It is a huge market, with real needs, and one that health clubs are well equipped to serve. The 2000 U.S. Census reports that more than 49.7 million Americans have some sort of disability or other medical condition of long standing that limits their activities, and others put the number even higher. Dr. Mitchell LaPlante, the director of the Disability Statistics Center (DSC) in San Francisco, believes that there are more than 53 million such individuals, 33 million of them severely disabled...
It no longer seems necessary to recount the various difficulties that have beset business for the past few years. There have been too many of them. And some of them have been unmitigated disasters. We all know that, and, last year, when CBI asked a group of industry leaders to speculate about the year ahead, they were certain of the challenges and skeptical of the opportunities. This year, it is different: the balance has changed. The 10 industry insiders that we contacted -- all individuals who toil in the trenches -- admit that trials still lie on the path, but are, without exception, reassured by how well the industry has performed, and convinced that 2004 will prove the start of a period of renewed expansion and greater growth...
Canon, the copier company, is currently running an ad campaign that's critical of business as usual.
'There's just one problem with business as usual,' the ad copy begins. 'It's business as usual.'
That may be true for Canon, for other firms, and for other industries, but it isn't true of the health and fitness club industry. All too often, business as usual (BAU) is employed as a pejorative, but that's not the case here: for clubs, BAU (pronounced 'bow') is a solid, worthy, accomplishment, and nothing to prompt disappointment or despair...
Bob Greene'Oprah's personal trainer, best-selling author, and all-around fitness phenomenon'might well be forgiven for taking a little breather, briefly resting on his laurels, but that doesn't seem likely to happen. Greene has found a new mission, embarked on a new crusade, that will be formally proclaimed by the publication of his sixth book next fall...
Tom Scanlon, the president of Benchmarks, Inc., and IHRSA's chief Washington representative, has been elected president of the National Coalition for the Promotion of Physical Activity (NCPPA)...
As everyone knows, in many cases, lead generation is the single most important factor contributing to membership growth. Once a prospect from your market area visits your club and works out there, the likelihood that they'll join jumps by 300'
Get Active America!'the industry assault on obesity and inactivity created by IHRSA'has but a single purpose, namely: to generate hundreds of viable new leads for your membership department...
The coming year may prove a watershed for our industry as we approach the tipping point'that moment in time at which an accumulation of events produces critical mass'not along a single path, but rather, remarkably, along five. These factors, emerging, developing, simultaneously, seem destined to shape our industry and provide unimagined growth opportunities for years to come...
International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association
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Gayle Winegar is experimenting with new ideas and breaking new ground at Sweatshop Fitness, one of the industry's most prolific think tanks...
It is a huge market, with real needs, and one that health clubs are well equipped to serve. The 2000 U.S. Census reports that more than 49.7 million Americans have some sort of disability or other medical condition of long standing that limits their activities, and others put the number even higher. Dr. Mitchell LaPlante, the director of the Disability Statistics Center (DSC) in San Francisco, believes that there are more than 53 million such individuals, 33 million of them severely disabled...
Bob Greene'Oprah's personal trainer, best-selling author, and all-around fitness phenomenon'might well be forgiven for taking a little breather, briefly resting on his laurels, but that doesn't seem likely to happen. Greene has found a new mission, embarked on a new crusade, that will be formally proclaimed by the publication of his sixth book next fall...
