Encouraging Gym Members to Take Advantage of Personal Training

The following post was written Brent Gallagher, owner of Avenu Fitness, for our Best Practices series.

Question: We want to convert more of our members into personal training clients. Do you have a suggestion?

Brent Gallagher: How about offering 30-minute training sessions, if you’re not already doing so?

Back in 2007, when I was offering hour-long sessions, I began to realize how busy everyone was. My clients were telling me that they no longer had enough time for personal training.

Also, I was working so much that I’d lost touch with friends and family, so I stepped back and wondered, “What if I cut the workouts in half? Does more time necessarily mean better health?” I realized that a 30-minute model could help my members make better use of their time. I could do the same—and work with even more people.

Since then, I’ve also observed that, when a session is 60 minutes long, people pace themselves; in a shorter session, they tend to focus and give 100%. That said, if you’re going to offer half-hour sessions, be sure to emphasize the importance of eating well and getting adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation can contribute to overeating, and, over a 30-minute session, members aren’t likely to burn enough calories to counteract the effects of poor habits.

Let me ask you this: Does more time equal better health? Let’s see who’s healthier:

• Client #1: Trains 60 minutes, sleeps 6 hours and eats ‘healthy’ 50% of the time
• Client #2: Trains 30 minutes, sleeps 7.5 hours and eats ‘healthy 80% of the time.

Hands down it’s Client #2. Why? Because they have built a foundation around the basics of living fit: Sleeping more, eating better and training less. When you build a lifestyle around these fundamentals, we begin to truly transform the communities we serve for the long-haul and can literally cut workout times in half.

The magic of the 30-minute program is that it simply gives you, your team and your clients their #1 asset back: Time. Nothing is more valuable than an individuals time.

Think about this: What’s the biggest cost for a client to train with a trainer? Money? Sacrifice? Sweat? Nope. It’s their time. It’s time out of their already crazy, stressed, jammed packed to-do list, busy day.

If we can help our communities accomplish their goals in a more efficient manner, we become the go-to fitness destination for any one who’s strapped for time and still longing to live a fit and healthy life—which is basically 99% of the population!