Stories From The Gym Floor: Fit Club’s Spring Cleaning List

27th April 2026 by Jasmin

The Fit Club

Fit Club's Spring Cleaning List

With our first quarter done and the New Year’s rush well behind us, it was time for some resolutions of a different kind for us here at The Fit Club Redditch.

Spring has a funny way of arriving without much ceremony in the fitness industry. One minute we were knee-deep in January joiners and the next it’s March and things have quietened down enough that we can actually think again.

That is why we have decided to use this window between the Q1 rush and the summer uptick to look around the club with fresh eyes and ask ourselves, ‘what has slipped in the last few months?’

After making our list, we realised we had basically come up with the concept of spring cleaning, though our version covers a lot more than mopping floors.

And so in the spirit of Stories from the Gym Floor, we thought we’d share what we are working on this spring for any other independent gym and fitness club owners who might be in the same boat.

Processes

Secondary spend

If you sell protein bars, shakers, resistance bands, branded gear, or anything else alongside your memberships, now is a good time to look hard at what has been sitting on those shelves. We have all got stock that seemed like a good idea at the time.

After a busy Q1, it becomes very easy for us to look at the secondary spend numbers and determine which products members are actually reaching for and which ones have gathered dust since November.

For perishable products especially, there is no virtue in holding on. A well-timed sale or a strategic giveaway (we are thinking either reward for a referral, and/or a gift with a class block booking) clears the shelf, shifts dead stock before it becomes unsellable, and generates a little goodwill in the process. Members notice when a gym is generous in small ways. It can be worth more than the margin you would have made on a slightly stale protein bar.

For non-perishables, the same logic applies, just with less urgency. If something hasn’t moved in three months, it is unlikely to magically shift on its own. Bundle it, discount it, or redirect the shelf space to something that sells.

Processes

Class timetable (or being honest about what is and isn’t working)

The spring lull is an ideal moment to sit down with your class timetable and look at it with fresh eyes. Every gym has classes that run because they have always run, sometimes the classics are classics for a reason. But it is also worth asking whether your timetable as a whole is pulling its weight.

Take a look at the data, which classes are consistently full? Which ones are propped up by two or three flagging regulars? Are there time slots where you are paying an instructor to cover a session that isn’t generating meaningful engagement or revenue? Conversely, are there times of day where demand is clearly there but you are not meeting it?

We aren’t out to cull classes for the sake of it. We know community matters and a small but loyal headcount per class is worth a lot to us. But an honest audit of your timetable each season keeps things from drifting, and it gives you the evidence to make changes confidently rather than on a hunch.

Facilities

Kit maintenance after a busy Q1

January through March is hard on equipment. High footfall, long hours, members who are enthusiastic but not always experienced or particularly gentle. By the time spring arrived, some of our kit had taken a beating. Cables fray, upholstery splits, machines develop little quirks that weren’t there in December.

The quieter period is the time to go through everything methodically. Not just the obvious stuff, but the things members notice before they say anything: the treadmill with the slightly sticky belt, the bench that wobbles just enough to be mildly annoying, the cable pulley that squeaks on every rep. These things quickly accumulate, the last thing we want our members saying is: ‘well the equipment can be a little ropey’.

So our approach will be to book in any servicing that is overdue, chase up the parts we have been meaning to order, and take stock of what might need replacing before summer brings the next surge in usage.

Facilities

Touching up the paintwork

This one doesn’t need much introduction. After months of heavy use, walls get scuffed, paint gets chipped, mirrors get marked. Individually they don’t mean much, but after a certain point well used becomes worn down. And a gym that looks a bit tired sends a message, even unconsciously.

A touch up here and a replacement there can make a significant difference to the overall feel of your space. So walk through your club and try to see it the way a new member would on their first visit. Where are the scuffs? What has started peeling? What has become faded or sun-damaged? We are going to try and fix what we can before the summer rush brings in a new wave of prospective members.

Facilities

And the actual Spring Clean

It sounds obvious, but it is easy to let a deep clean slip down the priority list when you are busy. And the daily cleaning is not the same thing as a thorough clean. Spring is a good time to get into the corners, literally. Under equipment, inside changing room lockers, the studio floor edges that don’t see a mop as often as they should, the area behind the reception desk.

A genuinely clean gym is one of the most basic things members expect and one of the easiest things to let slide gradually. A proper top-to-bottom clean resets our baseline.

Team and Staff

Affiliate links and upcoming offers

Our staff are our most direct line to members, and if they are not up to date on our current promotions, those promotions are going to suffer for it. Spring is a good moment to check that everyone on your team has their affiliate or referral links set up, knows what they are for, and are actually using them.

It sounds like basic housekeeping, but referral links have a habit of being set up once and then forgotten. A facility-wide check-in to make sure the links are active, the process is clear, and everyone knows what upcoming offers they should be talking about is time well spent in our books.

Team and Staff

Checking in with class instructors on upselling

Your class instructors end up spending a lot of face time with your members, hopefully building genuine relationships with them. That makes them naturally well-placed to mention add-ons, upgrades, or other offerings we are running in the club. But they need to be comfortable doing it and, just as importantly, they need to be up-to-date on what we are offering.

A light-touch check-in, not a formal review, is all this needs to be initially. Are they aware of the current upsell opportunities? Do they know how to bring them up in a way that feels natural rather than salesy? A quick conversation about potential scenarios, as well as what has worked and what hasn’t is usually enough to sharpen things up.

Team and Staff

Uniform (or is everyone looking the part?)

It’s easy for uniform standards to drift. Someone might be wearing the old version of our polo. A couple of your staff might have kit that has seen better days. Trainers that looked fine six months ago are starting to look a bit ragged. None of it is a crisis, but collectively it affects how professional your team appears.

Spring felt like a reasonable point in the year to do a quick audit to us. Does everyone have a current, clean, well-fitting uniform? Are standards being applied consistently? First impressions matter and your team’s appearance is undeniably a part of that.

Team and Staff

Name badges make it easier for members to connect

This one often gets overlooked. It is awkward talking to someone day after day and still not knowing their name, and not everyone in your club will be confident enough to ask for someone’s name. A clear, readable name badge makes interactions easier and helps members build familiarity with your team faster.

If your staff aren’t wearing badges, or again, your badges have seen better days, spring is as good a time as any to get it sorted. It is a small thing, but it contributes to the kind of welcoming environment where members feel at home rather than like they’re bothering strangers.

We appreciate we aren’t reinventing the wheel, but that wasn’t our goal here. This spring window isn’t the time for a grand overhaul. But it is a great time to catch the things that have slipped, fix them quickly, and make sure the club is in good shape before summer arrives and the next busy period begins.

If you are an independent gym or fitness club owner and any of this has resonated, we are just glad it has been useful.

Fair Rates For Fitness

If you are reading this, you are likely someone who cares about the UK’s fitness industry. If so, we ask for another minute of your time as we discuss something important to all of us within the fitness industry.

Here at Ashbourne Membership Management, we have been proud to work with dynamic, innovative gyms like The Fit Club Redditch for nearly three decades. At time of writing the UK government has decided to increase business rates as part of the latest budget. While we are always happy to pay our way, we believe that these rates do not acknowledge the incredible benefit that independent gyms and fitness clubs bring to society.

Every party manifesto claims that they want the people of the UK to be healthier, happier and more active. But when the time comes to match action to rhetoric, our industry is too often left out.

So if you want to make your voice heard alongside the hundreds who have already acted, follow the link here to Fair Rates for Fitness, a campaign being championed by our partners over at the Gym Owner’s Forum.

How We Ran a Successful Multi-Channel Campaign in our Gym

20th March 202620th March 2026 by Jasmin

The Fit Club

How We Ran a Successful Multi-channel Campaign in our Gym

Anyone who has worked in the fitness industry knows it can sometimes feel like you are spinning plates. Something always needs attention, whether it is online, in the back office or on the gym floor itself.

It can make ongoing projects that require sustained effort and coordination hard to pull off. After a while, you start taking the path of least resistance and we had a lot of success by marketing purely via social media, word of mouth and e-mail.

So for a long time, that was us. And to be honest, we got away with it. Social media naturally did well as our main focus and word of mouth did some heavy lifting but we could tell that the initial momentum was running out and that these channels were becoming less effective over time. More importantly, members kept saying the same thing: “I didn’t know you did that,” or “I wish I’d heard about that sooner.”

So we knew we needed to change things up.

While our main priority had to be running The Fit Club, we realised we weren’t giving our new products and services the best chance to succeed. We had to find a way to utilise more channels using roughly the same amount of time, so we knew it was time to get more organised.

So we knew we needed to change things up.

The Plan

As with a lot of things, the first step was admitting (as we did above) that our ‘strategy’ of just posting when we remembered wasn’t really a strategy. It was just a short-term solution that had become long-term.

So as we entered the final quarter of the year, we decided to implement two campaigns, both across multiple channels, one focused on increasing our sign-up rate during our weaker months of November and December and the other promoting events within the Gym. Our goal was to unify our marketing efforts under either of these two campaigns, not just random efforts throughout the month.

We needed to see each month in front of us. We needed to know what we were saying, where we were saying it, as well as when we were saying it.

We built a simple spreadsheet (we have included a link at the end of the blog!). It didn’t need to be a masterwork, it just had to work.

While you can take a look below at what we did, a simple breakdown of the information we needed to capture to make this work was as follows:

Our primary column was the channel. E-mail, Social Media (divided by platform), SMS, Paid Ads, Partnerships, Blog Posts, Local Press, Livestreams, Podcasts, Mailout, App Updates and even Facebook Group Messages all got a colour-coded category.

It was a lot but we knew if we wanted to do a truly multi-channel marketing campaign for our gym, we needed eyes on all of it.
This was followed by the action that needed to be taken, the details, hyperlinks and the goal of the communication, whether it was to get sign-ups, engagement or information.
After that came the logistics. A colour-coded tick column, the e-mail list (if relevant), and, of course, the date.
Finally the last columns of the sheet were dedicated to recording the results. We included a success metric system and a place to record the results. Often these results were powered by Ashbourne’s affiliate link system, to determine how effective each of these channels were.

As you saw above, we tried a lot of methods during this multi-channel campaign to promote the gym and we were keen to understand what was landing and what wasn’t.

These last columns allowed our content planner to not only control deliver, but make sure the outcomes were being recorded as well.

We needed to see each month in front of us. We needed to know what we were saying, where we were saying it, as well as when we were saying it.

Our primary column was the channel. E-mail, Social Media (divided by platform), SMS, Paid Ads, Partnerships, Blog Posts, Local Press, Livestreams, Podcasts, Mailout, App Updates and even Facebook Group Messages all got a colour-coded category.

It was a lot but we knew if we wanted to do a truly multi-channel marketing campaign for our gym, we needed eyes on all of it.
This was followed by the action that needed to be taken, the details, hyperlinks and the goal of the communication, whether it was to get sign-ups, engagement or information.
After that came the logistics. A colour-coded tick column, the e-mail list (if relevant), and, of course, the date.
Finally the last columns of the sheet were dedicated to recording the results. We included a success metric system and a place to record the results. Often these results were powered by Ashbourne’s affiliate link system, to determine how effective each of these channels were.

A Word of Advice

While we tried to cover a lot of channels, our advice is to plan two main campaigns a month. That’s it. Just two. It sounds obvious, but trying to commit to six major projects at once means nothing will get done properly, even with a spreadsheet.

Getting ahead of both of the month’s campaigns also meant we were able to plan the creation of digital assets in advance. Instead of hastily trying to put something together the day before the post was due, we were able to start designing our artwork and assets well ahead of time on Canva.

This consistency helped the campaign feel like a unified effort rather than a series of cobbled together posts with the same theme. It also goes without saying that it saves us a lot of time and stress having everything in the same place in the same style.

We have also found this leaves enough space in the calendar for us to react to anything that pops up. A month can be a long time in marketing.

What Happened As We Saw It Through

At time of writing we have been using this system for the last few months. Not long after implementing the content planner, we had a very positive sign in November. For the first time since we opened the doors, our net total member numbers in November didn’t go down. November and December have traditionally been poor performing months for us so this was notable and proof to us that the campaign was making an impact.

Now, I’m not saying a content planner is a silver bullet for retention woes, but suddenly we were talking to people on a much more regular basis and it was making a difference. We were reminding them why they joined. We weren’t just a direct debit leaving their bank account, our members could now clearly see we were an active club with a steady roster of events.

Then came December, where we organised and launched a charity event. Thanks to our multi-channel marketing system it was a roaring success.

Other than ensuring that we maximised the amount of exposure the event received across various channels, the biggest benefit we have enjoyed overall has been the lack of chaos.

It has taken the scramble out of marketing. Now everyone on the team has a central resource they can refer to with pre-determined content and actions. Structure has ever allowed us to

Then came December, where we organised and launched a charity event. Thanks to our multi-channel marketing system it was a roaring success.

What Worked and What We Used

For both the charity campaign and our day-to-day marketing efforts, we needed to know what was actually working. What was landing with our members and prospects? What were they actually clicking on?

Luckily Ashbourne had us covered.

We used unique voucher codes and affiliate links in our emails and on our social media posts. When people signed up for the event, we could see exactly which channel brought them in. When we were mainly using social media, this wouldn’t have had much of an impact. But when trying a variety of different methods across multiple communication channels, it was invaluable to be able to see where traffic was actually coming from.

Not only that, we were able to run both our SMS and e-mail campaigns through Ashbourne’s systems. Everything being in the same space and directly integrated into our membership management system made life much easier for the team.

My Advice? Keep It Simple

If you are a gym owner or manager and want to give this a shot, the link to our file template is below. My advice is start small and don’t overcomplicate it. Like I said above, two campaigns a month is plenty. One bigger one, one smaller one. Map out your campaigns and the channels they will be using.

If you have got a gym management system that can do SMS, email, and track affiliate links or vouchers, use it. That data is a guiding light and trying to understand what is working without it is like stumbling in the dark.

Knowing what has landed has helped us shape our marketing efforts. It feels like we have gone from shouting into the wind to having proper conversations with our members and that has made all the difference.

You can grab a copy of our Content Planner Template here. It’s the exact one we use at The Fit Club Redditch. Feel free to tweak it, break it, and make it work for your club.

Stories From The Gym Floor: The Realities of Installing a Gym Ice Bath

13th February 2026 by Jasmin

Stories From The Gym Floor: The Realities of Installing a Gym Ice Bath

A practical guide for other gyms and clubs considering an ice bath

Here at The Fit Club, we have recently taken the step we’ve seen many other independent gym owners talk about. We installed an ice bath, converting an old shower block in our facility into a new feature for our members.

Cold-water immersion has been a significant and growing trend, with high profile, high performance athletes such as F1 drivers and footballers popularising it in recent years. And this trend is showing no sign of slowing down. For us though, it was more about strengthening our position in our area and reinforcing that we are ‘more than just a gym’. It was a substantial investment, but we are confident it will be worthwhile. Once the ice bath service/facility has been up and running for a good period of time, The Fit Club will be back with another guest blog detailing our progress and findings!

So we thought it was a perfect topic for this blog. If you are an independent gym or fitness club owner and you’ve been thinking about installing an ice bath in your facility, here is what we at The Fit Club learned, what we’d recommend and a couple of things we’d do differently in hindsight.

Costs and Costings

An ice bath isn’t a cheap addition. Our setup, a Brass Monkey Pro bath, shower, seating, and access control, represented a major outlay. To justify the cost, we had to have a clear route in place for how it would generate additional revenue, with the Ice Bath facility being a chargeable extra ‘bolt-on’ option for our members.

Our plan is to charge an extra £10 per month as an introductory offer, with that price rising to £15 after the first month. The goal is to use these offers and promotions to ensure we start with a solid base of users. Our goal is to hit 50 subscribers initially. From there, we will review and gather feedback on the user and staff experience, while checking everything from temperature consistency to staff understanding and member satisfaction.

Once we are happy that our ice bath service is able to cope with 50 members and maintain a high standard, we will increase the number of add-on slots to 100, repeating the process until we reach capacity. This staged approach prevents us from being overwhelmed and ensures the service runs smoothly as it scales up. This cautious approach is a great way to introduce any new service, but especially important with something as specialised as cold-water immersion.

The Actual Setup: What You Need to Know

We chose the Brass Monkey Pro Ice Bath. It is a premium piece, but the cost is only part of the story. Here’s what we focused on getting prepared for the Ice Bath room itself.

Shower: This is non-negotiable and well worth the investment. We have made it a requirement for users to shower before entering the ice bath. This is recommended advice by Brass Monkey and helps to remove oils, sweat and lotion from users. This protects the bath’s water quality and will ensure the longevity of the filtration system.
Drainage: Vital for hygiene and sustainable usage. In hindsight we wish we had installed a garden tap in the room to make cleaning and drainage easier.
Heating: The bath’s cooling unit expels warm air. We found this helped take the edge off the room temperature, so additional heating wasn’t necessary.
Step: The bath came with one, no need to spend time sourcing your own if you choose the same Bath we did.

Finally it was important for us to make sure that only members who had paid for the add-on membership tier had access to the ice baths. To this end, our final piece of preparation

Access Control: Our plan is to use Ashbourne’s Wallet Pass and Magnetic Lock systems. This guarantees only paying members can enter, automating management and security so this doesn’t require additional staff hours or attention to manage.

Member Safety & Guidance: Your Biggest Responsibility

This is the most critical part. Cold water immersion is new and potentially dangerous for many members. You cannot just install the bath and assume people know how to use it safely.

We rely heavily on the official Brass Monkey user safety guidelines, but nearly all of these points will . Key points we emphasise:

Never enter alone. Always ensure another person is present to monitor your wellbeing.
Shower first: As we covered in prep, this is a must.
Enter slowly: No jumping in. Cold shock is a real risk.
Keep heads above water: Submerging the head increases risk and contaminates the water.
Time: While dependent on tolerance, limit initial sessions to 2-3 minutes at very low temperatures, with an absolute maximum of 5 minutes. Maximum of 3 minutes below 0°c.
Clear contraindications: We prominently list conditions (heart issues, pregnancy, high blood pressure, recent illness) that should preclude use and advise members to consult a doctor if unsure.
A full list of these vulnerable groups for user safety can be found here, we advise any gym owner considering an ice bath to read it thoroughly as neglecting any of these groups could negatively impact vulnerable members.

Providing this guidance isn’t just about duty of care, it protects your members and your business from misuse and preventable incidents.

The Maintenance Commitment...

...Don’t Underestimate It

An ice bath is not a ‘fit and forget’ asset. Just like swimming pools, they represent a big commitment in terms of maintenance and water hygiene. While the maintenance regime is smaller than a swimming pool and requires consistent discipline.

The maintenance of the ice bath within our gym has three distinct stages.

Filtration: This is the removal of all the physical debris such as hair and skin cells, which, if left in would become sustenance for bacteria.
Dosing: Using chemicals like chlorine to disinfect and kill microorganisms, much like you would in a swimming pool.
Dilution: The regular draining and replacement of your ice bath is necessary to maintain the quality of the water.

You must commit to daily, weekly, and quarterly cleaning and testing schedules. We follow Brass Monkey’s detailed Testing and Dosing Briefing as it provides a thorough breakdown of what is required. Neglecting this maintenance routine for even a short period can lead to cloudy water, bacterial growth, and a poor, or unsafe, user experience.

Our Takeaway for Other Gyms

An ice bath is a premium feature and one that can draw in a lot of business if correctly installed and maintained. We would recommend that any gym thinking of paying that initial outlay must also be willing to commit to the maintenance of an ice bath in order to provide the best service to their members.

The ice bath has been a positive move for us, aligning not only with current trends but also with member interest. However, we would advise any fellow independent gyms reading that it is a serious undertaking.

View it as a dedicated, revenue generating part of your facility, not a novelty add-on. Installation is expensive and your model for access and revenue generation needs to be clear. Your safety protocols must be strict and visibly enforced, and finally the maintenance schedule should be treated with the care and respect your members deserve.

If you can manage these three pillars, an ice bath can be a valuable asset that elevates your gym’s offering. If any one of them is likely to be an afterthought in your day-to-day operations, perhaps it is best to reconsider.

We hope this rundown has helped any gym or fitness club owners considering installing ice baths, it can provide a valuable niche over your local competition and has allowed us here at The Fit Club to capitalise on this growing trend.

Stories from the Gym Floor: How Your Gym Can Turn Off-Peak Into Profit

9th February 2026 by Jasmin

The Fit Club Redditch - How To Save A Failing Gym

Stories from the Gym Floor: How Your Gym Can Turn Off-Peak Into Profit

It doesn’t take long working in a gym to understand the natural patterns of attendance. While there will always be some exceptions (student-heavy areas come to mind), if the area your gym services is fairly standard, you already know the peaks and troughs we are about to discuss

The three peaks are, of course, before work, lunch and after work. The two troughs, correspondingly, come in the mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

People workout around their work and as such before and after work are often hotspots as our members try to push a little extra out of their day. It can be frustrating to watch people try to maximise their scarce time in a crowded gym, knowing if they had only shown up an hour earlier it would’ve been much quieter. But the mid-morning and mid-afternoon lulls don’t necessarily have to be a dead time.

With the right approach, you can turn unused space and predictable trends into a new source of development and revenue, whether it is planning training to get the most out of your staff or attracting new members from demographics who are able to or prefer to train when a gym is quieter.

Today we will be looking at how we were able to turn our traditionally quiet windows into a profitable part of our timetable.

And we will be asking the all-important question: how can your gym make the most of its off-peak opportunities?

Why The Fit Club Decided Off-Peak Matters

It is a sobering truth that most gyms only monetise about 60-70% of their available opening hours. Add in the consideration that membership fees typically account for 70-80% of an average gym’s total revenue and these stats start to show us two important things.

A large portion of the day is being paid for but not actively generating income.
The capacity is there for gym owners to diversify their revenue beyond a standard membership model.

When looking at a combination of your unused hours alongside your unavoidable operational costs such as rent, insurance, equipment leases, lighting, and staffing. Something every gym owner has known all along becomes undeniable, off-peak time is costing you money.

Thankfully, it has never been easier to turn this into an opportunity to develop your gym and grow your revenue.

With the gym floor quieter and footfall naturally lower, off-peak is the ideal testing ground. You can experiment with workshops, small-group sessions, practitioner partnerships, or alternative services with minimal disruption to existing members.

It is low risk, high potential, and, with the right tools can be a fantastic way of maximising value from your facility.

Workshops and Pop-up Events

Off-peak workshops are a great place to start as they are a relatively low commitment (in terms of both time and resource) for you, your staff and your members. Not only that, they are also a great testing ground for the running of off-peak events and gauging the interest in these events.

Understanding Demand

If you host a one-off workshop on nutrition and it sells out, you have just clearly identified a demand in your community that wasn’t being supplied. On the other hand, if you run a rowing clinic and the interest isn’t there, you now know future sessions may not land.

As always, your community and their response will shape what you offer and that doesn’t need to be a purely reactive process. Ask your members, whether via survey or more casually and weigh their responses.

A lot depends on your member base and the demand in your area, with some responding to technique clinics for Olympic lifting, barbell fundamentals, or strength sessions. Other gyms have seen better engagement from mobility, injury prevention and cardio machine workshops. Ultimately you know your members and your area best.

Corporate Clients and Local Business

Workshops represent a great opportunity to attract corporate clients. Businesses are often looking for workshops and other events to offer to their workers to demonstrate a commitment to employee enrichment, as well as physical and mental wellbeing.

Managing these different corporate relationships (usually with HR departments or office managers) doesn’t need to be completed either. Here at The Fit Club, we use Ashbourne’s Prospect Management to track corporate interest and keep a record of company representatives we’ve worked with previously.

Finally, don’t underestimate the appeal of a quieter gym. A beginner strength workshop, for example, is far less intimidating and far more productive when members know that they will have space, individual attention, and room to learn. This can help you access a whole type of potential member that might be otherwise reluctant to join.

PT and Staff Development

While internal development and training might not be directly linked to improving your revenue, refining the skills of your staff is nearly always worth the investment. Development and training days don’t have to be logistical chores where you try and fit everyone in at the same time either.

Off-peak periods and quiet spells are perfect windows to:

Run PT skill-development sessions
Review and refresh coaching standards and class delivery methods
Work on programming updates or new class structures
Train staff on new equipment or software

By making these training and development part of your schedule, your team benefits from consistent engagement and development at a period which might otherwise be dead time. Not only will this help to make your staff feel better supported and more able to do their jobs, it will demonstrate to members that you are being proactive in investing in their overall experience.

Offer shadowing or peer-feedback opportunities

These quiet periods can be a great time to offer shadowing opportunities and gather feedback. Much as with corporate clients, Ashbourne’s Prospect Management has been invaluable for not only automating this staff feedback process but also giving us an area to store the feedback for future use.

By using the built-in forms in the Ashbourne prospect management system, it allows any feedback generated during these sessions to be collected, reviewed and acted upon in an efficient and easily trackable way.

Using these quieter periods to identify the issues, whether large or small, that often go unsaid otherwise can be a great way to make your staff feel heard and appreciated all while getting a clearer picture of what is actually happening on your gym’s floor.

Your PTs and other staff should understand the standard you expect and in turn management should give them the tools and training to reach that standard. Morale can suffer if staff feel both held to a high standard while also being ‘left to it’. Make sure that your staff feel invested in and that their development is being considered and both you and your members will soon feel the benefit.

Practitioner Partnerships and External Services

Off-peak hours have also proved to be an ideal time for bringing in (and testing out) professionals who can help complement the services your gym already provides.

From Sports therapists and massage practitioners to nutritionists and breathwork coaches. Each offers something different and often they prefer the quieter daytime hours. Each specialist can offer a new service that you can advertise on your social media channels and within the facility, drawing members in at a time when they might not come otherwise and broadening your appeal to those potential members in the area.

In order to make members aware that you are introducing these additional services, consider working with these partners to offer a one-off free or discounted session for members. If you are worried about their services being flooded, roll this out slowly across your members.

This is a great way to generate positive buzz for your new specialist partners, all while providing an additional membership perk.

Not only will your members appreciate the variety of services on offer under one roof, you can start advertising to prospective members with an ever-greater list of potential services.

For your gym:

Can provide additional revenue from room hire, percentage agreements, or integrated services without the need to add new staff to payroll.
Improves the value of the service that you offer your members, which improves retention.
Additional advertising material for your social media feeds and in-facility promotions.

For practitioners:

A ready-made client base, predictable hours, and a setting where they know that their service will align with your members’ goals.

For members:

Easy, convenient access to specialist support without going to another location. This access helps to strengthen the value of their membership.

Most of these options can be tested with relatively low risk. A weekly physio clinic is easy to scale up if demand grows and easy to step back from if it doesn’t. But make sure you are selective. Anyone working under your roof becomes part of your reputation.

Bringing It All Together

We weren’t happy to write off our off-peak hours as dead time, and you shouldn’t be happy to either. With the right mindset and approach, you can turn those lulls into opportunities to strengthen your revenue, develop staff, and improve member experience.

No matter which approach you choose, whether it is holding workshops, staff development, bringing in a trusted practitioner or all three, it is important to remember: the capacity is already available, your gym is already staffed and that unused time is already costing you money.

With this in mind, making those hours work for you is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to increase the value of your gym without adding strain to your peak timetable. It also helps demonstrate to your members that you are committed to understanding what they want and delivering services that matter to them.

Gyms that treat off-peak as an opportunity are the ones who can start to build a more resilient, more sustainable fitness business. If you can turn quiet hours into productive ones, you give your members more reasons to stay, and your business more potential to grow.

Stories From The Gym Floor: How a Simple Mailout Helped The Fit Club Redditch Fight Winter Attrition

16th January 2026 by Jasmin

The Fit Club Mailout

How a Simple Mailout Helped The Fit Club Redditch Fight Winter Attrition

The Fit Club Redditch talks about how we used an old trick backed up by Ashbourne’s tech to drive membership sign-ups.

Winter when you run an independent gym is a strange time of year. As Christmas gets closer, attendance and engagement understandably start to suffer as members get busy, ill, or both. In turn, this usually leads to an uptick in cancellations.

Here at The Fit Club we are a 2000 member club and during the final quarter of the year for the last 5 years we have, on average, seen a net loss of 300 members, or about 100 members each month of that final quarter.

It is a trend we were keen to combat as we entered the final quarter of last year.

While we know that the January bounce-back will always bring people back, we here at The Fit Club Redditch weren’t content to just wait out that October to December period and the attrition we knew it would bring. With new gyms opening up in our area, we decided now wasn’t the time to sit back and do nothing.

We wanted November to be defined by a bigger, more concerted marketing push.

Our Mailout Campaign

We decided on a simple, direct leaflet. Full colour, high quality, featuring only key information and great photos of our members. Crucially, it included a unique text code for our website and a QR code, offering a significant discount on a first month’s membership.

These codes were unique to the leaflets, meaning that we could tell instantly whether each individual sign-up had come from our leaflets, or one of our other marketing channels such as influencers or online ads. This meant we knew we could tell with near 100% certainty how much of an effect our mailout was going to be.

Given how well it went (more on that below), it is something we would definitely recommend to other gyms and fitness clubs.

We partnered with www.leafletdrop.co.uk to print our leaflet designs and handle the distribution. For £3,400, they got our message into the letterboxes of nearly 40,000 homes in Redditch throughout November.

And we felt the impact almost immediately. Since November, we’ve seen a significant boost not just in enquiries, but in the general buzz around our business. In a crowded market, those leaflets helped us stand out. They reminded everyone in the area where we were. In the centre of town, independent, established and open for business.

Tracking the Result with Confidence and Precision

But awareness is one thing, but sales were needed to justify the expense. We needed to know if the money spent on the mailout was genuinely driving sign-ups.

This is where Ashbourne’s affiliate link system was an invaluable tool for us.

Before we even approved the leaflet design, we knew we could track how it would perform with 100% accuracy.

Ashbourne set up a unique affiliate link just for this campaign. Every person who signed up using our leaflet’s code was instantly identifiable in our membership management system.

We could see in real-time exactly how many leads our £3,400 mailout was generating. It completely removed the guesswork and allowed us to measure the true return on our investment.

The result? Our November mailout has directly generated £1,200 in new membership sales already, with interest still coming in. At this rate, the entire campaign will have paid for itself within four months. Every new member after that will be pure gain for us.

In turn, this has been a massive help in reducing that final quarter’s net member attrition rate we talked about at the start of the article.

We were so pleased with the service from Leafletdrop that we’ve arranged a discount for any other independent gyms looking to try something similar to what we did.

You can use the code AM10 for 10% off your first drop with them. We don’t see any money or get any benefit from this, we just want to pass on a good deal to other gyms and fitness clubs.

Sometimes it is important to revisit the tried and tested methods of promoting your gym. Using Ashbourne’s system we were able to prove that our leaflet drop helped turn a traditionally quiet period into one of our most proactive and successful campaigns of the year.

It is something we’d thoroughly recommend to any independent gym or fitness club that wants to try something different! And with a system like Ashbourne’s affiliate link to keep track of who is joining, you will know exactly how effective a mailout was in your area.

Stories from the Gym Floor: Get Creative on Secondary Spend in Your Gym

11th September 2025 by Jasmin

Secondary Spend

Get Creative on Secondary Spend in Your Gym

Costs are higher than ever and margins are getting tighter. Secondary spend in gyms is no longer optional.

Let’s not sugarcoat it. Times are tough and competition is everywhere. For independent owners especially, diversifying gym income streams has never been more important. Every extra pound matters. Especially when merchandise, supplements, PT, and recovery services can account for 10–40% of a gym’s total income.

But what you offer needs to go deeper than a generic product shelf. Your gym’s culture matters. Member satisfaction matters. And getting creative with your offering is crucial.

Costs are higher than ever and margins are getting tighter. Secondary spend in gyms is no longer optional.

But what you offer needs to go deeper than a generic product shelf. Your gym’s culture matters. Member satisfaction matters. And getting creative with your offering is crucial.

Secondary spend in a nutshell

When it comes to secondary spend in gyms or fitness clubs most of us have a decent understanding of the regular options, especially behind the counter. We’re talking coffee, supplements, creatine, protein powders and merchandise to name just a few.

There’s strategic opportunity both behind and beyond the counter though as well. But only if you understand the needs and behaviours of your membership base and couple it with a genuine desire to improve their satisfaction. Make no mistake, it plays a much bigger part in secondary spend than you might think.

More satisfaction = More Spend

According to the January 2025 UK Customer Service Index, emotional connection and perceived care are two of the biggest drivers of customer satisfaction — and they directly influence spend. In fact, a 10+ point increase in Net Promoter Score is linked with a 3.2% rise in upsell revenue.

And according to IHRSA, higher secondary spend correlates directly to member retention.

In other words, improving the satisfaction of your members can help increase gym revenue without welcoming a single new sign-up through the door.

A satisfied member is willing to invest in more than just a membership. They appreciate the experience they receive when they visit so they’re more willing to invest into what you’re offering as extras.

But which gym upsell strategies offer value in the right context for your gym?

And according to IHRSA, higher secondary spend correlates directly to member retention.

In other words, improving the satisfaction of your members can help increase gym revenue without welcoming a single new sign-up through the door.

But which gym upsell strategies offer value in the right context for your gym?

Behind the counter

Coffee and shakes can be more than just member conveniences. They can be your strategic profit opportunities.

Shake upsells using small ingredient upgrades like adding oats, a scoop of creatine, or offering a ‘go large’ option on coffee can increase the price by 20–50%. These high-margin micro-upsells don’t require more staff time or storage. They’re quick wins that can lift the average transaction value without needing to expand your product range.

They also feel customised to your member. Adding oats can help with goals like bulking or fuelling. They’re a value add, not a hard sell.

Branded merchandise can typically deliver 10–15% profit margins and massively contribute to monthly revenue. But minimise your stock with limited-run or one-off merch drops. This doesn’t just create genuine scarcity with available items, it reduces the chance of excess, unsold stock.

You can also get just one display item for each style or size with an accompanying QR code for ordering. No need for extras, no need to restock.

Customise what you offer in a way that makes sense for your space, your budget, and your members.

That goes for what you offer beyond the counter too.

Coffee and shakes can be more than just member conveniences. They can be your strategic profit opportunities.

They also feel customised to your member. Adding oats can help with goals like bulking or fuelling. They’re a value add, not a hard sell.

You can also get just one display item for each style or size with an accompanying QR code for ordering. No need for extras, no need to restock.

Customise what you offer in a way that makes sense for your space, your budget, and your members.

That goes for what you offer beyond the counter too.

Beyond the counter

Offering the same list of generic add-on options to every member is a sure-fire way to erode any sense of personal care and attention.

But secondary spend and service-based add-ons can be directly woven into the culture of who you are as a gym if handled correctly. So listen to your members and their needs.

Offer personal training add-on sessions to those you feel would really benefit from them after sign-up.

Offer massage therapy sessions to those returning from injury or suffering with mobility.

Offer recovery sessions like ice baths or saunas to those with a deeper understanding or interest in wellness or biohacking.

These high value services often come with minimal operational overheads if you already have systems in place. You also don’t need to make them available to every member, all the time. Just to the right people at the right time.

For example: Offering a £10–15 post-workout recovery session once a week to just 30 regulars adds over £1,200 per month in extra income.

Offering the same list of generic add-on options to every member is a sure-fire way to erode any sense of personal care and attention.

But secondary spend and service-based add-ons can be directly woven into the culture of who you are as a gym if handled correctly. So listen to your members and their needs.

Offer personal training add-on sessions to those you feel would really benefit from them after sign-up.

Offer massage therapy sessions to those returning from injury or suffering with mobility.

Offer recovery sessions like ice baths or saunas to those with a deeper understanding or interest in wellness or biohacking.

For example: Offering a £10–15 post-workout recovery session once a week to just 30 regulars adds over £1,200 per month in extra income.

Ashbourne’s EPOS till system

Like everything in your gym, you can’t improve what you don’t track. That’s where Ashbourne’s fully integrated till system comes in.

It doesn’t just record sales, it shows you what’s working, what isn’t, and what’s selling. When you track every stage of a member’s journey, from sign-up to first purchase, you’re not guessing at what might sell. You’re responding to what is.

You can see your most popular products in real time, spot patterns, and alert you when stock is running low. Smarter decisions can be based on your gym and specifically benefit your members.

So start small. Track what works. And use your till data to build a secondary spend offering that puts your members first. Then use the data in the right way to improve not just your revenue, but your customer experience and member retention as well.

Ready to take a smarter approach to secondary spend? Start with what you already know about your members and let Ashbourne’s tools help you build on it.

Like everything in your gym, you can’t improve what you don’t track. That’s where Ashbourne’s fully integrated till system comes in.

You can see your most popular products in real time, spot patterns, and alert you when stock is running low. Smarter decisions can be based on your gym and specifically benefit your members.

Ready to take a smarter approach to secondary spend? Start with what you already know about your members and let Ashbourne’s tools help you build on it.

Stories from the Gym Floor: Live Timetables – Meet the Digital Demands of Today’s Gym Members

1st September 202531st August 2025 by Jasmin

Live Timetables

Meet the Digital Demands of Today’s Gym Members

All the phones are ringing. Again. A new member has arrived late and wants to know if there’s space on tonight’s class. One of your regulars wants to swap from spin to HIIT.

But you’ve already rewritten the chalkboard twice and everyone else is busy juggling walk-ins or sign-ups.

You manage to deal with it all. Just.

But it costs you so much time. Time that should be spent doing what you really want to do. Helping your members train, feel welcome, and looked after.

Because keeping your members informed and organised shouldn’t be the hardest part of running a gym. Or the most time-consuming.

A simple, live timetable can do what a chalkboard or outdated tablet simply can’t.

It shows real time availability, lets members book their spot instantly, and keeps classes full. All without trapping every trainer you’ve got behind the reception desk.

But how will it actually improve life for you and your team in the gym?

All the phones are ringing. Again. A new member has arrived late and wants to know if there’s space on tonight’s class. One of your regulars wants to swap from spin to HIIT.

But you’ve already rewritten the chalkboard twice and everyone else is busy juggling walk-ins or sign-ups.

You manage to deal with it all. Just.

But it costs you so much time. Time that should be spent doing what you really want to do. Helping your members train, feel welcome, and looked after.

Because keeping your members informed and organised shouldn’t be the hardest part of running a gym. Or the most time-consuming.

A simple, live timetable can do what a chalkboard or outdated tablet simply can’t.

It shows real time availability, lets members book their spot instantly, and keeps classes full. All without trapping every trainer you’ve got behind the reception desk.

But how will it actually improve life for you and your team in the gym?

Benefits

Gym Floor Benefits

Instead of losing hours every month answering the same enquiry calls, your team are free to greet members properly and run the floor.

Instead of repetitive admin headaches and painstaking chalkboard edits, your timetable updates itself as soon you update your booking system.

Instead of last-minute confusion, your whole team knows what’s full, what’s available, and who’s booked on. At all times.

And what about your members?

They don’t have to stand around in queues only to find their class is full. They can book a spot on the go while they catch up with friends.

They don’t have to “check later” or “wait and see.” Live spaces can be instantly secured with a simple click.

They aren’t left second guessing class numbers every day. They know exactly what’s on, what’s left, and what they’re booked for. All in seconds.

This isn’t a “nice to have” for your modern gym goer now, it’s an expectation.

Instead of losing hours every month answering the same enquiry calls, your team are free to greet members properly and run the floor.

Instead of repetitive admin headaches and painstaking chalkboard edits, your timetable updates itself as soon you update your booking system.

Instead of last-minute confusion, your whole team knows what’s full, what’s available, and who’s booked on. At all times.

And what about your members?

They don’t have to stand around in queues only to find their class is full. They can book a spot on the go while they catch up with friends.

They don’t have to “check later” or “wait and see.” Live spaces can be instantly secured with a simple click.

They aren’t left second guessing class numbers every day. They know exactly what’s on, what’s left, and what they’re booked for. All in seconds.

This isn’t a “nice to have” for your modern gym goer now, it’s an expectation.

Expectations

Modern Expectations

Members want bookings to be easy and expect systems to be seamless. Anything less is an irritation. If your timetable is confusing or clunky, it quietly chips away at the trust you’ve built.

In fact, 80% of gym owners say integrating digital solutions has improved member engagement.

And 73% of respondents in a survey said that digital fitness tools motivate them to exercise more often.

Digital convenience isn’t optional anymore.

A simple, live system not only keeps trust intact. It keeps your classes full and your members happy.

Members want bookings to be easy and expect systems to be seamless. Anything less is an irritation. If your timetable is confusing or clunky, it quietly chips away at the trust you’ve built.

In fact, 80% of gym owners say integrating digital solutions has improved member engagement.

And 73% of respondents in a survey said that digital fitness tools motivate them to exercise more often.

Digital convenience isn’t optional anymore.

A simple, live system not only keeps trust intact. It keeps your classes full and your members happy.

Surpassing Expectations

The Ashbourne live timetable isn’t just an add-on either. It’s fully integrated and only available to facilities with an Ashbourne built website. So now you get a single, smart system that runs itself in the background.

It saves you so much time. Time you can now spend giving your members the best experience possible, while we handle the rest.

Now your phones are quieter and receptionists have time to start a conversation, not just say “hold on.”

Members breeze through knowing they’ve secured their spot on class.

The old chalkboard is a thing of the past.

Your classes stay full. Your staff stay free. Your members stay loyal.

Because sometimes the simplest systems make the biggest difference.

It saves you so much time. Time you can now spend giving your members the best experience possible, while we handle the rest.

Now your phones are quieter and receptionists have time to start a conversation, not just say “hold on.”

Members breeze through knowing they’ve secured their spot on class.

The old chalkboard is a thing of the past.

Your classes stay full. Your staff stay free. Your members stay loyal.

Because sometimes the simplest systems make the biggest difference.

The Fit Club

Fit Club's Spring Cleaning List

Processes

Secondary spend

Processes

Class timetable (or being honest about what is and isn’t working)

Facilities

Kit maintenance after a busy Q1

Facilities

Touching up the paintwork

Facilities

And the actual Spring Clean

Team and Staff

Affiliate links and upcoming offers

Team and Staff

Checking in with class instructors on upselling

Team and Staff

Uniform (or is everyone looking the part?)

Team and Staff

Name badges make it easier for members to connect

Fair Rates For Fitness

The Fit Club

How We Ran a Successful Multi-channel Campaign in our Gym

The Plan

A Word of Advice

What Happened As We Saw It Through

What Worked and What We Used

My Advice? Keep It Simple

Stories From The Gym Floor: The Realities of Installing a Gym Ice Bath

A practical guide for other gyms and clubs considering an ice bath

Costs and Costings

The Actual Setup: What You Need to Know

Member Safety & Guidance: Your Biggest Responsibility

The Maintenance Commitment...

...Don’t Underestimate It

Our Takeaway for Other Gyms

More to Read...

Stories from the Gym Floor: How Your Gym Can Turn Off-Peak Into Profit

Why The Fit Club Decided Off-Peak Matters

Workshops and Pop-up Events

Understanding Demand

Corporate Clients and Local Business

PT and Staff Development

Offer shadowing or peer-feedback opportunities

Practitioner Partnerships and External Services

For your gym:

For practitioners:

For members:

Bringing It All Together

More to Read...

The Fit Club Mailout

How a Simple Mailout Helped The Fit Club Redditch Fight Winter Attrition

Our Mailout Campaign

Tracking the Result with Confidence and Precision

Secondary Spend

Get Creative on Secondary Spend in Your Gym

Secondary spend in a nutshell

More satisfaction = More Spend

Behind the counter

Beyond the counter

Ashbourne’s EPOS till system

Live Timetables

Meet the Digital Demands of Today’s Gym Members

Benefits

Gym Floor Benefits

Expectations

Modern Expectations

Surpassing Expectations

Let Us Help Drive Your Business Forward...

Book your free demo slot and let us show you howwe can help take your gym to the next level.

Book your free demo slot and let us show you how
we can help take your gym to the next level.