What Can Gym Digitization Do For Your Gym?
If you’re a gym owner you may already be familiar with the concept of gym digitization. But what can it do for your gym?
Digital technologies have resulted in a tremendous change in our daily lives. We order food online, we call cabs on our phones, and in the age of WhatsApp, nobody uses post to send news to anyone. Fitness industry is also adopting this digital change, and gym digitization is on the rise.
Secondly, the Coronavirus pandemic has transformed the way businesses operate now, compared to how they did in normal circumstances. The new normal, as we all see, is social distancing, avoiding visiting crowded places, and always have a mask on to prevent the spread of the virus. Keeping the current situation in mind, companies around the world have adjusted their business model, and social distancing has widely been adopted.
And This Has Hurt Gyms Badly
The most affected business during this scenario have been the gyms and various fitness centers. Around the world, many gyms have been forced to close for an indefinite period due to public health concerns.
As a fitness entrepreneur, you may find this somewhat frightening, but many fitness businesses immediately moved their service online in response to this situation. However, the fitness business model to date demanded face-to-face contact with its customers, and so the digital fitness trend reflected in gym digitization is a unique challenge in and of itself.
The importance of Fitness
A sedentary lifestyle, as well as physical inactivity, causes severe health issues around the world. Hence, we associate regular exercise with health benefits, including lower risk of cardiovascular disease, lung disease, diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension, etc.
Gym Digitization To The Rescue!
With the fitness centers and gyms being closed down because of Coronavirus, people are turning to personal training courses online or prefer online workouts. Online fitness classes, either on a live stream from a gym that has went through the process of gym digitization, or from a digital library, are a life saviour now. These online exercise programs turn all surroundings into an improvised gym any time during the day.
Technological emergence has not spared any sphere of our life, and fitness is no different. Digital/online fitness allows you to leverage technology and provides a new and unique experience to the gym members. In the era of virtual training and on-demand fitness anytime during the day, here are a few mediums gyms and fitness centers can adopt and take advantage of technology:
Live Streaming
This is the most trending at-home workouts amongst fitness freaks. With the instructing guiding and cheering up live, members feel motivated and enthusiastic. The streaming schedule and dedicated time slots allow members to book according to their availability. Of course, a lot of time and effort goes into concluding a fruitful live stream – right from lighting, sound, technology, and personality all play an important in live streaming online exercise classes.
Social Media Influencers as Trainers
The current situation is likely to have a negative impact on the physical as well as mental health. As an outcome, many social media influence trainers take this opportunity to promote workout in the context of general work-being. Studies also reveal that consumers follow influencers for healthcare-related content.
Wearable Technology
Some people buddy up with a partner to work out, but you can turn to technology as well. Wearable devices such as fitness tracker, or a smartwatch are a great way to keep track of your workout sessions and your physical activity duration. Besides having an online personal trainer, it’s the next best thing a fitness freak can have. We know these wearables for covering the basics of workout i.e., count steps, estimate calories, track distance, and share a summary of your overall health and activity level during the day.
Smart Phone Apps
Besides wearables, you can download running apps that will help you make the most out of your next run. There are a lot of Free to use apps available in the respective stores. For example: Adidas Running, RunKeeper, Pacer, iSmoothRun, Runtrackr, and a lot more.
Some Forms of a Digital Fitness Experience
On-Demand Fitness
On-demand pre-recorded video content that your members can watch any time of the day.
One-on-One Online Fitness Coaching
This enables members the access to multiple coaches that can fit into their diary. Hence these one-on-one online workout programs keep gym members motivated.
Online-Fitness Challenge
Online gyms can provide expert guidance while encouraging and engaging with members. Give the members a target and create a challenge among the members to keep them motivated.
Key Takeaways
When the fitness facility industry gets back full-fledged on its feet, digital services will remain as important as they are now. Many people are using this way of working out. They need to be developed as an important part of your business model: they are an extension of gym now.
So, now is the time to well prepare your current physical gym and convert it into an online gym. This change will meet the requirements of post-pandemic era and also adopt digital fitness trends. Ideal gym management software is the one that enables job scheduling, membership management, attendance tracking, timesheets, payroll, engagement tools, live streaming, on-demand videos for members, and a lot more.