Is it to Hot?

Is Your Health Club Too Hot?

By Brian Cannone
http://www.fitnesssalestraining.com


We all expect to be slightly warm when working out because there's pretty much no way around it. No matter where or when you workout, you're used to getting a little warm and sweaty.

However, many health clubs I visit are WAY too hot, and it's causing them a lot of customers. Although people expect to be warm, they don't expect to be gasping for air and dropping to the floor in a state of heat exhaustion, so tone the heat down!

So what's the best temperature?

I usually keep mine around 70 degrees, sometimes a bit less especially in the summer. This allows it to be slightly warm without it being overbearing or making people complain about the heat. And by the way even if you have it at a temperature which you think is good, always listen to your customers and if you get too many complains at a certain temperature, turn it down.

Another thing to keep in mind is that air movement is crucial to the temperature feeling lower than it actually is, so make sure you're getting some very good circulation within the building.

So what's the best way to do that?

Let's compare a few different methods of heat control.

Large Fans – These are nice and give a lot of air movement, but they're also sometimes very loud and distracting to your members. If you're going to get one or multiple of these, make sure you find one that's not loud. Other than being loud, they're great. People expect fans to be there in the summer, but it's still no excuse to be some huge obnoxious fan blaring in the background. Spend a few bucks, stop being cheap, and your business will look and sound much better.

Open Doors – I hate when people do this. First of all, in the summer (when most of the heat problems happen), open doors just bring in the hot air from outside so their's really no point. It also makes your health club look very cheap because it makes people feel like the place is going out of business or that you can't afford air conditioning. If you do this, do it at your own risk because it's simply a horrible option and the last one I would ever pick to help cool down a health club.

Air Conditioning – Although this is more expensive, aren't your members worth it? If you get central air you can very easily keep the building at a constant temperature and once you find a good temperature, you'll most likely get almost no complaints. If you do they'll probably be rare and from a person who simply likes to complain about everything, and most of the time you won't need to do anything about it (although if several members are complaining about it, then it's time to change). If you mix air conditioning with a few quiet fans, you'll have a great combination that your members will enjoy!

No matter what you choose to do, just realize that keeping a good temperature is very important. You'd be surprised how many people leave a place simply because the temperature wasn't right.