Facilities: Page 661

Value-Added Physical Activity

Your job as a fitness professional is to understand what activities or exercise programs will work best for each of your clients. Make exercise a rewarding experienceAs you discuss clients' health concerns and fitness goals, explore their reasons for coming to you. What do they say is motivating them at the present moment to improve their exercise habits? Obviously, your recommendations will want to address these factors.What are some common qualities of their successful experiences? Ask clients to identify these elements with you. You may find that they mention such things as exercising with a friend, a fun class, or a sport or activity they used to enjoy. Observe and listen carefully as clients describe these positive experiences.Ask clients how they feel after a workout. Have they ever experienced an "exercise high," feelings of relaxation or improved mood following exercise? Do they sleep better when they are exercising regularly?SOURCE

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Optimizing Front Desk Performance

Facility management software is indispensable to a high-performance fitness center. Member management is one of a fitness center's most vital functions. The front desk is the hub of member management, and an optimal computer software system is crucial for check-in, tracking payments and attendance, scheduling, security and employee management. "Keeping track of this information is critical, and can be used to generate reports to help with sales, retention and facility programming," says Valdez.The front desk also has a powerful effect on service. "Front desk personnel are the first touchstone in greeting members, and are key toward setting the stage for the overall member experience during that visit to the club," says Steven R. Ruth, director of sales for Aphelion Fitness Management Software, Houston, Texas. Front desk personnel are responsible for accurately and efficiently checking in members and guests, for assuring that all who enter the fitness center are on current account status, for personally greeting each member, and for acting as a first resource of information for products, services and facilities. "But the most important thing that good front desk personnel do is deliver a personalized greeting to each member," says Ruth.Training"We provide more than just training on how to use software; we teach our clients how they can apply the software applications to manage the day-to-day operations of their facility," says Valdez. For the first 90 days upon signing up with ASF, facility owners and key staff members go through ASF's Core Training Program one-on-one with a certified ASF Training Specialist. A different feature of the software is presented at each session based on the business needs of the facility. Clients can call if they have questions or need help with any of the applications. Training is via phone and Internet sessions, and is complimentary to all clients.To fully use the management software, front desk staff needs at least some computer literacy. "One of the biggest things when it comes to training is how fluent somebody is in using any kind of computer system," says Nelson. Sound computer skills enable interactive training. Affiliated dials into the client's system and goes through and sets up everything -- from point-of-sale to contract templates and scheduling of items. "We can go in just like we are sitting there with them, and walk them through the configuration of their entire facility," says Nelson. There are also online manuals and documentation for reference.Through training, fitness center management can see an increased return on their investment in management software. "Effective training increases the confidence of all of the club's staff, and allows for much more effective utilization of the software," says Ruth. "Training is so important to us that we have extended our Client Care to 24 hours per day, five days per week." Aphelion clients can speak to staff, participate in telephone training, structured online classes and training at the Houston headquarters, or participate in an Aphelion University two-day program held throughout the United States.BackupAffiliated can write backup files across the network onto floppy drives, CDs or DVDs, and even tape. Clients can also schedule their own backups, and there is an assistant scheduler to do that during the evening hours or off times. "Affiliated gives them quite a few methods, and [they] have options where the software will remind them to back up if they are not doing it on a regular basis," says Nelson. The software also performs other internal backups automatically.EnhancementsASF receives feedback from clients on how existing programs can be enhanced, or on new features that could help them run their business better. "These are evaluated, with ideas that make sense incorporated into the program," says Valdez. ASF also gets inquiries about customization of the software to suit specific needs. "The reporting features are the easiest functions for us to tailor to a specific company; a few tweaks can give clients what they are looking for."Aphelion adds new features to its software on a daily basis through a team of 10 product developers. These are disseminated to the field immediately in the case of Internet versions of the software, and are distributed in a compilation CD to desktop edition users three times each year. Says Ruth, "We take to heart the direction we receive [from our clients]." New product features are implemented quickly, and then individual fitness centers can determine whether the features suit their needs and turn them on or off as desired.Good management software can aid security by popping up photos of members as they check in, verifying that the member and person present are in fact the same person. "Access control capabilities can also be implemented to allow member access on a restricted basis to those entitled to certain facilities," says Ruth. For example, a swimming pool may have a gated entrance that allows only those above a certain age to gain access. A locker room facility can allow only those of the correct gender to enter that locker room. In the case of 24-hour facilities, where they often operate in an unattended mode during non-peak hours, access can be granted only to those who meet stated membership-type restrictions.Nelson says that one of the problem areas in fitness centers is guest pass abuse. Facilities will send out 30-day passes or a one-week pass in the mail, and will have people trying to scam them, often moving from one location to the next. With video imaging, though, you have a positive ID on everybody, for all your facilities. "Instead of trying to file a paper log or go by a name, if somebody comes back a month later to use a one-week pass, boom, you can pull them up and view their picture. That is probably one of the best ways to have positive ID besides [a thumbprint]."Crucially, the front desk information system alerts staff about membership status. "If members are late on their payment, or their membership is about to expire, your staff will be aware of this right at check-in, and can address this on the spot," says Nelson. Full information on correspondence between members and facility staff or members and your billing company is available at your fingertips."This center of information is also invaluable to your club's marketing efforts," says Nelson. You can generate letters, direct mail pieces and emails to your customers based on attendance, usage or any other criteria you have elected to enter and keep track of in the system.ASF InternationalAttendance control with image capture and/or fingerprint scanning. These features are unique to each member and are great tools for keeping non-members out and for determining the status of current and expired members' accounts.Contract entry. Easy way to enter new sales into the system. All information entered at the fitness center is uploaded to ASF offices and stored in its database.Affiliated Acceptance Corp.Online/remote access. This is a tool for employee communication. It allows facility owners to communicate with all their employees as they log in during the day, or send pop-up messages to them from the corporate office. Fitness center owners can log in and view what an employee is doing on their terminal, improving security. Also, it enables amanager to correct any errors an employee might make, or provide on-the-spot training.Personal training. The personal training application enables managers to track the number of sessions available and "no shows," view a member's personal training session information upon check-in and receive notification of sessions used. Users can assign members to specific trainers, view and print a training history for each member, and set trainer session rates and sales commission percentages.Point of sale. The point of sale application handles all retail/pro shop sales and inventory management. Managers can easily make and record sales for both members and non-members.AphelionFront counter module. The front counter module handles all of the requirements for the fitness center's front counter and pro shop areas. The front desk system includes proshop sales, member check-in, an employee time clock, scheduling calendars and class tracking.Personal training. The personal training module sells, tracks, commissions and counts-down each training session as it is used.Scheduling. The scheduling calendars allow staff to schedule any activity or group in the fitness center. Managers can schedule staff members, trainers, courts, tanning beds or other items. They can create calendars for all sorts of uses, each with its own start and stop time, and print calendars of events, activities or employee schedules.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

The Training Station began as a one-on-one personal training facility, and expanded to offer individualized circuit training.

Keeping the Germs Away

You can develop a three-pronged approach to create a cleaner workout environment for your members. Cleaning your facilityMember rules and policies* If a towel service is not provided, require members to supply their own towels to 1) serve as a barrier between them and the equipment, and 2) use to wipe down the equipment after use.* Instruct members to wash hands before working out and after using the bathroom.Educate members*Use one side of their towel face down on all the equipment at all times, keeping the clean side face up for direct contact.* Always wear flip-flops in the shower, wash and dry their feet thoroughly, and use anti-fungal powder, if necessary.Using the proper cleaning supplies is an important consideration, especially when it will be used by your members. Some members may be hesitant to use a product that they deem might be toxic. Make sure you use non-toxic products, and keep MSDS (material data safety sheets) of each product on file for your members to view.

Clear Choices

A flood of equipment options - from high-tech robotics to time-tested manual tools - is available to keep commercial pools operating efficiently and looking their best.

Healthy Prognosis

The hospital wellness industry is experiencing unprecedented growth by creating a health club and recreation center hybrid.

Cities of Angels

Enabled by a generous gift from the late wife of the founder of McDonald's, The Salvation Army is planning community recreation centers for underserved populations worldwide.

The aquatic center at the San Diego Kroc Center

Finding, Retaining Quality Spa Staff

The importance of retaining your staff and the relationships they build with your members cannot be over-emphasized.

Preventing Increased Liability

Educate employees about the negative ramifications that can result from casual comments, and foster an atmosphere in which employee input is valued.

Setting Priorities for Stress-Free Projects

With so much to do, how do facility managers manage their time?

Physical Activity and Leaving Home

You can encourage your clients who are anxious about their sons and daughters leaving home to create healthful lifestyles that will help to buffer the stresses of separation anxiety.

Kids Get Lean; Women Stay Slim; It 'Pays' to Exercise

Innovative programming ideas aimed at motivating members to exercise with all featured programs submitted by readers.Kids Get Lean at Local YMCA Wheeler Regional Family YMCA, Plainville, Conn.RECOGNIZING THE NEED to address the obesity epidemic among children, Wellness Director John Izzo at the Wheeler Regional Family YMCA, Plainville, Conn., designed Kid L.E.A.N. (Learn Everything About Nutrition) to reinforce and complement the nutrition education programs that children receive in school.Started in November 2004, the program is designed for two age groups: seven through 11, and 12 through 17. Each program consists of two 30-minute sessions, and is tailored to the age group and fitness levels. The first 30 minutes consists of basic nutrition information, including the food pyramid, vegetable and fruit selection, hydration and food portioning. The second 30-minute session consists of physical activity in the form of bodyweight exercises in circuits. Izzo says that Kid L.E.A.N. also contains art activities, including coloring pictures of fruits and vegetables, word searches and food mazes for the younger group, and homework assignments to track physical activity, identify nutrition labels and food pyramids for the older group. The program meets on Saturday afternoons at two different times to accommodate both groups. And, says Izzo, instructors follow up with students during the week with phone calls and homework reminders. Women Stay Slim at Powershop Gym Powershop Gym, Brookings, S.D.Open to 20 women each 10-week session, participants are required to work out as a group three times a week, performing both cardio and weight workouts using heart rate monitors. Each week, a coaching session is provided to discuss the book, which, according to Stern, goes into great detail about the importance of strength training and how it affects metabolism. "A lot of women have a misconception about weight training, so they just do cardio," says Stern. Participants also turn in their diet journals each week, and learn about their basal metabolic rate and the importance of protein, fiber and metabolism. Personal Best 'Pays' to Exercise Personal Best Strength Training, Neosho, Mo.The program rewards members with $2 of training-fee discounts each week if they meet the requirements of the program, which include: 1) turning in their daily calorie intake each week to the front desk, 2) turning in their daily step-count (totalling at least 49,000 each week) to the front desk, 3) getting weighed in weekly and maintaining their weight and 4) working out at least three times a week. "Each week they complete all of the four requirements," explains Owner Sherry Woitowitz, "their training account is credited $2." Woitowitz says they also post the names of the people who were paid each week on their "wall of fame," as well as the names of the top-three walkers each week, and the week's biggest "loser."

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