members leave every year. According
to IHRSA statistics, if members visit a club
100 times a year compared to just 50
times, they will stay 18 months longer.
I wanted to find a way of keeping
members in clubs for longer,’ he says.
Dave says there are a number of key
challenges faced by operators in
retaining members. These include:
•
the industry’s trend for rewarding
fitness instead of effort.
•
a lack of accountability and time
among members.
•
home workouts and competition
from external consumer fitness
products.
•
sustaining motivation among
members.
•
no club gamification.
•
a lack of trainer connection with
members.
•
no sense of tribe among members.
impossible, and as a result the products
we received were faulty. It meant that
MYZONE ® didn’t live up to the hype we’d
created and we had to keep recalling
the products. It got so bad that we
dismissed the manufacturing company
and dealt with the factories making the
product ourselves. Luckily, the operators
knew us and had faith in us and gave
MYZONE ® another try, but we did lose a
significant amount of time and money.’
MYZONE ® finally launched in March 2012
with a patent on the wireless transfer of
data from a stored belt in North America
and patent pending in the rest of the
world.
They know exactly how hard their clients
are working and can encourage and
give feedback on their activity between
scheduled sessions.
At the same time, the technology gives
members accountability when they are
away from the gym.
Between visits, they can view their live
effort stream through the free MYZONE ®
app and can view their daily, weekly
or even yearly effort levels to see how
they’ve progressed MYZONE ® creates
a sense of tribe among members who
can take part in friendly competition in
the club and share their workouts via
Facebook or Twitter.
The technology provides users with
instant feedback on their exercise
intensity, as well as feedback over time,
allowing members to track their progress
whether they are working out in a club,
at home or in their local park. When
members strap on the MYZONE ® belt,
screens around the club provide a real
time display of their training intensity,
which acts as a powerful motivator.
The technology rewards the effort that
members put into their workouts, rather
than fitness, giving users MYZONE ®
Effort Points (MEPs) for every minute
they spend exercising in their personal
intensity zones. The system encourages
members to work hard.
The more effort they put in, the more
MEPS they accumulate and the closer
they get to achieving the results they
want.
Dave had always used heart rate
monitors in his facilities, but in 2009
he considered how the technology
could be advanced to solve the issues
identified above. He believed a system
that allowed the wireless transfer of
data stored on a heart rate monitor so
that gym users could use the monitors
both in and outside of a club, with the
data being automatically uploaded
when they returned to the gym, could
revolutionise the gym experience.
Measuring activity as a percentage of
the user’s maximum heart rate creates a
level playing field allowing members to
compete against each other regardless
of their level of fitness.
It means operators can run challenges
in their club, with other clubs, nationally
and internationally, creating a fun and
sociable gym experience.
According to the ACSM, wearable tech
is the number one fitness trend in 2016.
Not only was MYZONE ® ahead of its time,
it’s the only wearable created by the
fitness industry for the fitness industry to
solve their unique problems, says Dave.
‘Our ultimate goal in creating MYZONE ®
was to give operators a tool that would
help them engage with members and
keep them using their clubs for longer.
He outsourced the development of
the new product to a manufacturing
company, while starting to create a buzz
about the new MYZONE ® product in the
fitness industry.
‘We were so excited about the potential
of MYZONE ® that we invested too early
in advertising and marketing and presold to a number of large operators.
Unfortunately, the manufacturing
company we were working with
believed we were trying to achieve the
To date, MYZONE ® has been adopted by
2,500 clubs in 32 countries with 300,000
users around the world and earlier this
year MYZONE ® was named the ‘Overall
Wearable Winner’ at the Wearable
Technology Show in London.
The technology is suitable for all fitness
levels, and as such is utilised by elite
athletes as well as those new to exercise
or people suffering medical conditions.
It puts trainers into the role of coach.
WHAT’S NEW IN FITNESS - WINTER 2016
It gives them a unique insight into the
key metrics and behaviours of their
membership and for the first time, club
managers can stay connected with
members whether they use the club
every day, once a month or not at all.’
To find out more visit www.myzone.org
or visit the WNiF MYZONE company
profile page HERE >
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