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Tech series: Hi-tech future
Next year we’re likely to see further digitisation of health clubs. So what innovative technology is available, what’s in the pipeline, and what will be the new must-have for clubs? Kath Hudson asks the experts
In August, Virgin Active announced plans to launch two technology-focused clubs where digital technology will be intrinsic to the experience. HD interactive screens will allow members to book classes, view which PTs are on the club floor and provide virtual workout advice. There will also be access to web-based services, so users can connect to the internet and use social media networks while exercising. In addition, the operator is working towards a contactless solution in which members will receive an interactive wristband, doing away with the need for membership cards and locker keys.
Virgin Active’s chief information officer, Andy Caddy, says the changes are all motivated by the desire to make it easier for members to personalise their workout and get as much out of it as possible. “There’s a growing demand from our members to have the latest technology at their fingertips, which lives up to their increasingly connected and digital lifestyles,” he says.
Will other operators be encouraged to follow Virgin Active’s example, or will some decide to keep an old school, low-tech experience as their USP?
“Technology offers the ability to service the customer better, drive retention, market offers, gain data and insight, monetise the relationship, encourage impulse buys, and streamline joining and class booking, says Bryan O’Rourke, CEO of Integrus and president of the Fitness Industry Technology Council. “However, incorporating technology is expensive, and it can be dangerous to be an early adopter unless you think carefully about your business model and are mindful of how technology fits into your strategy.”
If you’re thinking of adding some technological spice to your club experience, what should you go for? We ask the experts how they envisage the digital gyms of the future….
Steve Groves,
Goodlife Fitness,
VP and Chief Information Officer
Technology is a significant threat, but also a very real opportunity.
The old adage has it that we dramatically overestimate what impact technology will have over a two-year horizon, but dramatically underestimate the impact over a 10-year horizon.
During the next two years, I think we’ll see more of the same. Consumer technologies will continue to come into the club, and I’d like to see better integration with all the wearables. The Apple Watch will be a game changer in terms of awareness of health and activity levels, and I’d like to incorporate that into our plans and offering at GoodLife.
However, 2025 will be a totally different world: lots of people think that, by then, there will be more robots than cellphones and tablets. Robots may be applied to things like cleaning, and possibly even some equipment maintenance, potentially reducing these ongoing costs. This would make the cost of running clubs cheaper, and hopefully drive down the cost for the members.
For now, technology is focused on the entertainment side, and here the industry is playing catch-up with consumer trends. In my opinion, the real opportunity lies in taking advantage of some of the technologies that are commonplace in the home, such as Xbox Kinect, and repurposing them for the industry. This is a relatively low-cost technology, but the cameras can detect how active individual muscles are during exercise, which could be of huge benefit to personal trainers for example.
As imaging technology advances, we need to work out how to make the most of this opportunity, using it to supplement what PTs are doing already: helping clients visualise what the PT is explaining to them, for example, and at the same time allowing PTs to work with half a dozen clients at once.
Heart rate monitors stitched into clothing is another fascinating technology, which again presents opportunities for PTs to create more personalised exercise programmes.
“2025 will be a different world. Robots may be applied to things like cleaning, and possibly even equipment maintenance, which would make the cost of running clubs cheaper and hopefully drive down the cost for members”
Arron Williams,
Special Projects,
Life Fitness
From an operator’s perspective, I haven’t seen any new technology that’s essential apart from developments in social media. In fact, I’d argue the club of the future is far more likely to be low-tech and high touch, personal and communal, using existing social media technology and with consumers bringing in their own fitness wearables.
New wearable technology will provide highly specific insights into our metabolic health and fitness, in ways we’ve never been able to identify before. The ability to look precisely and objectively at what you’ve been doing while working out will allow us to become a lot smarter about what works for each individual, and our choices will be driven by this new frontier: the Internet of You. This represents a seismic shift in how we add value to our daily lives and wellbeing through regular exercise and activities to benefit us 24/7.
The club of the future will probably be the home gym and the great outdoors, supported by fitness wearables and freemium platforms like Befit, Daily Hit and Fitness Blender, and excellent free apps like the Johnson & Johnson seven-minute workout.
Reynir Indahl,
Chair,
Health & Fitness Nordic
Our primary aim is to help members achieve their goals; in order to do that, we’d like to track everything they do, analyse that data, make something intelligent out of it and use it in a customer-friendly way.
Our technology strategy is very much about convenience for the member, so we’ll incorporate it where it helps the member – for example, class booking, entry systems, informing programmes, providing PT and building relationships.
We’re currently looking at several options for taking information from activity trackers to create a virtual personal training programme: the PT will design a programme and the machines will automatically register what members have done. PTs can then go into the app and view what members have completed. We’re not quite there with the seamless integration, but this is what we’re aiming for.
It’s important to be device-independent, because consumers want to have choice about which device they use. We’re working with major vendors to achieve this, so we can capture information from any device and then serve it back through the interface we’ve chosen. We already have an app that can track basic activity, food eaten and that can take class bookings. Although it’s a fairly advanced function, we haven’t yet gone as far as big data: where everything about what you did yesterday, including pulse and heart beat, is downloaded.
Phillip Mills,
Chief Executive,
Les Mills
Technology can be most useful on the motivational side: making exercise fun and adding a social aspect, as well as setting goals – which is shown to be motivational for adherence – and mapping progress.
You do have to be careful with technology though, as over-technicalising can remove the enjoyment and the social factor. We’ve experimented with setting up leader boards in cycle studios and people tend to find it interesting once or twice, but it can become a tyranny, taking them away from the right brain enjoyment and into left brain analytical. A Japanese chain went from 950,000 members to 600,000 not very many years ago because it digitised the workout environment and made it too scientific.
Operators should incorporate technology that makes the club interesting, entertaining and social: it’s great to look at YouTube while you’re exercising, for example, and communicate with friends and do email. By using technology to create immersive, highly experiential environments, people can expend a lot of energy without realising it. It becomes fun and addictive.
I think virtual will be the next big thing, as it brings something cool to clubs and helps the bottom line. It doesn’t make economic sense to employ an instructor for all classes if you’re a 24/7 operator, but if you can fill off-peak hours with virtual classes, it’s great for the operator and convenient for members. Lots of suppliers are experimenting with virtual at the moment, so it’s likely that some interesting products will come on-line.
Beyond this, I think it’s important that clubs start to make good use of technology for convenience, such as booking systems. Educational technology, like online links illustrating how to use equipment, is also good because it’s a great form of motivation.
“You have to be careful with technology, as over-technicalising can remove the enjoyment and the social factor”
Brian Wang,
CEO,
Fitocracy
Operators need to adopt technologies that support people outside of the club, bringing services such as PT to end users via digital and mobile. The traditional health club model is based on a monthly membership, with clubs then trying to upsell a PT package – but most people can’t afford it. It’s not a great model. Even for those who see PTs once or twice a week, there’s a gap in regards to what’s happening in between, when the PT isn’t in touch with the client.
By using the internet for PT, clubs could eliminate overheads, speak to multiple people and have efficient interactions: providing a fitness plan, tracking using an app and motivating between sessions. Unless clubs adopt this type of technology, PTs will move away and clubs will lose business.
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