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COVID-19: Keeping Members in the Workout Routine During a Lockdown

Fri, Mar 20, 2020   |   Tags : COVID-19
empty gym covid-19 importance of member retention

Keeping members in their normal workout routine at your club may not be possible, safe, or even legal in some situations during the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, a benefit of this event occurring during the digital age is that your club can still be involved with, and even encouraging them to work out at home. This might sound like a counterproductive initiative for a facility that is focussed upon gaining income through facilitating workouts using equipment in the club, but there are a number of benefits to this.

Maintaining a balanced lifestyle through working out during the pandemic will help your member’s physical health, boost their immune system (which is important for keeping the virus at-bay), and also help keep their mental health in check during this stressful time. Being involved with your members will not only help facilitate stronger customer relationships and build their loyalty towards your business, but also assist them in maintaining a regular workout routine making it easier to return to the gym when things normalize.

All of the aforementioned points will assist in maintaining your member count through boosting the retention rates for your club. This article will cover some effective ways your gym can use the power of the internet to facilitate effective workouts for your members.

Tips for keeping gym members engaged in regular training habits during a lockdown

Class-based clubs

If you are a class-based facility, your club can make use of streaming services to continue providing your members with engaging workout experiences from home. These services, which are already commonplace in the online gaming and social media scene, have taken hold in numerous other sectors such as education since the outbreak began. You can utilize these in the operations of your fitness classes throughout the pandemic should you need to go into lockdown.

Plan a class that people will be able to follow along with at home, either with bodyweight or creatively using household items to perform exercises. Then choose a streaming service to conduct the class, from there, you can then add a link to your gym timetable people can use to access the class or add the link to your booking confirmation emails and reminders. We created a more in-depth guide to running fitness classes remotely, click here and learn how.

Visitation-based Clubs

Provide members with workouts

Visitation focused clubs may need to take more of a pragmatic approach to handling engagement during a lockdown situation. You may choose to provide members with regular workouts and challenges to complete within their homes in their own time. While this is less direct involvement than the above approach which can be undertaken by class-based clubs, the engagement can help maintain the club-member relationship and help the member stay motivated to workout.

You can provide members with videos of exercises which they can complete from home through social media or via an email to your entire club, or a select group of members. If your club makes use of a gym member app that is linked to your club management system, you may send workout challenges or routines they can follow directions to the member’s phones.

Limited Usage

This recommendation is more applicable during the earlier phases before entering lock-down, or after the virus has peaked and businesses can begin opening again. Certain gym software systems allow you to control the number of members using the facility at any given time through the use of their 24/7 gym access control system. This allows you to limit the potential for transmission of the disease by running the business at a limited capacity which enables for more effective social distancing and the easier cleaning of equipment during the day.