The Club Insider Archives: February 2018
Workout Anytime Leaders
Bring Vast Experience to the Industry
By: Norm Cates
Norm CatesThe health and fitness club industry is one in which its participants have the opportunity to create great businesses that help people, provide employment for the owners and chosen staff members, and in general, are true assets to any community anywhere. But, a key factor holding back some potential health and fitness club owners/operators is the lack of experience in the club business they would like to be involved with. It's been argued that a new club owner/operator, any individual without experience in the health and fitness club business, has set a very high bar to clear should they decide to take the capital they have available, lease a space, design, build, equip and open a health club. In fact, they are kind of playing what we might call here: Business Russian Roulette.
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Exercise IS Medicine!
By: Mike Alpert
Mike AlpertOver the years, it seems that the number of people who are affected by chronic illness has grown exponentially from when I was a kid. Back then, we never heard of Alzheimer's or Dementia. Obesity rates were so much lower, and so were the offshoots from it. Although people did die from cancer and heart disease, it certainly did not seem like it affected so many people in any community as it does today. And, back then, we ate meat and potatoes; drank whole grade D milk, had eggs several times a week and drank Coca-Cola. And, let's not forget the candy bars that every kid devoured: Baby Ruth, Snickers, Almond Joy, Butterfingers and the list goes on and on. What changed?
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Locker Room Legal Issues
By: Paul R. Bedard, Esquire
Paul R. Bedard, EsquireAlthough most people view a locker room as simply an essential health club amenity, various legal issues involving personal privacy, safety and even potentially illegal discrimination originate from locker room usage and related policies. Whether trying to protect members and guests from voyeurism, the theft of personal belongings or to avoid maintaining a locker room usage policy that may be deemed illegally discriminatory, it pays for health club owners and operators to proactively address these issues.
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Inviting Difficult Conversation
By: Karen Woodard-Chavez
Karen Woodard-ChavezLet's start with a moment of truth. When someone says to you, "We need to talk," what is your first response? Is it, "Absolutely, what would you like to discuss," or is it more of, "Uh-oh, what did I do wrong?" with a sinking feeling of dread? Similarly, what is your feeling when you are the person who is saying, "we need to talk?" If you're one who's inclined to avoid difficult conversations rather than invite them, I urge you to think about the trade-off. You are trading short term comfort for long term dysfunction. Instead, I encourage you to be brave enough to start a conversation that matters. If you do not, you will constantly repeat what you do not repair.
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Eleven Predictions for the Fitness Industry in 2018
Part I
By: Stephen Tharrett
Stephen TharrettOn the eve of each New Year, industry experts and fortune tellers hunker down over their computers studying fitness industry benchmarks and trends, along with cultural and socioeconomic happenings to extrapolate pearls of wisdom in order to forecast, or at least predict, what may happen in the New Year. For these individuals, the goal is to be the voice of the future, an industry prophet of hope and to provide a degree of clarity on what might be expected in the upcoming year, or as T.S. Eliot so eloquently said, "For last year's words belong to last year's language, and next year's words await another voice."
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"In Touch" With Jeramy Fishel
By: Norm Cates
Norm CatesJeramy Fishel, Co-Founder of Instinctive Insights, was born and raised in tech-heavy Seattle, and he was involved in several startups before relocating and joining a pioneering, data-driven marketing company in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2000. After nearly a decade of impressive growth, he went on to manage global market research studies for dozens of Fortune 500 companies and led an international technical sales team for Microsoft. In 2013, Jeramy co-founded Instinctive Insights in Columbus, Ohio. His technical skills, passion, diverse marketing, research and sales experience --the ability to think as both a data scientist and a marketer-- produce unique perspectives and measurable results.
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Bill Dussor, Longtime IHRSA Staff Member, Passes Away
BOSTON, MA - Sadly, we at IHRSA lost one of our own on Saturday, January 13. Bill Dussor, Director of Meetings & Trade Shows emeritus, passed away after a long battle with colon cancer. While Bill was respected and well-liked by the many industry leaders that have served on the IHRSA Board of Directors during his tenure at IHRSA over the past 26 years, the reality is that the vast majority of IHRSA members probably never had met Bill; but if you ever attended an IHRSA event, then you've experienced the fruits of his labor.
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IHRSA to Present Dr. Art Curtis With Dale Dibble Distinguished Service Award
BOSTON, MA - IHRSA, The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association is pleased to announce that the Dale Dibble Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Dr. Art Curtis during IHRSA 2018, the 37th Annual IHRSA International Convention & Trade Show, being held in San Diego, CA, March 21-24, 2018. The award, which recognizes an individual within the Association who has excelled in their contributions to the industry and IHRSA, will be presented on Wednesday, March 21.
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Planet Fitness Expands Global Footprint to Mexico
HAMPTON, N.H. - Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE: PLNT), one of the largest and fastest-growing franchisors and operators of fitness centers in the U.S., announced the upcoming opening of its first club in Monterrey, Mexico. The country's first Judgement Free Zone in Santa Catarina is expected to officially open this spring.
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Visual Fitness Planner Accelerates its Growth Plans by Adding Kevin Bryant
FORT WORTH, TX - VFP, the health and fitness industry's leading provider of software technology solutions, is excited to announce Kevin Bryant will be joining the VFP team. VFP has been hard at work for the last two years developing, refining and testing its new platform and is now ready to introduce the new platform, VFP+, to the industry. Daron Allen, President & CEO of VFP, said, "We are extremely excited about the addition of Mr. Bryant to our sales/consulting team, and the timing could not be better."
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Crunch Fitness Appoints Dan Gallagher to Chief Financial Officer
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Crunch Fitness, the health club chain renowned for fusing fitness and entertainment, announced the appointment of Dan Gallagher as its new Chief Financial Officer. Former CFO of KB US Holdings (Kings Supermarkets and Balducci's Food Lovers Markets) and CFO of Town Sports International Holdings, Inc. (TSI), Gallagher will be an instrumental leader in growing the Crunch brand.
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Norm's Notes for February 2018
By: Norm Cates
Norm CatesHello Everybody! This is your Club Insider Publisher and Tribal Leader Since 1993 checking in with our 290th monthly edition of Club Insider! Justin and I are very happy to be celebrating our 25th Anniversary of Club Insider this year, and we Thank You for being with us here today. And, we Thank You and Appreciate all the other times you've tuned in with us here, either in print or reading Club Insider Online or our Club Insider Weekly eBlasts. Read on as we've produced another blockbuster of edition for you... and here it is... right here and right now!
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