As a gym owner or personal trainer, it’s our job to help our members reach their health and fitness goals and keep them motivated throughout their training. But that can be a lot easier said than done. Everyone is different, and each person is motivated in different ways, so it can be hard to know how to ignite that spark. If you’re stuck and need new ideas on how to motivate your members, try some of these tactics out.

1. Show Genuine Interest in Your Gym Members

People want to feel like they belong somewhere and that others genuinely care about them, which is why your gym needs to be a welcoming space your members will enjoy coming to.But the level of interest you show in your members should go beyond learning about their health and fitness goals. Ask how their day has been, learn about their interests and get to know them as a person. That way they will see you as so much more than a gym.

Your gym is a haven and a sanctuary they’ll be happy to be part of every day.A relationship like this doesn’t come out of thin air. You can start developing a rapport with your members by ensuring all employees actively learn their names. You could also put names and pictures of your staff on a bulletin board in the gym, so members know the names of each trainer and will feel more comfortable approaching them for help.

2. Encourage Members to Share Their Experiences and Achievements with Others

Every member should feel proud about their health, fitness or weight loss achievements and they should be shared and celebrated. Why? Because the validation and satisfaction they gain can be euphoric and this will push your members to continue smashing those goals so that they can replicate that feeling again and again.When your members are able to share in their experiences and achievements, it creates a sense of community and turns your gym into a tight-knit group.

Through this, genuine and long-lasting relationships can form between members. When true friendship is found, the bond members have with your gym and the people in it becomes stronger, and their loyalty grows.

3. Positive Reinforcement and Incentives

Many people are motivated when they know they’ll get something out of the effort they put in. While you may say that the weight and fitness results alone should be enough of an incentive, this may not necessarily be the case for everyone.Sometimes shorter-term incentives will do just the trick, especially when your members are not getting the results as quickly as they had hoped for.

They could gain incentives for a number of reasons such as working out for a set period of time or reaching a key milestone in their health and fitness goals for example.Each time small milestones towards their goals are reached, they should be recognised with rewards. Some rewards could include a special treat, movie tickets a discount voucher or a special celebration event. Choosing the right incentives will depend on each member and understanding what drives them to succeed.

4. Real World Promotions and Reminders

Once your members are outside the four walls of the gym, there are so many things that can easily lure them away from their regular workout. You need to try and mitigate this by putting reminders and information out there for your members to see while out and about in the real world. This can include emails full of advice, tips, news, and other valuable advice from your gym. Social media pages and groups where members can interact with your gym and each other.

Advertising with special targeted offers to help boost retention.If members are reminded and educated about the benefits of maintaining a regular workout regime, they’re far more likely to keep coming back to your gym.

5. Build a Culture Where Everyone Helps and Supports Each Other

One of the keys to keeping gym goers motivated is to have a group of other like-minded people to work out with. While there may be a lucky few who have strong enough willpower to get themselves to the gym every day without an external push and source of motivation, in reality most need it to keep up the momentum.By having a support system that extends beyond the trainers, members will feel like one of the team.

Being able to share thoughts, goals, results and motivations with other members just like them can be so rewarding, and once that bond has formed, members can help each other push further towards their goals.While trainers alone can give members the push they need, fellow members are more relatable. Therefore they can become an even more powerful motivation source.

Once you’ve created a sense of community at your gym, your fitness centre will be a place where members can come to socialise, enjoy themselves and work towards their fitness goals together.A great way to make a sense of community thrive in your gym is to plan and organise social events for members. Publicly recognising each other’s achievements in front of other fellow members can also help with this.

Find Motivation to Improve Your Fitness Business with Clubworx

So now you should have a better idea on how to keep your members motivated, but who is motivating you as a business owner to keep growing and improving your fitness business?

At Clubworx, our simple gym management software is so easy to use and packed full of features that you can’t help but feel motivated. You can do so much with this software, and you’ll have that much more time that you’ll be inspired to get more out of your business. Read our FAQ page to find out more or head to our contact page to get in touch.