Club Improvements in the Past and Working Toward the Future

January 1, 2020

During the holidays, it was nice to relax and visit with friends and family, but I always look forward to the fresh New Year as a time to crank it up and charge into the future.

With a health club, we must continually look at ways to improve the experience here for our members. With that said, and the New Year upon us, we look forward to firming up plans to improve the Club and to put those plans into action.

January 1st marks the 6th year anniversary of the ownership change at the Club.  I thought it would be fun to review some of the changes that have been made over the last six years to show the kind of effort we put into improving the Club.. These came from member requests and ideas and ways of making things more efficient.

Fitness / Personal Training

Then: Only Fitness Training was offered to establish work out plans for our members.

Now:  We have continued the tradition of including Fitness Training with a membership, but we now also include Nutrition Coaching.  We have also added the option of Personal Training, Partner Training and Small Group Training.

Technology

Then:  Lobby White Boards were used to schedule training appointments for members.

Now: We created an automated touch screen training appointment system that includes emailing members with intake forms and automatic correspondence with trainers. We have also created an iPad-based TV channel change system and technology to handle our integrated after-hours entrance system.

Classes

Then:  Studio X with about 40 classes being offered.

Now:  In addition to Studio X, we have 3 additional studios:   Studio Y, Cycling Studio and the Training Studio. Our January 2020 class schedule shows 102 classes!  This does not include the 16 Small Group Training sessions in the Training Studio.

Club Accessibility

Then: We were open 5:30am to 10pm weekdays and 8am to 8pm on weekends.

Now: We have the same hours as in the past for our front desk, but we added after-hours access allowing the Club to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Seniors

Then: We had no Insurance Provided membership plans in place for Seniors 65 and older.

Now: We have Silver Sneakers, Silver & Fit and Renew Active memberships for members 65 and over that have Medicare supplemental insurance which include these programs.

With all that said, it’s now time to turn to the future and work on plans to continue to improve the Club for our members.  Below are ideas we have been working on.

  • Making better use of our 2nd floor space that has been used as our Training Studio. This space has been a great training studio but is under-utilized for most of the day. We would like to find a way to make this space more beneficial for more members. 

  • Expanding the functional fitness areas of the main Gym by rearrangement of equipment. The intent is to provide more open floor space. 

  • Upgrading Cardio Equipment

  • More glute-related exercise machines. Multiple members have requested these machines.

As we work on our plans moving forward, it would be great to hear from you, as a member of BHC.  What would you like to see added to your health club? BHC is a member-driven club, and we strive to make our Club the best it can be for the members using it.

Here is a link to our SUGGESTION BOX (which is also on the home page of our website). Please feel free to let me know what you think.

Thank you for being a part of Ballard Health Club and I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!

Sincerely, 

Pat Gilbrough
Owner / General Manager
pat@ballardhealthclub.com


From the OwnerBallard Health Club