The Secret Shame of Members Revealed!
August 10, 2010
I like to think I can write a lot about anything that has to do with check-in software, online member portals, PCI compliance, managing a front desk, membership management, personal training, Group X, and all things related to managing and operating your gym or wellness center. But there are some things that happen in a gym, that I simply shake my head and don’t know what to say! One of these is the way people…weigh themselves.
The way some people guard their weight you would think it’s a matter of national security. This holds true for men and women, young and old, thin and fat…as soon as they get an accurate weight (in some cases this process can take hours as they want to get it down to the ounce), they do a quick peek over each shoulder to make sure nobody saw, then quickly slide all the weights to the left, step off, take one more furtive glance to make sure there are no passerby’s who may have seen the results, and then calmly walk away…only to have the next person step up and do the same.
In my gym we have one shared scale, for the men and women, that is conveniently located just outside the locker room doors. Convenient for me, unbelievably inconvenient for all those worried about finding their weight plastered on the front page of Yahoo!. (That’s an odd way to end a sentence…yahoo! already has an exclamation point at the end of it but I just wanted to end that sentence with a period…).!.!.!
I think you all should consider building a special room just for the scales…I would call it “The Scale Room”. It would be conveniently located in each locker room and it would afford people the opportunity to weight themselves in complete and utter privacy! And if necessary, they can even strip so that they can get super accurate measurements.
If not The Scale Room, I would propose something like a truck weighing station where as people walk into the locker room, there would be a large digital readout with their weight…sure you would lose the privacy but can you think of anything funnier then people hopping, skipping and jumping over the scale to avoid weighing themselves!!
All kidding aside, there are a number of things you and your staff can do to help people reach their goals. Some of them will generate revenue (personal training) and some will JUST generate good will (like reminding them to weigh themselves!) As for me, you can find me stripping down and jumping scales at the old truck stop! (Wait…that doesn’t sound as good as I originally thought.)
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August 10th, 2010 12:21 pm
I saw a scale by Tanita that doesn’t have a display. It sends the body composition info wirelessly to your Garmin watch. no need to hide the scales. just you and your instructor need to know.
Interesting.
Dr. Bob Karch (the founder of Karch International which became KI which became KI esolutions which became KI Software which is now Motionsoft) who is the Chair of the Dept of Exercise Physiology at American University in Washington DC and also the founder of Biometrics Nutrition once shared with me that the most important component of weight loss is daily weight monitoring. I don’t know of any gyms who remind their members to do this on a regualr basis but if banks can give away toasters maybe a 20PK of PT should come with a free scale!!
“Dr. Bob Karch (the founder of Karch International which became KI which became KI esolutions which became KI Software which is now Motionsoft) who is the Chair of the Dept of Exercise Physiology at American University in Washington DC and also the founder of Biometrics Nutrition”
^
Anyone up for a good ole game of name dropping?? I had a job where I had to guard Pele once! Im also friends with Adam Jones, Bart Scott, and my best friend is Al Kalines cousin!!
P.S. – I am 5 degrees of seperation away from Kevin Bacon!
At my gym the scales in the women’s locker room have wet foot prints on them from women who have stripped down to absolutely zero clothing in order to get the most accurate reading. I’m wondering if they would do the same at a truck weighing station in front of the locker rooms. That could be a motivator for men.
well i’m only 4 degrees separate from bacon
Instead of fussing over the scale, people should be informed that there are far better ways of measuring their fitness success. Unless someone is trying to “make weight” for some kind of competition they should stop stressing over that number and rethink what it is they are trying to accomplish.