Rise of the Boutique Gym

What is the first thing you notice when you walk into a big gym? There are a lot of people right, specially if you work out after work like most people do. The funny thing is, the people you are seeing only make up about half of the membership base that gym has. Statistically less than 35% of people that have a gym membership use it on a regular basis. Gyms actually rely on this number when it comes to a business model because it keeps revenue up but usage down. That's pretty smart though, convince 2000 people to pay you monthly for a product and know that only about 660 of them will actually use your product. That means that there are 1340 people paying for this product every month. And most of them are unlikely to cancel their membership. Why are they unlikely to cancel their membership? There is always the chance that they will go next week or maybe next month. If they keep their membership there is always a possibility that they will go, if they cancel their membership then of course they won't go and then they feel defeated. This is a mental justification that keeps memberships high and usage low. The monetary investment is usually low enough that people are okay with their justification of keeping the membership. Unfortunately with this model a majority of people will never come close to reaching the goals they had set out for themselves when joining the gym in the first place.
I believe that it is because of this model we have seen such an increase in the past few years of the “niche specific” or private “boutique gyms.” These are gyms or studios that have a more specified approach to getting their clients results. Some nationwide examples of this include Crossfit affiliates, Orange Theory Fitness, Cycle Bar and Core Power Yoga. We also see it at a smaller scale with the privately owned local boutique studios, Solid Fitness for example. They are popping up more and more as the client's are becoming more results driven. We are seeing an increase in the number of the population that is willing to invest in their health as well. People are starting to realize that they can have a pretty significant impact on their health and wellness and prevention or reversal of disease. Once we come to this realization, we want results and we demand results. If we are looking to lose weight, tone up, decrease pain or increase performance we want the results to reflect the amount of work we are putting in.

This is where the niche specific or boutique studio can play a huge role. It is more intimate from the stand point of accountability and the monetary investment is typically greater than it would be at a bigger gym, therefore the investment will continuously be weighed against the outcome. Meaning, it is harder to justify spending more money if the results aren't there. This is why the coaches, trainers or owners at these facilities are also results oriented. As the owner of a “boutique” training studio, I know that my revenue is not coming from people that are not showing up. It is dependent solely on my clients' achieving their desired goals, or at least progressing toward their desired goals. If they feel that they are not seeing results or even progress, it will be harder for them to justify staying with me. This alone will increase the value a client gets from every interaction with their coach or trainer.
As a trainer in a private training studio I can focus all of my attention on my clients. There are not a hundred other members and trainers working out around us utilizing the same space. We are not waiting around for equipment to open up, which can impact the tempo and efficiency of a workout.