Active Management

Tag: cross training

I Would Get Fhit At The Fhitting Room
Earlier in 2016, I Googled ‘gyms in New York’ and the Fhitting Room popped up. I never heard of them and knew nothing about them but I thought what the heck, let’s go have a session.

The result . . . WOW! This is my favourite boutique studio with incredible branding, great coaching and just a ‘good’ feel.

Who is Fhitting Room?

Taken from their web site www.fhittingroom.com:

The Fhitting Room® is an upscale High Intensity Training (HIT) boutique fitness studio delivering a comprehensive, body-changing workout in a small class environment. Classes bring together all the energy, motivation and contagious culture of an awesome group exercise class with the personal attention and education of an intimate personal training session.

What I Love About The Fhitting Room?

I thought I’d seen great branding but this place takes the cake! There are kettlebells replacing numbers, ‘FH’ replacing any ‘F’s and that consistent green!

Many clubs have their own colour palate but they water down colours and a basic palate becomes complex. Not at the Fhitting Room. They have the most consistent colour use I have seen.

This is a must visit for what is possible and the new benchmark in branding.

My Experience At Fhitting Room

Two gents on the reception desk, who greeted me with a smile and explained where everything was so I get organised for the workout. They told me I was on position 19 and to find position 19, I had to look on the ceiling.

The class started with 2 instructors. There were 4 groups of 5 people and they coached 2 groups and entertained 2 groups. As a participant, I had no idea how they were interacting until after the class. It was then I realised, that for me one instructor was coaching my technique and the other was entertaining me.

I did not look at my watch once in this class. It was a hoot and damn hard – especially the challenge at the end. In fact, what a way to finish a class, a challenge!

I loved the workout! I loved the coaches! And you know I loved the branding. So how do you remember such an unbelievable experience, you buy the t-shirt. And that’s what I did!

The only weakness in the business for me is their ongoing email correspondence. The emails match the brand but the value is poor for me. I don’t read them as I find the layout hard to read. And I get confused with the message they are trying to tell me.

My summary:
- On-line booking – 9/10
- Branding – 11/10
- Workout experience – 9/10
- Service experience – 7/10
- Ongoing communication – 7/10
- Chances I would return for another workout – 10/10
Note – I paid $US30 for the visit and these are my personal experiences on the days of workout.

To see inside the Fhitting Room with JT’s eyes, become an Active Management Member for as little as 24.90 a month. You can see:
- The exercise floor
- Branding samples
- Marketing
- The retail space
- And more . . .
Plus you can see other gyms, studios and facilities in the world like:
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September 21, 2016
Gym Box Is Cool, Quirky & Different
I visited the Gym Box in Westfields London in 2015 and had a giggle everywhere I turned in this place! It is a big box gym or as White Goodman from Dodgeball would say “a globo gym.”

It is not JUST a big box gym. It has quirkiness and fun splattered throughout the gym and I’ll share some with you in a tick.

I had heard of Gym Box 7 years ago, when I heard about this . . .

I went knowing it would be different.

Who is Gym Box?

Perhaps this video explains it best – although you’ll get the idea after 60 seconds.

What I Love About Gym Box?

Of course I am going to say the equipment selection. This is a big box gym with every piece of gear you could ever want under one roof! And I lost count of how many personal trainers I saw walking the floor with clients.

From a fitness business perspective, I loved the branding, the quirkiness of the signs around the club and the programs. The consistent humour showed they didn’t take themselves too seriously. I am sure people would have noticed the signs and programs, as they really stood out.

My Gym Box Experience

As I just paid for a casual or drop in visit, I engaged with no one other than the person on the desk. The receptionist was polite and pointed to the change rooms for me and that was the last communication with anyone in the club. And when I mean anyone, I really do mean anyone! No other staff spoke with me and no member spoke with me, smiled at me or even grunted at me.

It’s hard to rate the experience as there was no people experience. As I said the equipment was clean, working & heaps of it so that experience was great. But that’s where it ended. Perhaps if I was a regular member, I’d get to know people and then become part of the community but my gut feel is you would need to be in the ‘in’ crowd.

From what I can see of the brand, I could expect an ‘experience’ in any of their classes or even with their personal trainers.

My summary:
- Online booking – not needed for a casual workout
- Branding – 10/10
- Workout experience – 8/10
- Service experience – 4/10
- Ongoing communication – 1/10
- Chances I would return for another workout – 6/10
Note –I paid £25 for the visit and these are my personal experiences on the day of my workout.

To see inside Gym Box with JT’s eyes, become an Active Management Member for as little as 24.90 a month. You can see:
- More quirky signs
- Group fitness rooms
- Equipment layout
- A referral sign
- Different group fitness classes and programs
- And more . . .
Plus you can see other gyms, studios and facilities in the world like:
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August 5, 2016
BFX Studio: Bloody Fantastic Experience Initially
It was a cold, wet night when I visited BFX Studio on 5^th Avenue. I’m not sure how I ended up there, it wasn’t through reading anything or hearing anything. It was Googling ‘gyms near me.’

BFX Studios are a really interesting business. The studio I visited had a cycle studio and a group training room and a large gym down stairs. The interesting thing for me was that no-one was cycling and there was no-one in the gym. My class was full but the other aspects of the gym were empty.

Who is BFX?

Taken from their website: https://bfxstudio.com

BFX Studio offers a complete multi-discipline, cross-training approach to fitness and well-being. At BFX Studio, you will find variety, balance, high-caliber instruction, and boutique-style intimacy.

At BFX Studio, clients choose from three studio experiences led by top talent–called Xperts–comprised of the best boutique studio instructors as well as internationally acclaimed fitness presenters. In addition to customizable and dynamic fitness experiences, BFX Studio offers unrivaled customer service, luxurious facilities, and cutting-edge fitness technology. By providing three complete studio experiences, BFX Studio engages, inspires, and challenges clients to drive results.

What I Love About BFX?

I loved how when I checked in, they knew it was my first visit and the lady from the desk came from behind the desk and walked me to the studio. That was impressive. She even logged me into the class on the screen near the door.

The change rooms were super impressive and the gym floor was a cracker! Every piece of equipment you would need was down stairs but there was no-one using it that night.

My Experience At BFX

As I said my experience started brilliantly with the receptionist walking me to the studio. This was super impressive and fairly unusual I feel.

The class itself was a BFX Build class where we used TRX. The instructor was a great combination of coach and instructor. She did not entertain me. But the class flowed nicely and I never looked at my watch. She engaged with all the members and coached me from afar – I was sweaty and smelly I guess!

One thing to note in the class, was that I had MYZONE. This was before I had a belt and no-one in the class was wearing a belt. So the TV screen was empty and this made it challenging for the instructor to give quality feedback to attendees on their effort levels.

After the class, no one rushed me out. In fact the only other guy in the class, introduced himself to me – he worked in the studio too. That was pretty impressive. And then the class instructor came over and chatted away. I felt very ‘wanted’ as they asked about what I thought of the workout.

Afterwards, I looked at the retail space.

I bought a hat (which I still wear these days) and I wanted a specific t-shirt. This is where things got interesting. They didn’t have my size. The ‘Manager’ said she would email me when it came in and 2 and a half years later, I am still waiting for the email. In fact, I even followed up with an email 4 weeks after my visit to see if the shirts were in and got no response. This was disappointing.

My exercise experience and service was great but it’s interesting that my last contact has almost tainted my whole experience.

My final thoughts on BFX are their ongoing email communication is weak. I enjoyed my workout and I’d go back if they built a stronger relationship with me through their email campaigns. Their competition are doing that and are now getting a share of my casual visit wallet.

My summary:
- Online booking – 8/10
- Branding – 7/10
- Workout experience – 8/10
- Service experience – 7/10
- Ongoing communication – 4/10
- Chances I would return for another workout – 7/10
Note –I paid $US32 for the visit and these are my personal experiences on the days of workout.

To see inside BFX with JT’s eyes, become an Active Management Member for as little as 24.90 a month. You can see:
- How they integrate pilates equipment on to the gym floor
- Their TRX studio
- Their cycling studio which was very cool
- The retail space
- And more . . .
Plus you can see other gyms, studios and facilities in the world like:
Become A Member Now

Already a member? Click here to login
July 18, 2016