Group workouts: How to raise revenues and reward Instructors

The past 20 years have brought unprecedented change in the fitness industry. A period of sustained global growth has seen the resurgence of budget gyms, the emergence of boutiques, wearable tech taking hold on our workouts, plus more crazes than you could shake a battle rope at. And that’s before you even mention the pandemic…

But there’s one thing that’s barely changed at all in those 20 years – and that’s pay rates for group fitness Instructors.

Despite being highly-trained experts, responsible for the health, safety and enjoyment of large groups of people, group fitness Instructors have seen the typical rates flat-line at US$27 (€26) for leading an hour-long class (IHRSA).

This is considerably less than the average hourly fee charged by personal trainers, and lower still when you factor in the travel, prep and set-up time Instructors must also invest in delivering their classes for no extra pay. Such issues make it increasingly tough for clubs to attract new talent into the fitness industry, with the challenge of recruiting and retaining great people flagged as a major challenge by club leaders at FIBO 2022.

The smaller talent pool only serves to intensify competition among clubs. Fitness professionals have the power to make or break a member’s gym experience, and a single rockstar group fitness Instructor can pull in hundreds of loyal followers to a club each week – resulting in substantial extra membership revenue.

The battle for top talent has been exacerbated further by the boom of boutique gyms over the past decade. Boutiques have thrived by focusing on specialized group fitness experiences and their success while charging upwards of US$30 (€29) per class demonstrates that people are willing to invest good money for a high-quality workout. These higher margins have enabled them to better reward top talent, with standout boutique Instructors able to command upwards of US$100 (€96) per class. But for the majority of Instructors, these sums remain a distant dream.

So at a time when cash flow is tight, what can traditional clubs do to better remunerate their top Instructors and ensure they won’t be snatched away by boutiques or the lure of PT pay? Here are five ways clubs can reward and retain their rockstars.

1) Supersize your Studio

One of the biggest untapped assets for traditional clubs is the space that they have to create a jumbo group exercise studio. Club optimization research has shown (see diagram below) that the studio is the most profitable area of the club per sq ft when built at the right scale, but too many clubs remain scared to dream big. On the flip side, clubs willing to be bold can yield impressive results.

“At our Les Mills clubs in New Zealand we put group exercise front and center by building large studios of up to 8,000sq ft which can accommodate 200 people per class,” said Les Mills International CEO Phillip Mills on a recent global speaking tour.

“If you’ve got the space already or are building a new club, make sure you include a big studio – even 3 to 4,000sq ft will work. You’ll be able to build a bigger buzz, afford a team of rockstar Instructors, plus a Group Fitness Manager who can take responsibility for making the studio an incredible destination. Add digital classes into the mix and you’ll also find a handy solution for that age-old gym headache of how to spread member footfall, while also creating more off-peak class options for your members.”

2) Pay on performance

By unlocking the economies of scale that come with a bigger studio, clubs can afford to properly pay top Instructors and negate the threat of them being poached by boutiques.

But even if you can’t make your studio any better, you can still incentivize your Instructors with pay related to how well they fill their classes. Packed classes mean more members joining your gym and staying for longer, enabling you to share the spoils with Instructors. In turn, they are more likely to put the hard yards into marketing their classes at your club across their social media channels – most Instructors will have more than one!

This fresh approach to pay has been embraced by Portuguese health club operator SC Fitness, which is pioneering a data-driven approach to group fitness and yielding impressive results.

“Our autocount software produces an integrated scorecard that measures weekly group fitness attendance, the % facility visits delivered by group fitness, average attendance per class, individual class performance versus target, class ranking and program performance,” explains Head of Customer Experience José Teixeira.

“It’s linked to our payroll system, so payments to our group fitness Instructors are calculated in accordance with their scorecard results, with top performers being better rewarded.

“To support this further, we’re also investing over €200k per year in Instructor training and development, supporting them in Les Mills Quarterlies, Initial Training Modules and Advanced Training.”

3) Invest in your team

SC Fitness is not the only club operator to see strong RoI from focusing on its Instructors. UK chain Village Gym – which operates 30 high-end health clubs – saw class attendances jump 40% thanks to a focus on upskilling group fitness Instructors.

The operator paid for 90 of its Instructors to go through Les Mills Advanced Training to sharpen their skills and raise the quality of the overall Village group fitness offering. The plan represented a major financial commitment, but for Village, the results were as swift as they were staggering.

Within three months, average class occupancy had leapt by up to 40%, while this metric at Village’s pilot site in Bournemouth went from 78% to 96%. Member retention (up by an average of 5-10% per month) and referrals were through the roof, meaning the better-qualified Instructors could now receive higher rates of pay. This, in turn, led to better Instructor engagement and a long list of talented trainers eager to join the Village team.

“Word got around that we made some bold moves, and for Village it was definitely a game-changer,” explains Village Gym Leisure Director Chris Southall.

“We set ourselves the goal that every Village Gym would have best Instructors in town – the real rockstars that pack out every class and bring members by the dozen.

“We were already known for group fitness, but this put us above everyone else in my opinion and I’m delighted to see the impact it’s had on our business.”

4) Smart timetabling

For those limited by space, there are opportunities within your timetable itself to unlock extra cash and reward top Instructors. For example, research has shown that indoor cycling is the most lucrative activity (per sq m) that clubs can offer in their studio (see diagram below).

Not only is indoor cycling the most lucrative offering for clubs, it’s also currently one of the hottest categories among consumers. Several recent research pieces have shown indoor cycling to be the most popular class category. Findings from the 2021 Global Fitness Report (spanning 12,157 fitness consumers across five continents) indicated that indoor cycling is the second most popular class format, favored by 30% of fitness consumers.

Meanwhile, the “Moving Communities: Active Leisure Trends” report from the DataHub and ukactive concluded that Indoor Cycling classes lead the way in health clubs, accounting for 13% of total group exercise attendances in the previous year.

As a result, indoor cycling has been highlighted as a growth category with significant latent potential, particularly for traditional clubs seeking to attract younger members and battle back against the boutiques. Rewarding Instructors will be key to attracting the top talent needed to spearhead these efforts.

5) More than just money

Sometimes, even with the best will in the world, a club’s budget can’t immediately stretch to accommodate increased rates of pay for group fitness Instructors. In this scenario, there are many other options a club can take to ensure Instructors feel valued and rewarded.

Motivation is the fuel that fires a high-performing group fitness team and this can be nurtured through a variety of techniques. Uniting the team under a powerful purpose statement and agreeing on a challenging set of team and individual goals can be a great catalyst while building camaraderie through socials can add a strong sense of fun to the team’s journey. Rewarding high performers with opportunities for training and development can spark a continuous cycle of improvement, while one of the most overlooked factors in motivating a team can be simply serving as a good coach who clearly cares about growing them.

“We have great continuity across our Instructor team so we really try to make them feel comfortable in the club and part of the family,” says Alexandra Haase, Wellbeing Manager at Aspria Hamburg Alstertal in Germany.

“I really care about our group fitness trainers and I want them to stay a long time to create a great culture and good relationships with the members because the best trainers in the club with the fullest classes are the ones we’ve had for 10 years or more.

“I think the key is treating them like human beings, rather than simply employees. Taking time to speak with them, through regular meetings and also just being there for them when they need to speak. Sometimes I do team teachings with them, or take part in their classes as well – I try to spend a lot of time with them to ensure they feel valued.”