Loyal members help fitness clubs weather recession

Every month, Viviana Prieto and her 15-year-old son balance their household budget.

The 42-year-old single mother has cut deep to make ends meet.

“We cut out the phone. We don’t have a land line anymore,” said the Marion County school teacher. “Eating out is a big one we don’t do anymore.”

But every month, the pair make sure they have the money for their YMCA memberships. Her son plays basketball at the Ocala facility, and Prieto exercises four or five times a week.

“This is the first time I can say in my life I’m not overweight,” she said. “To maintain that, I have to keep on a schedule. And I have to be a role model to my son and show him good habits.

Despite the toll the recession is having on the local and national economies, many people say they won’t give up their health club memberships until almost everything else has been cut from their expenses.

They said visits to their local gyms keep them healthy, and are meeting places to socialize and network.

And Marion County health clubs say their numbers bear that out as memberships are growing despite the area’s double-digit unemployment and anemic economy.

In fact, the health club industry as a whole tends to weather recessions fairly well, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, a trade group that represents the fitness industry. It says club members view memberships as investments in good health, not luxuries.

In Florida, 18.2 percent of the population belongs to a club, the association estimates. And between 2004 and July 2008, the number of clubs in the state grew to 2,223 - a 46 percent increase.

If health club memberships remained strong throughout 2008, it will have been the sixth straight year gym memberships increased.

YMCA spokeswoman Maryalicia Johnson said health clubs give members a place to have control over their lives, when they feel they’ve lost control in other areas.

“Definitely during tough times we know it’s critical to focus on areas of our lives where we have power to make a positive difference,” she said. “And that’s our health and well-being and our family bonds.

Johnson said Marion County’s YMCA has about 10,000 members and has grown 8 percent in membership during the past year.

The YMCA doesn’t offer incentives to join when people already feel stretched financially thin, but it does charge families that can’t afford to join less than its regular fees, Johnson said.

About one in every three members pay reduced rates, she said, and the number of requests for financial help has increased during the past 12 months.

Leonard Kransdorf, 51, has been out of work for a year.

He doesn’t get unemployment benefits and sometimes borrows money from friends to make ends meet while he looks for a job. To keep food costs down, Kransdorf even eats lunch every day at a local soup kitchen. He doesn’t take all the medication his doctor wants him to because it costs too much.

But almost everyday, Kransdorf goes to Too Your Health Spa, exercising and attending cardio classes.

“It’s been a big, big help to me,” Krandsdorf said.

Membership at Too Your Health Spa is $109 per year, plus tax and sign-up fees.

“For me, it’s a health issue. I’m trying to keep my health as best I can . . . and it helps me focus on what I do the rest of the day. It helps me think better,” he said.

As long as Kransdorf can come up with the annual gym membership fee, hef said going to the gym will be a priority.

Fred Schweitz, founder of Too Your Health Spa, said his gyms’ membership “is only slightly down” despite the economy. Regardless, Schweitz is opening a fourth branch, this one in Dunnellon. When that health club opens in a week, Schweitz predicts his overall membership will be up again, despite the chilly economy.

Susan Minicozzie has owned a Curves franchise on State Road 200 since 2005.

Minicozzie says her gym membership is also up, mostly because the health club works with health insurance companies that pay for their customers’ visits to Curves.

Minicozzie’s Curves have 346 members, far fewer than most other gyms. She said her gym’s niche is that she knows each of her clients by name and offers weight-loss classes and support groups. And when members don’t show up for two weeks, Mincozzie telephones them and encourages to come in.

But to keep people returning during this economy, Mincozzie said Curves has to offer price incentives, including reduced administration fees when they first join and one month free.

Gina Pellegrino is a waitress and a single mother with a 15 year-old son. She said a gym membership is more than a choice, it’s a lifestyle.

“I would not give up my membership for anything,” said the 37-year-old Ocala woman. “I would absolutely cut corners somewhere else to maintain my [gym membership].”

She attends Too Your Health Spa and goes four to five times a week.

“For me, it’s the way it makes me feel. And I want to stay physically healthy,” Pellegrino said. “I wouldn’t hesitate. I would drop something else to keep coming here.”

Source - http://www.ocala.com

www.NaturalBodybuildingEvents.com
All The Shows From All The Natural Organizations


Looking to be more fit then you were in 2008?
Let Bodybuilding.com provide everything from workout plans to nutritional supplements.