Skip to main content

 

Fitness businesses are starting to get pretty desperate since being shuttered in March 2020…..Desperate people do desperate things and that’s when the train really falls off the tracks.

In the Pacific North West, specifically in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State, things are getting kind of wonky.

It appears that some clubs have spent thousands of dollars, hired lawyers, rebranded, legally renamed their businesses, and overnight gone from a Fitness Club to a Wellness Center.

Of course this seems logical, but things are getting prickly with the competition who have been faithfully following the government mandated closures or maybe simply lacking funds? Who knows for sure why everyone isn’t “doing it.”

However, it appears as if the fitness industry is turning on itself and what was once an opportunity to align and demonstrate solidarity has further divided the issue and potentially destroyed the possibility for true change.

It’s difficult to shame those that could afford to make these overnight changes to their business, but in their desperation to remain open, will it hurt the chances of the industry as a whole to be seen as “essential?” Maybe?

Read these excerpts from an article from The Tri-Cities TribuneBy Joshua Bessex –quotes are from Mike Faulk, deputy communications director for Gov. Jay Inslee’s office.

Some gyms and fitness centers in Tri-Cities announced this week they are now “wellness centers” and will stay open despite Washington state’s Covid restrictions.

“A gym cannot just rebrand itself a ‘wellness center’ and assume that means they don’t have to follow the state’s appropriate health guidance.”

“Fitness centers cannot operate under different guidelines just by calling themselves a wellness center.”

“The thing is that they can’t just decide they can do this.” “We don’t take any joy in this — it seems a little disingenuous. You just automatically convert yourself into something else.”

Faulk compared it to cases the state also has reviewed where yoga studios are now calling themselves religious centers.

However, two agents with the Washington Department of Revenue’s licensing office separately told the Herald that fitness centers would not need a new business license to operate as a wellness center. One agent confirmed that they would only need to change its name with the Secretary of State’s Office.

So, what is the RIGHT way to go about this so the entire Fitness Industry wins and is recognized as essential in the eyes of our governments?

 

I have a solid solution! IHRSA, take note:

 

Basically everything I spoke about in the Reimagining The Fitness Industry Webinar offered for Club Solutions Magazine way back in October. The steps I have outlined in this Infographic are 100% still relevant today. (Click on the image to download it.)

Food for thought:

It’s important to understand the difference between health and wellness. In short, health is a state of being, whereas wellness is the state of living a healthy lifestyle.

Health refers to physical, mental, and social well-being; wellness aims to enhance well-being.

As an industry, if Fitness is presented as an opportunity to “get healthy,” and Wellness is recognized as a “state of living a healthy lifestyle,” isn’t the Fitness Industry more in the pursuit of WELLNESS anyway?

 

My solution

 

What if we rebranded the entire industry to show solidarity and strength in our numbers to be recognized by ALL government entities for how important TOTAL WELLNESS is to the communities we serve?

Although we all might have our unique definitions of fitness, which is likely what’s confusing for our governments, the goal to support our communities to live a healthy lifestyle is most definitely shared across the board no matter how we approach fitness as a business.

IHRSA, are you open to this?

 

 

Carolyn Fetters
Health & Wellness Industry Thought Leader
Balanced Habits
carolyn@balancedhabits.com
(657) 231-6779