Health Clubs Target Executive Set

Most mornings Mary Beth Brooks gets up in the dark and heads to the gym for an hour’s worth of sweat-soaked exercise.

It’s the only time Brooks, president and CEO of The Bank of Fayetteville, can squeeze personal fitness into her already-packed schedule. After her workout, Brooks rushes back home to get ready for work and help her two school-age kids prepare for their days.

The rest of Brooks’ day is spent handling her duties as the bank’s top executive. She isn’t alone in following such a routine.

In fact, Stuart Walker said, Northwest Arkansas has a deep pool of executives eager to start their days in similar ways.

“They seem to all be early-birds,” said Walker, who owns Clubhaus Fitness in Fayetteville, where Brooks is a member. “It’s nearly as busy at 5 a.m. as it is at 5 p.m. nowadays.

“A lot of your type-A people, they’re up early and that’s when they get it done.”

Mike Rabe, general manager at World Gym’s Lowell location, paints a similar picture. By 5 a.m., he said, the gym’s parking lot looks like a luxury car advertisement, with a Lexus, Mercedes-Benz or BMW occupying practically every other spot.

The idea for these gyms and many of the others in Northwest Arkansas, then, is to tap into that market. These are the people, after all, who are willing to spend their money not just on base-level memberships, but on time with personal trainers, group fitness classes and other such add-on services.

“The executive types see it as an investment,” Rabe said, “not an expenditure.”

 

Competitive Market

Many factors come into play when a person is picking a health club. Proximity, cleanliness, and functioning equipment top the list, according to most gym owners and managers.

Clubgoers also want to feel comfortable, and when it comes to executives that means an increasing importance on extras. Those extras can come in a wide variety of forms.

Brooks said one of the things she’s grown to appreciate about Clubhaus is what she gets as soon as she walks through the door.

“What I love is the personal touch,” Brooks said. “I’m there quite a bit, so they do know me, but I like that when I walk through the door somebody knows my name.

“They know their members, and that part of it is good.”

Once inside, Walker and Rabe said, the early-arriving executive crowd demands a range of high-intensity classes and a staff of well-trained instructors. They also take advantage of personal trainers, with some of the three-month packages at World Gym costing about $1,200.

That kind of money comes with expectations.

“You have to have personal trainers that are well-rounded,” Walker said, adding a typical client might want to concentrate on weight training one day, but go through a more nontraditional workout the next.

“I think they look for a trainer that will deliver results, first of all, but also someone who will mix up their routines and keep them from getting bored,” Walker said. “If you’ve got a trainer that’s just putting them through basic routines and standing there counting reps, you’re going to lose that client.”

Rabe said a lot of his executive clients also take some measure of ownership in their health club of choice. They expect the club to meet the high standards they work so hard to establish at their places of business.

“Everybody wants a clean gym, but the executives might just be a little more adamant about it,” Rabe said with a smile. “If they see a dust bunny somewhere for three days, they’re going to let me know about it. If there’s mold growing in the shower stall, they’re going to let me know about it.

“They’re the ones that are paying the extra money and they want their value.”

Rabe is quick to add he and his staff welcome such feedback.

“Those people also care,” he said. “I love them. They pay more, so they’ve also got a more vested interest in the club.”

 

Gym Gems

Perhaps no other club caters to the executive market like World Gym. While there are four locations sprinkled throughout Benton and Washington counties, the Lowell location boasts some truly eye-catching amenities.

For those willing to pay an extra fee, access to an executive locker room is available. The space, which includes a lounge area complete with a pool table, has the vibe of a fine hotel instead of a fieldhouse.

Granite countertops and tile floors are complemented by private shower stalls, steam baths, and a dry-heat sauna with its own flat-screen TV. Everything from shampoo to razors and Q-tips also are in abundance.

“Our executive locker is designed to be a lot like your home,” Rabe said.

Rabe said such amenities are meant to complement the “SMART” approach he takes when working with his executive clients. Ironically, he added, it’s a concept he learned in a business class rather than in his kinesiology studies.

“When you’re working with these kinds of people, you have to have a plan that’s specific, manageable, attainable, realistic and time-sensitive,” Rabe said.

 

Fringe Benefits

Walker said catering to an executive clientele also can be a boon for business. When an employee sees a company president or team leader get results at a particular gym, he or she might be more likely to give it a try.

“I think it’s important because if you can get those people, you can get the people underneath them,” Walker said. “To a certain extent, it’s ‘Follow the Leader.'”

Like Brooks, those leaders often encourage their employees to join them in establishing a personal fitness plan. The benefits, for both the employee and employer, are well-documented.

It’s been nearly a decade since The Harvard Alumni Health Study proposed the idea that adults can gain two hours of life expectancy for each hour of regular exercise. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at about the same time estimated the United States could realize a savings of $77 billion in direct medical costs each year if physically inactive people began programs of regular exercise.

More general benefits include the potential to reduce absences from work, improve productivity, and create a network of support. Maybe that is why 68 percent of employers in 2007 offered wellness benefits compared to 57 percent in 2003, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

As a result, program’s like the current weight-loss challenge at The Bank of Fayetteville have become commonplace. The idea is to get employees hooked on the idea of exercise.

In Brooks’ case, it’s been a successful endeavor. When she goes to Clubhaus nowadays, whether it’s in the morning or for the occasional evening or weekend workout, she sees some familiar faces.

“It’s ended up that a whole lot of us are down there,” she said.

And that’s just another reason club owners and managers actively seek executive membership, whether through Clubhaus’ word-of-mouth advertising approach, or the direct-mail campaigns World Gym sometimes employs.

“Every time an executive gets their staff excited about fitness,” Walker said, “there’s another group of people that go out and join health clubs.”