Game On- Motivating Your Members All Year Long

Game On- Motivating Your Members All Year Long

It happens every year.

Throngs of people pack into your gym, health club or fitness studio in January and February.

But it is now June, and if you are like most clubs, you are hearing crickets.

How can you keep your members connected to your club, even when they are finding their summer fitness outside? How can you inspire your members to stay motivated through the summer months? How will you develop not only a membership base, but loyalty?

To be blunt, members will not buy what you have until they buy why you do it.  And if you want fans, they must believe in you AND see results.

If you are like us, you believe:

• Every season is workout season.
• If you make fitness a game, members want to win.
• All calories (in or out) matter, but ACTIVE calories (over 60% RMR) matter more.
• When you strap on a heart rate monitor, it means “Game On”.

Every season is workout season

Clients may not hit it hard all year round, but fitness is not something anyone shouldonly do in preparation for an event, a vacation, or some other transient reason. Like in sports, training may change season to season, but it never stops.

If you make fitness a game, members want to win.

As Mary Poppins once said, “Find the fun, and snap the workout is a game.”  Admittedly, that is paraphrasing, but it does not negate the truth.

And just like any game, it is important to keep score.  That’s where active calories come in.  Active calories are over 60% of your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), and are the ones that we can CONTROL.

All calories (in or out) matter, but ACTIVE calories matter more.

Just like every calorie eaten is not equal, every calorie burned is not equal.  Resting metabolic rate (RMR) can vary by individual and is influenced rather easily by simple things like temperature and body fat.  In fact, most people contribute to changes, positive and negative, in their RMR on a daily basis.

But ACTIVE CALORIES, the ones over 60% of your RMR- those take intent, work, dedication and effort to change. And that effort is what makes the difference. That is why we believe that only calories that contain effort “matter” and although we count overall calories, we compare the Active ones.

When you strap on a heart rate monitor, it means “Game on”.

Part of the problem, as we see it, is that “watching your metrics” has become boring, routine and even overwhelming. There is nothing innately inspiring about a wearable. And although we agree, getting a baseline daily calorie expenditure is initially beneficial, unless you change your job or how you do your job (with a treadmill desk, etc), that baseline number will not change all that much and all the “upgrades” eventually will become a new normal.

Making your wearable part of your fitness experience is the answer.  When you put on your heart rate monitor- it is “GAME ON”, “Time to Work” and “Grind”.  It is a signal- time to show up for yourself, and for your fitness.  The kind of effort and commitment that takes is, for most people, unattainable 24/7.

But it can be done for the length of a workout. So why count all those other hours?

Are you ready to create some raving fans for your gym, health club or fitness studio? Are you ready to keep them motivated year-round? Are you ready to help your members create real, lasting results?

By focusing on active calories, giving them a community of peers, allowing them to find their fitness whatever the season or location and providing a philosophy that they can agree with, you will create not only more members, but dedicated fans, loyal to your business.

Are you ready?