 2023 - As much as I wanted to be, I was not a child of the Apollo era... the Apollo Missions I mean. Instead, the names I became accustomed to were: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and now, Artemis. Watching the Space Shuttle Missions over the years was incredible, but sadly, on two occasions, they were devastating. However, this did not deter my curiosity of how it all came to be: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Over the years, I became as much a student viewer of the past as a hopeful observer of the future. Of course, particularly, I gravitated to Apollo 11. Who didn't!? Read Article...

The GENAVIX Wellness Network
A Model for the Future
September 2017 - Last year, in our November 2016 Cover Story, we featured Mike Benton's Executive Health and Sports Center (EHSC), located in Manchester, New Hampshire. In the course of that story, Mike introduced us to the GENAVIX Wellness Network, which at its core, is a new business model for our industry that bridges the gap between health club members, health care practitioners and health insurance carriers. By shifting the health insurance fee paradigm from fee-for-service to fee-for-value, an atmosphere for creating real and measurable results has been created. Now, the facilities that are joining this growing network are experiencing something our industry has been seeking for decades: the integration of health and fitness facilities, health care practitioners and health insurance carriers into a cohesive system that provides results for the end user. In short, GENAVIX is the foothold in helping our industry become a real and recognized part of the health care system. Read Article...

The Health & Fitness Association
Finishing 2024 Strong!
October 2024 - Since the March 2024 announcement of IHRSA changing its name and rebranding to become the Health & Fitness Association (HFA), thus redefining/focusing its Mission for this industry, the organization has been on an absolute roll! We have reported on numerous Association announcements and news items throughout the year since this occurred. But, the past month has been a whirlwind, and HFA will end 2024 as strong as ever, setting the stage for a grand 2025. Read Article...

The Newtown Athletic Club
A True Community Within a Community
May 2010 - What do you do best in your health and fitness club business? Is there one thing, two things or many things? Do you try to make your club be everything to everyone? Or, do you capitalize on your strengths? Read Article...

The Science of Club Marketing
With Advice From Club Marketing Pros - Part I
August 2016 - As health and fitness professionals, we know the formula to a healthy lifestyle. It's not really that complicated. Yet, our industry has developed around it, and it keeps us all employed in a profession we love. Stripping that formula to its simple core, it consists of eating and drinking the right things in the correct amounts, staying active with appropriate exercises in the proper form and resting the body adequately after exertion. Now, in 2016, it's no secret that the end users of our industry know what used to be our secret... the formula, as well. So, why do they continue to include our industry in the mix instead of doing it on their own? The reason is because knowledge and execution are two very different things. Read Article...

The Science of Club Marketing
With Advice From Club Marketing Pros - Part II
September 2016 - In Part I of this cover story on club marketing, we heard from some long-time marketing pros: Derek Barton, Owner of Barton Productions; Rich Boggs, CEO; and Terry Browning, President, of MOSSA; Nancy Terry, Senior Vice President of Marketing of Sport&Health. This month, in Part II, we complete the cover story with additional insights from: Jon Butts, President of Muscle Up Marketing; Tracey Bourdon, Marketing Coach at Susan K. Bailey Marketing & Design; Daniela Spaid, Director of Marketing and Public Relations of Fitness Formula Clubs. Within this cover story, we hope you find some excellent information and techniques to implement in your club business. Read Article...

The St. James
"Welcome to Your Best"
June 2021 - Growing up, in addition to school, I was a three-sport athlete. Depending on the time of year, I would sometimes go to three practices in one day. Or, a practice and a game. Or, some combination, thereof. This was before I could drive, so it was up to my parents to get me from one thing to another, and each location was certainly not next door to each other! Looking back, with both my parents being entrepreneurs, each with his/her own business, I do not know how they did it! I sure am glad they did though, because those experiences affected the direction of my life in a highly positive way. I am not a parent yet, so I have not had the opportunity to experience what magic it takes to balance time, and likely sanity, in such a way. However, this month's cover story subjects certainly have, and they are doing something about it. Their names are Craig Dixon and Kendrick Ashton, and their facility, The St. James, is a dream come true for anyone who has experienced what I have written about in this introduction. Read Article...

Todd Magazine and Blink Fitness
Striving to Make "Every Body Happy"
September 2016 - The landscape of the health and fitness club industry today is vastly different than it was only ten years ago. At that time, the rise of the high-volume, low-price (HV/LP) segment was in its relative infancy but growing steadily on the merits of what the model proposed to its consumers. Enter the Great Recession, and the pace increased as many consumers in higher-end segments made personal budget adjustments to reflect their new economic realities. Today, well into economic recovery, there seems to be a new HV/LP option every other week, and as would be expected, segmentation within the segment has begun. Led by Todd Magazine, Blink Fitness strives to be the leader in the higher-end of the HV/LP segment. Read Article...

Todd Smith and Las Vegas Athletic Club
Continuing the Smith-Palluck Legacy
June 2016 - Among Club Insider's Mission and Objectives, being a reporter and guardian of the health and fitness club industry's history is paramount in supporting those tasks. In January and February of 2002, Club Insider Publisher, Norm Cates, reported on and forever locked into our publication's archives the story of Rudy and Virginia Smith across a 2-part cover story. Already having completed a legendary career with more than 100 years of experience between them, Rudy and Virginia took on the task of transforming a 4-club chain known as Las Vegas Athletic Club (LVAC). Across the totality of their careers, their list of colleagues, business associates and team members reads like a Who's Who list of the most well known industry pioneers and legends, to whom we all owe so much. Todd Smith, along with his brother, Chad, were deeply entrenched in this industry from their own early days, and those whom they were exposed to and learned from during their developmental years ensured a long-term future in the industry their parents helped build and loved so much. Read Article...

Tom Hatten
and The Mountainside Way
April 2015 - Entrepreneurship is a powerful thing. Like any great power, though, not just anyone can effectively wield it. It takes a very specific type of person to do so. In the world of business, so many have tried, but only a fraction of those who have done so can say they have truly succeeded in taming the beast that is business. Like any beast that is cornered, though, it will try to find a way to change the game in order to escape. Those who cannot adapt to that change are then sometimes consumed by it, even if the future looked bright and they were comfortable just beforehand. Read Article...

Tom Rhind and Power Wellness
Forging Ahead in the Health Care Frontier
July 2015 - On a daily basis, we read and hear conflicting reports about the growing successes of our industry versus the long road we have to go in order to change the dismal healthcare future so many studies and pundits say we have awaiting our society. As an industry, we have come a long way. Over the years, Club Insider has chronicled many stories that define our industry's history, good and bad. In 1999, IHRSA defined the 50 Million (Members) by 2010 campaign. This industry has proudly reached and surpassed that goal, defining our industry, and hopefully, ensuring its future. For every wonderful statistic we add to our industry's resume, though, others come to light reinforcing how far we have to go. Nonetheless, we cannot forget where we have come from and where we are going. Read Article...

Trees, Turkeys and Club Insurance
November 2014 - It's that time of year again. Halloween has come and gone, it's getting cold out and the Holidays are upon us. I can already smell the freshly cut trees and freshly cooked turkey. However, so too is the need to prepare your club for the new year. There are a myriad of things to prepare for every new year, but there is one key item you can get done even before you hang your decorations! That key item is updating your club's insurance. Read Article...

URBN Playground
Lessons From the Field of Amenity Management
August 2019 - During my time studying the art of management at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, one of my favorite thought exercises was to be assigned two companies that seemingly had nothing to do with each other and use one to develop ideas that could help the other. At first sight, we are blinded by the traditional product or service a company might offer. This is tunnel vision, and the remedy is to develop a wider view. Like zooming out on the microscopic cells of the human body or the stars of the cosmos, a much bigger picture is revealed. From there, connections once unseen can be made. Read Article...

VASA Fitness
The Rise of HV/LP 3.0
January 2019 - The year is 2014, and 17 Utah-area Gold's Gyms are operating as they have been for years. The iconic black and yellow are on the walls, the main gym area is bustling, and the available amenity areas are adding value. Enter 2015, and those 17 gyms are now the founding locations of VASA Fitness, having completed a Herculean conversion and rebrand effort to complete the year. At the time, having the Gold's Gym name across an array of locations, it would seem that Founders, Scott and Lynette Felsted, risked everything to bring the vision of their own brand, VASA Fitness, into existence... But, it paid off! Now, five years later, those 17 re-branded locations are almost 40 and ushering in the next phase of the High-Value, Low-Price (HV/LP) evolution. Read Article...

VFPnext...
From the Industry, For the Industry
March 2022 - The world is a different place now than it was two years ago, and as such, the health and fitness club industry is a vastly different place, as well. Now, imagine twenty years! Many of the technologies we know today did not exist or were at levels of development that they are unrecognizable today. Additionally, and because of technology, customers have changed. Simply, they expect more, and to succeed, we must deliver... all the time. Just over twenty years ago, Visual Fitness Planner (VFP) was ready to blast off, and blast off it did!!! What began as a software tool that allowed people to physically see themselves in advance of their fitness journey has turned into an end-to-end Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system called VFPnext. In this new world, the companies who are able to attract, sell to and then seamlessly serve customers from end-to-end will retain those customers. The customer bases builds and builds over time, and greater successes are achieved. Read Article...

VillaSport
The Only Place Where Fitness, Family and Community All Come Together
September 2014 - I will admit that I am quite the movie fan. Watching movies at home is fun and enjoyable (especially if you have a nice home theater setup), but it is not the same as going to see a new release currently in theaters. From the moment you walk through the doors of a local cinema, until the time you leave, the experience has been tailored to make it worth the money spent for a ticket. The smell of the popcorn, the previews for upcoming movies, the sound and sights of the main feature... All of it strives to culminate into a worthy experience, making price irrelevant. Read Article...

Where Do We Go From Here?
February 2021 - The first U.S. cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed just over a year ago. The anniversary of the devastating lockdown is coming soon. And, yet, reported pandemic statistics are worse than ever. To that end, depending on the State, safety regulations and/or additional lockdowns still exist, further exacerbating what is already a nearly untenable situation. So, that begs the question: Where Do We Go From Here? Read Article...

World Gym Taiwan
All-In, Winning and Winning BIG!
February 2020 - Since my college years, I have enjoyed playing the game of Poker. As an amateur, I've played in numerous medium-stakes tournaments over the years (maybe a few cash games, too). The game is exciting and fun, but it can also be extremely nerve-racking, especially if you go "All-In" (betting everything for the chance to survive then maybe winning big). Playing Poker, you will learn things about yourself, and if you really study, you will learn things about others and how to read all types of people. Going All-In in Poker, however, is very different than going All-In in life. In Poker, yes, there is plenty of skill involved, but there is also blind luck that can tip the scale. In life, once again, skill is required to place yourself or a business in the right positions for success, but I don't believe that 'blind luck' is the right term to describe fortune that befalls one who has put themselves in those positions for success. In other words, in life, one makes their own luck through pure determination, drive and the will to win. Read Article...

Xponential Fitness
The Curator of Leading Boutique Brands
September 2021 - During my time at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, Scientific Management was one of my favorite subjects and one that I excelled at. Further, my favorite topic within the subject was that of assembly lines. The breakdown of a process into small, duplicative parts that can be performed efficiently over time was something that just resonated with me. In business, and life really, I've continued that study. This month's cover story subject is Xponential Fitness, founded in 2017, and led by Founder and CEO, Anthony Geisler. The company is a machine, plain and simple, and as such, there is much to study and learn from. Read Article...

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