(Generation X) VS (Millennials) what do they want from Gyms/Fitness Centers/Health Clubs?

Factual Questions
1

what Do Gen X and Millennials desire from health clubs and GYMS? How do there needs differ?

Here is what I currently know:

(Age Groups 20-34[Young Adults]/Millennials) represent our biggest chunk of potential customers running at about 28% of current market share, these individuals really care about there appearance and not as much about health like groups 35-44(Adult Mid).

Young Adults are smart and witty they are the best educated generation in history, can see through deceptive services and can easily change there mind when they encounter a better service or feel like they are not getting there moneys worth. They are willing to do the research behind each service and even perform a cost analysis to see which services are providing more value.

Since these individuals are still in there early stages of adult hood they are still in the range of marriage and courtship which proves they are really interested in keeping a physique they can be proud of while at the same time using it to attract a mate. This means the level of dedication to there fitness cause is the highest among all groups. They are willing to do what ever it takes. They love feed back and expect it, which is where personal training will thrive. How ever they don’t always want to pay the premium resultant.

Since there body’s are relatively unharmed and still flexible Young Adults will show more intensity in there work out and perform exercises that most elderly people avoid like squats, dead lifts, cable rows and other exercises that really tackle and isolate the muscle group for maximum development. This means that Young Adults are seeking equipment that can target more muscle groups and provide higher intensity exercises, these exercises will correlate with Olympic style lifting equipment or crossfit style conditioning.

Young Adults will visit the Fitness Club/Gym every day or every other day this again is a testament to there dedication and shows that they value there image. They are highly competitive and will compete against each other in developing a stunning physique.

Age Groups 35-44(Adult Mid)/Generation X: Our second largest target market group running at about 20%. These individuals are willing to get premium services like one on one personal training because they have more discretionary income, and since they value health they will pay the premium. They are more concerned about health then overall appearance. There understanding is that by living a balanced life with exercise and diet they will look good by default. They are exercising moderate amount once every 2 to 4 days a week. They do not want to be too competitive and some prefer to work out alone.

Adult Mid can’t exercise nearly as much initially because there body’s are just not conditioned enough. Years of stagnation with little to no exercise means they are usually not willing to go guns blazing with a new program and will seldom go everyday. While health is important to them they are aware they they must start slow and move there away up. Dedication to there careers has shown they are willing to put more work into one employer and believe its better to be career focused than anything else. again this reinforces the notion that they have other things on there mind and are preoccupied with career related issues, goals and family life.

They are more patient when it comes to getting results and due to there developed careers will pay premium prices for services and amenities.

What do Generation X really want out of a Gym/Health Club?
do they really just want a nice place to work out or is there more to the story.

Tell me what do you know about the latest fitness trends?

Are you between the ages of 40-50? can you give some helpful insight?

2

The saunas are too hot, the pools are too cold, the weights are too heavy and the prices are exorbitant.

3

how much are you paying or used to pay? and what is a fair price for you?

if the weights are too heavy? can’t you just tear down to a lighter weight?

what gym did you got to?
Thanks for your reply:)

4

Most complaints I get about the Sauna is that its too cold. I have never went to a sauna that was too hot. perhaps the place you went to had a number of people complain that it was too cold so they turned it up. :dubious:

5

All this whooshing is keeping me awake, people!

6

I’m not in your target group, but as someone who is more interested in my fitness than in my appearance, here are a few things:

A working person will most likely want to come evenings and/or weekends. If there is such a rush hour after work that there are no machines or weights available, I won’t want to come back. In other words, you need a lot of everything (cardio machines, weight machines, free weight stations and benches, etc.).

Clean, clean locker rooms and showers and toilet areas. Locker rooms should be big enough so you don’t have to jockey for position to be in front of your locker. There should be enough shower stalls so you (almost) never have to wait. The shower should deliver a good stream of water, and not run out of hot water or soap (if you provide soap). Semi-private or private shower stalls seem to be of interest to a lot of younger people.

Plenty of choices for distraction while doing cardio - TV and/or radio. Wi-fi would be great for internet radio. Distraction helps me forget how much longer I have to go before I’m finished.

I would be willing to pay more for a facility that has all of these things. Right now I’m at a bargain gym which does pretty well on these except they only have 3 channels of TV.

7

I’m Gen X (just; i’m 44), and a member of my local YMCA.

I’m a college instructor, and i go to the gym 6-7 times a week during the summer and winter breaks, and 4-5 times a week during the semester. I usually do about an hour with weights, and about 40 minutes on cardio. I work out for general fitness, to combat the spread of aging, and to mitigate the effects of a job where i’m sitting down most of the time.

I’m lucky, in that a relatively flexible schedule means that i don’t need to go to the gym during peak times (early morning or after 5 p.m.). I usually arrive sometime between 8 and 10 in the morning. At my gym, that means that it’s usually not too crowded, and i rarely have to wait for a machine or a set of weights.

I like a gym with plenty of free weights, and plenty of benches. I don’t care if it has televisions (my gym has one TV in the weight room, and it’s rarely even on) or music. I don’t care if it has all the latest, high-tech equipment. Even in the cardio room, i can live without entertainment, although the cardio machines at my gym have their own little TV screens, and i sometimes put ESPN on while i’m doing my cardio.

I like a gym where people are friendly and not assholes, and where management cares enough to want to keep it that way. I like a gym where people put their own damn weights away, and wipe their slippery sweat off the damn benches after use. People not putting weights away can sometimes be a problem at my current gym, because it’s a small Y in a working-class neighborhood, and doesn’t have the money to station a full-time attendant in the weight room.

I don’t care about the size of the locker room or the showers, because i never use them. When i finish working out, i head straight home and do my showering and changing there. I have a towel in the car so i don’t sweat all over the car seats.

8

I am researching adding basic laptops to cardio machines to take our cardio entertainment further than before. Cardio is still one of the most important aspects of health and does so much good for the body. Being a fitness enthusiast my self I can see and understand what brings people to the cardio machines.

on top of that I also acknowledge that cardio is one of the hardest and most annoying things for people to focus on simply because they get too bored or they go too hard during a cardio session.

Havining the ability to bring your own lalptop and attach it to a cardio machine is gonna change the way we do cardio for good.

As for having limited ability to always get the machines and equipment you want I personally understand this annoyance as getting access to a squat rack can sometimes be a nightmare. A lot of the equipment we will be purchasing will have the ability to transform to other types of exercises. so lots of squat racks that can also be bench press. lots of cable cross over machines that can do literally every exercise.

Clean and big locker rooms is something I noticed that only one company does right. LA fitness actually does well in this department I’m not sure where you live fred but check them out they are the cleanest gym around if you live in the United States.

But still even with there good attempt, I can see that there is much room for growth. a lot of times they just add a bench next to a vast array of lockers. now if all of these lockers are full of stuff and any one of these people decide its time to leave they will bump into each other. which is why every locker needs to be space out to prevent people from even getting close to each other while arriving or leaving the locker.

Based on my knowledge rush hour is a big reason why people hate the gym. and almost all the systems I put in place should severely minimize this annoyance. vast arrays of convertible equipment should really help. I will also be personally inspecting every hour of operations to see if I can spot areas that need improvement, I wanted to have a no lines guarantee.

9

having staff that actually cares about its members is a big thing for because I have worked at gyms before and the bigger gyms see people as just money. big companies are completely disconnected from there clients. its the weirdest and stupidest thing ever. I don’t get how they can be so cold and hire people who don’t even care that much about fitness.

My goal in this department would be to hire only people who are enthusiastic about fitness and bodybuilding. We will most likely be hiring only bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts. as for the weights being cleaned up… you know I wish people could wipe there own ass but theres always at least 20% of younger adults who still can’t wipe. which means we will just have the staff patrol every 30 mins to clean up weights and also post of signs stating if you caught leaving weights we will ask you to put them away. I’ve considered revoking memberships but thats too harsh. sometimes people forget… plus there clients…

Sounds to me like you may have had a bad experience with gym associates in the past mhendo?

could you go into detail about what happened? I would like to prevent it at all costs.

10

Lots of different options for cardio. I used to run 3 or 4 miles 3 times a week on the treadmills until my knees started to really hurt. Changing up between the treadmill, stair climber, recumbent stationary bike, and lap pool was not only a much better workout, it saved my joints.

Managers who actually manage. I’m not sure why but gyms attract an inordinate amount of jerks. Guys who pile towels on a bench, and 2 machines and then scream “I’m USING that!” if anyone comes near them. Kick these jerk out, please. Ditto the guys who hit on every woman that moves, or pair up in the sauna - tell 'em to go get their rocks off somewhere else.

As many hours as you can possibly stay open. FFC is open almost 24/7 and that’s why I use it. Pisses me off that they close on Friday night at 7:00 PM. Maybe young kids are out at the bars but that’s prime workout time for guys who just got the kids dinner and don’t have to get up Saturday morning.

Let me quit if I want to, we’re not getting married.

Don’t refuse to tell me the damn price over the phone. It’s worse than buying a used car sometimes with the hard sell and hidden fees and BS.

Let me buy passes for friends instead of limiting me to 2 or 3 free ones a year. My brothers come into town a few times a year and would like a clean place to work out. I’ll gladly pay you for the service.
I’m sure I’ll think of more…

11

Zoid whats your age group? yes our GYM uses a different system for sign up. You can sign up online with in 2 mins of accessing our website. no canceling fees either. no need to meet with a sales associate either. if you want to work out than come on by if not than don’t.

We also have self registration kiosks at the facility. so if you want to come by enter your info in get a free week pass instantly. again all under 5 mins. Want to talk with someone to give you a tour or sign you up that can also be arranged.

as for the marriage example you used. your right we are not getting married. At some gyms if you try to cancel they tell you, that you have to mail a letter and it takes up to 2 weeks for the letter to arrive. cancels will be allowed in person, or on the website.

The thing is gyms in the past created systems to protect them selfs from individuals who sign up and than quit, which is why they have etf’s, activation fees and a bunch of other bs. how ever if the gyms good I believe there necessary.

as for people putting down towels, that just wont be allowed. if your using the equipment you don’t need a towel on it. :smack:

12

Laptops on the cardio machines? Are you kidding me?

If i tried to use a laptop while doing cardio, the sweat dripping off the end of my fingers would probably short the electrics and kill the computer.

More generally, i think people should be encouraged to get off their damn devices and focus on their workout. One of the biggest annoyances i see in the gym these days, especially in the weight room, is people who spend ages sitting on the benches doing nothing but playing around on their goddamn smartphones. Sending texts, screwing around with the music selections, watching videos, whatever. While i know it’s never going to happen, i’d actually join a gym that banned phones altogether.

Yes, they are clients. And so am i.

Forget? How the fuck can you forget? Putting your weights away is probably the first and most fundamental rule of gym etiquette. If you’re unwilling to actually enforce the rules with suspensions and bannings, then you’re part of the problem.

Nothing major. Just little annoyances like the ones i’ve mentioned.

13

Sorry to interrupt but i must. I dont care if im called a spelling nazi or not, this is just bugging me: it’s" they’re" not “there”. The first 10 times i just ignored it. But i can only take so much.

14

“I” not “i”
:smiley:

15

A water proof chassis can be put in place to prevent the laptop from breaking. hell it can even be a tower and than a simple lcd display attached to the top.

If people are caught leaving weights what do you think about kicking them out for the day? or do you think we need more stern punishment? add a fee on there as well? automatically debit there account haha.

You know banning smart phones could really help people get focused. But you know its not just the electronics that are getting in the way its the principles, attitudes people hold. getting a device can be distracting but how do you explain those who have devices yet still get a lot of work done? its because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what material good they have or bring with them but instead the principles they live by.

I use my smart phone but only for logging my work out in bodyspace, and tracking my diet with my fitness pal. other than that I try to minimize the distractions as much as possible. If you can’t focus on your work out removing the phone isn’t the only element thats causing mishaps your probably talking too much, looking around and maybe even hunting for certain people. again it should be the principles we live by that change who we are. and if that happens to coincide with no smart phone than thats good for people. The younger generations are so tech savy…

You are right I am part of the problem. but so are you, we should all be responsible to some extent for the actions of our communities.

16

Do you have something else to add? are you currently going to a GYM/Health Club/Fitness Center?

If so what do you like and dislike about them. It can be anything, to the spacing of the equipment or the lack of mirrors. Perhaps you want free personal training?

Next time I type “there” I will take a mental note and see if I’m using the right word.:smack::o

17

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