Press Room
Best Gym
The Zoo Health Club
3001 SE Fifth St.
Fort Lauderdale 33316
954-525-7010
Eduardo,
the aerobics instructor who is trying to kill you, looks at you with
zero sympathy as you lift the medicine ball above your chest, looking
not unlike a dying cockroach. "Get stronger!" he says. And you do.
Tough and unsmiling as Eduardo is, you still manage to feel very happy,
very healthy, and very buff by the end of his Circuit Sculpt class,
during which you'll race from station to station lifting weights, doing
squats, and performing a sick amount of lunges. The other instructors
-- like kickboxing coach/Japanese drummer Roy or cute little bendy
thing Tara -- also make exercise a good time at the Zoo.
It's
not a big place, but what lacks in space it makes up for in homey
quirks. The bottom floor of this Fort Lauderdale beachside institution
fits only the check-in desk and a smoothie bar. The second floor has
just one aerobics room and a modest assortment of free weights,
exercise bikes, and machines. But the roof is like a ghetto penthouse.
Sure, the free weights are a little rusty from the weather, but here,
you can join a cycling class, get a tan, watch kiteboarders, take in
the sunset (or sunrise), and feel superior to all the fatsos down
below. Membership (about $45 a month) includes a parking pass.
Read Article
U.K. Fitness Market Reaches $5.3 Billion Pound for pound, the industry’s value continues to soar
The
U.K. health and fitness sector continues pushing along its progressive
path, and is now valued at $5.3 billion. Over the last five years, the
industry has demonstrated steady growth, with its value up 5% and
demand for health and fitness clubs up 16% according to a report by
Market and Business Development, a U.K. – based market- research firm.
This
boom time is attributed to several factors – an increase focus on the
U.K.’s emerging obesity crisis; a surge in demand for celebrity- led
programs; and an uptick in disposable income. All of this growth has
resulted in concerns about competition and saturation in the industry,
resulting in moderate annual growth levels.
In addition,
membership fees have decreased in the private sector, which is
translating into more growth in value than in the public sector.
As
the U.K. industry expands, a key player will be assuming a lead role.
Harm Tegelaars, the former chairman of the U. K.’s Fitness Industry
Association (FIA) and a former special advisor to IHRSA’s board of
directors, will become president of the European Health and Fitness
Association (EHFA) at the end of the year.
November 18, 2007
Dear Franchise Partners,
Last
week I proudly announced the fact that after numerous months of
discussions, our company has reached an agreement that will take
Liberty Fitness and Weight Loss to new heights.
As you are
aware, our company while striving to increase market share, has been
combating many competitors in the industry. Since my becoming involved
in the day-to-day operations my personal goal has been to bring our
facilities to the forefront of women's fitness and weight loss
industry.
In my quest to take Liberty Fitness and Weight Loss
to the top of the industry, I have been in constant communication with
several industry leaders. The company that most impressed me is
Diversified Health and Fitness Corporation. Diversified Health and
Fitness has extensive experience in operating over 1200 women's fitness
centers worldwide for the past 35 years. The company in particular
whose name we will reserve at this time was the second largest chain
(behind Curves) in the women's fitness center arena. The company
continues to service over one million members worldwide.
I
have spent countless hours discussing the many ways, which would enable
our company to become part of this remarkable organization.
Diversified, after selling the large chain of women's only centers has
been busy creating new brands. One of the concepts is a coed family
fitness centers that, in just a few short months has received over 500
applications to open clubs worldwide. www.zoogym.com The other brand
and one we are extremely excited about joining forces with is
Rejuvenate Health, Fitness and Med Spa exclusively for women.
http://rejuvenatehf.com. Interest in this brand has been remarkable and
it is expected that rejuvenate will also have hundreds of facilities
open within the next 12 months. I am sure when you hear of our
involvement you will be very excited about our future plans.
You
will see that the vision of Rejuvenate enhances our diet and exercise
concept to allow the potential to embrace and upgrade services as you
grow and as we grow together. Not only will we continue to focus on
Women's Health, Fitness and Weight Loss… the opportunity for clubs to
also offer several Med Spa services is also part of the future vision.
The implementation will be simple and the profits margins are nothing
short of astounding. Diversified will be involved every step of the way
in our upgrade.
The number one priority will be to focus with
you to add members in your clubs and to have the expertise around you
that know how to do this better than ever before! Most definitely, this
is the biggest immediate opportunity that I see for you. The Franchise
Services and Operations Team at Diversified are very experienced at
building women’s clubs. My goal was to always secure the very best
opportunity for your ongoing success. When Mike Snyder joined me as our
President and COO, we continued to share that goal together.
Joining
with Diversified allows us to have the right infrastructure to make
things happen faster for the health of your business. I am thrilled
about what this means for all of us and most of all, I am thrilled for
what I believe it will mean to you as franchise partners.
The
Diversified marketing will come in three phases. Initially, they will
create and help us implement a simple membership drive that will add
hundreds of members to each of our facilities within a short period of
time. This alone should take a lot of pressure of our operating
overheads. What is also exciting is that Diversified, as a sign of good
faith and commitment has agreed to absorb the majority of costs
associated with this membership drive.
Diversified corporation
is comprised of several world-renowned individuals with extremely
impressive credentials in the health club business. Diversified is a
very professional company that believes in becoming “partners in
success” with their franchisees. They are strong believers in hosting
annual conventions, monthly teleconferencing calls, daily corporate
support services calls while providing, at little or no cost to the
franchisees, all the necessary marketing tools to immediately launch
productive membership drives. Banners, posters, lead boxes, stick
signs, and custom designed postcards are just a few items that you can
expect to receive from Diversified. The company will also provide, at
no charge to our franchisees, simple to use new member orientation
guide that are laminated and very attractive. This insures that each
presentation will be thorough, concise and precise. Diversified also
believes in the soft sell by offering women several options on
membership plans.
Each club will be assigned a corporate
support director to focus on special needs of each club in order that
we better understand your demographic profiles and socio economic
groups. Diversified will also do an in-depth study of your specific 3
to 5 mile radius to better understand your specific market place. The
Liberty web site will also be upgraded dramatically and will include a
stronger lead generation program software allowing prospects to log on
LibertyFitness.com and be directed to the nearest club automatically.
Attractive special offers will invite prospects to simply give us their
name, e-mail address and phone numbers. Over time, e-mail lists of
prospects become an invaluable tool in sharing future promotions. The
web site also has a private members only section featuring a chat room
which will allow franchise partners to communicate with the Diversified
team and amongst themselves. Some of what I describe you may feel you
already have, but it is not the magnitude of what Diversified is
planning for our site... it will become much more sophisticated and
powerful.
We are well into this transition, and it is
exciting! Many of you have already been talking with the fine team at
Diversified and of course, I am very happy and delighted to discuss the
transition with each of you as well. Rachel Garreau, franchise support
services from Diversified Health and Fitness, will contact you.
Rachel’s goal will be to coordinate the best time for you to have a
conversation with the Executive Team. Following this initial call, you
will be in contact with several department heads which will start
positioning your club for a fresh new membership drive.
I
cannot tell you how happy I am about this opportunity for all of us!
This opportunity gives Liberty Fitness and Weight Loss a greatly
improved game plan that will focus on improving your bottom line not
only in the short run, but for a long time to come.
It remains an honor and a privilege to work with you.
God bless and continued success,
Linda
