As a circuit training for women gym owner you live, eat and breathe the fitness industry. You have the best circuit training equipment money can buy. You go through circuit training routines in your sleep. You even try to come up with new circuit training programs from time to time. But is it enough to keep your health club members interested? Is it enough to grow the business?
Let’s face it, even with the best management in the world, sometimes circuit training workouts can get boring. After all, it’s still exercise, and the sad fact of the matter is that most people in the United States don’t like to exercise.
So how do we change that?
The answer is by constantly introducing new and exciting concepts! First of all, you should consistently add to the circuit training exercises you offer. One way to do this is to use one of our cue cds to bring in new variations on your existing circuit. If you’re interested in ordering a cue cd, click here or just click on the STORE link at the top of this page.
Another way to introduce an exciting concept is to host a BIGGEST LOSER contest. It’s very inexpensive, highly motivational for your members, and guaranteed to bring you FREE publicity! Really, circuit training ideas just don’t get any better than this!
The overall concept of the BIGGEST LOSER contest is to reward and recognize fitness center members who lose the most weight in a given period of time. Just like the television show by the same name, this contest focuses on results.
Here are the steps to hosting a BIGGEST LOSER contest in your fitness center:
Step 1:
Decide whether you want to host a BIGGEST LOSER challenge within your own health club, or if you want to include other gyms. If you’re an independently owned gym with just one location, then maybe it’s best to have members compete against one another within your one club. In this scenario, individuals win prizes but the gym does not compete against other health clubs.
On the other hand, if you’re part of a chain, then you can certainly challenge other nearby gyms! When you do this, not only do individuals win but one location (as a team) also wins.
For the purposes of this article, we’re going to assume that you’re not competing with other health clubs, but instead are just hosting the contest within your own gym.
Step 2:
Seek a marketing partner. The BIGGEST LOSER contest doesn’t just have to be within your own four walls. You can double your marketing results by taking on a partner! Consider teaming up with a local dietician for this event. Every member will be interested in learning BIGGEST LOSER recipes and BIGGEST LOSER diet tips, because that’s what’s popular right now. You can use this desire to fuel the publicity machine. Sure, you could teach that information yourself, but the goal here is to partner with another community business to double your publicity results!
Visit your potential marketing partner and explain how you want to generate cross-referrals during this contest. Invite them to help you advertise the contest in all their marketing communication, as well as send their customers/clients to you to join the contest. You should also consider giving this publicity partner some ‘special’ referral cards offering a deep discount for their clients only. This gives the partner something of value to give their own clients.
In return, you will include their information on your BIGGEST LOSER contest marketing materials. You should also invite them into your health club at least twice during the contest to teach a FREE seminar. The FREE seminar will allow your contest partner to advertise to potential new clients, as well as set themselves up as an expert in the field.
The partnering business (a dietician, nutritionist, or whatever) will be excited about this proposal! Not only will they be reaching out to an entirely new set of clients, but they will also be able to offer their existing clients a bonus (your special referral card) which will generate more customer loyalty. The same is true for you. Your marketing partner in this BIGGEST LOSER contest will be sending you new potential clients, while at the same time providing a valuable and FREE service for your existing clients (the seminars on BIGGEST LOSER diets and recipes). It’s a win-win situation!
NOTE: If you’ve never even considered cross-marketing like this before, then you absolutely NEED to pick up a copy of our Gym Sales Manual! In this manual you’ll learn powerful and effective marketing and publicity strategies that will blow the doors off your health club! Click here to get your copy today, or just click on the STORE link at the top of this page.
Step 3:
While circuit training for weight loss is the final goal of the BIGGEST LOSER contest, you will still need to establish some rules. The contest should last no longer than one calendar month. We recommend that you set up three winning categories and provide a prize for the winner in each group. The three categories are: 1) the member that loses the most weight as a percentage of their total starting weight, 2) the member that lowers their bodyfat percentage the most, 3) the member that experiences the greatest inch loss during the contest period.
Step 4:
Set up some early advertising for the contest and promote it as much as possible! Make it a BIG DEAL to be involved in the BIGGEST LOSER contest, and talk about it all the time! Sign up interested fitness center members. Make sure that your publicity partner is doing the same thing, and be sure to brainstorm ideas together.
Step 5:
Notify the local media that you’re beginning a BIGGEST LOSER contest. Craft an awesome press release and be sure to send it to every media outlet in the area including television, radio, and newspapers. This is where you can get resourceful and creative, bringing in FREE advertising and publicity.
Step 6:
Weigh and measure all contest participants so you have a starting point for them. Be sure to give each member a copy of their pre-contest results, which they can take home as a motivational tool for the month. You may also want to take pictures of each person for ‘before and after’ advertising at a later date.
Step 7:
Once the contest starts, your job is simply to motivate and encourage your gym members. Invite everyone to the FREE seminars that are being taught by your marketing partner. You may want to give out BIGGEST LOSER recipes each week too, simply by photocopying the recipes they feature on the BIGGEST LOSER television show each week. Another idea is to encourage your health club members to do some circuit training at home this month, and teaching them how to accomplish that.
The sky really is the limit here, because it’s your contest and your rules! You could do anything from providing weekly prizes to creating a ‘weigh-in station’ similar to the set of the BIGGEST LOSER television show. Be creative! Be encouraging. Most of all, help your fitness center members GET RESULTS because that’s what it’s all about!
Step 8:
Host the weigh-in results event! YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS A BIG DEAL, BECAUSE THIS IS THE PAYOFF FOR THE MONTH OF EFFORT.
You’ll want to plan your weigh-in for a weekday evening, so everyone who works during the day can be there. You may also want to consider a weekend event, but with weekends so busy for most people you’ll probably get better attendance on a weekday evening.
Invite the media to attend, because if you plan it right you could easily end up with a spot on the local television news as well as a photo in the local newspaper. That’s FREE advertising, and that’s absolute GOLD!
Of course, your marketing partner will also need to be there. After all, many of their clients and potential clients will be in the room.
If you choose to provide snacks, make sure they’re healthy. To save on work and/or money, you might want to consider making it a pot-luck event with each member who chooses to bringing their favorite low-calorie dish.
As for the actual weighing and measuring of the contestants, you can either do it privately or in front of the group like they do on the BIGGEST LOSER television show. Obviously, copying the show exactly would be more exciting, but if your gym members balk at the idea of public weighing then you should certainly accommodate them. If you’re weighing and measuring privately, then you will need something for the other members to do while they’re waiting their turn. Ideas include having your publicity partner teach another seminar, setting up a television so the group can watch the BIGGEST LOSER show (live or recorded), or even just having everyone do the workout (can you say LAST CHANCE WORKOUT?).
Above all else, use your imagination and MAKE IT FUN!
Step 9:
Present awards to the winners! We highly recommend that you spend just a few dollars and purchase some professional awards. For example, you should consider Trophies, Plaques, Medals, and More by Dinn Trophy 
Be sure to present these awards in front of the group, and have someone take a lot of pictures! You can then frame a few of these photos and hang them in the gym for positive and public recognition of the winners!
If, by some chance, the media is not at your award event then you’ll want to send them a copy of the photos along with one last press release detailing the results of the BIGGEST LOSER contest. By doing this, you’ll receive yet another FREE article in the local newspaper! That will bring you even more members, generate even more ‘buzz’ about your fitness center, and lead to even greater future results!
Step 10:
Learn from what you did this year, and make the BIGGEST LOSER contest even better next year!
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