Like a lot of people in town, I resigned myself to a big gym membership a few years ago long before The Green Microgym-Belmont materialized. Since I still (!) have a few months left on that gym’s contract, I like to go conduct a little participant/observation research every month or so, take in the whole scene, allow the bad and (considerably less) good inform how our own place operates.
If I shared my field notes you’d notice terms like “loud….bright…..not that clean…small, full parking lot….machines bulkier than I remember…..staff person actually kind of nice for a change.”
Anyway, you get the point. It’s big gym culture through and through. There will always be people who enjoy what’s offered and don’t mind (or even like) the crowd(s).
And then there’s the rest of us.
Even the most rabid exercisers occasionally suffer lapses in gym attendance. We’ve all fallen victim to the Law of Inertia (“objects at rest tend to stay at rest..”) for one reason or another and struggled to get back into a workout routine. One thing I always take away from my stealth, big gym research is a renewed desire to make the gym the best it can be, to never let gym culture be the main reason to stay away. If you’ve taken a break for awhile or want to start up fresh, there’s nothing worse than the mere thought of the gym stopping you from going.
Along with an energy-saving culture, a friendly setting, great members, very nice equipment and an attractive facility (if I do humbly say so), this is our advantage over the big guys. If you can get yourself to the gym (which I know you can), you’ll always be happy with the environment.
Which brings me to summer. I’m new to gym ownership and people always warned me: “Summer’s real slow. Sign-ups will drop off. People will stop coming.”
This may be true for some places but I just won’t accept it. The warmer the month, the more people are interested in our gym. And the more I see all of our beginning exercisers working out consistently. So cool! These are likely the people first to disappear from big gyms yet here they are at our place, defying the trends and sticking with their routines.
As you can tell, I’m big on rethinking exercise, exercise culture and common exercise trends. There’s no reason to make working out merely seasonal. Warmer weather, longer days and sunshine gives us all a ton more pep, right? Why not use that excess energy to fuel and produce the best, most efficient workouts of your life? You’ll thank yourself all summer long and beyond.
DC
