Clubindustry

During my booth visits yesterday, the name of the game was branding. Because the fitness industry is fairly new, it’s interesting how at each show I can see signs of its maturation, professionalism and overall creativity. This show is now different, and in my humble opinion, the industry is really (pardon the pun) shaping up. I spent a good hour and a half at the Life Fitness booth where I met with a number of the company’s marketing and branding gurus, and Tour de France winner Greg LeMond. The name of the game was marketing the brand as more than just fit people working out on new products with new bells and whistles (although Life Fitness has plenty of those with its full line of cardio products that can charge your ipod or download workouts via a USB memory stick). Instead, Life Fitness — and many other companies at the show, I might add (before the show, I had a conference call with executives from Star Trac who have similar aims at reducing obesity rates across the world via their message and cross promotion of fitness) — is promoting physical activity and fitness for all. The branding process took Life Fitness more than a year to develop. As more fitness manufacturers and, I hope, clubs begin to brand, I think it’ll raise the profile and professionalism of the industry. When you go through the same product processes as big kahunas such as Apple, Tide and Target, it can’t hurt, right?

Yesterday, I also sat in on one of the feature presentations. Dick Vitale gave a passionate and heart-felt presentation about his life, leadership and how to overcome struggles, telling the crowd that he was “living the dream.” He also gave his three “E’s” of life: enthusiasm, energy and excitement. Those three “E’s” definitely speak to the fitness industry.

After the keynote, I walked the show floor and ended up purchasing a few new CDs for the group exercise classes I teach back home. (You seriously can’t pass up some of these deals at the shows — five CDs for the price of four!) Then, once the show closed at 6 pm, Pam and I walked over to the Gas Lamp district and dined outside (heat lamps rock) at this cute little Mexican place. Being from the middle of the country, I couldn’t resist the shrimp fajitas. After dinner, we walked around the district, walking off our dinner and admiring the architecture.

I hit the hay pretty early last night, and, due to the two-hour time difference, couldn’t sleep past 5:30 a.m. So I was raring to go at 6:30 a.m. for early morning workouts, where I participated in a 20-minute Real Ryder class, which is basically a cycling class on bikes that you can move from left to right, thereby activating your core and giving you more of an outdoor, mountain bike feel. The instructor was awesome, and the class was fun, but my legs are seriously wobbly. Talk about a good workout! I have about an hour to find breakfast and then rest up for my next workout: a 9:30 a.m. demonstration at FreeMotion. I walked by their booth a few times yesterday, and it doesn’t look easy. More on that later! –Jennipher

I’m happy to report that I have landed in sunny, beautiful and warm California. My goodness, how I needed a break from winter, and I didn’t even realize it until I stepped off the plane. In fact, my aforementioned illness seems to like it out here, as my symptoms are quickly improving with the sunshine.

Although I’ve only been in San Diego for the IHRSA show for about four hours, I’ve already had quite the experience here. First, I encountered either one of the world’s strongest men or a professional bodybuilder or someone from the UFC…or all three…I’m not sure. Regardless, he was a big dude and took a liking to me. Chatting me up and following me around. When my husband found out, he wasn’t thrilled. He’s not usually the jealous type, but, apparently, men who are 5′8″ and 400 pounds of pure muscle scare him. Honestly, despite working in this industry, they scare me, too.

I also got my first dose of San Diego locals. During my 10-minute cab ride from the airport to the hotel, my driver had quite the fit of road rage. After a car cut us off, he actually leaned out the window, calling the car’s driver “a stupid idiot,” and dropping the “f” bomb a few times. He later apologized for both the screeching breaks and the cursing, but, believe me, I wasn’t his best tipper of the day. I just don’t get how you could have so much pent-up anger in a place adorned with palm trees and aglow in sunshine. My driver should move to Kansas City. This morning it was 20 degrees there, and I had to de-ice my car. Now that’s cause for anger!

Now, I’m now on my way onto the trade show floor for its 1 p.m. grand opening. I’m sure I’ll have many more stories to tell, along with notes from sessions, keynotes and booth visits. Pam will also be blogging lots, too! –Jennipher

It‘s been pretty quiet around here in the office. Too quiet.

Actually, it should have been even quieter today, the first day of the IHRSA show in San Diego. But for many reasons, chief of which being my wife is due to deliver our second daughter next week, I decided to stay home. We‘ve had friends deliver their babies early the past few weeks, and it was just too big of a gamble on my part to be gone at this time.

I‘m not the only one from our staff who is missing the first day of the IHRSA show. Jennipher Shaver has been under the weather all week, and she had to postpone her arrival in San Diego until Thursday.

Tuesday was a real bang-up day around here. Jennipher was home recuperating, as was our senior art director, Jennifer Ray, who also was not feeling well. Pam Kufahl and I were in the office, but I had to step out for a while to be with my wife at the doctor‘s office. Did anything get done around here Tuesday? Maybe a little, but at least the March issue is already done.

With my being out of the office for a few days last week, and Pam being gone for a couple of days to go on her excellent adventure in Dallas, the four of us haven‘t been together in the office for a full day‘s work since … October? At least it seems that way.

Pam should be reporting from San Diego soon, as will Jennipher later in the week. Like some of you, I‘ll be eager to read this blog to find out what Dick Vitale and Martina Navratilova had to say at the IHRSA show.

On Monday, we should all be back here in the office, together again for the first time. But you never know. There could be an early delivery. -Stuart

I arrived today in sunny San Diego at 9:40 am California time, but lunch time for me! However, with so much to do here today and being on my own for the first day of the show, I couldn’t let a little hunger get in my way. After checking into the Marriott, I headed to the convention center, which was conveniently located right next door to the Marriott. I picked up my press badge and checked out our booth. I then grabbed a quick lunch before heading to my first appointment: an interview with Carl Liebert, CEO at 24 Hour Fitness, San Ramon, CA.

I had interviewed Carl last year on the phone for one of our Executive Insights columns. I was glad he remembered the interview, and I soon learned why it was so memorable for him. He was kind enough to allow us to post the tape of the interview as a podcast. One of the first things he told me after shaking his hand and the hand of Tony Wells, the senior vice president of brand marketing for the company, was that his podcast performance had added a bit of “coolness” to him in the eyes of his children.

We settled down for a 15-minute interview that I was grateful to be able to stretch by about five minutes. I asked him about the management changes at 24 Hour Fitness, most especially the departure of Mark Mastrov, founder of the company. He gave the standard answer that many people making changes at a company give: the company is moving in a certain direction and they need people on board who have the same vision. He says that he and Mastrov were friends and remain friends. The decision for his departure was mutual between Matrov and Forstman Little, he says. Upon later sharing this information with a few people in the industry, they weren’t so confident that the departure was amicable, but we’ll wait to see if we hear anything further in this area.

I’ll share more on what Carl had to say during the interview in a news item to be posted in the next few days.

This is Carl’s first IHRSA show, and I wonder how he will be received when Mastrov has been so well liked and will more than likely be present at the show since he’s a big part of the Augie’s Bash.

After the interview, I sat in on the Bob Woodruff keynote presentation. The former ABC News anchor shared his experience in Iraq in which he was injured by an IED. The injury left him unable to come up with words for things, something so vital to someone in his position. As he spoke to the crowd of several hundred, he showed only slight problems with his word choice. I would say he’s come a long way in a short time.

Later in the evening, I attended the IHRSA opening night reception along with several hundred people. Nice band and some tasty food choices along with a cash bar. I saw several familiar faces in the crowd and got to speak with some of our columnists, advisory board members and speakers at our shows (as well as at IHRSA), including Jeff Masten and Ed Tock at Sales Makers, and Rick Caro at Management Vision.

I also spoke with Ron Poliseno at Checkfree (now part of Fiserv) about some interesting things going on at that company –although I’m afraid I can’t say anything about that now. I’ll be attending the Technology Summit that they sponsor on Friday. Maybe at that time I can say more.

Randy Ivey, marketing director for Checkfree, also had Bob, the mentalist they hired to be at their booth, to “read my mind.” It was a little freaky in that he guessed the name of the living individual that I was thinking of, and he guessed the name of the deceased relative I wrote down, plus his cause of death and his relationship to me. He got everything right and added a few other details in for good measure. I’m not sure what to think about that.

Despite having my mind blown by that whole experience, I stayed ’til the end of the reception–and even longer, actually. In fact, Rick and I shut down the reception. Along with Stacey Orlick, the Club Industry show program director, Rick and I were the last to leave the room at about 11 pm, long after the band had stopped and the waiters had cleared away the food.

A good end to the first day of the IHRSA show. -Pam

As my two-day trip to Dallas drew to a close, I made my way north to McKinney, TX, where the Cooper Aerobics Center at Craig Ranch is located. After I passed Plano, things started to look a little desolate, as the city is now just reaching the edges of Allen and McKinney. I wasn‘t sure if I was going in the right direction because I expected more buildings near Cooper, but I soon found it. It‘s in the middle of a new development called Craig‘s Ranch. The Cooper portion of this is just a piece of what the development will be. The Cooper Fitness Center opened about two years ago, and the Cooper Clinic is next door to it. Both are built in a rustic stone look–very fitting for the area.

I got a tour of the facility from Brandy Rentz. Jason Barth, the general manager, joined us for part of the tour. Everything had that fresh look to it, right down to the pool outside the huge window in the large cardio and strength area (which also included a climbing wall).

Amy George, director of marketing, then joined me and led me upstairs to meet with some of the staff, all of whom have great offices with windows that look onto the cardio/strength floor and then out through the big window to the pool. Definitely a better view than my parking lot view back at the office!

I had a chance to speak with Kelly Warrington, program director. I originally met her in Chicago at the Club Industry show last year when she accepted the Best of the Best award for Cooper‘s Round Up program. We caught up on what she‘s doing in the membership and retention areas. Her job allows her to be creative in the programs she designs for members and in the marketing she does for those programs. She was putting up beach-themed décor that day for their March program.

I also spoke with Megan Howell, youth program director, who filled me in on the physical education requirements that Texas is implementing and the role Cooper is playing in that (we‘ll be running a story on that in the near future).

My last staff visit was with David McGarry, fitness director, who explained to me the process of setting up all the equipment on the fitness floor when they first opened the club. Even though he had mapped out exactly where he wanted each piece of equipment before it arrived, he still made some changes when he saw something didn‘t flow quite to his liking.

Amy then drove me around the portion of Craig Ranch that will be Cooper Life. It will include the fitness center, Cooper Clinic, upscale housing and walking trails. Only a three-unit townhouse building has been completed so far, but Amy showed me on the map where the other residences will go. I look forward to talking to Dr. Tyler Cooper in the next few weeks about Cooper Life and what they are doing there. He was called away to an emergency or I would have spoken to him during this visit.

My next visit to Dallas (whenever that will be!) will definitely include a trip to the Cooper Aerobics Center on Preston Road. I had a chance to drive by it while in Dallas. It has a completely different feel from the Craig Ranch location, since it‘s in town with brick facades in a Colonial style and is surrounded by houses, strip malls and trees.

However, on this trip, these club visits were all I could handle. I then headed home to catch up on work before flying out again tomorrow to San Diego for the IHRSA show. Make sure to catch our coverage of that show on the blog over the next few days! –Pam

My second day in Dallas began on a warm note–both in terms of the weather (temperatures hit about 80 degrees that day) and in the warm hug I received from Saudia Shaheed-Kroviak, marketing and business development manager at Texins Activity Centers (much warmer than the reception I got at the security gates coming into the Texas Instruments campus–they record your driver‘s license number and license plate number). I‘d met Saudia in October at the Club Industry show in Chicago. Texins Activity Center, which is managed by Health Fitness Corp., won one of our Best of the Best awards, and she was one of the representatives who came to accept the award at that conference. I also met up with Blair Archer, who gave the presentation on behalf of Health Fitness and Texins at the Best of the Best awards reception.

I was excited to see the facility, which includes a nice-sized child care room, a basketball court (with no plans to convert it to anything else), a juice bar, group exercise room, a two-level cardio and strength equipment area, and outdoor volleyball courts and a soccer area, among other features.

My way out of the Texas Instruments campus was much easier than my way in. The guard just waved me through the gates. –Pam

Mapquest is great–that is, as long as construction doesn‘t render it useless! That‘s what happened on my way to the headquarters of Gold‘s Gym International in Dallas. I tried to access the North Central Expressway from the exit Mapquest had mapped for me, but construction in the area made that impossible. Although it was my first visit to Dallas, I am an “expert” map reader (or so I like to think), so I figured I could “map” my way onto the expressway. Unfortunately, I just kept getting more turned around in the downtown area. In fact, I got so turned around that I ended up driving on what I thought was a nice brick road, only to realize it was the tracks for DART–the light rail system. I quickly veered off that road once I spied the two trains sitting at stops about 200 yards away. After I caught my breath and admitted to myself that I was officially lost, I tried to find a spot to pull over so I could call Dave Reiseman, the communications director at Gold‘s Gym, to let him know that I would be late and to get directions. Unfortunately, my search for a place to pull over led me onto Highway 75 north.

I was then able to reach Dave and he turned the phone over to a woman in the office who gave me very clear and precise directions. Unfortunately, I had gone far enough on Highway 75 north that I ended up being an hour late for the meeting with David Schnabel, CEO of Gold‘s Gym. He was very polite in accepting my apologies and in staying late to accommodate the interview.

I‘m glad he did, as the interview turned out to be a good one that we‘ll feature in our April issue in our Executive Insights column. David talked about growth plans for the company, the company‘s new Legacy II agreements for franchisees, how the company is working with franchisees more closely through the Gold‘s Franchise Council, partnerships the company has entered and licensing plans for the Gold‘s brand. To find out more, stay tuned for our April issue, where we will feature a shortened version of the interview. A longer version will appear online in mid-April.

At the end of the interview, the two Daves were nice enough to review my Mapquest directions to my hotel and, through the windows of David Schnabel‘s corner office, point out the streets I needed to take to get onto the correct highway. Their guidance was right on target, as I had no problem getting onto the highway and to my hotel.

Despite Mapquest failing me just once on this trip, I think all of my future rental cars will be equipped with GPS. –Pam

My next stop on my Dallas tour was Baylor Tom Landry Fitness Center, where I met with Phil Tyne, a former San Diego Chargers strength and conditioning coach. He retired from that role several years ago, but I caught a glimpse of some of his football memorabilia in his office, including a picture of him on the sidelines at the infamous 1982 playoff game in Cincinnati where the wind chill hovered around 59 degrees below zero (thanks, Stuart, for the sports history on this one). I also found out that Phil had invented some commercial exercise devices that he sold on QVC at one time.

Phil showed me around this hospital-based facility where they recently converted a basketball court into space for more strength and cardio equipment. It was a better use of the space, he said. Telos had done the same thing, I recalled.

The pools were also impressive, especially since they use an ultraviolet light system to keep the water clean. They use chlorine in the water, too, but only because the state of Texas requires that pools in the state use chlorine.

The facility is a hotbed for triathletes who train within the club‘s walking track using the bikes they‘ll ride in the triathlons. They set up the bikes together and make them stationary using a special device. Then, they go through a Spin-like class as they watch a screen that shows the Tour de France route. I would have loved to have seen that class in action.

The grounds around the facility were well manicured and included a picturesque stream, a small waterfall, some bronze sculptures and a walking trail. The weather was spring-like in Dallas that day, so I was tempted to stick my toes in the water, but instead, I moved onto my next visit, Gold‘s Gym International. But before I arrived, I had a little adventure. You‘ll have to read the next entry to see what that was. –Pam

I returned late Friday from a great trip to Dallas where I met with five club companies. What a great opportunity to see some wonderful clubs! I‘d like to share a few highlights with you.

I arrived in Dallas on Thursday morning and went straight from the airport to Telos Fitness Center, where Brent Darden, co-owner, gave me a tour of this upscale club tastefully decorated in a Greek-inspired décor (Telos is a Greek word) but also offering a Zen, spa-like feel. Their membership is on the wealthier side and mainly work in the office buildings near the club.

Brent explained to me that the club is all about service to members. From what I saw, they must be doing a good job of providing that service. Not only do the members pay $102 per month in dues, but about 20 percent of them also participate in personal training, paying between $100 and $300 per session (depending on the trainer‘s qualifications). The club does $225,000 per month in personal training. That‘s a great number, but I was also surprised to hear that the company‘s main source of revenue does not come from dues. Seventy percent of revenue comes from nondues (I‘m assuming much of that from the personal training department). Not bad for what just a few years ago was a failing racquetball club.

Brent‘s business partner and co-owner of the club, Everett Aaberg, must be a big reason for the success of the club and, especially, its personal training department. From the moment I met him, I could tell Everett was excited about what he was doing. While Brent and I ate our salads at lunch, Everett told me about the certification and education requirements for his personal trainers, the Advanced Resistance Training and the Muscle Activation Techniques programs they offer, and the assessment program. I‘m sure his lunch was cold 30 minutes later when he was finally able to eat it, but he didn‘t seem to mind.

Clarisa Duran then gave me some great directions to my next destination: Baylor Tom Landry Fitness Center (where she used to work). I‘ll give you details on that visit in the next entry. –Pam