More than two years after the landscape of the health and fitness industry was forever altered, we see reassuring signs of recovery. The 2022 IHRSA Global Report focuses on how various regions are renormalizing through ongoing disruptions, highlights several landmark achievements, including increasing influence of the Global Health and Fitness Alliance (GHFA), and notes numerous…
Jari Ristola, president of ThermaSol, and Paul Hackett, a chartered safety & health practitioner, OSHCR registered consultant, and a member of the IHRSA-led experts group who developed the key considerations and risk assessment tools to help clubs reopen and stay open, contributed to this article. Adding a sauna or steam room to your fitness facility…
The next generation of health, fitness, and wellness consumers is already here. Gen Z includes today’s tweens, teens, and young adults, with the oldest just getting into the swing of adult life at age 25. This age group is a large cohort, and they are diverse, highly educated, and highly connected. Because so much of…
Chris Murphy, former director of sales at Performance Food Centers, contributed to this article. Food and beverage service can be an important source of revenue for health clubs, gyms, and studios. In fact, it was the fourth-ranked profit center for multi-purpose health clubs and the third-ranked profit center for fitness-only clubs in IHRSA’s 2019 Profiles…
Arthritis is a common ailment, and many fitness professionals are undereducated on how they can help. As a fitness professional, it’s paramount that you properly educate yourself by enrolling in an arthritis or chronic disease specialist course and learn how to best serve the arthritic population. Debunking the Myths There seems to be a great…
President Biden announces Council on Sports, Fitness, & Nutrition leadership, Fast Company highlights 10 Most Innovative Wellness Companies, climbing gyms are peaking, and more. The health and fitness industry aids consumers in maintaining many aspects of overall wellness. Now, governments and people as a whole are becoming more attuned to the role physical activity and…
Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the last two and a half years, you have seen, heard and/or felt the need for more diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in all walks of life. When a judicial system lacks racial diversity, then the probability of a person of color being racially profiled is heightened. When…
Jarod Cogswell, co-creator of Spartan DEKA and senior director of Spartan, contributed to this article. Customer experience is the overall perception of your customers based on the touchpoints through their journey with your company. It includes every interaction your members and guests have with your brand. A positive customer experience can add to your bottom line…
Alan Leach, CEO of West Wood Clubs, and Chair of the IHRSA Board of Directors, and Cheryl Ward Barnett, chief growth officer of ROR Partners, contributed to this article. In today’s world, marketing is an evolving and ever-changing discipline. It is the key driver of new members and guests as well as part of your…
The COVID-19 pandemic pummeled the health and fitness industry. Data shows that health clubs, gyms, and studios continued to close at alarming rates in 2021, demonstrating the fitness industry’s dire need for financial assistance. Tens of thousands of facilities have permanently closed, and thousands are still climbing out of the hole without the same access…
Over 40 fitness industry professionals from across the globe volunteered to help IHRSA develop an easy-to-use resource for sharing best practices on running a fitness facility. These volunteers are some of the top minds from health clubs, gyms, studios, community fitness centers, recreation complexes, and medical providers of all shapes and sizes. In early 2020,…
We have all heard about the importance of exercise and health. Being an orthopedic surgeon and performing many hip and knee replacements, I’ve seen this first hand. The rehab after hip or knee replacement is crucial in the outcome and recovery experience. Pain, fatigue, depression, and, even at times, post-traumatic stress in the postoperative period…