January is a month that the fitness/weight loss industry will be vying for your attention and your pocket books. I am not excluded from that competition:)! I would love to have you at my gym enjoying my passion for group fitness classes or as a client for at home training.
However, I know that there are some people who are just not willing to pay for fitness or people that just want to run or walk. This post is for you this Act-Fit Friday!
Start Your Own (Insert Title Here) Fitness Club
What is a free fitness club? Just like your book club or any other club except the goal is to walk/run/skate/get fit and fellowship or should I say hold club members accountable. This is a very easy and economical way to make fitness friends and enjoy accomplishing that resolution to be more active in 2013. It will cost you a little sweat equity in the beginning organizing stages, but it will save you financially.
Decide what Activity you would like to do
- Walk or Run
- Skate
- Swim
- Home fitness DVDs
- A Variety of Activities
Getting Members
Make a flyer to include; who you are, what you are trying to do, your flexibility with regards to doing the activity, and give two different meeting times that people can come if they are interested in joining you on the journey.
Pass the flyer out in your neighbor’s newspaper boxes or in doors of your apartment complex after getting permission.
You will probably have to follow up with the old school knock knock the day before the meeting. This will make people more prone to attending if they can put a face with the flyer. Note: you can do this at church or somewhere that is more familiar to you. I am simply trying to give you a convenient way to get fit and meet some new people. It will be a lot easier for you to walk out of your front door to go run with an available member than meeting up at the track.
Operation
Take a survey of member’s availability at the meeting. Make a schedule of most popular time slots. I will not steal anybody’s posted schedule for the purpose of this post, but you can use any gym’s online group fitness schedule to get popular workout times and use that as your foundation for making your own schedule. There you have it! Set the schedule and get to moving!
Accountability
I am going to recommend this tool because it makes life so much easier and everybody can use it. Group me is an app that you can download on your phone to create a group text forum. Basically, when one person in the group post a message/text, the entire group gets it at once and they can respond to the entire group. If you have a smart phone, you get messages within the app and if you don’t, you will get the message as a regular SMS text. I have group me for my line sisters, both sides of my family, book club, women’s ministry, etc. This is top of the line for convenient correspondence. If you are wondering if anyone is going to run during a time slot, you can send a quick message and get a response. If you haven’t heard from a member in a while, you can check in and remind them to stay involved with the group.
This post may not be for you. It may be more so for your Mother or Grandmother:). I thought of this post while having a conversation with a person who is another Mother to me at church so if it isn’t for you, please do share with the appropriate person. Happy training!
Rx Fitness Lady wants to know…
What do you think of a “Free Fitness Club”?
How are your fitness goals going so far in 2013?
Rx Fitness Lady
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I got an ad in the mail for a new club that opened up near me that’s 9.95 a month I am thinking about joining and going to evening classes I plan on calling today to see what all this includes because that’s not a bad price. I had a group where we walked for about 2 months then all of a sudden it got cold and everyone disappeared lol
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That sounds like Planet Fitness. If so, they have circuit style classes, but less variety than a regular gym. Either way, I hope that you can get back to your fitness aspirations Ms. Kita!
I have to get that GroupMe app for me and my besties! I sometimes do not like this time of year because of influx of all of the new members. While I am glad that they are making changes and want to join a gym, the crowds are such a hassle sometimes!
Britton recently posted…Can we discuss things I miss from my 90′s childhood?
Gurl, Group Me is the business! They might drive you a little nuts at first though:)
Hi Joi. Love the idea of the free fitness club. Having other people to work out with is definitely a motivating factor. A year ago I joined two running groups and I usually sign up for a race about every 2 months to keep me motivated to train. I run a lot, but this year I plan on incorporation more cross training and resistance training.
Sounds good! I admire runners. I only run when I need to accomplish a quick weight loss. I’m sad to say it is not a favorite activity of mine, I think it’s because we had to run so much long distance during training for basketball. Anywho, good luck with diversifying your workout. I’m sure it will prove beneficial.
The group me application for accountability is awesome. I’m in a group with some friends and it really motivates me in those days when I don’t feel like going. We share lunch ideas, motivational quotes and it helps you to know that you are not in it alone. This was a great article.
Hello Kessa, Thank you for visiting and Yes Group me is the bomb! Your group sounds very inspiring. I’m glad you liked the post.
Hi Joi! Thanks so much for dropping by and following! Love your blog and love the idea of of the free fitness club. I’ve been wanting to start our women’s exercise class at church back up(we’ve been on a 2 year hiatus)…ikr! This seems like a great way to do so! Thanks for sharing…will be following. Have a blessed weekend! 🙂
Michell @Prowess and Pearls recently posted…Michell’s Marriage Musings…
Lol, 2 years:) My Women’s Ministry is so small but we are going to try and do a monthly featured fitness activity this year. We shall see how it works out with the members. Thanks for visiting Michell!
Hi Joi,
Thanks for inviting me to your site..Great info .
JZH
Hi Jocelyn! Thank you for visiting! Come back soon.
What a fantastic idea, Joi! With so little time these days, the only books I read are the ones I have to read for book club. I can see an activity club being so well-received and motivating.
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Yes, that is why I value the membership in my book club! Thanks!
If I can continue my running habit I think I’d like to start a running club in my area for women of color.
Dani @ okdani.com recently posted…I’d Totally Watch….
Please keep up the run! I think a running club would be very beneficial in keeping up with that.
Great Promo you’ve going. I need to go ahead and get in the gym I could stand to lose a few pounds myself.
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Nothing to it but to do it Miss Lady!
Hey Joi, congratulations on your new blog, glad we connected. I am going to a fitness place in my area this evening to start electric slide/exercise class. It’s a 90 minute workout that people think because we are doing different electric slides that it’s easy. It’s no joke and I’ll keep ya posted. I have bad knees, so dancing and walking is a good work for me.
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Hi Whitney and Thank you! WOW 90 minutes! That’s alot of shuffling and sliding! My Mother would be so, loving that. She wants to try out a class similar here where they do all the line dances but it’s on Friday night and she gets her hair done on Thursdays so no can do:) Whatever you can do is all you can do. I’m glad you are staying active & healthy, that’s the goal!