In the Beginning: The Body

Long before the advent of the modern health club, and long before clubs were filled with row upon row of technologically sophisticated training equipment, there was simply: the body.

The human body might seem a minimalist exercise option, but, in fact, mankind has relied upon it for centuries to achieve fitness gains. “The History of Fitness,” a scholarly article authored by industry researchers Len Kravitz and Lance Dalleck, traces its impact over millennia. At around 2,500 B.C., the ancient Greeks ran, jumped, and wrestled. At about the same time, the Chinese were pursuing Kung Fu gymnastics, which mimic the fighting styles of various animals. And it’s estimated that more than 5,000 years ago, Hindu priests were practicing yoga in India. Bodyweight-based training has never gone out of style.

Enter any gym, and you’ll likely find people utilizing their own weight as the sole source of resistance as they perform pushups, pull-ups, and similar movements. What’s new is that this timeless approach has become trendy. Today, the body is in—in fashion, in demand, and at the heart of some of the industry’s most successful endeavors.

By all accounts, everybody is benefitting: Clubs have a hot new exercise attraction. Clients are seeing results. And the manufacturers of bodyweight-based products are finding it hard to keep up with the demand for their wares.

Bodyweight Refinements

“The body is definitely the ultimate and the most natural type of exercise equipment,” observes Tom Campanaro, the president and CEO of Total Gym, the San Diego–based manufacturer of an extensive line of bodyweight machines. “It is, essentially, the penultimate training modality.” However, he acknowledges, it does have certain inherent limitations. “The average person usually isn’t strong enough to lift their own weight,” he explains. “It can prove a daunting obstacle.” In addition, highly conditioned club members or elite athletes may feel the approach isn’t quite challenging enough. Recognizing the need for remedies, Campanaro launched Total Gym nearly 40 years ago. Today, the company offers a number of products that successfully overcome these sorts of obstacles.

Among them are the Total Gym GTS, the award-winning centerpiece of the firm’s GRAVITYSystem group fitness suite of classes; the Total Gym Power- Tower, a motorized rehabilitation model; and the Total Gym Sport, a recent offering that’s suitable for small-footprint commercial facilities. Campanaro’s defining goal, he says, has always been “to find ways that allow people to use their own weight to achieve advanced levels of fitness, while, simultaneously, reducing the likelihood that they’ll feel discouraged or injure themselves.” Others have joined Campanaro in the quest.

Among the many noteworthy products now available are CrossCore 180 and The War Machine, both rotational bodyweight- centric pulley systems that are offered by CrossCore, Inc., based in Duarte, California. And then there’s Rip:60, a strap system that facilitates rotational movement, which is manufactured by Freemotion Fitness, a subsidiary of ICON Health and Fitness, based in Logan, Utah.

Prominent among the options is TRX, a suspension, bodyweight- based apparatus that’s produced by the San Francisco– based company of the same name. Most recently, the firm launched the TRX Rip Trainer, a lever-bar and resistance-cord system that provides a mix of rotational resistance, core stability, and coordination training.

Like Total Gym, TRX offers pre-choreographed routines— from endurance-centric programming, to strength workouts, to mind/body inspired classes. TRX also seems to be on a trajectory much like Total Gym’s—its offerings are being adopted and utilized enthusiastically, and the company seems poised for a healthy and lengthy run. “As an industry, we’re at the very beginning of the development of this approach to training,” suggests Fraser Quelch, TRX’s director of training and development. “Given the renewed emphasis on function, it was inevitable that there’d be a rediscovery of movement-based training, which must start with body weight.”

Program Differentiation

At the club level, there’s also a lot going on. One facility that appreciates and has profited from the many positive outcomes that bodyweight training provides is the Gold’s Gym in Davenport, Iowa, a 30,000-square-foot facility with just over 2,500 members.

Several years ago, owner Chris Agnew decided that he wanted to offer members “something unique, something dynamic—something that would be highly effectual for club and client, alike.” The something that he chose was G-branded equipment and classes.

To accommodate his seven new Total Gym machines, Agnew remodeled his club, adding a nearly 1,000-square-foot space—the GRAVITY room. Now, looking back, Agnew admits he has a small regret: “I wish we’d made the room larger so we could accommodate more equipment and more users.” The program has been that much of a boon to his business, he explains.

“We’re taking in about $3,000 per month in revenues from our small-group workouts alone. We’re also doing well as far as personal training revenue is concerned,” he reports. “Overall, the return on our initial investment has been outstanding.”

Gold’s members can take part in hour-long classes, conducted twice a week for five weeks, at a cost of $85. “There are usually 15 sessions per week, and most of the classes are at capacity,” says Dawn Dowsett, the general manager of the GRAVITY offering. “Our clients achieve great results, appreciate the fact that the equipment can be adjusted to suit their individual needs, and love being able to work out in a social, supportive environment. “Honestly, they keep coming back session after session—they refuse to give up their spot.”

Providing Choices

At Body Business (BB), which has two locations in the greater Austin, Texas, area—at Anderson Lane and Davenport Village—the story is much the same. Like Agnew, owners Susan and Scott Cooper invested in Total Gym equipment and GRAVITY group programming, but also acquired TRX products and classes.

Members can make use of both in their personal training sessions, but the BB schedule also boasts about 40 different Total Gym and TRX group workouts per week, each accommodating eight clients. “Half-hour classes run $60 for four sessions, while hour-long workouts average $100 for four,” says Susan Cooper. “Personal training ranges from $60 to $85 per hour.”

She estimates that a full 30% of the clubs’ nearly 1,000 members now participate in the group classes.

The couple’s reasons for investing in Total Gym and TRX are ones that many in the industry would appreciate: “We felt we weren’t engaging as many of our members as we could,” she says. “As a result, we weren’t realizing our full potential in terms of profitability.”

Adding Total Gym and TRX products and choreographed workouts to the clubs’ mix, she reveals, produced a 25% increase in personal training revenues, contributing to a 30% profit margin. “As the economy becomes more robust, I expect those figures to increase,” she discloses. “Moreover, in the case of each type of equipment, we saw a return on our investment in about six months.

"Total Gym and TRX proved very low-risk," she continues, "and both of them have helped us achieve our aim, which was to reach our untapped clients—for instance, die-hard group fitness devotees who’d never considered personal training, or individuals who, for financial reasons, felt compelled to give up on one-on-one instruction."

Cooper points out that the clubs’ bodyweight offerings have also had a positive effect on retention. “Because these approaches are so engaging and effective, members are less likely to quit because of isuse, boredom, or lack of achievement.”

Club and Member Payoffs

These sentiments, and a similar level of success, are shared by the Walnut Creek Sports and Fitness Club (WCSFC), a 30,000-square-foot facility in Walnut Creek, California, with more than 2,000 members.

Like BB, the club offers both TRX and Total Gym personal training and group sessions, in this instance in a specially designated 700-square-foot space. Prices for participation vary from $10 for a single class to $45 for private 30-minute sessions.

Tom Hart, WCSFC’s fitness director, and Bob Boos, its personal training director, both agree wholeheartedly that bodyweight-based options can be a real gamechanger for a fitness business. “With this equipment, we can manipulate the percent of a user’s body weight that’s being lifted, so we can appeal to a much, much broader demographic,” the two explain in a joint e-mail. “We can have an athlete working out alongside someone who’s quite deconditioned.”

A wider customer base has obvious implications for a club’s bottom line.

“GRAVITY, alone, now accounts for 15% of our total revenue,” they say. “TRX is fairly new for us, so we don’t have numbers on it yet, but, given the current level of interest, we suspect that 2012 is going to be a banner year for TRX at our club. We’re probably going to dedicate more space to it and expand our schedule.”

Hart and Boos point out that, while the equipment itself gets credit for much of the success, it doesn’t tell the whole story. As with other programs, proper planning, competent instruction, and attentive, ongoing oversight are critical. A carefully orchestrated marketing effort, they suggest, is essential to getting a bodyweight-training component off to a good start. “Place the equipment in a highly visible spot to help spark members’ interest,” they advise. “Offer complimentary classes and stage vibrant demos to aid in attracting clients. First-hand experience dramatically increases the probability of member buy-in.”

The bottom line, as far as Hart and Boos are concerned: “Everyone winds up getting what they came for, which is results.

“The body is an incredibly versatile tool, and people really enjoy being able to use it, in the club, in much the same way that they do in everyday life,” they conclude. “Total Gym, TRX, and other similar options are valuable in that they allow the client to use their own body, and, at the same time, make them feel competent and successful in what they’re doing.

“And, in terms of the club, the equipment’s market appeal, effectiveness, and reasonable pricing translate into significant popularity, which, ultimately, produces a rewarding financial payoff.”