Fitness Industry On The Move

The shape of the fitness industry is changing.

(Tuesday, January 03, 2006) -



The shape of the fitness industry is changing.
Fitness centers are slimming down to fit into strip mall storefronts, a change already evident in southern Maine with the proliferation of Curves, designed for women, and the arrival of Cuts Fitness for Men, a male-centered quick workout facility.
But in the future, centers are likely to bulk up, experts say. That's necessitated by the desire to meet the demands of a market that is growing older - the fastest-growing segment of the fitness center market is customers over age 55 - and, at the same time, younger, with those under 18 making up the second-fastest growing group of customers.
As millions of Americans start to work on this weekend's resolutions to end 2006 in better shape than they are now, those who run fitness centers are adapting to help with those goals.
"There's a lot of room for entrepreneurs (in the industry)," said Brooke Correia, spokeswoman for International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, the trade group for the fitness industry. "People are looking for options that are very diverse, and you can create a product that appeals to customers."
Curves and Cuts Fitness for Men are the current examples of that effort. Both emphasize quick workouts in small groups and tend to open in suburban areas where their customers live.
Lisa Ferriabough, who last fall opened Maine's first Cuts Fitness in Scarborough with Alane Ainsworth, said the prototypical customer is not exactly an already-buff 20-year-old looking further define a sculpted body.
"We're basically getting family men off the couch," Ferriabough said.
Ferriabough and Ainsworth are latching on to the prime fitness customer: the median age of the chain's customers is 55, although Ferriabough said she has customers ranging from 18 to 86.
Like Curves, Cuts Fitness is designed to fit exercise into busy a lifestyle. Customers come in for 30-minute workouts that move them between 18 pieces of equipment for 40-second bursts.
Ferriabough said she and Ainsworth thoroughly investigated Cuts Fitness for Men before deciding to buy a franchise. They came away impressed enough to purchase the rights to develop other centers in South Portland, part of Portland, Falmouth and West Falmouth, she said.
Correia said Curves and Cuts Fitness are popular because they offer relatively simple and quick exercise regimens on equipment that doesn't require a huge time investment to learn.
The centers' locations in shopping centers also lower the intimidation factor for customers, she said, as does the likelihood of small classes with similarly fit - or trying to get fit - fellow members.
"Those kinds of clubs really resonate with people," she said. "Getting people to exercise involves overcoming barriers."
The clubs also offer personalized training, Correia said, and that's another focus for fitness centers.
A chain looking to cash in on that approach is Personal Training Institute, a New York-based franchise operation that promises one-on-one training and nutrition counseling as its way of helping customers get fit.
Evan Kaplan, the company's founder and chief executive officer, said he's in final negotiations with a Maine couple looking to open a PTI center in Falmouth and is talking with two other potential Maine franchisees.
Like Cuts Fitness and Curves, PTI focuses on 30-minute sessions, usually three times a week, consisting of short periods working on each piece of equipment. But he said having a personal trainer on hand means you don't do a set routine but rather work on each piece until you become fatigued - and then push for a little more.
He said the addition of an on-staff nutritionist to work with customers gives PTI an additional edge in a crowded market.
"Exercise and diet is a fantastic combination," Kaplan said. "It's real fitness and real nutrition."
More traditional fitness centers aren't standing still, said Stephanie Dubois, the manager of Bally Total Fitness in Portland.
Dubois said new members are shown all the equipment and work with a trainer to come up with the right exercise regimen to meet their goals. She said the center's fee structure also has been streamlined, giving members access to classes, for instance, without an additional charge.
The more personalized approach, she said, is the firm's biggest adaptation to the changing market.
"In the past, it was just like, 'This is what you do. It's a set routine for everyone,' " she said.
Correia said personalized training may be the current focus of the industry, but the future will likely involve a "bigger is better" mindset.
The next wave, she said, is likely to be large family fitness centers, looking to draw three generations of exercisers with gyms, a pool for aquatic exercising and basketball.
"You can bet on those (centers) popping up" in Maine in a few years, she said.
Correia said the centers are likely to have separate areas for adults and children, although there will probably be places where parents can join their kids for joint exercise classes.
She said the centers, like those that have come before, will reflect a changing society where there's little room in busy schedules to shoehorn family time, personal time and time for health and fitness. One center where the whole family can go and spend some time together and apart while working out helps meet some of those desires at the same time, Correia said.
"Traditionally, you've gone to the gym and dropped your child off at the child-care onsite," Correia said. "The change we're going to see is you're going to be dropping your child off for a fitness class."

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