So you’ve got a fitness studio in your facility — it’s outfitted with cardio machines, free weights, yoga balls, and all the rest of those fitness necessities. Now all you need to do is fill it with members! After all, you’ve paid your rent and bought all that pricy equipment, it may as well be put to good use, while delivering real value to your commercial space. 

As the creators of SWEAT Pro, we designed our commercial fitness solution to provide an immersive fitness experience to health clubs, housing communities, schools and universities, military bases, and so much more. So if you’re having trouble getting your members and guests to actually come into your space, we’ve got something to say about that!

And it’s not surprising that gym attendance has been down everywhere over the last few years. During the pandemic, many former gym aficionados found solace creating their own home studios. That’s why every commercial facility needs to go above and beyond to encourage their members to come back to the gym. To help you, we’ve created seven useful and effective approaches to share with your members to encourage them to work OUTside their homes (at your awesome fitness facility), instead of IN them! 

1) Promote Your Bountiful Array of Equipment

First let’s look at the average home gym. Unless we’re talking about professional, high-level, competitive athletes (and we’re usually not), most home gyms are a paltry affair. A couple dumbbells, a yoga mat, and maybe a jump rope. Or sometimes people even shell out the big bucks for a rowing machine, squat rack, or other enormous piece of equipment. That means that no matter how decked out a home gym is, it’s most likely not going to be anywhere near as impressive as what you’ve got to offer. So promote all that sweet-sweat-stuff you’ve got! 

2) Feel the Energy, Feel the Excitement

There’s nothing like being in the center of a crowded, sweaty, high-impact, digging-deep, take-no-prisoners, feel-the-burn fitness class. That energy, that inspiration, that fire! This is something your members will never be able to get when they’re stuck inside the house. Communicate with your members that incomparable feeling of excitement that can only come from stepping inside your gym. 

3) Movement. Motivation. Mastery!

Another aspect that you’ll want to promote — to get your members off their couches and into your classes — is the motivation factor. When you work out alongside a group of impassioned, like-minded individuals, you move together, work together, suffer together, and achieve together! That sense of motivation can be just what your members need to reach their goals, so be sure to share that with them! 

4) Guidance from the Pros

Now let’s talk about the expertise that only your team of qualified fitness professionals can provide. When your members step into your gym, they’ve got firsthand access to an experienced trainer who can show them the ropes, guide them through perfect form, and make sure they’re working out in a way that won’t cause serious injury later! Let your members know how important that fit-wisdom actually is, and you can bet they’ll show up. 

5) Room to Stretch, Room to Grow

Most people who work from home do so in a tiny, cramped space. Whether they’ve got a yoga mat in their living room, or a bench in their garage, chances are they’re never going to have the high ceilings, padded floors, huge mirrors, and all that space at their disposal. Be sure to emphasize how nice it is to jump rope without worrying about smashing a lamp, do ice skaters without knocking into an armoire, and dropping a dumbbell without crushing your kitty! 

6) Turn It Up, Way Up

One of the best aspects to working out at your gym is the volume factor. Everyone knows that blasting those heart-pounding tunes is an excellent motivator. So paint your members a picture: when they’re at your gym, they’re at a place of loud, fun, and powerful tunes cranked up to a level that would certainly tick off their neighbors at home. 

7) Come for the Fun, Stay for the Variety

Finally, another benefit of your members coming into your gym to work out is the fact that your gym has got it all! They can access those amazing live fitness classes you offer, or if you’ve got SWEAT Pro, they can access the full Studio SWEAT onDemand library of virtual workouts, taken in a group setting in your gym! Explain to them that anytime they want they can get Indoor Cycling, Yoga, Barre, Bootcamp, HIIT, TRX, Strength Training, Meditation, Pilates, and more — in the perfect fitness environment of your gym. 

When you communicate with your members to get out of their comfort zone…and out of their house, they won’t be able to resist focusing on their fitness in your amazing studio.  And the more they engage in your facility’s offerings, the happier they’ll be with you! If you’d like to learn more about who we are and what we offer, you can take a look at our website here. And if you’d like to schedule a demo of any of our programs, click here.