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If you’ve been looking into ways to get your gym’s equipment maintenance under control, you’ve probably come across the term CMMS. It stands for Computerized Maintenance Management System, and it’s a category of software that has been standard in industries like manufacturing, healthcare, and property management for decades. In 2020,…
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term “third place” in his 1989 book The Great Good Place to describe the social environments that exist outside of home (the first place) and work (the second place). For decades, that role was filled by coffee shops, barbershops, churches, and bars. Places where people…
McKinsey’s 2025 Future of Wellness survey, covering over 9,000 consumers across the U.S., U.K., Germany, and China, puts hard numbers behind something gym operators are already feeling on their floors: wellness has become a daily, personalized practice for younger consumers, and that shift is rewriting the rules for fitness facilities.…
Gen Z is reshaping the fitness industry. According to the HFA’s 2025 U.S. Health & Fitness Consumer Report, members under 25 now account for 30.8% of all fitness facility members in the U.S., up nearly 10 percentage points from 22.9% in 2015. ABC Fitness’s Q1 2024 Wellness Watch Report found…
Every gym has at least one. The treadmill that breaks down every other month. The cable machine that’s been “temporarily” out of service for three weeks. The elliptical that maintenance has patched together so many times it should have its own frequent-repair card. In the car world, these are called…
If you’ve reached the point where spreadsheets and sticky notes aren’t cutting it for tracking your gym equipment, you’re in good company. As facilities grow and member expectations increase, most gym owners realize they need a real system for managing maintenance, tracking equipment health, and staying ahead of breakdowns. The…
Preventive maintenance is the single most effective way to extend equipment life, reduce repair costs, and keep your members happy. Yet most gym owners either don’t have a preventive maintenance program at all, or they have an informal one that depends on someone remembering to check things “every now and…
Every gym owner has experienced it. A member mentions to the front desk that the leg press “feels weird.” The front desk person says they’ll look into it. By the time the message reaches anyone who can actually do something about it, the detail is lost, the urgency is unclear,…
Member retention is the cornerstone of long-term profitability for fitness clubs. While many operators devote significant effort to acquiring new members, the real opportunity lies in improving retention among their existing member base. Traditional approaches—such as emphasizing friendly staff, clean facilities, and a variety of programming—are important but often insufficient.…