“Authentic brands don’t emerge from marketing cubicles or advertising agencies. They emanate from everything the company does…”  – Howard Schultz

Culture is a shared set of values and perceptions. Playing out across continents, nations, groups, offices and most definitely gyms, culture is the most important factor in the long term success of a business, next to its business model. But what are three simple steps you can take to build the culture of your gym?

Culture is a shared set of values and perceptions. Playing out across continents, nations, groups, offices and most definitely gyms, culture is the most important factor in the long term success of a business, next to its business model. But what are three simple steps you can take to build the culture of your gym?

If you’re thinking about what’s going to benefit you as a small business owner, you’ve got to ask yourself how you can actually create a market that you can scale or get bigger within.

Many small gym owners are at an important crossroads. They aren’t 25 years old any more. They need to grow financially for themselves and their families. They also want to be seen for what they provide to their communities; health, happiness, and hope. The stories are common:

As the director of business development and management here at OPEX, Crowell helps coaches and owners develop. Jim has learned a great deal since his initial foray into the CrossFit “group” fitness concept and the problems associated with that business model.

Because many gym owners don’t recognize the realities involved with scaling a business. While getting bigger may mean more clients, it also means more work. In order to scale your gym, you must first optimize your business systems.

Gym owners might offer awesome service, but often it’s poor marketing or failure to market at all that makes standing out in this very big crowd impossible. Without effective marketing, it’s just a matter of time before many gyms will be out of business. But what is effective marketing?

Spring is just around the corner, and as the first months of the new year pass, the functional fitness world starts to think about one thing.

Rami Castillo is a bit of a health and fitness education junkie: The owner of CrossFit Uncompromised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Castillo has taken his CrossFit Level 1 and Level 2 certificate courses, as well as gymnastics, weightlifting, anatomy and masters athletes courses, and even the Adaptive Training Academy’s (ATA) coaching course.

Do you want to know how to become a fitness instructor? Here are the education and experiences you need to get started in the industry and how to specialize your services later in your career. 

As someone who prides myself on my ability to connect with my clients—on knowing the names of their children and being familiar with what's going on in their lives—this shook me a little bit, because the truth is, other than one client who seems to have take a giant dump every time he arrives at the gym, I have never talked to my clients about their poop (And in his case, it’s only to give him a hard time for stinking up the bathroom every time he gets to the gym).

EC Client Gerald David has been making huge strides in his fitness over the past 6 months. Focus continues to be on improving his strength numbers across the board. Most of his training days begin with work on the olympic lifts, then structural strength components followed by muscle endurance pieces. This last April, his power clean 1RM was 80kg. Look at him hit 3 reps TNG at 81kg!!!!

When I started working with Gerald back in April, he wasn’t able to hit any reps in his MU tester. At the time, we decided to go after absolute upper body strength and make some fixes in his nutrition. In June, we re-tested, and again, no MU’s. However, he had made significant adjustments in his nutrition and lifestyle, dropping 15 lbs and drastically improving body comp. Strength gains were evident as well, so we decided to go to work on the MU. Plan was simple. We would keep doing what we were doing, continue to get strong and lean, but added MU tech work in a morning aerobic/ non fatigue session for 10 consecutive weeks. Gerald showed great patience in sticking to the plan and trusting the process. Last week, we decided to test again. This was the workout, look at the results!!! Not only was he able to get a total of 10 reps within the 5:00, but he was stringing 2’s and 3’s!!!

But what makes the Peloton unique is the 22-inch screen attached to the front of the bike. This screen gives you access to the enormous library of on-demand Peloton workouts. All of which are led by Peloton instructors that actively guide you throughout the workout. 

“Well, I just watched the CrossFit Games on the weekend, and I’m turning 40 this year, so I’d like to start training to compete there as a masters athlete,” he said.

But what makes the Peloton unique is the 22-inch screen attached to the front of the bike. This screen gives you access to the enormous library of on-demand Peloton workouts. All of which are led by Peloton instructors that actively guide you throughout the workout. 

Everyone responds differently to the stimulus of exercise. For some, one push-up is a max effort, while for others 20 push-ups are considered a warm up. 

However, the current fitness market falls short in reaching this goal when it pushes intense fitness, short-term fixes, and complex exercises that are far beyond the capabilities of most clients.

We’ve all seen the marketing tactics of fitness gimmicks showing how to get “shredded” or “6-pack abs” in 30 days. The before and after pictures may be convincing, but often these images are fabricated and fake. These “fitness programs” are scams that abuse the general public’s ignorance on the subject of health and fitness, despite countless studies that have proven that fitness isn’t an “overnight” sensation.