It’s time. After weeks, maybe months or years, you’ve decided in order to get in shape, you need to join a gym.
But now what? Where do you go? What can you expect when you go there? Who’s going to help you.
I’ll give you a quick run down of what might possibly happen if you go to a big box 24 hour gym.
You’ll walk in the front door and head to the front desk. Without any ask of why you’re there, like really, WHY are you wanting to join a gym, someone will quickly start you on the membership sales process. There might a short tour around the gym showing you the free weight area, the cardio area, the locker rooms, sauna, massage chairs, etc. Probably within 15 minutes you’ll have given your credit card info, signed some documents and have gotten yourself a keychain and a gym membership. I wanted to include that you’d have false promises of getting in shape, but those will only be in your head, because it’s unlikely that the person selling you the membership asked about your goals, your history, your expectations, or gave you any actionable advice to follow going forward. So here you are, with your new gym membership, completely on your own to figure it out.
My gym is a small space, compared to the globo-gyms, that focuses on coaching. We have Personal Training as well as group classes and nutrition coaching. For the sake of this blog, I’ll reference exactly how things go at my gym, Rampage. I cannot speak to what other gyms are doing, and am certain other small gyms aren’t doing things exactly like we are. However, this should at least give you an idea of the difference between big and small gyms.
When you start at Rampage, the process is purposely laid out to ensure you feel comfortable, know what you’re getting yourself into, and receive the appropriate guidance to start you off successfully.
We start everyone with a No Sweat Intro.
We don’t offer a free trial class, because it doesn’t actually do what people think it will do. When someone asks for a free trial class, they’re hoping to get a feel for the experience of the what being a member feels like. Though, to really get that experience you have to become a member. You need to be here for awhile to get to know the coaches, the members, the way things flow. That’s when the magic really happens and you experience the greatness that is a small gym with a community feel. If you were to drop in for a trial class, you’d feel like an outcast. Although everyone would be friendly, you really wouldn’t know anyone. The coach wouldn’t know anything about you. They wouldn’t know your injuries, your goals, your fitness level, or how you like to be coached. You’d be unsure of many of the exercises, while everyone else who’s been trained on them would know exactly what to do. The whole experience wouldn’t reflect what you’d hope.
This rule of not allowing a free class has been purposely designed, just like every other process in our gym. Including how one becomes a member.
Lets get back to becoming a member. First you schedule a No Sweat Intro. Once you’ve scheduled your Intro, you’ll get an immediate email referencing the appointment date and time. Leading up to the appointment, you’ll get a few more reminders, depending on how far out it’s scheduled.
When you arrive to the gym, in your casual clothes, because you’re not working out, a staff member will greet you. They’ll start with some casual talk to get to know you. Are you from around the area? What brought you in? What have you done before for exercise?
From there, you’ll then be given a tour around the gym so you can see the difference in a small coaching-focused gym versus a big-box do-it-yourself gym.
Then you and the coach will have a seat in our office to get a better idea of how we can help. The conversation will now go deeper into what brought you to the gym. We want a good understanding of what you’ve been doing, if anything or nothing at all. We want to know what your expectations are, and make sure they are realistic. Lose 30 lbs in 2 months. Whoa now. Lose 30lbs within a year. Now we’re talking.
After discussing your goals, any potential fears or reservations around exercise, your availability and budget, you will then be given a suggestion from the coach on what works best.
The best option for you might be 1-on-1 personal training. Maybe a better fit is a small group personal training setting of 2-3 people on a more fixed, come-as-you-like, schedule (this is called Semi-Private Training). Or maybe getting into a bigger group class is suitable because you already kind of know how to exercise and want to experience more of a social atmosphere.
The coach will then suggest the membership option they see as your best fit. They’ll also be able to provide other options if you’re unable to commit to the initial one.
Upon signing up for your membership, regardless of what plan you choose, you’ll start with 1-on-1 coaching.
None of our memberships will put you immediately in a group of experienced exercisers where you feel like you’re playing catch up. You’ll have at minimum, 3 individual personal training sessions to teach you the basic exercises and operations of the gym. Some folks will go through more 1-on-1, and others may opt to exclusively do 1-on-1 or small group personal training ongoing.
- From this meeting alone, we’ve
- Gotten to know what your goals are.
- Have a better understanding of why you’re here.
- We understand any fears or reservations you’ve had with exercise and why.
- We’ve helped draw up a plan that will lead you to success if followed.
- You will then know exactly when to show up, and the coach will tell you exactly what to do. Within a few months of joining, the coach will then schedule a follow up meeting with you to see how things are going. This is what we call our member check-in. Once you’ve had your first check-in, you will then have a follow up check-in every 4 months.
The only thing you need to do now is to keep showing up on schedule as consistently as you can. The coaches will design the workouts for you. They’ll give you guidance on how to adjust the movements, and motivate you throughout every session.
Most people don’t have the expertise, nor the desire, to figure out how to design and follow an exercise plan on their own. We’ve done our best to solve every part of this puzzle for you. I’ll admit, we’re not perfect, and some people maybe won’t prefer our type of gym. For those that do, we’ll do everything we can to continue improving our business to help you continue improving your life through health and fitness.