Health Clubs as "Experience" Centers
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Eric Durak, MSc
In most businesses (it should be all businesses), relationships are key to enhancing business models. The old adage that, "doing business with people you like," goes a long way to moving forward. In the health club sector, having a good "experience" is about as key to the business as any new equipment or clean bathrooms or plenty of parking. The fact that they are part of the great experience is paramount to clubs. But, it is important to understand what the current experience is and what other types of experiences may be used that will enhance the experience above that of just "renting equipment."
This means a higher caliber of staff, from trainers to nutritionists to massage therapists to front desk workers. All those who work at clubs should be thinking of themselves in the "experience enhancement" business. People who come to a club for the first time with little to no expectations should leave with the mindset of returning to achieve goals, meeting new people and learning lots of interesting things from the staff. Any club can do it, and many are. In this article, we will be diving into some of the interesting experiences that clubs are now offering.
- Changes in Health Clubs in General: Over the past couple of decades, clubs have moved from only weight training to aerobic machines, exercise classes and amenities. Even moderately priced clubs now have space in their locations for hydromassage, massage therapy, chair massage, tanning beds and other therapies, such as red light. It's not uncommon to see meditation classes, stretching programs and mind-body enhancement as a part of many clubs. They are moving in a direction in which clients may retain their membership because of their experience.
- Precision Wellness: One of the newer aspects of therapy that should be taking the health club industry by storm is precision wellness or the application of heat, light, cold, vibration, sound or other frequencies to heal the body. My first experience with precision wellness at Cerulean Advanced Wellness in Scottsdale, Arizona introduced me to Nano Vi (using exclusion zone water to enhance cellular health), compression sleeves (pressure sleeves to enhance circulation), cryotherapy (high level cold for healing) and hyperbaric chambers (using pressure to enhance therapy for a number of medical conditions). Collectively, these types of therapies can allow persons with medical conditions, or just being out of shape, to experience the health club in a "phase I" program that will help enhance their health and get them ready to exercise in programs. This all while giving another opportunity for the club to deliver new types of technologies that are safe, have no side effects and are also profit centers, which may give management more incentive to investigate what may be the best types of precision wellness programs for their clubs.
- Food and Nutrition: For many years, health clubs have shied away from doing any nutritional programs, as they felt it was not part of their Mission. Today, I am happy to see that specialty clubs are working with supplement companies and promoting products that will help with muscle gain and overall health. Clubs are also employing nutritional specialists to help persons with their food issues as they develop an exercise program. Enhancing Behavioral Health: One of the fastest growing maladies in our health care system is behavioral health issues. From depression to self-sabotage, there are almost too many issues to manage. Traditional health care services provide individual and group counseling, and of course, medications. With people being at home during the pandemic, some of these conditions worsened by large gaps. The good news is that exercise is one of the best ways to improve depression, enhance self-esteem and self-efficacy, and reduce feelings of fatigue and low energy that accompany many behavioral diagnoses. With that in mind, health clubs should be playing a role in developing exercise programs that directly show improved outcomes for behavioral-related issues.
- Medically-Based Fitness: I have spoken about and will continue to speak on medically-based exercise as the foundation of future health club offerings, now and in the future. It will continue to bring in persons referred from physicians, or those who come to clubs because they have heard of some of the medical fitness programs that may benefit their health. In any case, using some type of medically-based wellness program will move good health clubs to great and change the scope of how health clubs are viewed by allied health, by physicians and by the community at large.
In Conclusion
One of finest examples of an experience-based health club is The Marsh in Minnetonka, Minnesota (See Cover Stories on The Marsh in the Club Insider Archives at www.clubinsideronline.com/archives). My first visit to The Marsh in the 1990s was filled with the wonder of a health club that had its own restaurant, conference rooms, art and sculptures from all over the world, a meditation tower, bookstore, day spa, and many, many other amenities. The late Ruth Stricker spared no expense to make The Marsh a "one of a kind" place to go to, not just to exercise, but to relax, meet with friends, eat good food, pamper yourself, learn and read and even take walks on the property in the summer and cross-country ski in the winter. I have described it to many as a "magical" place, and I am still honored that I was a part of the Marsh family as a consultant and educator for a few years.
Looking at concierge medicine, boutique studios, at home deliveries of food and products and other types of specialty services, it isn't hard to realize that, in order to compete in today's marketplace of health, clubs need to grab onto a sector of the market and run with it. Their ability to change with the times and develop programs that will attract many more members will bring in more members and keep their doors open as essential businesses.
