How Being a Great Party Host Can Help Retain Clients in Your Fitness Business
Michael Hughes
Welcome back to the Gymnazo podcast. I am your co host today, Michael Hughes, along with my other co host, CJ Kobliska. And we are talking about the good things that keep people at your party. I like throwing a lot of parties, I think CJ probably throw several parties per day in our facility. And what’s the one thing that keeps people coming back to your party? We’re basically calling. Basically, client retention is the phrase that is the term that we’re going to be speaking on today. And we’re hoping for a lot of tangents. I think we had a little pre meeting about this stuff. And so we’re gonna dive into this one. client retention is a big thing as a training and conditioning. Focus, you know, we all want to help people as much as possible, but we know it takes time and oh, no, it takes energy effort. And the biggest thing that people need to do is show up, they got to show up, and we’re there guide, and we should be there form, right. And that’s kind of the whole thing, they have to work out at a facility. No, but it’s certainly a focus spots, people have to learn out of school. No, but you know, the facility is a huge avenue for growth. So we’re gonna be diving into that today. And I can’t wait to talk about this, because it’s something I think we do very well, or at least we have a lot of strategies on. So I’m gonna be diving into those things. So let’s get ready to dive into this. And I’ll say dive in for the last time. Welcome to the Gymnazo podcast where you get to peek behind the curtains of what it takes to create and run a seven figure fitness facility that ranks in the top 5% of boutique fitness studios for revenue. But to be honest, that’s the least important thing about us. Founded by me, Michael Hughes, Gymnazo has created an ecosystem of services that blend performance with restoration techniques, and attracts top coaches to its facility hosted by its owners, Paden, and myself and our top coaches, this podcast shares our best practices on everything, from how to build a sustainable fitness business, to how to program for maximum results, to how to build a hybrid training module that’s online. And in person. We have marketing secrets, movement, innovation, and breaking down trends in the industry. If you’re a fitness professional or fitness business owner, this is where you learn how to sharpen your skills and to see maximum results. Alright, CJ, first and foremost, what? Draw your attention to training and conditioning to a certain facility. Let’s talk with a certain brand.
CJ
Wow, she’s I mean, it comes from the sensations that’s what I pay attention to most is it’s it is all energy, right? Everything is energy, I’m energy, your energy, the energy of the room, the energy, the people that you’re around the energy of the equipment, the colors, the music, there’s a lot of sensory experience that goes into deciding where I want to, I want to perform I want to work out and who I want to work out with. So I think number one is, are people actually enjoying where they are, if I’m somewhere where some people are not enjoying themselves, they’re complaining, they’re pissed off. They’re not wanting to communicate to other people like that turns me off, that’s turns me away, I might enjoy a workout by myself there. But I may not stick around. But if I see people smiling, enjoying themself, holding each other accountable, and there’s a community that’s developed, whether it’s a specific class, a type of class a time of day, you name it, there is an energy and a force to I think every single one of those those sessions. And when I work out, I want to work out someplace fun, I want to enjoy myself, and I want to be somewhere where I can communicate to other people. And it doesn’t have to be verbal, it can be nonverbal. You know, you can you can walk into a room and know if you want to be there if you don’t want to be there.
Michael Hughes
Yeah, that’s you said the word fun twice. I’ve been paying attention to the words. And we did a survey of all of our members. And like, what brings you back to Gymnazo? Like, we asked this question, or like, oh, man, they’re gonna do like the biomechanical complexity of it all 3d movement, you know, like, Oh, they’re just so smart. They figure out my aches and pains. I was really excited about this answer. And I read the report that number one word, was fun.
CJ
What makes something fun? I mean, I know it’s fun to me, but I also don’t know a lot of things that are fun to me until I do it. I’m like, wow, that was a really good time. Yeah. Do you the same way when you go to work out or you find a facility that that resonates with you whether in the store? Or even here at Gymnazo what’s what do you sense what do you see? Well,
Michael Hughes
that’s the that’s most thing like I was a I was disappointed by the answer. But that was so completely give me something like one more millisecond to think about it. Like oh, what the best that’s the best answer possible. Because yeah, you do things that are fun. That’s what it comes down to. If it’s not fun you do because it’s it’s like a discipline of your life that just must make something else. Fun. But it comes down to it. Fun. I think Yeah, so like, I’ve been to a lot of different facilities. Whenever I travel out of town, I try to go to a new facility, whether that’s a franchisor, or just a local mom and pop quote unquote, shop there. And I look at I look at the quality of the facility do I feel? I don’t know. This isn’t me just being my neat freak. Do I feel clean? Do I feel like it’s a spot that welcomes me to lay on the floor? You know, and that kind of thing? Oh, and also, is it? Is it? Is it fun? Or was it just hum ho like, Alright, here’s your drills. So those are my two. My two things
CJ
cleanliness and fun, honestly.
Michael Hughes
Yeah, really? Organizational cleanliness is one of those things. Things too. Yeah.
CJ
Oh, yeah. It’s like, you go into somebody’s house, and it’s a mess. And you feel like you just, you can’t do anything but think about cleaning something up, like, oh, my gosh, this is so dirty. This place is a mess. I don’t really feel comfortable, like sitting on the couch, or like in the kitchen, or, you know, our houses get dirty. But there’s somebody just like, I don’t, I don’t know if you know, if I wanted to take a full breath in or out this. Yeah, this is just stinky.
Michael Hughes
I talked about we throw parties we do. And it’s a party. So how do you throw up a party? Well, to me, you clean twice, you cleaned before, and you clean afterwards. That’s this, this how I think about parties. You got to make gotta make sure you’re dialed then I don’t want to get stuck on cleanliness, but and then all of that once the environment set, then you hopefully you you allow the guest to enjoy the festivities that you have planned or donut planned.
CJ
I mean, the best part is, I think are just you showing up and everything’s there available. Like you don’t just search for anything, you don’t gotta find anything, you know, think about, you see the people that you know, you go into a party, like I recognize some people like you’re gonna gravitate towards them, and you’re already going to have a better time because you have your people, you walk into a place where you don’t know anybody. Now the environment is not fully set. If you’re the host of that party. How do you welcome these guests that you invited, you’ve got maybe a couple different friend groups, but this person is not any one of these friend groups, or cliques, you know, how do you bring them in and make them feel like wow, this is just a great time and I feel super comfortable. I feel like I can trust these people like I can open up to them. And I think that goes hand in hand with a training facility and with client retention is that you’ve got to make your guests feel welcome. You’ve got to set the stage for them to feel like I want to come back here I feel welcomed. I feel supported. I now I’m going to hold myself accountable because I had a great time. I will show back up.
Michael Hughes
Yeah. The clique, it is so important that when you walk into a party, you do the whole scan, and you’ll just say, Who do I know who do I know who don’t know you find that one person you immediately walk there or the host meets you there is anticipating your arrival and they show you someone
CJ
they catch them right when they’re just getting that little anxiety that little bit of Oh, I think I might just head out or I’m gonna go straight to the bathroom or I’m gonna hide for a bit and wait are texts or go to my phone right there’s I think we all have these tendencies. What do you what do you what do you do when you go to a party
Michael Hughes
first thing I want to do is I want to put something in my hand who it’s like the whole 90 degree elbow position right? I’ve noticed something I purposely tried to do that now because everyone’s holds it holds their drink at a 90 degree angle somebody just let it hang it 180 degree angle just see what happens. I want something to do. So either go to the food you go to the drink right hopefully you meet someone there you talk to someone at someone there they want you to kind of sipping on something chewing on something you turn around and I scanning in environment if I haven’t if I don’t know anybody yet truly. And then from there, you just got to make the leap. If you don’t know anybody you got to make make the leap you got to go walk up or you kind of have to get your kind of snuggle up next foot conversation and nobody can catch Catch the Wave Gosh, it really kind of takes me back to texting back to a long time ago where I was at a party I didn’t know anybody kind of college like you walk in like Where’s where’s my friends that yeah, you have to know somebody just a little bit I guess that’s that’s the case you just find someone you know just a little bit and just give a little elbow a little nudge not really, you know, Hey, what’s up?
CJ
Oh, and hopefully the guests there to also recognize that you don’t know somebody like Hey, come on over friendliness.
Michael Hughes
I’ve been to parties that like literally you’re just like, Oh, someone else is here. Hopefully figure it out. Obviously all this ties into walking into a facility. All this ties into having your niche or clique. Right and cliques are a good thing. Least I think it’s because you want to walk into one and know some somebody so I like how we do it. There’s a G one click a G to click a G three click a semi private click you know that and we also have a host always there. Well that’s not true. Not always there but most time we have a front desk staff designated there’s not many boutique gyms that have a front desk staff designated to be there, you know for a set amount of time And with if not, we’ve always we’ve always CJ runs the the coach training aspect of Gymnazo. I’ve done in the past. So we both have a great perspective on what happens here. But the coaches that are waiting, literally waiting for somebody to walk
CJ
in, well, you get your guests, you got your guest list,
Michael Hughes
you get your guest list yet the names and there’s so many things that we could dive into on this one, but like, you know, and then I almost bought the book, I almost bought like the almanac of how to anyways, grip grip people but, but saying someone’s name, like when you walk into the party, I’ve done it before I’ve been to a party. And literally someone said, Hughes, I’m like, it’s gonna be good.
CJ
I’m here to fart, like,
Michael Hughes
right when I walked in the front door, you know, and then of course, beep, other guests looked to like, Who’s this person yelling from across the room, I’m like, just makes you feel like a million bucks.
CJ
million bucks. So I do think it is a lot to do with the people that people that bring the energy. And if you are the person who’s, you know, that encouraged or that that extroverted personality going into a party, it’s not really a big deal, because you’re gonna go reach out, you’re gonna, you’re gonna make yourself known. But if you may be a little more introverted, or you feel a bit more uncomfortable with the people that you’re around, you’re going to be a little bit more held back. And that’s, that’s the opportunity where you can either gain a client or lose a client. And it’s recognizing, not just if they’re extrovert introvert, but really the kind of personality how do they come in? Do they come in a little more standoffish? Like, hey, I don’t really know a lot of people hear I’m kind of quiet. But they may be extremely out loud and fun and, and outgoing. Once they recognize their people, once they’re confident with their people, and so I think it does start with your, you’ve got to have a greeting staff, you’ve got to have a coaching staff, you got to have somebody there to, to welcome somebody in, and to show them where to go, right. If you have at least this path, or you, you now know coming in the next time what to expect. Now you can kind of set yourself up for more success, whether it’s I’m going to have my space, or I’m going to make sure I’m around people that are fun and loud, so that I can kind of catch that wave or that vibe. You gotta you gotta kind of know your space. Know your spot.
Michael Hughes
Yeah. And the intention of the setup. You know, like when you walk in? Do you want to dance for joy? Or do you want to be walking onto the dance floor? Because can’t get across the dance floor? How do you not dance across the dance floor? You know? So you’re awkward interrupting people like No, no, you want to walk into like an entryway, and then go from there. And that’s why we have one in front Nachi, three in front, because you want the person to walk in be like, alright, low key easygoing, versus in the distance, someone’s slamming down
CJ
some weights? Well, it could be something super complex, and just like, oh, I, if you walk in and think, Oh, I can’t do that. And that’s the first thing you see. Is it the environment setup? Is it what’s just going on that day, or you got to be able to set up this this environment to where somebody comes in and says, I can do that. Right? I can probably even do that better?
Michael Hughes
That’s the that’s the key. It really is. i We want somebody to go into G one and be like, I could I crushed that. Good. triad level two, you know, versus I got crushed? I don’t think I’m coming back too much for me. Yeah.
CJ
I mean, it starts with a conversation too. I think when you come into a G one class, or a level one class or intro level class, to any fitness facility, any type of training, it’s got to be inviting, but you’ve also got to know who you’re working with, I think number one thing that goes into client retention, once you’ve established your environment, and you’ve now began your conversation is Who is this person? And who is this person in this community? Who is this person in this group, who’s this person? Who do they think they are. And I mean that the most positive way, like I want to know who this person is, I want our coaches to become very familiar with, I can set you up on a path that’s going to feel so personalized in a group setting, that you’re going to want to come back because you got more value than what you thought you were gonna get. If you got the cleanliness, if you got the energy, you got the vibe, and now you’ve got some rapport built some trust. Now it’s just a matter of continuing to grow that relationship. And it could be in a more personal level of getting to know them, their family and and kind of themselves in the community. Or it could be something more kind of, on the outside of that just like hey, what do you like to do? What are your hobbies? What kind of pains or discomforts Have you had, you know, what are these? What are these things I should know about you as a coach so that I can help you become more successful? And I think the way we word those things can have so much power it really is that first interaction, right? And you said it, when I was going to the internship, it’s like you’ve you’ve already got their name. So that’s number one. Now, where does this relationship go? How does it blossom, and it’s it is through just continual learning about the individual. Ask them questions.
Michael Hughes
People want to talk about themselves. And that’s a good thing. Right? So you will as a coach, hey, welcome, and we are, this is something I really want to give to anyone listening. Welcome, everybody. Bye. name whenever possible, it’s impossible. It’s not always possible and say goodbye by name. Whenever possible. They walk in the door, you greet them by name they are leaving across the threshold of the door, you may be halfway across the facility, yell it. There are some speculations on that one. But that’s what I would recommend. And then start asking them questions, you know, how they hear about the place? What’s going on with them. Anything I should know about third, you know, ankles, knees, hips, straightening, you just start asking about themselves, you know, what do you do? If it’s a day to day job? Like, you need like, 30 seconds of communication? That’s it? Just to kind of let them like, okay, all right. At least I know this guy. I’ve done that with people who I’m not even the coach with. Great. Let me go introduce you to your coach now. Right? I’ve kind of seen like, oh, what you’re not the coach. It’s like, no, no, just saying hi. Just watching.
CJ
Or, Hey, I do recognize what’s up? Exactly.
Michael Hughes
Yeah. And it’s really just making someone feel super comfortable working out is uncomfortable. Someone who walks into a facility wanting to change their physicality, because of a mental soulful drive, that’s uncomfortable. They had to have some guts to change their clothes, change their schedule, and drive somewhere different. Get out of their car, walk to the front door, get in and feel uncomfortable. That’s a special type of person.
CJ
It really is. That’s a motivated individual exhibit come in motivated.
Michael Hughes
And do you remember how many stories that we would get from just the back home if someone just sat in their car. I’ve heard members who literally drove here sat in their car and didn’t come in. They didn’t tell us the toll later, like I did it twice. Once I learned about that school, you kind of realize like, ma’am, how many other people have done that, who just didn’t show up on your schedule? Like, oh, they just didn’t show up? I wonder he could have been in the parking lot. And I don’t say that as laughter I say that as like, it’s a serious issue. Like this is something that, you know, it takes a lot to walk into a facility.
CJ
Well, it’s intimidating to come in to somewhere, especially where maybe it’s a little more intentional, and biomechanically sound in terms of programming. It’s got some other complexities to it, and you’ve heard other things about it, but you don’t. And this was, again, for any type of training, you walk in and don’t know the practice, you walk in and don’t have an idea about martial arts, and you go into somewhere that does, like, Wait, there’s a whole process before I can even get started on the mat. Like, I gotta, what do I get out of the mound, you know, it’s like, you honor your space. And it can be intimidated walking in somewhere, even that is very welcoming. Sometimes that’s the intimidation factor, because they’re ready for me, but I’m not I haven’t made that. That statement yet. For myself, like I’m here.
Michael Hughes
It’s really interesting how you said that people will what customs, you know, to walk to the park to take off my shoes or not, you know, it’s really true. You know, here comes this dog saying what’s up to you, you know, do I pet the dog or not that the court? What do you mean to do, there’s so many little kind of things, I guess it really comes down to you got to throw a good party, you got to think about those things, you got to think about those things. And I think we’ve done a really good good job about it. Here’s an interesting information. client retention, keeping somebody in your facility is Wait, we use the word easier. But it’s far less effort than it is getting a new person to come in. And what I mean by that is, once they’re there, the competition is it should just be natural, it should be a natural process. Now natural doesn’t have to be like, you know, organic, natural, you can plant the seed and wait for the growth to happen. You know, it’s like, Please plant your seeds before time and let the natural growth happen. Versus like, oh, they’ll just like me, they’ll just appreciate you know, people don’t appreciate the things that you appreciate as a coach or as a trainer, you have to plant those seeds, and let them naturally grow. That’s one kind of saying like, how do you get to know some buddy? How do you get to how do you get to get a conversation started in a workout? How do you get people to join as a community? Like all these different things that I’ve that I think we’ve done a great job on we’ve planted those seeds, and a few things that happened? Almost almost I didn’t want them to happen. Like the question of the day, I didn’t resist it, but it kind of happened organically as a coaching staff. Remember that? Yeah.
CJ
I mean, there was times where I was doing question that day, every single day and that was my biggest struggle is figuring out a question the day you get to a few weeks in going. What are the questions? We got ourselves too deep. Yeah,
Michael Hughes
I mean, like how do you get a conversation? How do you make people relaxed and the most quiet time of the of the workout? Is the warmup. You know, I know there’s a lot of different ways to do a warm up. Some people say my aromas are not relaxed. What all we’re cranking we’re moving.
CJ
It’s complex. There’s a lot of pieces. Yeah, but if you’re not used to move into 3d space, you’re gonna learn today
Michael Hughes
right now. Yeah. Have a conversation about what you think about a particular book while doing a transverse plane lunch? Yeah,
CJ
probably not going to have you totally as the only coach, right? You’re reading the room and going. I’ve definitely had opportunities, or times where I’ve had a question that it’s way too complex and insightful question that I’ve thought about since the night before. And I come in with the ready answer, and somebody’s woken up at 555 or 6am. Class and there they are going, what was the question? No, pass. The okay, I get it. Yeah, it was too much for the warm up, especially at the 6am. You got to know your people.
Michael Hughes
It’s very true. It’s very, very true. But I’ve always liked that, especially like the question that goes around. And you can make such a good question. It almost is the it’s the same problem. There’s too much chatter. You’re not doing anything. No one’s paying attention to the movements. They’re still chatting, you’re like, Oh, I’m gonna get touched. Describe the workout now. And people are still, you know, you know, is sharing stories. So that’s been something that’s very interesting, getting conversation to go, but also to limit it to so you can stop it when you want it to stop.
CJ
Let me ask you this. What’s What’s some of the questions? I’ve got a few on my mind. But what’s an example of a question today for those people who like Okay, question the day well, then, where do I like, what’s like a simple version of that? And maybe what somebody’s a little more fun and then like inviting to really get to know somebody or to get give them the floor for a one word answer or potentially a two minute monologue.
Michael Hughes
I know which words Mm hmm. So when it’s the Monday, how’s your weekend? Right, super open it super simple Friday. What’s going on for the for the weekend?
CJ
You know, so you got two days of questions every week that you can ask, and it’s always gonna be a good response. Always gonna be
Michael Hughes
excited. Yeah. So super simple. So you got three days, you got to worry about some good ones. Some good ones that have come up is like, it’s like, you can pair. So what’s better? This ice cream flavor? Or this hamburger? Like you can do two different things. And like, what does it like apples and oranges. Like now? You got it? You got to choose.
CJ
Oh, and listen, like we’re fitness. But we still love to eat a hamburger some ice cream.
Michael Hughes
We talked about food so much. Because it’s real like us. Yeah, nutrition is a big deal. But so is enjoying food. Yeah, right. Enjoy it. Enjoy. Okay, so those one those one mine or I like to bring up like this day in history. But make it recent history. Like what what were you doing then? You know, and I do not go like September 11. You know, it’s like something fun. Yeah, you know, or today’s national balloon day. You know, and then bring up some sort of some some
CJ
crazy is bilinear receive for birthday? Exactly. Yeah, exactly. If you receive a balloon today, what color would you want? Yeah, like what’s favorite color question, but keep on going. Keep on going. Peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and banana. You know, peanut butter and honey, no jelly. Just peanut butter. That’s my wife. Just Peanut butter. Peanut butter and jelly. crunchy peanut butter or sweet peanut butter. You’re going to that’s gonna tell you a lot about somebody’s personality.
Michael Hughes
These days questions. First Date questions, you know, not gonna say how’s your relationship with your dad? You know? I’m gonna go there. Yeah, but
CJ
exactly. Cool podcast, you listen to things on Netflix. I mean, think real people, human life, things that we do that I think it’s like, oh man, a gym are not allowed to talk about not working out. And I’m not allowed to talk about not eating healthy. It’s like, we are all still human. We all still enjoy the things of life, we make mistakes, we do great things. It’s like those, having a space where it feels safe. And there’s that community aspect of like Cambridge, you might have those two or three people that you never know what they’re going to come up with. But you asked a simple question, and it turns into something. Yeah, for the rest of the week. It’s fun. It’s it builds a larger community because it’s, you know, people know each other different types of classes, different types of classes. And I think some people like to get a rise out of other people. And some people like to say, hey, here’s my answer. And that’s, that’s all I’m going to give today.
Michael Hughes
The key thing is community, right? You want to build retention on a sports team on any sort of environment, right? A business team, you got to like the people that you’re working out with you got working with, you might not feel like them, but you gotta at least respect them. And I think that’s a big thing about when you’re running a gym, fitness facility, especially group fitness facility is that you cannot control who shows up to that session for the most part. You know, for the most part, you just you have to understand who comes into that session. You have to be a good coach. I bring this up often. I really bring this up maybe too often. But you know, when you had the the Chicago Bulls, you had Pippen you had Jordan in you had Rodman like how do you manage those three guys? All severely high achievers have their own personalities how to keep Jordan winning how to keep Pippin is number two and Haman henna let Rodman blow up for all the fun To people who do not know who I’m talking about, I apologize. I know it was my heyday in basketball watching. But like, how do you make that happen? How do you make that? How do you make a group of a bunch of like maybe high level CEOs? Or encouragers? Or a bunch of you who don’t want to talk at all? And how do you manage that?
CJ
And the number one thing you assume is that people want to feel good. Yep. People want to feel good. And everybody feels good for different reasons. And they, some people like the fame or the spotlight, some people just want to feel like they’re getting their work done. Like they’re, they’re checking stuff off the list. Other people I’m talking about fitness, some people strictly just want to socialize, they want to be there to because they showed up, and it’s just that is the energy. So you’ve got Rockstar performers that just want to crush it, and feel good that way feel like they got to sweat and like they almost died. Yeah, somebody who’s like, Okay, I just need to get my one hour in today, because that’s the only thing that’s keeping me sane. And yet someone else who’s just talking. Those people are all paying clients. And if you’re only serving one of those sections, or one of those types of individuals or groups, you’re going to neglect the other two, and they’re not going to feel welcome. Eventually, they will trickle away. And yes, you might be growing now this group of CEO level, your high level, Taipei’s, but is that what you? Is that what you want? Or do you want to serve more people? And I think that’s a question we all need to consider. Because I think it depends on who the coach is, what you’re coaching, and we’re coaching, in which what you’re trying to do with that level of coaching, are you continuing to try to expand it and reach more people? Are you trying to just reach out to this specific demographic, and I think we’ll we get stuck, at least in fitness is we just want to serve one type of person. But as a coach, our heart says, We want to serve everybody, we want to help everybody. And the only way to do that is to get to know that your people to let them know that you are there for them, that you’re in service to these individuals who are paying for workout. And yeah, you’re not their servant, but you’re there to help them. Whether it’s level up, whether it’s to sustain their ability, whether it’s just to come out of a negative slump, energetically, and they want to just be like, Okay, I got my sweat, my sweat equity. I know I’m going to sleep well tonight. Because you can go the other way and get stuck in a hole, literally a hole of not doing anything. Because you don’t have your people you don’t have your community and there’s no accountability. With any of that with none of those. It’s easy to just fall into routine of not doing it at all.
Michael Hughes
Yeah. And we know it as four different personality types. And each one of us are dominant, and one of them were all of them, but dominant and one of them and we will definitely serve that one type for it well, because it’s our it’s our type. And that’s only about 25% of the people. So how do you serve the other 75% You have to be a coach and change the way you communicate and talk and interact, but still be you. It’s really a dynamic play. And it’s not easy. But there’s a system behind it though.
CJ
Have you ever gone to a place that you like, thoroughly enjoyed the instructor and like they were speaking to you? And then another place that you’ve been? Like, they don’t know who the hell I am? Obviously, yeah, I have what’s what’s the difference in experience there as a as an actual client of that place? Or you’re just doing a drop in somewhere?
Michael Hughes
These are all dropins? Yeah, the two is like one is like both people have never coached for and it’s the genuineness, it’s the authenticity. And instead of being it’s like, it’s like the the a plus experience was I was never told it was suggestions or him noticing this, what do you think about that? I always did what they said. But it was really just as this come across as like, it’s like, I know what I want to do with you. But me being me being a coach, I could kind of read between the lines a little bit like, Oh, I see where he’s going with this. And it made me feel special. versus the other one is like your knees going in, make it go out. I was like five why on why my knees going in. In the second time they did it. Like I said, you know, I’m doing this on purpose. They’re like, why? Oh, well, you know,
CJ
that’s actually a good question. Yeah, I’m glad you asked that. You’re wrong. Get out of here. Yeah.
Michael Hughes
So then I told them the answer. And it was like, but was taken, I just stopped the workout. You know, it was kind of when they see just a one was canned. Like this is the experience fit in, which is fine. It was a franchise model, you know, and the other one was not. And it was here’s an experience, how can I curate it for you? And that was a really interesting because I kind of saw at that time when I first went to the to the camera kind of for the size. I saw the full spectrum. No one said hi. He was there. The music turned on coach walked in out of the back and immediately started talking. No greeting, nothing like that. Like we’re here to go. And I’m on time limit so let’s move on First, the other one was like, Oh, hey, welcome, everybody. Good to see you all. Sweet. I know, we’re a minute behind schedule, but we got two more people coming in. Let me just chat with you a little bit like it was, they were going to ebb and flow the process. And I dug the first one, I dug the experience, not the out, not on what’s called the outcome versus experience, but forced versus guided.
CJ
Yeah, I mean, you walk into a place that here’s the difference, you get somebody who’s like, Hey, I gotta I gotta take another class in an hour. So we gotta get going, you guys, let’s get to get started. And other place goes, like two minutes over. Start Time. Alright, guys, let’s go ahead get after this one was going to be a little bit faster today, we’re going to get after it, crush it and get started here and in 15 minutes for the workout. So you guys get after it with your lunges, your reaches whatever else like your, your energy’s different in there as a transaction or you in there to build some kind of to build some kind of community. Right? You’re just not a transactional, you’re react relational coach.
Michael Hughes
I think that’s a module in the NDMC course. I think so. No, no, so much plug on that one. But definitely,
CJ
when you had to come from somewhere. I think that I think that’s super important, though, because as a coach, it’s easy to get lost in the day to day, and I got I got this, I gotta do this. I gotta do this. I got to do this. Like we get fitness and health. We’re, we’re doing usually way more than just coaching a class. There’s programming involved. We got to make calls. We’ve got to set it up and teardown right? Close. Yeah, open the facility, close the facility, greet people get to know people understand different dysfunctions that are going on. Like it’s not just show up to a class and coach, but you can come in at that mindset, and you’re going to burn out as a coach and your members aren’t going to stick around. And so I mean, going into hiring coaches, what we’re looking at is can you bring out a personality? And under stress? can you maintain your composure? And can you ebb and flow with it? Can you can you realize that it’s not always going to be perfectly smooth, you’re not always going to be perfect on time, and not every single person you’re going to absolutely love and adore for the rest of your life that you want to take out on a dinner date. But we’re all human. And we have a community and we have people that we do care about. And those are the people that show up and especially the ones that show up again, and again. And again. Because what happens is a coach is now we’re able to, if it’s dripping education, see see somebody get better, whether it’s going from movement availability, that’s limited to expanding it over three or four years seeing somebody grow. And then I mean, looking back at people, I started coaching five or six years ago that I still see here today, I’m going oh my gosh, because of our client retention, I’m able to see your growth and able to feel inspired. And now share your story as a long term study for other people who are going through something maybe similar, but just have a different storyline. Yeah. I think that we need to adapt into or adopt that relational model, though it is more effort. It’s more inspiring. There’s more compassion involved. And there’s more understanding, I think, in what we’re all doing here, we’re all helping each other out. Why are we a coach, just because we want to deliver a workout. I think you know, hardest because we want to take care of people and we want to do the best we can, I think every coach does have that mindset, we just have trouble applying that mindset, depending on the environment that we’re at. And if we’re in a shitty environment, really dirty environment, stuff just isn’t organized. We’re gonna be in stress mode, trying to clear the clutter of our brain to make it go smooth. But you set that environment up, you’ve got a welcoming atmosphere, you start to get to know people’s names. Now you are hosting a an awesome party, that where people are paying to sweat into inspire themselves and to really be passionate about what they’re doing through movement.
Michael Hughes
Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s, again, comes back to how do you make someone come back day after day and do something hard, that inherently do not want to do the body resists effort? resist it? I mean, we may have come accustomed to it. But again, I, you said it perfectly, you know, how do you set up the environment to make that happen? Because there’s so many things that go into it. I want to bring bring this up, I did a little bit of research before this, you know, there’s five major reasons why people do not return back to a facility that aren’t making progress. One, they don’t feel that they belong. And I kind of want to talk to each one of these. They don’t belong. They don’t feel that they they fit in their limited class offerings. They don’t feel appreciated. And that’s a little bit different than belonging, I think once from the community wants from the coach. And then payments are hassle. That’s what a Google search said.
CJ
I mean, that makes sense. Right? I mean, I don’t think there’s really much to add on that.
Michael Hughes
Fair enough. So how do we track progress? This is a this is a challenging one.
CJ
Let’s talk about the traditional model. I think in fitness and and talk about how we’ve adapted that. Cool. That’s a good way to go. I think so, in a traditional model is progressive overload. Or you maybe do like a six or 10 week, Jumpstart. And I think a lot of people take advantage of six to 10 weeks, they got what they’re looking for, and they head out to the next thing. But they go through this loop of gains, I feel great. All right, time off shit back to where I was before. Just again, 610 weeks, maybe now this time there’s an injury or pain, and then you take a longer time off, and then you come back. So I think there’s a lot of this recurring cycle when we get so caught up in the numbers, and the lack of variety, that I think the key thing is a lack of variety. And I wanted to speak to that too, because that can be blown out a different way of different directions of just do a bunch of random stuff. It’s like, well, we got a program variety intentionally, right where it looks like it’s a lot of random variety, but it’s really intentional. So if you’re sticking to that traditional model of progressive overload, and let’s say you’re working on like seasons of like your your offseason, your preseason, your season, and then kind of recovery, if you will. You go this route. I think it works well for athletes, because they’re used to it in sports, because you’ve got a season, but once you’re not playing sports, what is your season? Is it summer? Is it winter? Are you like? Is it snowboarding skiing? Is it running in the mountains and trail running? Is it surfing, whatever it may be? Right, you’ve got your sport, but I think once we kind of get beyond that high school, sports, college sports kind of realm, or even just rec sports and stuff, and you’ve got now just your life ahead of you. Even if you’ve never played sports, and you get the whole season of life, it’s a whole year, it’s constant. What goes into like, how do you see gains? How do you see growth, how we I don’t think we’ve been taught these things. It’s definitely elementary school and PE definitely not in high school. You just learn fitness, and you need to hit the quota of push ups and pull ups and rate running.
Michael Hughes
Yeah, rate, load. And reps. Yeah, right. Those are the three, measure duration
CJ
and load. Right? How fast how slow you go in?
Michael Hughes
Yep. How heavy how light? And how many? And how long? Yeah,
CJ
right. So for endurance, I think those,
Michael Hughes
those three things, if that’s all you’re measuring, man, you’re you’re gonna hit a peak,
CJ
you’re gonna hit a peak, you’re gonna have those, maybe a dozen exercises that you know to do, when you don’t have a coach, you’re gonna go do those, and you’re gonna do them half assed, or you’re gonna go way too hard out the gate, and then be like, Oh, God, like five days off. And then you might go a bit lighter, like, this just isn’t for me, you got no, nothing to gauge yourself on. And so I think if if we get stuck in that traditional model, and we are just looking at rate, duration, and load, and we’re looking at just progressive overload and making those, those metric gains, we’re not seeing how fitness and health is our life. It’s we’re making it like a part of our life, but not making it our lifestyle. And so seems separate. And now it’s a chore, and we got to go out there and do it versus saying what do I want? What do I do in life? And what do I enjoy in life? For many people? That’s a tough question to answer. Like, I don’t know, if you have any kind of hurts, you know, just dysfunctions, pains, injuries, the things that you once enjoyed, you no longer enjoy because of that pain. Or maybe you’re forcing yourself to do it, and you’re just like, ah, one of these days is gonna be the last straw on the camel’s back. But I’ll at least be doing it until the day I break, die, whatever. But we don’t have to go that way. It might go that way. If we’re looking for like progressive overload, but if we sit back and go looking at our positions or actions or environments that we’re in, in everyday life, this becomes more qualitative. Where are we? Where are we when we are enjoying ourselves? That outdoors on a mountain? Is it at the beach in the sand? Is it walking up and down hills, stairs, exploring, traveling? All of these things involve movement.
Michael Hughes
Results are weigh heavily measured outside of a facility. I mean, someone’s getting super stoked that did a PR, you know, no question. Oh, yeah, deadlift, good old fashioned PR nothing like you know, you rep. Let’s just call it simple. You deadlift 100 pounds, and now you’re at 150 pounds, you like you’re amped. But that’s a short lived PR, because you loaned live one hour in that facility per day, and that’s a lot. That’s a lot of time. You spend the other 23 hours of your life outside of those doors. That’s where the PR is. You feel better, you move better, you actually are doing something better,
CJ
or doing something that you were not doing because it hurt or because you were to even do
Michael Hughes
that, right. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So if you’re not training so honestly, duration, load, and and rate aren’t. There isn’t a tweet, we call that 30% of the of the pie. There’s seven more things that we on our non traditional scale measure. you allude to them already, you know, but position height range of motion, right?
CJ
What what things moving the thing? What’s driving you here?
Michael Hughes
Yeah, what environment are you in? And can you multiple 10 you change that that action all over again in the same position, same weight, did it I mean, so like, there’s there’s breezing over them. But there’s so many more things that it’s, I don’t want to call it a subjective. But even that’s even more powerful. How you feel? How you get up out of the morning, out of bed in the morning, how does it fit? You know, how do you run across the street? Because the car was coming? Fast,
CJ
too, I think to visualize this, too. And I’ve said this in multiple podcasts, and I’m gonna say it again, because I think it’s important. But imagine you are in a bubble when you wake up. House, how big is that bubble? How colorful is that bubble? how vibrant is that bubble? And is that bubble? Does it feel freeing, liberating, or does this bubble feel like it’s compressed, your neck is stuck a certain way, I can’t turn to the right side of my sphere, but I can turn to the left my ankles kind of funky. So this part of my sphere is a little bit more scratchy and and pixelated. But imagine that you wake up in the morning and you just feel like you can look up look down look left look right, you can reach behind, you just have access to everywhere that your body could potentially be versus waking up with restriction. So much so that you avoid accessing parts of your sphere or turning certain ways because you know, it’s going to hurt you. That takes up some heavy mental real estate, to avoid things. Because now subconsciously, your body anytime you sense going in direction that you’re that you don’t want to go because it’s painful, your body will hold the brakes. It’s like if you’re in your car, and you want to turn right but the axle doesn’t allow you to turn right. And so as soon as you turn right, the axle just locks up and the brake gets pulled in, you’re like, Oh, I gotta get and then you get right in. Okay, now I’m straight again, thank God, but how much damage does it feel like it’s doing and how much effort was that your power steering went out and you’re taking that turn and the brake was on good luck, you’re not, you’re gonna stop turning right, you’re gonna do everything you can to turn left, and then all sudden, you’re gonna wear down the tires on your left side, it’s like, we got to step back and say, let’s look at the quality of your movement and the quality of your sphere. And let’s, let’s understand this, it’s not gonna take a day, it’s not gonna take a week, it’s going to take your whole life to really understand that because you’re gonna go through ups and downs, you’re gonna be in pain, you’re gonna be in no pain at all and feel like God, you’re like, I just I can do anything today. We just need to recognize those ebbs and flows. And I think it does come down to our observational essentials that we go into an MDMC course which is environment it is your position, it is your action, it is your driver, then how high are you going to do it? How low? Are you going to do it? Which direction? Are you going to do it? And how far in that direction? Now that we have that established? Now it’s going to push the metrics of whatever we’ve established, that’s relative to the individual. So I think the progression, think how do people measure their their gains, it, it is energetically it is when they go out in everyday life. Do they come back the next day, and guess what I did yesterday, getting out of the car, I step my left all the way out and even use the OH SHIT bar to pull myself out, I just stepped out like, that’s a win. That’s the biggest gain I can get from you. Compared to, yeah, I bumped up 50 pounds on my deadlift that is still a powerful gain. Like, let’s not underwrite that, it’s great to have a good way to PR fast PR and just like, Okay, I’m making some progress. But if it doesn’t apply to something in real life, you’re just getting better at the gym. I think I think that at some point in your life, you’re gonna reflect back and go, Man, if I would have just done this differently, and had a different mindset, that’s a tough thing to change. But I think it comes to education, that we we share as coaches is that it’s not just about the load. Now, if it is for you, as a coach, that might be what you’re sharing.
Michael Hughes
And that’s people that you’re attracting as a community that you’re making, and you’re gonna retain those client 100%. But you weren’t going to kick out the other ones. Literally, they’re gonna find what they’re looking for. But metaphorically, you will kick them out. They didn’t want to be there. So, the intention, I thought that was a that was a great dive, a great dive into only one of the five.
CJ
But I think that is one of the most important because in fitness, we are looking at all these numbers and metrics. When life is not all these numbers and metrics, its feeling its expression, its experience, and its exploration. It’s putting yourself out there and doing things that you want to do. Yeah,
Michael Hughes
not feeling stuck, not feeling rigid, not feeling like you can’t do something. This morning. I had to climb up onto essentially a monkey bar. Right. So think about the old school playground. You know, the monkey bars. Get up on top of it. Not from the side. But from this side. Not from the front, but from the side. I was like man, I haven’t done that. No, no, no. In a while. I was a little slower than what he did, and even brought a box over and like let me just get a box early early in the morning. Smart but our monkey bars are eight feet off The ground. And it’s amazing. If you stop doing that you start, like you said, your body doesn’t want to turn to the right. Now that’s a high level drill, right? To be able to just go up and do it, right. But you lose movement so much faster than you think you do. And you go to try it. Like, I don’t feel confident. And you’ve just now lost a step. That just, you know, some to reflect on I’m in my mid 30s. Dude, am I gonna lose that step or maybe realize it and go back and try it again, not just to go try but train for it, right? You
CJ
know, all these different age progression, to be able to recognize that in yourself to
Michael Hughes
just that awareness because people don’t even know it. And then they go try it, oh, I’m gonna go throw on the single ski. It’s summertime, you have a single skin for two years. All right, don’t belong. What do we do to make people feel like they belong, not theirs, they feel it that they do belong.
CJ
I want to share a story. Because when I came in Gymnazo, what sold it for me was I felt like I belonged when I was in the internship. And it was because the coaches is you sign up for a workout with with Matt, another one of the interns of the time another one of our previous coaches. And as a getting rid of the workout, you pop in, you weren’t coaching the workout you just popped in and pulled us over the corner. Because you noticed us doing some kind of movement, like a lunge. And like a forward lunge, but you wanted to talk about the for lunch for like three hours. And we set we did it with you, I learned so much. But I felt like I felt I belonged. Maybe this is more along the appreciated, but I think it was belonged, it was like I didn’t even have words really for it. I just felt like you had a gravitational pull that said, come over here, let’s chat. And though we don’t need to do that with our clients and say, Let’s go talk for three hours, I think some of them would absolutely love that probably go for days. But what we do is we’ll notice somebody moving a certain way, or maybe performing a throw or swing or whatever motion it is the way that they’ve always done it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, we get so much information as a coach seeing that the way somebody moves. And I think the best way to pull somebody in and make them feel like they belong is to have a conversation with them about what they’re doing, and not attack them. But simply ask questions. And it could be as simple as, Hey, do you mean do that with your foot? I think you’d turn it in a little bit, hey, do you mean to do it that with your with your arms going up overhead like that it should be done at Chester from your hip. And this is what it looks like. And it’s that if you sign up for a one on one, you get that you get that attention already by your senate for a group class, it’s really easy to never have a conversation with the coach, right? If the coach never makes their way over to you and engages in conversation, or gives you some kind of encouragement, or always coaching globally as we’d like. It’s transient. It’s like more transactional than relational. But even with global encouragement, you can make it more relational, depending on that’s true how you share and the energy you’re bringing and whatever else but I think to makes me feel like they belong is one, see them moving as they are just they come in and this is how they’re moving. And it’s like that, Hey, move your knee out. Don’t let it go in versus asking a what do you know your knees going in? How’s it feel? If it goes out? Is it feeling different? It felt better? Perfect. Cool. So make sure you feel good. I belong here. I feel like okay, I’m in a place where the coaches doing their job. And I am doing my job and we are interacting. As a coach and an athlete. I feel like I belong. And you’re on a team as an athlete, and the coach reaches out to you. You’re like, Ah, I’m an athlete on this team. The coach never talks to you. You’re not an athlete on the team. You’re just, you’re just there. You’re an athlete, but you may not be part of that team. I’m interested in what your thoughts are on that. Because you’ve, you’ve developed this as a as a coach and as a coach of coaches, you do a great job of making coaches feel like they belong because you answer questions and you ask questions that are engaging and thoughtful, and even intentional. What kind of things do you intentionally do or, or process to maybe make someone feel like they belong? And you may not actually think about it that way. You just do it because you’re a good person and a great coach. But is there anything intentionally you do? Yeah, the
Michael Hughes
biggest intention thing that we do and we do it as a coaching staff, and we do it, I saw you do it last Tuesday in our last meeting, but we also do it towards our athletes. And I wrote this down here I’m gonna see if see if I can say this, right. If you say you’re doing it wrong, you’re gonna make make them feel like they don’t belong. That come out, alright. If you say you’re doing it wrong, you’re going to make them feel like they don’t belong. We do not say you’re doing it wrong. We I don’t think I’ve said that for He’s more than a handful times seriously handled. I’m not perfect in a decade, in 10 years, I maybe said it five times. And every time I’ve said it, I’ve remembered it say shit. Don’t say that again. We do not say you’re doing the wrong. You’re gonna make some really feel not welcome. I catching on. Because I’m not cut out for this stuff. They’re not doing it wrong. They’re moving. There’s a different way to move. And you said it too. It’s like, give What’s your intention about it? I like how you’re taking that step open a little bit how to use your other foot. There has been boom, you’re doing the wrong drill with the wrong piece of equipment.
CJ
All too often.
Michael Hughes
I like what you got going here. Let me see a few more. Yep, I like that. As long as I’m saying I like that I’m grabbing the right tool. Suite. Try this tool now. Love it. keep on rockin combs gonna go put this one back. Love that one go.
CJ
What a fun interaction. You got to feel you got a feel for it, too. I think I think that is so there’s power and suggestion. And there’s power and intention. And there you can see when somebody’s lacking intention. And they just don’t have another suggestion internally. That’s just how they do it. Right? I think that is that’s your job as a coach suggest you provide opportunities, you
Michael Hughes
are a guide, you are not the coach is not the hero. The athlete is the hero where the guide. And that’s really important, even as coaching coaches, you know, especially going into multi dimensional movement coach, you know, people look at like, Wow, you guys have accomplished a lot. And it’s really hard to keep the ego suppressed. It really I mean, it’s the ego wants it, it wants it bad. You guys say no, this is just, this is something that we’ve done. We’ve sharing it, there’s different ways to do it. We’ve cut through a lot of the crap. And we’d like you do too, but I’m still your guide. You’re the hero.
CJ
I can’t do this stuff for you. Like for that athlete right
Michael Hughes
now. And it’s just the same way we think about any coach is the way you coach one person is where you coach, every person. There’s take that with a grain of salt, right? But the you are not the person who gets the fame. You’re not in the moment you try to do that. I don’t know, I think you’re going to be stepping backwards. So that’s kind of the I think if I’ve done one thing, unintentionally, but realizing it should be intentional is that I never want I never want my name to be on the building on the shirt, I can care less. And I think that’s really important. I think it’s really, really, it’s not c js workout. Right? You wrote it, you get all the me Yeah, people eventually but it’s, it’s your record athlete. You just, I just I made the food but you ate it, you know, like you should be you should have the enjoyment of you know,
CJ
you want to add some reps, you want to take some reps away, you want to go heavier, maybe you want to change the equipment. That’s, that’s the ultimate mission is to provide you with so many options that doesn’t overwhelm you. Correct, but does set you up for an always attract, attract to more success always. There’s more opportunities to learn and success is not just going faster, harder and longer. It’s a great principle. It’s it’s simply being able to expand your potential and feel more connected.
Michael Hughes
That’s awesome. Love the stuff. Bad or limiting class offerings. hard thing about a coach, you are not working the nine to five bankers jobs. You know, the bankers got the best, they’ve got the best hours. I’ve seen just you know, bankers, they got all the holiday assistant, you know, you know, we’re working before work, we’re working during lunch, or working after work are times off or the hard parts of of work. Two to four, you know, nine to 11 You know, that’s what everyone’s working. And that’s when we’re not working. You know, we’re so he’s you have to be open. You have to be able to sacrifice your lifestyle. I really believe that. You know, I think coaches have the NCAA to blame for and professional me, especially the NCAA, the professional coaches, but I mean, some people have that sort of life. Yeah, and I do sleep travel. I do not believe that, especially as a trainer of movement, that’s your life, then you should you should, you should try for more to try for you strive for more anyways. So you gotta wake up in the early morning, you got to be able to do eat lunch non times, and you have to be offered like I think the most important things that we offer like 100 different class times per week. Now there’s a there’s a team of seven of us, so it’s very important, but number one Jim also started I got a flyer first time was was 538 am next class time was 940 5/3. Class time was noon. That was Jim Miles was initial, it wasn’t Gymnazo then but that was the initial offering. And it was a lot of work to get those three class times. But you got to fit into the you know, it’s not, it’s not what you want to do with your athletes want to do. And you got to remember that different demographics. 12 different times, if you want to go to the baby boomers, they’re not going to show up at 5:30am. Great, they’re sleeping, they’re not gonna show up at lunch, they’re gonna show up at the 940 fives, the elevens, the 3pm, we had 3pm. One has a first like do you want is it? Three 3pm It crushed it. Yeah, so it’s very, very interesting about a class offering that’s robust, or at least fits your starting demographic, I think that’s a really important.
CJ
Oh, and especially starting out, I think, too, it’s tough, because if you’re starting group coach, and you’re just now initiating these group classes, it’s gonna be some oblong times, and you’re gonna want to fill in the schedule first, just to build some excitement and some interest into what you’re coaching. But then once these individuals start talking about what they’re doing, if it’s fun, it’s clean. It’s got some variety, there’s a cool community, they’re learning stuff, they’re doing weird stuff that they didn’t know, they could do. And now it’s applying to real life. I think that’s where you get the most amount of people. Because people want to be able to function better and sustain their movement through life. And I think we’re going into this, this track and the next 510 years, hopefully, much sooner that fitness is about being sustainable. It’s not just about being fit, and looking good. It’s creating a model for yourself, and routine for yourself, that fits your lifestyle. And if it is, then you know, as a as a coach having different level classes, if you’re only coaching one type of class, you’re only going to you’re going to limit yourself to only the amount of people you can fill into that class, and maybe go in with a workshop route, because you want to teach a specific thing. That can be different, too. That’s more traveling and more class offerings. But in terms of fitness and group training model, you got to have something for different levels of people, you got to have at least two levels, something that’s a little bit easier, little bit tougher, like an intro, especially if it’s like a complexity thing. Introduce your style of training, whether it’s a flow, some kind of mace or kettlebell or rope, whatever. Or if it’s just a bunch of equipment circuit style, you’ve got an easier level that’s low impact and a tougher level, that’s a little bit higher impact. And then I mean, for our ecosystem, then we’ve also got one on ones, we’ve got some privates that’s more focused on what the individual is looking for, versus a group of individuals.
Michael Hughes
Yeah, I think it’s big things. But it’s a simple one. But you got to expand it out.
CJ
Ask your people what they want, ask them what they want, and see what they’re interested in. Yeah, build it for them.
Michael Hughes
Honestly, I think that’s the biggest thing. Every year, we do a member survey. And we get a great response over 50% of our members answer in which and we love them, we let them know you can you can make policy happen in this facility? Just let us know. And so just asking, I think we do that. Often. What what what should we do in our big management meetings? What do we do? Let’s just ask the clients. Yeah.
CJ
Especially when you got a good sample size to write to work with?
Michael Hughes
And if you don’t even easier to collect? Yeah. Because I care about is that 25 people good to
CJ
be stoked about what you’re offering from this class? It’s like, No, you’re Enjoy it.
Michael Hughes
Enjoy it now like that. Members don’t feel appreciated. I wrote down a laundry list on things that we do.
CJ
I want to hear your list, honestly, because I can talk and talk and talk. But I enjoy hearing you talk about how we appreciate
Michael Hughes
Well, I mean, it’s so appreciation is, is more than likely and and tangible. Right? It’s something that’s very soft, it’s very it should be flown way underneath the radar. Personalized, not not not blown up, but sometimes needs to be like a party. I remember and I really mean that not just from the figurative speech. We do member socials and have done member socials since day one. And we’ve learned a lot about those members. salsals Because there’s a there’s a nice, we’ll call it a spectrum of fun. When you get too much spectrum, you get deterioration in the community because you start to ostracize certain people who don’t want to have that much fun.
CJ
No doubt that much fun. Come on.
Michael Hughes
There’s a limit to the amount of fun that you should have as a professional organization. But we certainly had members socialist from the beginning pool parties is one of the first things that got too much fun. going downtown to the bars with our members that got too much fun. Then it turned into then it turned into friends giving. I remember our first Thanksgiving we had in the facility people like you’re going to your gym have Thanksgiving dinner? And I’ll remember like, yeah, like it’s not that kind of place. So that was also something that we do a lot. And that’s a lot of work. We have our our holiday party, which is really just our anniversary party. That’s during the holidays. And that’s a formal we’d less like a black tie, not truly black tie, but fitness, black tie, event and a lot of planning. Those are all member appreciation, stuff. And it’s not like we’re not trying to fundraise. There’s no intention behind it besides having a good time and saying thank you to the members. We have beer socials. Yes, we drink beer and talk about beer a lot. Does that contradict fitness nutrition? No, it does not my soul is always fed. It goes hand in hand with it. We are not a physique bodybuilding place. So let’s, let’s be clear. That’s the first Friday of every month, which is the first Friday of every month is coming up just around the corner. We did movie nights during COVID outdoor movie nights, projected on a massive wall and Amen. You know, we always look for opportunities to do all kinds of we do a golf tournament. We do. We do Spartan Races, I mean, CJ talks about a guy who goes out of his way the dude would go to we have massive sand dunes here just locally. Pick up a bucket and bring a bring a heavy
CJ
kettlebell out and do a cold dip. See at 7am.
Michael Hughes
It’s always doing something that brings in appreciation. Not only that, but we do shirts. We do the 500 Club 1000 club 1500 club 2000 club to 2500 club and now our 3000 club that means a member who’s joined that many sessions. That’s ultimate. That’s a well, it’s a free shirt. I mean, it’s not free, right? But it’s a free shirt. expensive shirt. But yeah, exactly. And those are the things like that. We do a lot of Raffles we do is really important. But those are the tangible things the and tangible things we send flowers, send flowers to a lot of members who have gone through tough tough times. From Gymnazo. We write cards a lot, a lot of cards, we learn something about someone’s real life, our members or our athletes are real people. They go through shit in their lives. Wouldn’t it be nice, I hate to say this, because I like to keep it secret, but wouldn’t be nice to receive. We’re thinking about your card, signed by all your coaches who you see more often than your own family members, extended family members. You don’t just I mean, all those little things like that they add up to appreciation.
CJ
Yeah, it’s it’s definitely a slow building things that then you look back and be just like, wow, I’ve built a really outstanding relationship. These these people know. It’s amazing how how clients can shape your life too. And I’ve had clients share stories with me of just success of things and like they should they appreciation back. And as a coach, we need to accept that learn to accept that to like, take in and be grateful for what you’re able to provide to other people. So appreciate yourself too, as a coach, like realize that but realize who need to appreciate so that you can be appreciated,
Michael Hughes
right? We get all the gifts from members. And it’s that’s an appreciation back. And sometimes I don’t feel as balanced. I feel we get more gifts than we give. But we give gifts as a community as an environment. And I have to remember that, you know, and always be thankful. You know, I got some pretty cool gifts.
CJ
Yeah, my heart feels good. Just just appreciating who we who we get to coach.
Michael Hughes
Yeah, definitely. Payments are no on a hassle. That’s a that’s I do want to give some business advice here. In a sense, payments need to be not a hassle. There when I deal with a business, this is just my personal preference here. So that charges me more to use a credit card, that leaves a negative sensation in my stomach, doesn’t mean I won’t do business with them. But it’s a negative con and I understand as a business every time that somebody uses a credit card here, we get fined for that the business gets fined for accepting payments. It’s called the cog the cost of doing business. And to me, that is something that if you’re going to offer a five for five star service, which we say we’re trying to offer five star service all the time, that is a cost of business that you should absorb to make it happen, because it makes it hassle free. I think there’s a lot of things you need to do to really make payment be something that is just, it’s not even thought about. It’s not even. It’s not even an expectation. It’s just like, of course, absolutely. And you have to call someone asking for money. That’s not a good feeling. I was part of a fraternity in high school in college, and I was the finance guy. And I ran an organization that’s how I think of it 63 Men, least we thought were men. And I was fine as I was the guy calling people, we didn’t have text back then we’re barely, I didn’t have the text phone. And I’d call people and it just was miserable. It was miserable. Like, I wish we had swipe, that’d be so awesome or stripe, whatever the case is, you know, just make it easy. So, payments have to be hassle free, and you have to be able to always back up and feel very confident and proud of what you’re about what you’re charging. Can’t be too little, too. It’s very interesting. You know, Pete, that’s why Lamborghinis are so expensive. They’re not that expensive to make. But people want to feel, I don’t know, there’s so many different subjective things that go into payments. But it’s got a it’s got to be easy. It’s got to be easy. So you want to speak on the to that.
CJ
I mean, everything everything’s energy in right now we use money as energy or energy. Yeah, we use money to share that. And I think if somebody’s passionate about wanting to train in somewhere, training facility, they’re willing to spend the money. And if you have a community, you’ve got accountability, you’ve got variety. You’ve got education in there, you’ve got a relationship building. Again, community, right, people want to be there and show up. It’s people are gonna be willing to spend more money on somewhere that’s that cares about them as much as they care about their health. And I think we need to just be mindful of that, as a coach don’t underrate yourself. But also, don’t don’t put yourself over the top when nobody can reach out to you.
Michael Hughes
Right? Yeah, there has to be that sweet understanding that there’s a relationship being built. Like it’s really it’s really like, again, I’ll go back to the furniture I was in for I paid for my friends quote, unquote, as people would say it. No, I didn’t. I paid for an environment of like minded people that wanted to enjoy life together. That’s what that’s what I think a true fitness facility should be like. Anyways, I love it. Our retention it real quick is is our our churn rate is 3%. That means we churn through 3% of members every month, a very All Star awesome number is 10%. We didn’t even know that we were doing the 3% until we started paying attention to it. So it’s really important that we that you replace as few athletes on your team per month as possible. Because every time you bring in a new athlete, the team has to work that much harder to get better. That’s how we look at it. We have a pool of athletes, you don’t hire CJ don’t hire Michael, you hire the team of Gymnazo coaches. And we want to take these athletes through a lifelong season of movement progression. So they can be better outside of the facility walls not only is good inside the walls, and so keep your athletes long time. Didn’t get better and better and better. And they’re going to talk about you as a coach being an awesome guide. And they’re the hero.
CJ
Throw an awesome party. Man. That’s it. Throw an awesome party. Have a good time. No, your people
Michael Hughes
love it. Wrapping it up. Love it, man. Cool. Thank you very much CO hosting. And we’ll see you all next time. Enjoy. Pay off. I hope you guys enjoy today’s episode. And if you did, please share it with your fitness obsessed friends and peers who are also navigating this world of fitness and trying to succeed the trends and misinformation. As you guys can see this podcast is basically a masterclass for trainers wanting to level up in their coaching skills and their fitness business model. We launched in 2020. Because you and your fitness tribe deserve to see an unfiltered look at all the aspects of what it takes to stand out as a next generation coach and build a successful fitness business. So share it far and wide. And please, when you do do me a favor, take a screenshot of this screen and share it to your social media accounts and use the hashtag Gymnazo podcast that’s hashtag Gymnazo podcast that way we can see you and share your posts with our audience. And finally, when you’re ready to go to the next level as a coach or in your business, and to reach more people, please go check out gymnazoedu.com. We have put together the best 90 Day coaching program on the market for trainers wanting to become a masterful practitioner and build a business that gives them the freedom and impact. So let us help you do just that. We have online training and one on one coaching to guide you through a full 90 Day certification. We even get you training our clients live because it’s always better to work out your kinks on someone else’s clients than yours. But we promise you this your clients will be blown away by the transformation our program will help you make you’ll be masterful at a whole new level and part of an incredible community of coaches worldwide, taking their skills to the next level. So if you thought today’s episode had some fire to it, and inspired you to take action, wait until we see what we deliver on This program. So just go to gymnazoedu.com. And we’ll see you on the other side. Remember that turning your passion for fitness into transformation and sustainable business is critical to reaching the people and lives you were put on earth to help it matters and truly can make an impact in other people’s lives. So, hope you do that. Keep sharing a passion and we’ll talk to you soon.
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