Creating a well-rounded fitness program starts with a practical, attractive facilities foundation, to keep members engaged, active, and on-site.
(First in a Five-Part Series)
In a presentation at the 2012 World Conference of the Club Managers Association of America, Karen Sullivan, Fitness & Wellness Director of The Kansas City Country Club (KCCC), Mission Hills, Kan., relayed a startling statistic to the crowd: 58% of private clubs that did not already have a spa/fitness center were considering adding one in the next five years.
This figure, pulled from the Club Spa and Fitness Association’s (CSFA) industry trend report and based on a 2012 survey, spoke clearly to the club industry’s need to amplify its fitness and wellness amenities. The first question confronting many properties was where to start.
In 2014, Club & Resort Business will present a special, five-part series to detail how properties can create and maintain attractive fitness centers that will appeal to the most fitness-minded of members, as well as those who might need a little push.
This first installment focuses on Fitness Center Layout, determining the organizational and design elements that can be key to member engagement, and are critical to distinguishing the club as a preferred destination, vs. a “big-box gym.” Part Two (April 2014), Equipment Purchasing, will detail the basic exercise equipment needed to build a fitness center that matches membership demographics to facility needs. This segment will also discuss how to work with equipment manufacturers and distributors, while balancing the trendiest fitness crazes with classic equipment investments. Part Three (August 2014), Staffing, will focus on in-house vs. managed operations, full-time vs. part-time and contract employees, and making the right matches between instructors and the overall membership. Part Four (October 2014), Operations, will consider appropriate fitness center hours, pricing, access during staffed and unstaffed periods, maintenance, and extra services. Part Five (December 2014), Programming, will parse through fitness program options, from individual instruction to group classes. The final installment will also consider member involvement, coordinating with other departments, and adjusting to trends. |
And, with the same survey showing that 66% of private clubs with existing spa/fitness centers were planning some sort of expansion for their facilities in the next one to two years, it was equally clear that careful advanced planning and research is critical, before any concrete is poured.
Angela Jackson, Fitness Director at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md., says her club, like many, did not anticipate its fitness program’s massive growth. In November 2013, Jackson reports, Columbia’s fitness center had 100 more members than at the same time the year before. “When designing the fitness center, we didn’t account for growth,” Jackson explains. “A lot of times I’ve felt like we’re tripping over each other, and the members have felt it, too.”
To try to mitigate the space issue from the start, Jackson suggests observing other private fitness centers with comparable populations and trends, and watching their growth over a period of time. Developing a comprehensive and detailed five- or 10-year plan is a good way to stay mindful of how not only the program, but also the physical space of the fitness center itself, will evolve and expand, Jackson adds.
Start With a Plan
For many clubs—especially those deeply rooted in golf and tennis traditions—convincing a Board and members that a fitness center is both a valuable and necessary amenity can be the first and most difficult step to overcome.
Sullivan, who also serves on the CSFA Board, suggests starting outside the club. “[Most Board members] aren’t fitness or wellness people, so trying to hire a consultant or fitness pro is helpful,” she explains. This can also help, she adds, to quickly elevate knowledge about the amenity to the same level that established golf and tennis pros provide.
Before proposing the idea for a fitness center, Sullivan suggests holding town-hall meetings for members and forming committees to gauge overall interest. These resources can be used, she notes, to get a good idea of how many members will use the facility, and how often.
However, she adds with a laugh, while “You’ll use all of [the information that’s gathered] as gauges, you’re still probably going to build too small. I don’t know of any facility that built too big,” she notes. “Though it may seem to be the right size during the first year, usage will pick up.”
Some professionals suggest that before planning the size of the facility, it’s helpful for a club to first determine what programming it wants to offer members. Using overall membership size as the primary measure for determining fitness center square footage is not the correct approach, says Pamela Caldwell, Director of Spa, Salon & Fitness at The Club at Admiral’s Cove in Jupiter, Fla.,
“You have to survey members or work with a fitness professional to figure out how many treadmills and bikes you need, how much strength equipment, how many people will take classes—that’s what determines the space requirements of a facility,” says Caldwell, the current CSFA President.
When proposing a fitness facility, it’s also important to stress how the fitness center will promote use of the club in many other ways. “We want to keep members active, and one thing a wellness center can do is keep them healthy enough to play golf and tennis,” Caldwell notes. “There’s a social factor, too—it’s a place that can be an extension of keeping people [on site].”
If You Build It…
Once your club has done its due diligence and constructed a brand-new facility, enticing members to actually show up is the next step. Clubs must cater to a wide range of fitness center users—including active members who already have a membership at the big-box gym down the street, occasional gym-goers who show up primarily during the weeks after January 1, and elderly members who might be intimidated by their younger counterparts.
A key to club fitness-center success, Sullivan notes, is embracing the varying needs of all of these groups. “At commercial facilities, there’s a revolving door, with new people coming and leaving all the time,” she notes. “But at a private club, you’ll see the same people for years and years. I’ve trained teens who have since married and are now mothers.”
Creating a fitness facility that is welcoming to members year after year, while staying dynamic enough to maintain interest, is an important balance to strike. And because most private club members are well-traveled, Sullivan notes, they have especially high expectations for a club’s fitness center.
Comfort Zones
While each CLUB fitness center must create an environment suited to the whims and needs of members and staff, details such as temperature and noise control tend to fall within a certain range.The Orlando, Fla.-based International Fitness Association recommends that the temperature for aerobics, cardio, weight training and Pilates areas should be set at 65 to 68 degrees. Yoga areas should be warmer, at about 80 degrees. Pool areas should be in the 70-to-80 range. Humidity levels for all areas should be around 40% to 60%.The Occupational Safety and Health Administration broadly recommends controlling workplace temperatures in the range of 68-76° F and humidity in the range of 20%-60%.For music played during group classes or even on the fitness floor, the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for safe sound is set at 85 db for 45 minutes. (For reference, a typical food blender measures 88 db.) At 88 db, the EPA standard for safe sound is 23 minutes, and 91 db is regarded as unsafe for any length of time over 11 minutes. Sources: International Fitness Association; and “Noise Sources and Their Effects,” http://www.chem.purdue.edu/chemsafety/training/ppetrain/dblevels.htm |
“An inviting ambience is basically the first step—you want the fitness center to be aesthetically pleasing,” adds Caldwell. “You also have to pay attention to the space around the equipment, to allow for functional training. It’s not aesthetically appealing when equipment and users are on top of each other—it’s not comfortable and from a risk-management standpoint, it’s a safety hazard.”
When Admiral’s Cove built its fitness center, Caldwell notes, it incorporated levels with walkways and ramps to make the space feel open, while making sure to utilize natural light and the property’s marina and harbor views. Commercial gyms, in contrast, often suffer from a dungeon-like, “sweat shop” feel.
Above all, Sullivan notes, a fitness center must be clean and organized, with no perspiration on equipment or towels on the floor, and adequate space for storage of smaller equipment, such as balls, bands, and dumbbells. “You should have equipment spaced nicely, with a good distance between everything,” she says. “When you go to a public health club, the equipment is packed in together and is not as appealing.”
To Each His (or Her) Own
While some design generalities, such as providing great views and open spaces, apply universally to club fitness center facilities, details such as flooring, colors, and furnishings can vary widely, depending on a club’s established style and the needs of its members.
Carpeting is frequently used in private club fitness centers for a warm, welcoming look and feel. But carpet upkeep can be more difficult than for rubber flooring, Sullivan notes, as it will need to be changed annually or every two years, not only because of wear and tear from weights and equipment, but also for the sake of cleanliness, as it battles daily traffic that can include snow and salt during the winter.
Locker-room offerings can also vary widely, depending on demand. At KCCC, Sullivan notes, women almost always prefer to go home after a workout. At Admiral’s Cove, the locker rooms are primarily used for spa and golf, but locker cubbies are made available, so gym bags don’t litter the floor.
Club fitness centers are also divided on the topic of music playing throughout the facility. Columbia CC plays top-40 pop music, staying mindful of what the older population would and would not like to hear, while KCCC doesn’t provide any music.
“Everyone is either playing their own music or they have TVs going, and you will never make everybody happy with music, so I think it’s best not to have it,” Sullivan says. “We do play music in the group exercise studio, or sometimes during the circuit fitness class.”
That Little Extra
Where big-box gyms often incorporate the previously mentioned revolving door, private clubs seek to welcome members and keep them on-site. One way to keep members around is to offer additional wellness amenities that are often adjacent to the fitness center.
New Albany (Ohio) Country Club’s Sports Café is located a short walk from the fitness floor and group exercise classes, and offers a menu of “super foods,” protein shakes, and all-around nutritious foods. Hillwood CC in Nashville, Tenn., has also driven traffic to its new 20,000-sq.ft. fitness center—and then kept it there—through the appeal of its protein bar.
“We have an area where women can go in to get a massage or read a magazine—it needs to be a place to not only exercise, but to hang out as well,” notes Columbia CC’s Jackson; Columbia’s fitness center also keeps drinks and health bars at the front desk. “Members are paying a lot of money to be here, so it’s not just the gym,” Jackson says. “They spend a ton of time at these places, whether it’s bridge club, or to play tennis or golf.”
KCCC does not have a full spa, Sullivan notes, but offers massages, which take up “a small amount of real estate.” Members will “seek out [spa services] somewhere else anyway, so why not [provide them] here?” she asks.
“Commercial facilities aren’t wellness centers—they’re an exercise place,” she adds, noting that her club also offers medical presentations, skin cancer screenings and nutritional services. “The service you can offer, handing your client a bottle of water or having towels on a spinning bike—nobody would expect those things at a 24-hour, big-box gym,” she notes. “We’re trying to exceed expectations.”
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