“Playing The Game” – Why Tracking Workouts is Crucial for Fitness Businesses

Successful coaches and business owners in the fitness industry can tell you the basic formula of how to sell and retain members:

1) Ask a client for their goals
2) Set baseline performance measurements
3) Track improvement over time
4) Show the client how they’ve improved

We all know the age-old saying “you can’t improve what you don’t measure.” Personal Trainers have been using this method for as long as they’ve been around – following clients around with a clipboard, documenting every incremental gain on each movement of a workout, diligently recording scheduled body fat measurements. When the client finishes their last session and is deciding whether to buy back in for another round, the trainer has all the ammo they need to re-sign the client: “Your body fat has decreased by X%, and you’ve only got X left to get to your goal” or “Your squat has increased by X…” etc.

The beauty and genius of the CrossFit®-style gym is that, as a trainer, you’re no longer required to follow a single client through their workout while scribbling on a clipboard. Baseline measurements are standard throughout the gym across all members – benchmark WOD times, barbell lift PRs, or your gym’s own custom benchmarks. Members are responsible for only one “result” (or a very small number of results) each class, and they record it on their own. On top of that, writing the member’s scores on the whiteboard provides built-in incentive to improve over time. The competition is primarily against your own previous score, with the added bonus of friendly competition among your class and the rest of the gym. Why should I continue as a member here? The answer is easy – I want to keep playing this game with my friends!

Obviously, this is no secret. If you’re an affiliate owner or coach reading this post, you’re well aware. However, you’re also well aware of where and how this system breaks down. As soon as “playing the game” is no longer fun or exciting, members may begin to look elsewhere or simply stop attending class.

So, when does the game stop being fun?

Eventually gym members will mature out of their beginner level and no longer PR every workout. Casual members won’t remember their PRs or their most recent result for benchmark WODs and movements. As time goes by, improvement becomes less apparent. Or maybe members just lose interest in writing scores on the whiteboard because they’re never re-visited. When members lose interest in recording their scores, you as the coach or business owner have lost your most valuable selling tool. You’ve lost your only measure of client success.

This is why Zen Planner focused on building an industry-leading Workout Tracking tool. Our vision is to take the classic whiteboard to the next level by bringing “the game” to your gym’s projector, big screen TV, or tablet devices by show members cool graphs of their past performance and PRs on today’s movements and workouts. Display today’s workout and leaderboard in the gym, as well as embed it on your website and give members access on their personal devices. Give your community a truly fun and engaging experience.

Note: Zen Planner’s Comprehensive Workout Tracking was built so that ALL names, labels and categories are user defined. This means ANY gym or trainer can use the tool – not just those using affiliate gym terminology!

Interested in learning more about Zen Planner’s workout tracking solution? Schedule a free live demo with one of our Fitness Business Consultants today!