New Year's Resolutions and the Fitness Center

It's that time of year again. Right after New Year's day and the local fitness center is packed with people you've never seen before. They are all determined to take off as much weight as possible before they realize their resolutions have caused considerable inconvenience. Things will be back to normal in about 3 weeks, just wait it out. Lucky for you, you can ride your bike much more intensely, with purpose and results, in your own home with your new ErgVideos. I know, I know, I should lighten up a bit, and I will. While I'm on the topic, let me use this opportunity to tell you about some public centers that include ErgVideo in their programs.

I won't sugar coat anything here. A business-minded person can quickly assess that a CompuTrainer Multirider center is not at all a slam-dunk. Despite the technical superiority of the equipment, there are many barriers to success. A thriving fitness center doesn't just buy equipment and sell access to it. Instead, it offers a unique, worthwhile and valuable experience for the client. This is where ErgVideo has been shown to be a key ingredient in attracting clients to Multirider centers, and making sure they return.

Dearborn Health Performance and Wellness Centre features an 8-rider Multirider installation. Dr. Chris Kraemer contacted ErgVideo Inc. this year and stocked-up on a useful repertoire of videos with which he and his staff train their clients. Dearborn Health has been a fixture in Waterloo for nearly 10 years and features a wide range of services such as chiropractic, physiotherapy, accupuncture, massage and Active Release Techniques. For the client seeking high-perfomance fitness, their IronHeartFitness program offers metabolic testing, one-on-one coaching, access to strength & conditioning training facilities and high-performance camps.

Until this year, Dearborn’s Multirider business has been modeled around group rentals, with or without coaches. The demand for coached sessions has always exceeded the number of competent coaches and their resources. In 2010, ErgVideo has enabled the launch of new programming and more structured access to periodized programs that will exploit the progressive training potential of the ErgVideo system.

Clearly Dearborn Health has a ton to offer, and did so long before their CompuTrainers and ErgVideo arrived. The new programs are complementary to their core wellness services, and have enabled expansion of their premium athlete services. ErgVideo has greatly reduced the complexity factor of the CompuTrainer Multirider system, since you don't need power-guru-experts to develop and deliver power-based training programs. Much of the heavy lifting has been done by the ErgVideo series and the supporting toolkits. ErgVideo brings a whole new level of fun, motivation, and "athletainment" to the home or public studio.

For a center, ErgVideo greatly reduces the demands on staffing and costs. At minimum, an instructor helps with initial set-up, and gives a short explanation on "what happens" to new clients. Once they ride for a few minutes and "get it", the instructor becomes superfluous, and her time can be used for other tasks at the center. Once the clients are smiling, she can step away and let clients interact with one another . In a spin class, it's rude and disruptive to others if you talk over the instructor. With ErgVideo, clients can interact freely, give encouragement, smack-talk or do much like they do on club-rides. This extra interaction means it's easier to meet new people too! ErgVideo, the e-Harmony of the fitness club!

Richard has been an enthusiastic supporter of ErgVideo and my other enterprises from their humblest of beginnings. Richard coaches people worldwide. He relies on modern tools like power meters, CompuTrainers for indoor workouts, and hi-tech analysis software to monitor progress. These activities and services are time consuming and require high effort. It is a great deal of work to service a sustainable number of clients at reasonable price-points. Visit his website for detailed information on his programs.

In 2007 Richard was approached by the Jewish Community Centre of Dallas to establish a cycling program within their larger fitness center. It is now known as the Cycling Center of Dallas. He instantly seized upon the opportunity to install a CompuTrainer Multirider and feature ErgVideo as the primary high-performance training tool. The ErgVideo system is co-located in a large room with the spinning bikes, and indeed curiosity in the new equipment and multimedia gizmos was immediate.

Richard applies his considerable coaching expertise to design complete progressive training programs for his CCD sessions. He is present for most sessions, and when he isn't, he selects staff with enthusiasm nearly as high as his own. I say nearly because nobody can be more enthusiastic than Richard himself. He's high energy, and it would be very hard to match the example he sets. He is there to encourage, instruct and motivate. Clearly his loyal clients come to the CCD for the huge value-adds that he brings: a comprehensive and effective development program, his high spirits, and his expert guidance. You should watch some of the testimonial videos on the CCD website: there's some happy, fit people! Richard keeps the 14-unit system full in all of the scheduled sessions, and finds he is now managing waiting lists. A nice problem to have!

Richard has become the busiest and most experienced ErgVideo-based coach on the planet. He requires his clients to use CompuTrainers and ErgVideos in their training programs, whether it is for the "semi-custom" programs available here or for his premium personal coaching services. Richard has established a sustainable business model, something that unfortunately eludes many very competent coaches. He has managed to combine some "bulk-deliverable", profitable services where he reaches many clients and establishes relationships and reputation, with personal coaching services which are higher-cost, highly customized, individualized and low volume activities. A common thread is effective use of ErgVideo to help him deliver very high value in both of his core business segments.

If you happen to be near either of these centres we encourage you to check them out. ErgVideo and Multirider can be used with any number of CompuTrainers from 1 to 8. I regularly invite a friend to ride a 2-unit system at the Fortress of Solitude (ErgVideo HQ; my place). I showed you my set-up in a previous Newsletter. Check it out here in case you haven't seen it.

Keep ridin' with the fans set to "high"...
Paul Smeulders and David Stevenson
ErgVideo.com