Introduction
Australians have long been famous for being an obese country and now for the first time in recent years there has been an overwhelming desire for the nation to lead healthier, more active lifestyles, fueling a thirst for the long forgotten fitness industry. Fitness niches which are nontraditional forms of exercises, take the “work” out of work out, previously exhibited robust growth is now currently being run out by easy access 24/7 gyms, whom are attracting the majority of earnest and cost efficient Australians (Brown Gibbons Lang& Company, 2013).
Jett’s vs. Fitness First
Increasingly so, healthy living has now become the mantra for many Australians with the outlook of the fitness industry in Australia in 2014 one of good fortune. With two of the nation’s most well-known fitness franchises Jett’s and Fitness First racing in a growing battle over fitness club recruitments, launching various clubs all over Australia in order to haul as many consumers as possible.
Jetts began from humble beginnings, starting with one Gold Coast gym back in 2007 and now has over 200 clubs, with 159 in Australia and 41 in New Zealand totaling to an ever growing number of 200,000 members (Jetts, 2014). Jetts through the use of an revolutionized version of Porters Model of Generic Cost Leadership Strategy has allowed them to achieve a rank of second place in 2013’s Fast Franchise list, with average annual revenue growth of 219 per cent over the past three years (BRW, 2013).
As for Fitness First, it is remains the largest privately owned health club group in the world, consisting of over 540 Fitness First Clubs worldwide, reaching over 1million in memberships in 21 different countries (FitnessFirst, 2014). Through its revolutionary busines...
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BRW. 2013. Fast Franchises 2013. [online] Available at: http://www.brw.com.au/lists/fast-franchises/2013/ [Accessed: 23 Mar 2014].
FitnessFirst. 2014. Fitness First Gyms, Get a Free 1 Day Gym Pass - Fitness First Australia. [online] Available at: http://www.fitnessfirst.com.au/ [Accessed: 23 Mar 2014].
Jetts. 2014. Jetts Fitness Australia | Jetts 24 Hour Fitness Gyms, Fitness Clubs. [online] Available at: http://www.jetts.com.au/ [Accessed: 23 Mar 2014].
Thomson, J. 2012. Fitness First to slim down by selling 24 clubs, as low-cost gyms grab market share. [online] Available at: http://www.smartcompany.com.au/growth/economy/26165-fitness-first-to-slim-down-by-selling-24-clubs--as-low-cost-gyms-grab-market-share.html# [Accessed: 23 Mar 2014].
Customers usually make decision of purchase by comparing the “value” of a product or service, which can be looked as the benefit–sacrifice ratio. Many customers find the prices of most health club and gyms too high because they see little value in some of extra amenities, in other words, they find that the benefit they receive is not valuable, comparing to the sacrifices they make; in this case, the benefit-sacrifice ratio in this case is pretty low. Therefore, Planet Fitness offers good value membership, which means high benefit-sacrifice ratio for customers, comparing to other major gyms.
"LA Fitness grew out of three clubs, each owned by one of the founders. In 1990 Fred Turock, Jeremy Taylor and David Turner decided to get together to jointly manage these clubs, with the aim of building up a network of gyms with first class facilities. In 1996 they created the LA Fitness brand and the following year they joined the top ten health and fitness club operators, catering to a wide variety of people of all shapes and sizes and with a huge range of goals. In 1999 the growth and success of the LA Fitness group led to a listing on the London Stock Exchange. In 2005 the team decided they needed more control - they wanted to make sure LA Fitness could continue to provide affordable membership and a fun environment for its growing band of members. LA Fitness now has more than 88 clubs and over a quarter of a million members all over the United Kingdom" (LA Fitness, 2007).
“63% of Australian adults were overweight or obese in 2011–12, 70% of men and 56% of women. This has increased from 57% in 1995.
Gary and Diane Heavin opened their first Curves in the United States in 1992. The two designed a thirty minute workout for women, and created a comfortable; women only, place to exercise. Franchising of Curves started in 1995, and within ten years it became the world’s largest fitness franchise and the tenth largest of all franchise companies in the world. There are over 10,000 locations in 44 countries and most of the success was through word of mouth (“Curves Weight Loss Plan”).
Trisha, a member of an elite fitness club, spoke about the moment she realized her weight loss goal needed to be reevaluated. Trisha weighed almost 300 pounds and was only 5 foot, 4 inches. Her work out partner, Rebecca, was the complete opposite when it came to looks. Rebecca was almost 5 foot, 11 inches and around 120 pounds. Trisha envied Rebecca’s body type and would give anything to trade bodies. Based on their heights and weights most people would look at them and automatically assume the thinner person would win if they raced against each other. After 6 months of working out together Trisha started to realize how much more she could do of everything! She could lift more weight, do more repetitions and stay at a harder pace on every cardio machine they used. One day while on the Stairmaster, Rebecca once again had to completely stop the machine and take a breather while Trisha was at a fast pace nearly jogging up the st...
As previously stated, these consumers are involved in some sort of physical activity, and this is a trend that has grown in the past few decades. The trend of participating in physical activities will continue to see growth due to lifestyle changes of the consumers. Since, people are noticing a change in the human life capacity,
Founded in 1999 in Boise, Idaho by Ryan R. DeLuca, 21 at the time, Bodybuilding.com is an American online retailer focused on sports supplements, and health and nutrition related products. They ship worldwide, claiming to offer the lowest price, and they have the world’s largest online fitness community, with over 1.5 million members. Bodybuilding.com holds the title of being the world’s number one online supplement store and number one sports nutrition E-Retailer with $420 million...
The Health and fitness industry have many ethical issues involved which was very interesting to me. I have never purchased a membership at a health club, but from the reading I learned a lot about how they operate. It amazed me that health clubs push their sales representatives to get 200-300 new members a month (Amend, 1992). This is a large amount of people for such a short amount a time, which means some members are not fully aware of the fine print of the membership agreement. Also the reading mentions that more than half of instructors at these clubs do not have valid certification (Copeland et al, 1988),. This is unethical because the members pay each month for the service of a qualified staff member to assist them in exercise and fitness. Safety of the members could also be at risk working out with a non-qualified trainer. Learning how these companies do business make me want to hold off as long as possible to join a gym.
Dave expanded on that article with his favorite top 20 exercises and had these advanced-beginner exercise tips to help you with your new weight training program. Then, here's how to choose a gym and what to expect from your first visit to the gym now that you've found it.
While having been to various gyms in the past, my pre-conceived notions about what to expect within the health club was that the demographic would consist of upper middle class caucasian women, with the facilities meticulously clean and the health club itself to be in a state of the art shape in regards to new equipment and a spacious, luxurious locker room. I believed that the fitness classes they offered would be instructed by experienced professionals. What I had hoped to learn upon the beginning of my forays into the health club was how the members interacted amongst each other including the staff, how the culture varied from that of a less-expensive gym, and overall how the Westford Rege...
In the American Culture we have adapted many ways of the Greek and Roman Empires. Our society has the laid back lifestyle of the Greeks and the physical fitness of the Romans. Statistics show 45 percent of Americans set a goal every year to achieve weight loss/fitness. Of that 45 percent, and just under half of Americans still maintain their New Year’s Resolution (Hub Pages). The question is why is weight-loss so important in America? There are many answers and factors that play into figuring out the equation. One factor is the increase of obesity in our country year in and year out. Other key factors is the impact of media on our culture to look slim and be sexy, and even children’s toy figures have become more masculine and unrealistic. Although our society is becoming more accepting that not everyone can be a Barbie and Ken or resemble characters from our favorite action figures, the combination of these major factors help answer the equation to why weight loss has become so prevalent in our society today.
It is commonly known that everyone should spend at least one hour a day getting some sort of exercise. Being physically in shape can overall reduce health risks and expand one’s own life span in a positive way. As being a college student who works out daily, I completely agree with this statement because exercising has brought upon me adequate amount of health benefits as well as bestow positive mentality. It has been also reported that many elderly adults has been told by doctors to exercise as often as possible, for it helps reduce problems such as heart diseases, cholesterol and even cancer. Many younger adults also participate in exercising daily to achieve the toned or muscular body that they desire. This makes perfect sense because I don’t know one person who doesn’t want a well-defined six pack, especially when it comes to beach season.
Black, Tamara. 2008. Exercise and Fitness in a U.S. Commercial Gym.Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International.
Studying health and fitness will require focus, commitment and hard work. I am ready and determined to put my time, effort and dedication towards this field, as I hope to accomplish my career goals by studying fitness, which will hopefully lead me to becoming a successful personal fitness
For those individuals seeking to improve their fitness levels, finding the will power to actually travel to the gymnasium and the internal fortitude to effectively workout is only half the battle; the other half of the adversity is the patronage already waiting at the gym. Even for the most outgoing personalities, hard core body builder types, and the similarly over exercised female equivalents are intimidating. These fanatically physically fit people spend most of their time at fitness centers and it shows. Massive, monster sized, muscles and popping veins help to identify the male of the species. The presence of these body building beasts is a little overwhelming to most other gym members. The massive size of each individual and the fact that they usually collaborate can make a trip to the free w...