In recent years, the health and wellness industry has undergone a remarkable transformation. Once focused solely on fitness and appearance, it now embraces a broader, more holistic view of personal well-being. People increasingly recognize the benefits of physical activity not just for the body, but for long-term health, mental clarity, and disease prevention. This growing…
Apps have long been heralded as tools that help drive personalized communication and put the club experience directly in members’ hands. Now, AI integration into apps offers the opportunity to take those personalized experiences to the next level. If one-to-one interaction has been where the industry has wanted to go in terms of spurring retention,…
Technology ecosystems have evolved greatly–especially in the health and fitness industry–during the past 20 years. Yet, they can be traced back to the early 20th century when Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone and fax machine, created a primitive digital ecosystem. Today’s ecosystems still operate on that same early premise: Connecting devices and people…
Technogym traces its roots as a wellness leader back to the early 1980s when it was founded by 22-year-old Nerio Alessandri in his family’s garage. Alessandri’s development of a unique Hack Squat machine in 1983 paved the way for a series of constant innovations, including the launch of Technogym’s Wellness System—among the industry’s true software…
Perhaps no piece of cardio equipment has had a more storied—or diverse—history than the treadmill. In fact, before anyone ever got on one to improve cardiac performance or endurance, animals and prisoners were the machine’s chief users. Ancient Roots and Animal Power The origins of the treadmill are not in exercise, but in engineering and…
According to IHRSA’s20 Million by 2030 report, corporate wellness offers a great target for club operators seeking to push revenues and member retention. When you consider that 56% of health insurance coverage in the U.S. is employer-based, the target makes great sense. Currently, approximately 70% of companies have some form of a wellness program, while 90% to…
Up until very recently, it wasn’t that hard to find specs for sizing a group fitness room. The late club industry icon Michael Scott Scudder put them as follows: First, establish your Maximum Room Capacity (MRC). Take that number less 100, divide it by 35, and you get the maximum number of participants per group…
We know that ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian cultures practiced forms of body-weight and yoga-based exercises. The ancient Greeks developed among the first free weights, hand-held weights with a hole for gripping rather than a handle, called “halteres.” As history goes, fitness and the tools we use to achieve it have been somewhat of a…
Ten years ago, Apple assembled enough apps—500 titles—to create the first app ecosystem, and opened the Apple Store with 500 titles. Today, it has more than 2 million. Google Play, its Android counterpart, boasts even more: about 2.2 million. While music tops the list of the most-used apps at 79%, according to comScore’s 2016 US…
It’s 6 a.m. on a typical Monday morning at your club. One dedicated member is heading to his favorite group cycling class, which he signed up for by using your club’s branded app. Another has just pushed the Start button on a treadmill. A third is working up a sweat on your plate-loaded strength circuit….
The HFA site is currently undergoing maintenance to ensure optimal performance. Please be advised that during this time you may not be able to log into the system. We apologize for the inconvenience.