City Sports in Concord offers a variety of different classes such as kickboxing and yoga. The typical way I train is based on a powerlifting style, which focuses on building strength. Normally, the classes offered do not supplement my training in any direct way but for the sake of this project, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and take a class that I have never in my life would consider taking under normal circumstances.

Zumba is a class you can take in many gyms, not just City Sports, and can be described as a fun and effective dance workout. This class is usually taken with loud dance music playing in the background and promotes high energy, group exercise. I am neither a dancer nor enjoy working out in groups so I thought doing something I usually don’t do would be the perfect activity to get a new perspective on. 

Most of the gym goers that take this class are usually middle aged to older women, so when I showed up to class at 8:30 AM, I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb. Despite my feelings of unease, I decided to go through with the class anyway. Before we started, I didn’t really think the class would be difficult at all. After all, many of those who attended are older ladies so I just expected to breeze through it. I was certainly wrong. Maria, the instructor, was a really nice lady who brought so much energy this early Monday morning. She was surprised that I was in there so she made an emphasis to make sure that I was dancing my tail off. By the end of the class, I was drenched and, surprisingly, found it more enjoyable than I thought I would. 

Before I took this class, I never really saw the purpose of having these different classes other than enticing the older demographic to be members at City Sports. I realize now that my training style is only one way to exercise and I shouldn’t be so condescending to other kinds of training. After this class, I understand why Zumba and all the other classes are here in the first place. I believe that as long as City Sports provide these classes, they will stay relevant in the local gym ecosystem.

When we arrived at the squat rack, I was immediately met with slight  feelings of irritation. My brother and I arrived to a bunch of plates unracked and sprawled everywhere. Usually, the gym is not in this condition and people simply just know better, but not today. I chuckled to myself and made light of the situation by remembering that I was writing a project about this sort of thing. Trying not to let myself get distracted anymore, I honed in on the task at hand and got to work. In between sets, I like to look around and “people watch” (not in a creepy or intimidating way but just to pass time). Usually at this time, a lot of kids who are still in highschool come along with those who are not available during the middle of the day, such as middle aged adults. In other words, the gym is packed. As I was people watching, I noticed a group of teens not putting their weights away, leaving them by a walkway in which they could easily be tripped on. 

This is not the first time I’ve noticed someone not rack their weights and every time I see it, I have a weird “moral” dilemma that I weigh in my mind (no pun intended). Part of me feels obligated to ask this person at least if they could put their weights back. My reasoning for this urge in behavior is that the gym is a shared public space and since it is so busy, it would be in everyone’s best interest to rack the weights properly, not only for a cleanliness issue but for a safety one as well. On the other hand, it does not feel like my business to interject like that. Nobody is getting hurt and nobody is in immediate danger so should I even bother? It also isn’t immediately affecting my brother and I at all, so would that make me some sort of bad guy if I spoke up against this unspoken rule of good gym etiquette? During this point of my pondering, I realized it was my time to squat again. I dropped my thoughts and focused all my attention to the heavy weight, in which I successfully squatted. 

Afterward, my brother and I did a few more exercises and started winding down. I tried my best to not let that one observation linger in my mind for much longer. I wondered if my expectations are simply too high and if I should lessen them going forward. 

Summary: This blog post talks about a variety of topics: an overview of the fitness industry, the latest trends driving the industry forward, compelling industry statistics, the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and also provides insight into fitness demographics. The main takeaway from this post is that before the pandemic, the fitness industry was on a steady incline from 2009-2019 (about 30%). Furthermore, while the industry lost about 16 billion dollars in 2023 alone, “niche sectors” such as online training and home equipment experienced significant growth. The article notes that a key driver of the industry is implementing more technology and digital innovations, with the pandemic being the catalyst for this shift. (112 words)

Response: I like this article because it provides a plethora of information that can help me answer my initial question of “how can City Sports Concord stay relevant in 5 years.” Although other articles I’ve read speaks on possible trends to implement at the gym, this article stands out to me because it provides a variety of statistics along with accompanying graphs. With that being said, this is the second piece of material I’ve read that mentions implementing technology. I am a bit biased in how I approach my workouts (the old fashioned way with machines and free weights), so the addition of technology somewhat turns me off because I really don’t think anyone needs it to be successful at the gym. Conversely, I guess I shouldn’t scoff at the idea if it will get someone else the same results. (140 words).

Summary: This article essentially talks about common strategies many gyms use that are actually counterproductive to growing the business. In order, the 7 tips the author provides include: Only running group classes (This is apparently bad because many gyms premium revenue stream come from personal training), trying to get every client, focusing on the competition( or anything your ideal clients do not care about), prioritizing marketing over client retention, prioritizing staff development before business development, buying too much stuff/unnecessary equipment, and not having a system/efficient business model. As a bonus tip, the author encourages those who are struggling to grow their gym to reach out for help or insight from those with experience. (115 words)

Response: While my critical question pertains to how can gyms stay relevant, I believe this article provides value for me as it provides insight on what a gym currently could do that is detrimental to its relevance. In this case, the author provides first hand experience, which is valuable in itself, on how he would have done things differently if he were to start over. It is good to view a question from multiple angles because it could provide me a better perspective when it is time to formulate an answer. A lot of the complaints that I read on Yelp about City Sports pertain to its business strategies and employees so I thought that this article could provide a way to improve the “non-exercise’ aspects of running a gym (130 words)

Summary: This study done by the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine outlines the differing factors that may contribute to the overall public health of the United States. Increased knowledge in this field could provide valuable information that may lead to more effective exercise promotion strategies and better retention rates, which are important to the long term success of gyms. The variables that may affect these results include: age, gender, body weight + height, smoking, total household income, occupation, education, and general health. The results of this article suggest that exercise enjoyment and a social community may be important for regular exercise (100 words)

Response: For my purposes, I believe that this article holds a lot of valuable data that can contribute to my new critical question which is: How will City Sports Concord have to change in order to be relevant for years to come. I think this article would be helpful because it outlines the numerous variables that life has to offer and accounts for how it may affect not only multi-purpose commercial gyms,like City Sports, but with other kinds of gyms as well, such as cheaper, fitness-only gyms (like a planet fitness) or  “boutique”/specialty gyms (like a Barry’s or OrangeTheory Fitness). (102 words)

Summary: This article talks abouts potential and innovative ways that the fitness industry can go towards if simply going to the gym every day gets stale for the average fitness goer. A lot of these trends are inspired by diving into technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence and virtual reality. Another notable trend they mentioned is “gamifyng” fitness which basically means adding videogame- like elements into the workouts such as points, leaderboards, etc. The article also mentions a growing trend named “Holistic Health” which emphasizes emotional and mental health. Notably, the article also points out the importance of fitness within the older generations and how integrating AI or VR could be helpful for those with degrading health conditions. (116 words).

Response: While I personally am doubtful that City Sports Concord will implement any of these fitness trends any time soon, it is important to think about the possible ways they could improve the facility when the regular machines simply don’t cut it anymore. Since my question pertains to the relevance of the facility, it is key to start researching on individual trends that could possibly be more popular during the years to come. With that being said however, there is nothing like making significant progress than by going about workouts the “old-fashioned way” which is by being consistent and building upon the idea of “progressive overload” which, in short, is the concept of increasing intensity of an exercise whether it be with an increase in weight or repetitions. (127 words)

Summary: The “City Sports Club” of Concord yelp page is rated 3 out of 5 stars on yelp. A lot of the negative reviews come from various billing issues alongside the occasional complaint about the equipment. Upon further inspection of the reviews, more people would say that the gym is “filthy” and the staff is rude. A few of the reviews also mention that the equipment is “nothing special” and can be found in other gyms for a fraction of the cost. In summary, a majority of the reviews pertain to the staff and not so much on the people that go there. (100 words)

Response: After reading a variety of reviews, I must say that I don’t really agree with a lot of the general public’s assessment. This may be because I am a regular there but despite that, I’ve never had a billing issue or an issue with the staff. I am not the kind of person to befriend the staff at my gym simply because I am not there to make friends, but the intense berating of the staff seems a bit too much. Pertaining to my question, it does not really go into the specifics of how the social encounters go, as I saw no complaints about the gym goers themselves. (110 words)