Author: ezfacility

California Hockey Rink Becomes First To Use Recycled Water

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Citizens Business Bank Arena, in Ontario, California, has become the first professional hockey arena in the United States to use recycled water. For the 2014-15 season of the Ontario Reign hockey team, the arena will create its ice rink out of recycled water while also using recycled water for the facility’s cooling towers. The initiative will result in an estimated savings of 5 million gallons of drinking water per year.
Citizens Business Bank Arena said in a release that it has taken several steps to cut its yearly water consumption, including installing low-flow faucets and waterless urinals. The news comes at a time when California is in a drought state of emergency, with rivers and reservoirs at record-low levels.
Eric Willin, COO, of EZFacility, a sports facility management software developer in Woodbury, New York, praised the effort, noting a recent spike in news of sports-related businesses finding more sustainable ways of operating. In addition, the move might positively influence individuals in the community and other businesses, Eric Willin said: “Hopefully, Citizens Business Bank Arena will inspire others to find ways of conserving water as well.”
Participants in the project include the City of Ontario and the Inland Empire Utilities agency, which is providing the recycled water, Citizens Business Bank arena said. The arena noted that it has been using recycled water for irrigation since 2008.

Enhance Your Facility with Aerobic Accessories

Enhance Your Facility with Aerobic Accessories

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Looking for an easy, inexpensive way to freshen up your club, engage members, and create a viable non-dues revenue stream? Look no further than aerobic accessories. Club Business International magazine recently ran a great little piece about the advantages of relying on accessories to boost many aspects of your club’s offerings. It even described one Toronto-based club, Fitness Nation, which relies entirely on aerobic accessories as their training model, without offering a single cardio or strength machine. “Because these products offer so much value,” Marc Lebert, the owner of the club, told Club Business International, “they give startups, small operators, and personal trainers a lot of great choices for a modest investment.”
It’s not just startups, small operators, and personal trainers that can benefit, though: Larger clubs and sports facilities also can create innovative programs, find savings, and possibly ignite new revenue by incorporating aerobic accessories. The possibilities are nearly endless—and certainly endlessly versatile. With battle ropes, bodyweight trainers, kettlebells, medicine balls, slam balls, sand bags, gloves, grips, belts, wrist wraps, and a host of other accessories a club can incorporate, there are significant options for keeping members on their toes with new class offerings. Combining accessories in novel ways can result in exciting experiences for club members — ones that keep them coming back for more and spreading the word about your creative classes.
Another bonus, the article points out, is that new accessories involve a learning curve. They require proper instruction, and because of that they help foster engagement between trainers and clients. With engagement, clients are more apt to feel attached to their place of exercise, satisfied with their experiences, and ready to push themselves further. As Lebert explained to Club Business International, “The products have to be introduced with proper instructions, or you run the risk of [them] not being used.” To encourage instructional activity, Lebert’s club offers trainers online access to programming updates and other exercise content. Consider the possibilities for your own facility if you can offer relevant online content—perhaps to trainers and members alike—to promote the use of accessories.
Finally, the article points out that these accessories can provide clubs with a fresh revenue stream. Chanin Cook, the director of marketing at Harbinger Fitness, says, “It’s been proven that utilizing accessories in club programs boosts on-site sales, and instructors and trainers can exert tremendous influence here.” If you’re not already selling accessories, it may be time to consider doing so.
The takeaway? Incorporating aerobic accessories into your programming can benefit your facility, your clients and members, and the manufacturers who are constantly devising new and exciting products. It’s a win-win-win situation.

Back to School: Lessons About Looking Forward

Back to School: Lessons About Looking Forward

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Fast Company recently ran an article entitled “A Look Inside the Most Insane College Gyms.” By “insane,” the editors presumably meant equipped with perhaps unnecessary but totally envy-inducing features, such as Louisiana State University’s lazy river in the shape of the letters L, S, and U, for students to float on; Auburn University’s 45-person paw-print shaped hot tub and 20-foot poolside climbing wall; both institutions’ 1/3-mile running tracks, the longest college rec center tracks in the nation (Auburn’s is corkscrew-shaped and winds throughout the rec center building, pictured above; LSU’s is tiger-striped and loops around a rock-climbing wall).
Other features at recently constructed college gyms include ropes and ledges for ascending to the second floor, a skateboard-friendly plaza design (a compromise at Utah State University, after skateboard-friendly walls were deemed impractical), rooftop gardens, and the inclusion of functional training equipment. Under discussion at some universities but not yet incorporated are hot yoga rooms and indoor/outdoor tracks, on which a student could run an indoor loop, head outdoors for fresh air or a nice view, and then follow the track back into the building. Such a structure would include a thermal lock to prevent cold air/hot air exchange.
Now, I’m not saying you should spend millions of dollars refurbishing your facility to incorporate similar features, but I am suggesting that it’s worthwhile to consider the principles behind some colleges’ new “insane” designs, and perhaps to apply some of those principles.
For example, a big catalyst for the over-the-top designs is competition: LSU openly tried to outdo Auburn, its Southeastern Conference rival, when it designed its rec center. Schools try to better each other in the gym department because students often make enrollment choices based on the perceived quality of gym offerings. One recent Purdue University graduate told Fast Company that he chose Purdue partly because he liked that its gym had more options and better hours than the gyms at other universities he considered. The lesson? How your facility compares with others matters.
Another catalyst is envisioning the future. Colleges and universities know that any major rec center renovation or construction plans they dream up now won’t be used until kids currently in eighth grade make their way to higher ed. They need to be forerunners in design trends, and they need to build something flexible enough that it can remain appealing for decades. The lesson? Think not in terms of the now, but in terms of the future. What will customers and members want five, ten, fifteen years down the road? What can you build now that can morph into the next big thing?
A third catalyst is motivating exercisers to push harder. Gyms used to be dark, dank, box-shaped structures with Nautilus equipment and not much else. You couldn’t exactly call their environments inviting. Colleges and universities are looking for ways to make their spaces inviting, to make students want to go to the gym and stay there, to see if they can inspire gym-goers to work out for fifteen minutes longer. With soaring ceilings, light-filled spaces, yoga decks, climbing walls, novelty features (like that “LSU”-shaped floating pool), and other attributes that convey a sense of fun and freedom, institutions are having more and more luck drawing members of their communities to the gym and keeping them there — one recent study found that only 15 percent of students finish their first year of college without ever using the rec center, while roughly 50 percent never use career planning, financial advising, or academic tutoring services. The lesson? The space you offer can invite new members in and encourage retention.
The biggest take-away from all of this? Pay attention to what colleges and universities are doing in their rec centres. Look at photos for inspiration, and keep tabs on new developments. Higher education institutions are at the forefront of gym design — and in a few years their students are going to be young professionals seeking gyms in the real world, and their standards are going to be high.

Technogym Named Official Equipment Supplier for 2016 Summer Olympics

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Technogym, the Italian exercise equipment company, recently announced its appointment as the official equipment supplier at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The upcoming games will mark Technogym’s sixth time as official supplier.
The company reportedly will provide equipment for the main Olympic Village in Barra da Tijuca and will equip 15 centres and warm-up areas at competition venues. About 1,000 pieces of Technogym equipment and Technogym’s mywellness cloud digital platform will be installed. Technogym also will provide 50 athletic trainers as well as gym layout, installation, and technical service.
“We are very proud to have been chosen for the sixth time as the official supplier of the Olympic Games,” Nerio Alessandri, president and founder of Technogym, said in a statement. “This important achievement represents a victory for the whole Technogym team and a strong reference on our products innovation and quality standards.”
Eric Willin, COO, of EZFacility, a fitness facility management software developer in Woodbury, New York, noted the prevalence of Technogym equipment at gyms, health clubs, and fitness centres throughout the world. “Fitness facilities constantly seek out equipment that can be efficiently managed and that showcases both innovation and a commitment to traditional quality,” he said. “As official equipment supplier for the Olympics six times in a row, Technogym has established itself as a trusted brand.”

Bringing a Taste of the Retreat into Everyday Life

Bringing the Taste of a Retreat into the Everyday Life

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Luxury health-fitness retreats have become something of a trend. Perhaps some of your members have tried them, or maybe you’ve given one a go yourself. If not, you can imagine the drill: At a beautiful resort somewhere exotic or simply far away from it all, you and your fellow companions spend a week or so hiking twelve miles a day, taking yoga and weight-training classes, and working out for as many hours as possible, and you do it all on about 1,200 calories a day (luckily, many such retreats also feature massages and facials, so be grateful).
Don’t get me wrong—I think this trend offers wonderful opportunities to people who want to kickstart a fitness regimen or who love a good workout and want to combine one with a vacation. There are many reasons why I’d jump at the chance to go on a fitness retreat myself. However, there are also many factors holding me back, several of which have to do simply with practical limitations: time, money, child care.
That got me thinking. What I really need is a luxury health-fitness retreat here at home. I need a week-long or ten-day crash course in intense exercise and healthy eating right here where I live and work. Boot camps, of course, abound in New York City and throughout the country, but what I want is something even more focused and intensive—something that gives me a sense of total immersion while also offering me a chance to get things done. I wonder if there’s an opportunity here for the gyms and health clubs, a hole to fill. It might be worth considering whether there’s a flexible form of health retreat that you could offer members (and nonmembers too, as a way to invite them to join your facility).
I imagine something that begins early in the morning, soon after I drop my son off at the bus stop. A two-hour class could ensue, followed by a healthy breakfast. Afterwards, there could be a three- or four-hour break for participants to get work done or run errands (and possibly wi-fi and lounge/workspace made available to those who want it). Another two-hour exercise period could follow the break, with a light lunch afterward—maybe offered while nutrition or fitness experts offer talks on the best ways to carry the effects of the retreat over into the everyday life. For the afternoon, childcare could be on offer while another class takes place, and after, everyone could be sent home with instructions for dinner. Facials and massages could also be offered on select days. Follow-up sessions in subsequent months might be something participants could elect to take part in for an extra fee.
Many variations of that scenario are possible, and it’s especially worth dreaming up options that might better suit office workers. No matter what form a hometown fitness retreat takes, the benefits could be immense, and not just for participants: Your club could find itself with a new revenue stream. Plus, as alluded to earlier, it can be an effective way to draw in new members (prospectives who take part in the program could be offered a discount on first month’s membership, or the like).

Keeping Up Appearances, of Your Online Presence

Keeping Up Appearances

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Recently, here in New York City, I was helping a friend research options for a swimming facility. We visited Yelp.com, which, as everybody knows, is the place to go for the inside scoop on any and every business imaginable. A search on Yelp for “gym swimming pools” pulled up a long list of gyms, health clubs, and fitness centres that have pools. At first we were overwhelmed. Then we realized how easy Yelp makes it to weed choices out. Does it have less than four stars? Forget it.
That’s for starters. Once you begin reading the reviews, it becomes crystal clear which places are worth trying and which ones are better off ignored. For one club that received two stars, for example, we found the following reviews: “Limited availability for lap swimming and the club does not adhere to its weekly pool schedule,” “There have been lots of problems ranging from overcrowded, stinky locker rooms with broken lockers to lack of morning classes for people who work,” and, simply, “Horrible!”
The same gym had one highly positive review—but the negative voices drowned it out. This is all well and good for consumers. But what if you’re a gym owner, where your facility has a low rating, and comments are negative, even though you know you deserve better? The fact is, online customer reviews can make or break you. In order to ensure a healthy digital profile, one that won’t damage your chances of drawing in prospective clients and winning new members, you’ve got to take action.
The first step is to know what’s out there about you. Take a look at Yelp and other similar customer review sites (such as Angie’s List, the Better Business Bureau, Epinions, and Google+ Local). Are there reviews for your business? Keep in mind that having reviews is a good thing—just as negative reviews can have a negative impact, positive reviews can have a positive one. You want people to be able to find you on Yelp (if they can’t, they’ll wonder why you’re not there); you just want to control the impressions they form when they do. So take a look, hope you’re there, and read carefully through the reviews you find.
Now, here’s the thing: On Yelp and many other sites, you can respond publicly to comments that are posted. That’s right—you have a chance to set the record straight, and if you handle things graciously enough, you might be able to turn a negative review into an opportunity, a chance for the marketplace to see how reasonable, generous, and responsive your facility is. When my friend an I found a response to a negative review of a local gym, we were impressed: The response included an apology, an explanation, an assertion that the customer was right, and an offer to make up for the bad experience. We kept that one on the list of places to check out.
If a mere response feels inadequate to you, or if you’re overwhelmed by the number of customer review sites out there or the daunting task of keeping track of everything said about your facility online, keep in mind that there are companies that help you clean up your online presence. Reputation.com, Reputation Changer, Big Blue Robot, Metal Rabbit Media—these are just a few outfits that find ways to push potentially damaging online content further down in search result lists and pull positive materials to the top. Some of them are pricey, but when it comes to presenting your best face to potential customers, the cost may be worth it.

XSport Fitness to Expand in Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C.

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XSport Fitness, a chain of 24-hour fitness facilities based in Big Rock, Illinois, recently announced plans to expand in its three primary markets: Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C.
By the end of 2016, XSport will have opened new clubs in Melrose Park, Illinois; the Bronx, New York; and Fort Totten, a neighborhood in Washington, D.C. With a reported $176 million in 2013 revenue, XSport is well poised for expansion. In addition to the new clubs, the company also plans an $8 million renovation for its Belmont-Ashland club in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago.
“It’s interesting to watch the growth of a club like XSport Fitness,” said Eric Willin, COO of EZFacility, a health club management software developer in Woodbury, New York. “Club Industry magazine ranks the company number 8 on its Top 100 Clubs list, and year after year the Better Business Bureau gives it an A+ score. Clearly, members are happy with its structure and offerings, and its sound business plan keeps it a successful and growing enterprise.”
The company’s three new clubs and the renovated one will each feature more than 200 pieces of equipment, personal training, XIT group training, a basketball court, a four-lane lap pool, a resistance pool, a full-day spa, a child play area, and a pro shop.
In January, XSport opened two express clubs, one in Woodbridge, Virginia, and one in Matteson, Illinois, and in May it opened a full-service club in Norridge, Illinois.

Become an Active Participant in Preventative Health Care

Become an Active Participant in Preventative Health Care

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Pomerene Hospital in Millersburg, Ohio, recently kicked off a deal to take over a local fitness center. The owner of the center approached the hospital, expressing an interest in a community collaborator. Seeing this idea as an opportunity to extend health care beyond its own walls, the hospital embraced it. Doing so, said Pomerene’s chief financial officer in a statement, is a first step towards aligning the hospital’s services with reform in the health industry—with the expanded focus to include a greater emphasis on wellness and preventative care.
I love this. It seems to me that all hospitals should run fitness centres, or at least partner with fitness centres to provide a more holistic set of health-related services. I feel this way about doctors’ offices too. I hate going to them partly because I resent the fact that I’m there in the first place. If I hadn’t gotten sick, or overstretched a muscle, or ignored the numbers creeping higher on the scale, then I wouldn’t have to be there. Sometimes, I am all too well aware of how prevention would have served me better than care.
Not all hospitals have the means or the resources to manage a fitness facility, and certainly not most doctors working independently. But they could at least actively take different approaches to encourage patients to focus on their own preventative care. They could give discounts on co-pays for patients who bring in a letter from a personal trainer, exercise instructor, or gym manager showing that they’ve worked out x number of times in the past month. Or, along with prescriptions, they could hand out certificates good for one free class at a local spin studio or for one free session at a gym. Hospitals, when they discharge patients who have the capacity to exercise, could give out vouchers for a free month’s membership at a health club. There are so many possibilities.
None of these can be realized, of course, if gyms, health clubs, fitness centres, exercise studios, and sports centres are not willing partners. The good news is that forming such partnerships could only be beneficial for businesses in our industry. Each certificate a doctor hands out or voucher a hospital gives away represents a potential new client. And new clients who find your facility through a health care professional or institution are ones that are likely to stay—a voice of authority is telling them loudly and clearly that there’s a link between how much they exercise and how healthy they stay. If nothing else, they’ll come to you to avoid having to go to their doctor or the hospital again.
If you haven’t already done so, maybe it’s time to start cultivating relationships with doctors and hospitals. Approach local ones with suggestions and offers; make it clear that you’re as interested in the health of the community as they are. That’s what the fitness center giving its management over to Pomerene Hospital has done. Honestly, I wouldn’t even need any incentives to join that fitness center; just knowing it’s managed by the same experts who understand my medical needs would be incentive enough.

Making Your Facility Intimidation-Free

Making Your Facility Intimidation-Free

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Have you ever felt close to convincing an on-the-fence prospective member to join your facility, only to have them back away in the end because they’re afraid of being intimidated? In surveys, intimidation is one of the most common reasons people give for avoiding sports and fitness facilities—and we’ve all seen the Planet Fitness “No Gymtimidation” commercials. Of course, the people perceived as intimidating in your facility might have no intention of scaring others away—in fact, they’re probably among your best customers, and you don’t want to do anything to alienate them. But there might be one or two super-serious exercisers who get a kick out of flexing their muscle, literally and figuratively, and scaring others off what they think of as their turf. What can you do to help limit intimidation in your facility?
To begin with, foster a sense of community. If your place feels like a cooperative, supportive, noncompetitive, accepting one, you’re less likely to find yourself trying to manage bullies, or even just dealing with members who perceive others as intimidating. This, in fact, is what the Planet Fitness ads are all about: They’re a way of saying, “Everyone here is in this together; everyone is welcome.” To create an environment with a similar message, try posting signs that convey your facility’s inclusiveness. Come up with your own “No Gymtimidation” slogan and plaster it around. Make sure your staff, including front desk folks, sales people, trainers, and locker room attendants, infuse the place with friendliness and respect. Tolerate expressions of judgment from no one.
Also, if you’ve got a core group of intimidators (intentional or not), try to harness their excellence for the benefit of your facility. Maybe organize a “Masters Circle,” or something similar. Personally ask your most intense, serious, and possibly bullying members to join. Give the group workouts appropriate to their level—and give them a talk, asking them to be aware of members whose skill might not match theirs. Explain how new members, whether novices or experts, are crucial to the long-term health of your facility, and ask them to be a force for good within the facility, maybe offering to help less experienced members or generally just to project friendliness. In effect, you want them to be ambassadors to your sports or fitness center.
Another approach: Rely on your trainers and instructors to keep things fair. When a class is packed and there’s an aggressive push to get to the front row, a mindful instructor can choose to spend at least part of the class at the back of the room, turning the back row into the front. That way, everyone feels like they get fair exposure to the lessons being taught. Trainers can keep a watchful eye on exercise equipment and cardio room usage, making sure no one’s hogging a particular machine or staking out personal territory. Instructors and trainers often have direct access to clients and members in a way that other staff members do not — they see them regularly and often build up a rapport with them. They can use their familiarity and rapport to make sure everyone gets a fair shot, and intimidation is not a factor.
The bottom line is that your facility should feel like a fun, relaxing place for each person who uses it. If that’s the case, then everyone wins (including you). It’s worth spending time thinking about how to create the kind of environment that welcomes everyone, and how to make it clear to prospective members that “everyone” includes them.

University of Northwestern Ohio Covers Baseball Diamond in Red Turf

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While athletic facilities with outdoor fields frequently feature turf, and often turf that’s coloured to display team or school spirit, it’s rare to find a baseball field with synthetic turf—especially synthetic turf that’s bright red. But the University of Northwestern Ohio, in Lima, Ohio, has become the first in the nation to sport a red baseball field. The surface will be ready for play in the 2015 fall and spring seasons.
“Turf allows us to save not only on maintenance, but travel as well,” said the university’s head coach, Kory Hartman. “It can be difficult to play games this far north in early March.” With the new synthetic field, the team should be in a better position to host early-season games.
“Baseball is a symbol in our country, and it’s easy to feel nostalgic about playing on natural grass,” said Eric Willin, COO, of EZFacility, a sports facility management software developer in Woodbury, New York, “but there are many advantages to covering a baseball field in turf, both economically and in terms of the quality of play. The University of Northwestern Ohio is going the turf route in style.”
Because of baseball’s early-start season, many teams, especially in northern parts of the United States, are forced by the weather to practice in gymnasiums and batting cages, as opposed to on an actual field. Turf allows teams to play outdoors in wet and even snowy weather; as a result, in the past few years, more and more leagues have allowed the installation of synthetic fields.