Fast-forward stage for Fitness on Demand, virtual group exercise

It’s hard to believe that Lift Brands launched Fitness On Demand (FOD) just three years ago, in early 2011. So much has happened since then, propelling the company to grow far beyond expectations.

Based in Excelsior, Minnesota, FOD delivers digital group exercise so that clubs can offer classes more efficiently and at a lower cost than with live instructors - any time members want to work out. Just a year after its debut, the nascent firm was already boasting a roster of 60 different offerings that were being presented at more than 250 fitness facilities worldwide.

Fast-forward two years, and we mean fast. In that time, FOD has expanded in nearly every conceivable category: from 10 to 33 employees; from 60-plus to more than 600 unique titles; to a presence in approximately 1,000 facilities across the globe; and to year-over-year revenue growth, in 2013, of 130%. “It’s been crazy, but fun,” observes Garrett Marshall, the company’s business development director.

Read on to see more about Fitness on Demand's past, present and future.

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Worthington's Way: club owner expounds on 30-year plan

Jim Worthington, president and owner of Newtown Athletic Club, in Newtown, Pa., regards innovation, expansion, and growth as ongoing, inevitable and infinite.

In the July CBI Interview Worthington, who started at the club in 1981 as the manager and two years later was offered to become partner, answers a wide variety of questions.

Read on to see problems Newtown encountered during its $16 million Big Build expansion, its 19 profit centers, and more, in CBI Interview.

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IHRSA Global 25: fitness industry making positive strides

Last year, when discussing the IHRSA Global 25, the phrase people used most frequently to describe the industry, overall, was “recession-resilient.” But that was last year.

Now, in reflecting on the industry’s performance in 2013, club operators, analysts, investors, and others seem to have moved on. “Many of the industry’s leaders have put the recession behind them, and are trying to figure out in what ways the sector is going to perform differently going forward,” observes Rick Caro, the president of Management Vision, Inc., a Manhattan- based consultancy.

In short: It’s a new day, a new game, and industry players are trying to sort it all out.

The IHRSA Global Report for 2014, the basis for the IHRSA Global 25 lists, chronicles changes from 2012 to 2013, and, in general, reveals across-the-board increases in a wide range of metrics - both with respect to the U.S. and global industries. Domestically, revenues climbed from $21.8 billion in 2012 to $22.4 billion in 2013, a 2.8% increase; the number of facilities, from 30,500 to 32,150, up 5.4%; and the number of members, from 50 million to 54 million, a solid 8% rise.

For more on the Global 25, read on.

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Operational audits ensure success and progress

Your club seems to be doing well. The members seem pleased. The figures seem to be where they should be.

But, still, there’s this slight, uncomfortable feeling in your gut.

Is everything in the club being done the way it’s supposed to be done? Is anything slipping through the cracks? Are there invisible problems - ones that you’re not aware of? Is your club performing as well as it could be? Is it missing out on unidentified opportunities?

How would you know?

The late Robert Dedman, Sr., the founder and former chairman of ClubCorp, one of the largest club-centric companies in the world, often observed, “You can’t expect what you can’t inspect.”

Proceeding from the concept to its practical application, Art Curtis, a former chairperson of IHRSA’s board of directors, notes that “Done properly, an operational audit can help clubs operate more efficiently and profitably in the long run. Potential problems are often discovered that, otherwise, might be missed until they become major problems.”

Read on to see what you should be doing regarding operational audits.

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See what is 'next' for CSI Software

CSI provides club operators with Business Intelligence.In 1977, one of the fitness industry’s first computer-based management firms emerged in Houston, Texas. At the time, it offered a basic billing and scheduling module.

Since then, much has changed. Everything, in fact, has changed. But CSI Software has remained true to its original vision, and consistent in its approach to serving clubs.

“Unlike most of our competitors, we’re not a billing company,” notes Jonathan Ross, the president and CEO of CSI. “We’re a true management-services provider. We work to leverage technology to provide the most comprehensive suite of modules in the industry, providing fully integrated, single-source, enterprise software solutions.”

The company’s determination to meet real needs efficiently and to stay ahead of the technology curve to deliver cutting-edge solutions has produced a series of impressive offerings.

Read on to see what is new with CSI Software.

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