Youโve been riding the New Yearโs resolution wave for a few weeks now, but as it does every year, that wave will be crashing soon. Many of your studentsโ resolutions are going to be distant memories come early February. Hereโs how to keep their motivation running straight through spring.
BOOTCAMPS
Debbie Wolff, co-owner of Coral Springsโ Fusion Fitness and O2 Yoga with Andi Boddie, told us, โWhile we donโt often see a huge drop off after the New Year, some people start to slow down a bit. We try to keep them involved with fitness or yoga challenges.โ Oftentimes Wolff creates six- to eight-week-long boot camps that have students coming in two or three times a week for the duration of the camp. โThe idea is that these camps create competition amongst the students and the biggest challenge is in the commitment to the time frame.โ On a granular level,Wolff notes each camperโs before and after body fat percentage, and takes before and after photos. Winners are then posted on the studioโs website and social media accounts, and on message boards through the gym.
MASTER CLASSES
Another way to ward off the mid-winter stagnancy? One-off sessions like workshops or master classes. Wolff hosts many of these each year as a way to keep things fresh and new. โWeโll create workshops with master instructors, some out of state, like a recent one with Erik Paskel from Los Angeles. But we also do workshops in barre, Jivamukthi, meditation, P90XLive, Insanity, Tabataโjust to name a few. Master classes are usually a longer class with an outside instructor or presenter, and we make it more of an event than a regularly scheduled class.โ
GET INSPIRED
Yes, inspirational quotes are a bit silly, but thereโs a reason that Pinterest has thousands of them getting pinned and re-pinned everydayโthey actually work! Consider printing and posting some quotes that align with your messaging around your space to uplift clients. The doldrums that follow the holidays can be rough, so every little bit of inspiration helps. A few of our favorites:
โIf it doesnโt challenge you, it doesnโt change youโ
โA journey of a thousand miles began with a single stepโ
โSore? Tired? Sweaty? Out of breath? Goodโฆitโs working.โ
โ3 months from now, youโll thank yourself.โ
RECONNECT WITH STUDENTS
You should have a file on each member of your studio, so consider making sit-down appointments with all your students to assess where they are in their fitness journey. Have they lost weight? Have they gained? What are their biggest obstacles? How can you help? The face-to-face connection youโll establish during the meeting will reinvigorate your student and provide you with data about how you can better meet your membersโ needs. Members who feel anonymous when they enter your gym are also likely to feel no pressure to come back frequentlyโwhich bolsters the argument that you need to be connecting with your students whenever possible.