Why has “recovery” become such a hot topic? There are several reasons why, but the primary ones are because Fitness Professionals have learned that it is vital to emphasize all aspects of wellness. They have become educated on the benefits of recovery and are passing that knowledge onto their clients.

The vast use of social media is contributing to the explosion of wellness and recovery programming. Furthermore, biohacking is quickly becoming mainstream. Lastly, the increase of boutique recovery franchises, along with better equipment are contributing to the exposure.

What is recovery and biohacking?

Frank Guengerich

Recovery refers to the physiological and psychological processes that helps someone that has done physical activity to restore their body and mind to pre-exercise states after intense physical activity. These processes aid in repairing tissue damage, replenishing energy stores, and reducing fatigue, ultimately facilitating enhanced performance and injury prevention. Biohacking is the process of altering the body’s physiology in a passive manner, as opposed to exercise which is active.  So, using something as simple as a sauna is a bio-hack.

How is ‘recovery’ aligned with your current fitness and wellness offerings?

Wellness and recovery programs are consistent with overall the fitness goals of your club because they deliver results, increase longevity, and assist to minimizes injury. Furthermore, these programs expanded the club’s service offerings and drive revenue, thus become a club profit center.

How does recovery affect athletic performance and longevity? 

Recovery is vital to maximize athletic performance for sports such as golf and tennis.  They enhance speed, power and agility.  Other benefits are they create durability, improve range of motion (ROM), prevents injury, and improve endurance.

Basic areas for recovery

Some baseline areas your club should already be offering to your members are nutritional consultation to educate them on the importance of understanding macro-nutrients and hydration. Other basic areas to ensure you are focusing on are sleep, stress reduction through meditation/mindfulness, stretching to release lactic acid, and lastly, modifying training volume.

Services and equipment types and benefits

There are many ways that clubs are adding to their offerings.  Massage and massage guns, cupping, dry needling, compression, cryotherapy, loungers that massage and perform cryotherapy, red light therapy, hyperbaric chamber therapy, injections (B12, fat burner, tri-amino), IVs (recovery, hang-over, immune boost), muscle stimulation, and inflammation reduction using cold plunge cabinets.

Medical

Medical programming and services are becoming the norm and very popular as club operators realize they are safe, beneficial and easy to offer. There are a variety of popular services such as injections (B12, fat burner, tri-amino), medically supervised weight loss (GLP-1 agonist), TRT, HRT. peptides, PRP, exosomes, sexual health and sleep/stress therapy.

These programs require medical supervision and must follow state guidelines but, in many cases, can be offered by Tele-med.

Financial considerations

In most cases, you can use existing space in the fitness center for recovery programs and even medical so you may not have any new occupancy cost … just equipment. But if you need to add space, construction and FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment) can vary greatly depending on the space available and level of finishes. Ideally, between 500-2,000 sq. ft. would be dedicated. The amount of space available will dictate the services that can be provided. Also, the more space available and services provided will also necessitate more equipment. I always start with $500/sq. ft. for contraction and FF&E combined.

You should expect to make a net profit of 30% of gross revenue. Labor costs should be 50% of gross revenue and operating costs 20%.

Final tips and takeaways

It’s important to get professional assistance so you can avoid mistakes and pitfalls. Develop a strategic plan that includes how to market to your members. Demos, displays, packages, offering promotions, introducing your professionals and using member testimonials are just a few ways to market to your programs.

Lastly, make sure to dedicate time and resources to educate club leadership, staff, the Board of Directors and especially members.

Frank Guengerich is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Club Wellness Advisors (CWA) which specializes in exclusively serving private clubs by proving fitness and wellness design and operational consulting services. CWA is a division of Health, Wellness and Lifestyle Services (HWLS), a club ownership and management consulting firm. HWLS specializes in assisting clubs maximize revenue and profitability, with a focus on membership marketing and sales, fitness programming and wellness/medically supervised programs.