Last year at IHRSA (International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association) annual event, I partnered with one of the most exciting groups in our industry! I want to share with you about the Industry Leadership Council. My friend Meredith Poppler can help you learn more if you would like to join us! The picture below is of Meredith and I last year right after I joined this exciting group of people in the fitness industry.

Here are my top three reasons for being a part of the ILC.

The ILC Experience offers up an opportunity to be involved on a very granular level and participate in events you might not otherwise be able to attend. A few highlights I am looking forward to is time with the keynote speakers and networking in a more intimate environment. The trade show floor can be so busy and bustling that it can be difficult to really connect with your industry peers. The ILC experience offers up a more intimate environment to connect and meet new people.

Secondly, but not more importantly is the causes that the ILC group has taken on, most specifically the PHIT act.

The PHIT Act, which stands for Introduction to Get PHIT Personal Health Investment Today, is federal legislation that would allow any American to use pre-tax accounts like Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Savings Accounts (FSA) to pay for qualified fitness expenses. Currently, the IRS code only allows these accounts to be utilized for medical expenses.

Why is PHIT Important? "64% of American adults and 34% of American children suffer from overweight, obesity, and physical inactivity. These rising rates of obesity and Americans’ proclivity for inactivity are resulting in double digit annual increases in healthcare costs to the government and business". -http://www.ihrsa.org/phit

Another reason that the ILC group is so wonderful to be a part of is it can help you to identify a path around being at the show and what could be valuable as a professional in attendance. Conference and trade show settings can be so daunting if you are not sure how to best use your time, you can end up not having a clear direction and wasting your time wandering about. The ILC group offers a "path" providing an experiences like none other. Intimate roundtables with the keynote speakers and meetings keeping you informed about pressing industry news. They can also point you to some of the best education sessions to attend like my friend and colleague Bryan O'Rourke 's session, he will be presenting Thursday at 3:30pm, Poised for Expansion: The Future of the Industry - 300% Globally in 10 Years?, Room 403-B LACC, I hope to see you there!

What an exciting time to be a part of our industry, see you next week at IHRSA!

---

Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter@LindseyRainH2O

Social, social social... if you stand still for too long the next trend will swoosh right past you! Is it not the truth? changes are happening at record speed, facebook, twitter, instagram, and now, live broadcast Check out my video below and click the links for more information about how to get broadcasting!

12 Ways to Use Periscope for Business  , Learn more About Periscope

---

Lindsey Rainwater is a consultant and coach to the fitness and wellness industry.  She specializes in business development and leadership. Currently she is working with the Fitmarc Team helping Health Club owners all over the south central region of the united states propel their business forward via group exercise solutions.  For more information about Lindsey, follow her @lindseyrainh2o

Will I see you in sunny San Diego this week?

IHRSA 2014 is this week- I will be at the Les Mills booth #1215 Thursday afternoon and all day Friday! 

Stop by and let's connect. 

See you soon!

Lindsey 

P90X, TRX, Suspension training, Barre, Spinning, Indo-row, Kettleworx, Piloxing, Turbokick, Bodypump, Freestyle insturcor's, Zumba, Bootcamp, Crossfit, virtual classes... and much much more...

Lindsey Rainwater, Consultant to the Fitness Industry I remember when I started working in health clubs, I was 17 years old, had just graduated from High School and worked in an all women's private health club.  We had a 'full' group fitness studio schedule. Our class offerings were Aerobics, Step, Kick boxing and Guts & Butts.  It was simple, strait forward, and the instructors created their routines and play lists (at the time with cassette tapes, oy vey) for the most part, it was all freestyle choreography. 

Fast forward to now, oh my goodness! We are so spoiled, the industry has advanced to a place were we are chin deep in options. What a gift!

We have extremely intelligent, scientifically backed choreography and well researched workouts that have been established, tested and tried so that our members get incredible experiences time and time again.

So as an owner of a club, how in the world to you go about deciding what programming to offer?  What will your members enjoy and keep coming back for? where are you going to find instructors? 

I would love to share with you a few of the best practices that club owners and operators have shared with me, from all over the United States.  I am in on average, fifteen different Health clubs a week covering for profit, non profit, ymca and recreation center verticals.  Here is what the collective is saying...

1. Solicit member feedback- don't be afraid to ask them what they would enjoy.  I have heard more than one owner/operator tell me they ask what their members think, I would say this is your most influential tool. You might have the 1 or 2 that use the feedback forum as an opportunity to tell you everything you did not ask to hear about, but don't let that stop you from the other 50 that are going to provide you with valuable insight.  

2. Study your age demographics- closely, pay attention to your time selections and go with the flow of the lifestyles you are attracting.  Know their schedules and accommodate their schedules vs. instructors favorite time to teach.

3. Follow trends, don't try to be ultra unique- as industry leaders, we love the innovative, barefoot, fancy newest trend...If the club across the street from you offers the same class, that's OK- have you ever noticed that there can be 2 starbucks in the same parking lot, and they both have a line... plus the average health seeker that needs to move from the coach to your treadmill, doesn't know the difference. We are the ones that care, they don't. So offer the staples that get them moving, they will gain results and once they are ready for more, advancing them to private training and small group training is a seamless transition, that also stimulates revenue.  

When making programming decisions, remember that ultimately you provide the environment to help support and motivate your members to gain results and meet their goals, what an honor to help facilitate that experience.  

Share with me, Lindsey Rainwater- how are your programming selections going? Having a magical group fitness space combined with incredible programming truly unlocks incredible power for your members!

Lindsey Rainwater, Consultant to the fitness industryThis past month I have been highlighting details about how to create the best group fitness environment and the step by step details about how to create a space that is welcoming and functional for your members.

Now that the stage is set and the vision is created, let's get to the juicy party! actually building relationships with vendors so you can get bodies moving in the space.

I was thinking about this subject in the context of a "support team"- we all have them, hair dressers, dry cleaners, assistants, even our phones act in some respect as support to us on a daily basis.  When you need something done, at a certain point you have established relationships in your life that depending on what it is, you have a 'go to guy' for that specific task.  This is really no different, flooring, equipment, sound, audio, all of what is needed to properly furnish and equip your studio can come from established relationships to avoid the trial and error of finding people to fulfill all of these tasks.

The importance of vendor relationships is critical.  We all have specific brands and functions we like best, price obvisouly being king in many respects, although in my experience the relationship with a vendor often times trumps pricing. 

Robert leading the fitmarc teamAt Fitmarc, our friend Robert Dyer has done a lovely job of building solid relationships with vendors specific to the group fitness environment.  So much so that we can assist in guiding you through the process of going from start to finish.  All of the work it takes to pre qualify vendors etc, has already been done on our end. 

My last installment of this blog series will be next week, I will be covering program selection and highlighting the different methods of delivery that are cutting edge both live and virtual programming.

Please contact me, Lindsey Rainwater and let me know how I can guide you in establishing the best possible group fitness environment for your members and instructors.