Tag Archives: fitness

3 Fitness Marketing Tips inspired by a Dragon

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Last year I spent a couple of weeks traveling the UK doing a roadshow for my day job. Our guest presenter was well known Dragon’s Den star Duncan Bannatyne. Through his contribution to the seminars, and over a few drinks and dinners, it was fascinating to hear his stories about how he built up, first a care home chain, and now an empire of health and fitness clubs. Given my alter ego as a fitness and Yoga instructor, and my keen interest in the fitness industry, his insights into marketing, communications and business development were relevant for both my guises.

fitness marketing tips inspired by a dragon

Here are some of the fitness marketing tips I came away with which I think will interest to my fitness friends.

1) PR your business within the local community

This is not just about advertising in local newspapers, it’s developing PR relationships with those newspapers. Getting onto local radio. Sponsoring events in local schools and clubs. And above all embracing social media to create a network of links across Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin to draw visitors to your website.

For more on PR see my earlier blog on PR for fitness professionals.

2) Seek business development opportunities from change

When Margaret Thatcher changed legislation for the care of the elderly in the 1980s, Bannatyne cashed in on this opportunity by building a chain of care homes. Whilst we are not seeing legislative change in the fitness industry it is still evolving daily. New programmes like ViPR create opportunities for new adopters. And just look at the success of Zumba and how that has taken fitness out of the club chains and back into the community. Some instructors have tapped into the huge demand for Zumba and seen their earnings rocket.

The most exciting change is in marketing itself and this makes it easier to be successful. The Internet has ushered in a new era of “content based marketing” (know as inbound marketing by academics). Until recently we have been more used to “interruption marketing” (known as outbound marketing).

That’s adverts on TV, unsolicited calls, junk mail; i.e. stuff that companies bombard us with to try and get us to buy their products and experiences. With content marketing the customer is in control because they are the ones searching the web for information. Whether it is the price of clothes, the cost of a car, or information about a new fitness programme, they are searching for specifics. If you have a website or blog that provides content that meets that specific desire for information you can succeed at this new marketing style.

3 fitness marketing tips

As a fitness professional do you have your own website and blog? Maybe you think you haven’t got time or the writing skills to think of enough things to say. Well just create a list of all the questions your clients ask about exercise, diet, classes and lifestyle. Then provide the answers. There you immediately have the content you need. Get it online, ensure that the search engines can find it and customers will start to come.

Of course it isn’t quite that easy, but with a little planning this is an exciting way forward.

3) Relentlessly network for new ideas and opportunities

Network either online or face to face. Our industry colleagues, and again those in the local community, all face similar challenges but all will have different views and solutions as to how to solve them. Again through social media we have access to a world wide club of like minded people, and a library of ideas, and business tools.

But the most important lesson a entrepreneurial Dragon can impart is to “get on and do it”. Yes there is information out there. You could read websites and white papers on how to use content marketing forever. The best thing to do to expand your business is to do more marketing straight away.

Over to you: Have you been successfully marketing your business via a blog or content based website? What are your fitness marketing tips? Please leave a comment and post a link. Would you like to read more on this subject on this blog? Please let me know.

Yoga is good for you despite what the newspapers seem to think.

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The New York Times published an article with the sensational headline, “How Yoga Can Wreck your Body” at the beginning of January. Great timing when many people are looking to start a New Year with a determination to get fit. What a great way to put off anyone considering Yoga as their resolution. The article naturally caused outrage amongst Yoga teachers and many rebuttals have appeared since.

Yoga is good for you

On 29 Jan The Sunday Times published their own version. Since then I have seen Internet forums flooded with questions like, “Is yoga really safe?” or,  “Is Yoga dangerous?” People have even stayed behind after class to voice their concerns and seek advice.

Should they be worried? No – yoga is good for you but let’s be clear. Newspapers love sensational headlines. They also love to scare us. The Daily Mail is always running stories that one day claim something causes cancer and then next day that the same thing prevents cancer.

When you see a headline claiming that eating a certain type of food increases the chance of cancer by, say, 78% naturally you think that is a worrying figure. But they never publish the base statistic. If the incidence of that form of cancer is one in a million. Then a 78% increase means the incidence is still pretty close to one in a million. But it scares you none the less.

The Yoga article quotes 46 people who have suffered back problems, spinal issues and joint pain. Oh my God so every one should stop practicing Yoga immediately then, just in case. At the same time we should stop eating, drinking, going to the cinema, riding bikes, flying kites, taking dogs for walks, stroking cats, playing football and having sex. In fact curl up in a dark room and shut out the world.

There is risk associated with everything we do in life. And I mean everything. You may sprain your ankle running for the bus. You may trip and fall down the stairs and break your arm. It’s possible you might burn your hand severely whilst cooking your dinner.

Now consider what that 46 injuries really means in context. In the UK in 2010 nearly 2000 people died in car accidents. 22,600 were seriously injured. 184,000 were slightly injured. But newspapers don’t recommend you stop driving even though the fact remains that you are many more times more likely to be hurt driving to a Yoga class than you are to be hurt in one.

“Yoga is good for you.”

As long as you have a qualified teacher who gives you clear instructions, doesn’t over exert, extend or stretch you, then yoga will be of amazing benefit to your body’s strength and flexibility. Like any form of exercise take it at your own pace, grow in confidence, and enjoy it.

Don’t worry about what you read in the papers. Yoga is definitely, really good for you. Come along to a class and feel the benefits.

Over to you: If you are a yoga teacher what do you do to make your clients feel good, safe and confident? Are you a participant? Do you ever feel that yoga is not doing you some good?

6 Ways to sculpt your core with CXWorx

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I finally got to try CXWorx, the 30 minute core work out class recently launched in the UK by Les Mills the creators of Body Pump.

CXWorx for your core

Many clubs run classes sporting titles such as “Ab Attack” or “Core Extreme”. These too run for 30 minutes and feature endless sit ups and oblique curls. On paper CXWorx promises a similar experience but with the added Les Mills standard accompaniment of the hottest musical sounds from charts around the planet.

It is not the same believe me. The creators of this class have crammed much variety of exercise into the allotted time to work your core from every angle. You start by realising your core is not just the abs. As the instructor said, “What is your core? Well chop of your head, your arms and your legs and what is left is your core.”

So it includes the shoulders, the glutes, the obliques, and the muscular slings that criss-cross the body creating the X-shape of muscles referred to in the class’s title.

I was already tired having just taught a very busy Body Combat class but I promised myself I would stay as the CXWorx instructor came in. She started by giving out resistance tubes. There are three levels and I inadvertently chose the hardest one. They have handles because you need to hold on tight. Another optional extra is a weight plate.

We got started lying down on mats on the floor as the music kicked in.

  1. Warm Up: A rapid combination of leg extensions, crunches and oblique crunches. Even as early as this you learn the importance of a flat back against the floor and a strong belly and how easy it is to lose technique and arch the back. Don’t. It stops the exercises or from working.
  2. Core strength 1: Here come the hovers. This is tough stuff. The instructor introduces arm and leg movements but you have to keep the hover strong and centred. It only takes a few minutes for this to start burning.
  3. Standing strength 1: A series of lunges, squats and stretches using the resistance tubes and weight plate to heavily work the glutes and top half of the legs. I had started to shake by now.
  4. Standing strength 2: The resistance tube becomes more of a focus in this one. Range of movement is small but the tubes make it hurt. By now, only 20 minutes in, I am starting to struggle.
  5. Core strength 2: More hovers, side planks, and leg raises test you almost to the limit.
  6. Core strength 3: Lying on the belly or up on hands and knees, we finish with diagonal pointers, leg extensions, shoulder and leg raises with moves that tighten the butt. A few quick stretches and your half hour is over. And you feel elated but broken.

The people in the class were of all ages and all shapes. Judging by the moans and groans and pools of sweat, everyone was happy with their performance and would be feeling the results the following day.

“CXWorx – A great work out for your core.”

I loved the class. Will it take off all over the UK? I imagine there might be resistance initially from clubs. They won’t want to pay another licence fee when they can convince themselves that their PTs can produce a similar experience for free. I think ultimately their attitude might change as people hear about CXWorx through word of mouth.

So CXWorx is a great express workout, not at all sure about the name though.

Over to you: Have you tried CXWorx yet? How did you feel afterwards? Have you seen results in your core? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Review of Body Combat Release 50 – a celebration of a milestone

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This is a fantastic release which is going down extremely well with clients. It creates moans and groans in the leg conditioning track 6 and the abs track 9, shouts and screams in the fun tracks and gritted determination in the endless last power track.

I love it too but when I first heard the music I was disappointed. Due to traveling with work I just couldn’t get to a quarterly workshop and I think this release more than any proves that you have to have the “masterclass” experience rather than seeing it for the first time in your living room.

I thought, “Oh no – two songs were in the previous release of Balance, that remix of an awesome Scooter song that has been used in the warm up to BC16 is bland, and T6 is dull hip hop”. Then you do it and you realise in this release that the moves carry the music.

Review of Body Combat Release 50

1) Warm Up (More/Rolling In The Deep): Good fun upbeat Upper body – nothing out of the ordinary but like the build up from combat stance only, double jab to jab cross jab – that works nicely. The lower body is fine as well – if not pretty similar to the last two. That’s three lower body warm ups in a row that have been very similar in construction – something different would next time would be nice.

2) Combat 1 (Frozen): This is the highlight of the release for me and in my opinion the best T2 since BC35. The double block gets you deep into the legs and the addition of the elbow and the roundhouse is powerful. Sound effects make the kicks even stronger – nice to see this nod to the past in the 50th. Sound effects are cheesy for some and joy for others. These are quite far back in the mix so they keep the latter happy without annoying the former. Then we have sword strikes – again with steel clashing with steel sound effects. Takes me back to BC10 and the cheesiest cool down ever – Funniculi Funnicula. The sword section raises the heart rate – this doesn’t feel like a T2 – it’s a cardio burner. The middle combo is good as well with its knees and double front kicks. Simply a cracker.

3) Power 1 (What’s Up): Simple stuff. Two separate combos that eventually merge into one heart pumping face puncher. Great uplifting song with many vocal hooks (big big hill, brotherhood, what’s going on!). Sometimes T3s blur into one – this one will be brought back.

4) Combat 2 (Let it Die): The new advancing side kick is a great addition especially in the faster section towards the end, though I understand why we need the slower demo at the start. The rest of the track feels a little “bitty”. It doesn’t seem to do much but at the end you have a sore butt so I guess it does its work subtly.

5) Power 2 (Nessaja): Continuing a trend for excellent shoulder wasting T5s – this is as relentless as it is fun. Love the block feeling to the choreography and the full on 30 second blasts. I often use the previous version of this track – a bonus warm up from BC16 – so I was delighted when my class sang along with “It must be Dave who’s on the train”. And we get the Alvin and the Chipmunks sing-a-long in the middle as well – that was missing from the BC16 version. The fact the final combo (Jab, hook upper) was the exact reverse of the choreography from the last release does mess with the head a little.

6) Combat 3 (Gimme Dat): Ouch. In my last mix I did “Not Gonna Get us” from BC18 – a T9 with squats and lunges just like here – but this goes on for three times as long. Esquiva, lunges, gingas, front kicks. This is very hard. Very good. And as Dan says will lead to lean lean legs. Hardest one to learn as well there is a great deal going on (with a bit of lopsided choreography).

7) Muay Tai (Eye of The Tiger): The cardio burn returns with a roar as the tempo goes into overdrive. The transitions are quick, cueing is difficult, but the work out is intense – especially if you manage all those running man knees. Once more we have an orgy of downward punches – which aren’t really Muay Tai moves. I know they get the heart rate sky high but I would like to see a break from these. The Tiger growls are a gift for cheese merchants like me.

8) Power 3 (You’re the feeling): Long and tough this is a major endurance test. I love the power of the body hook to the kidneys. However, when was the last time we had a T8 that didn’t finish with millions of jabs in front stance? Okay so it finishes the main workout on a blistering high – but it’s getting predictable.

9) Conditioning (Pause): This is short, sharp and savage with a great piece of music, great core strengthening moves and guaranteed deep sighs from everyone. It’s really a taster for some CXWORX isn’t it – like all conditioning tracks in Combat and Balance over the last 12 months we have been getting hints at this great new programme. People feel they have achieved something after this track. “Look at that girl she’s like, OUCH!”

10) Cool down (ISHFWILF): Good to have a heavier, rockier cool down. This creates a good musical contrast. A pretty epic way to finish.

When I look over what I have written in my review of Body Combat release 50 I notice a few niggles – but the release has gone down better than many that at first glance I might have given a better score to. What I think works here is a perfect balance. This release has a bit of everything that has made combat what it is over 50 releases. An old school T2 with fun sound effects and swords which don’t detract from the intensity; sing along but intense power tracks; a lifetime achievement award hard core leg track, the sharpest conditioning track for ages and an overall workout that can break even the fittest.

So it is a perfect celebration of 50 releases of Body Combat.

Over to You: Are you a Body Combat Instructor? What did you think of release 50? Was it the milestone class you wanted it to be? Are you a participant? Have you enjoyed number 50?