A Strange Way to Get More Fitness Boot Camp Clients

Hey, Bedros here 🙂

My coaching client Brian Kalakay recently discovered a new way for getting his clients to refer more people. It’s kind of a strange and out of the box way of building a boot camp business. However Brian is a out of the box kinda guy.

This thing he’s doing is actually responsible for more than just getting him more referrals. It’s actually increasing clients retention, increasing client results. and increasing client loyalty.

How about I just let him tell you all about?

Take it away Brian!

Hi Brian here. I’m a lot like you. I love training clients. I love helping people get amazing results and I really love it when I can fill my boot camp up with 41 new clients in only 30 days.

So here is a crazy story…

Boot Camp Games About a year ago, I was teaching group classes at the local “big box” gym. I was renting a 12 foot by 12 foot padded floor area in a corner of the gym. Every day I had to show up 30 minutes before my first class and move 10 spin bikes off of the floor just so we could train.

I did everything in my power to market my program and spread awareness so that I could fill my small floor space and find a better facility to train in, because let’s face it: 12 x12 area = no room to grow.

It just seemed like no matter what I tried to do, my membership numbers weren’t moving and I was actually starting to lose people. People were getting bored with the format of my class and finding other ways to get variety in their training.

I was in big trouble and I needed to find a way to get that “spark” back into my classes to prevent people from getting bored. Plus with new boot camps opening up around me, I knew I needed a competitive advantage.

On top of all that, I also needed to search for ways to get new people into my boot camp so I could increase my membership to get a new facility. I needed something BIG to happen…

That is when I discovered the power of incorporating boot camp games into my program.

Boot Camp Games are a cross between “recess style” games and fitness drills. They keep people active while taking their minds off of “work”. This is a great tool to use in your boot camp to give you an unfair advantage over your competition.

Most boot camp instructors will play some type of game with clients, but is it a good game to play in boot camp? The next question is: What makes a game good to use in boot camp?

The truth is that you don’t have to play a game that is extremely physically challenging to your clients. To be honest, that is almost the opposite of what you want to do. When creating a game to play at the end of boot camp you want to focus on energy levels of the clients. If they are dead tired from your awesome workout, then it is probably not a great idea to play a game that will demand more strength from them. You want to play a game that will make them forget they are still exercising. You have to almost think of it like a cool down. People need to mentally relax and just keep moving. This way it is no longer a workout…it becomes “play time”.Boot Camp Workouts

You still want there to be some level of physical activity in the game, it should just be at a medium level of intensity. Of course there are always exceptions. If you have an advanced class and you want to push them to the next level, then by all means, put them through a challenging game. Whatever you do though, make sure they are still smiling and having fun.

Games should ramp up everyone’s energy levels so they leave for home and they can’t wait to tell their friends on Facebook what they just did in boot camp.

We all have a small collection of games that we have collected over the years that we could use in boot camp. So which of these games should you use? There are a few simple things you can ask yourself to determine whether or not a game is right for boot camp.

Here is a simple checklist to determine if a game will work well:

  1. Is everyone involved?
  2. Is it loud/crazy?
  3. Will everyone feel like they are kids again?
  4. Is it active?
  5. Will everyone leave the game feeling energized?

If you can answer “yes” to all five of these questions, then it is probably a great game to use in your boot camp.

Here is a great example of a boot camp game that fits all of these criteria:

Crab Soccer

Format: 2 even teams of people

Supplies Needed: Stability Ball or Medicine Ball

How to Begin: Divide the class into two teams of even people. Everyone will get in a “crab walk” position. Make two goals using cones that are about 5-8 large steps in width.

Objective: The team that scores the most goals at the end of a 5-10 minute time frame wins.

Rules: Each team must pick a “goalie” to defend the goal. The rest of the team must kick the ball using their feet and try to get it past the other team’s goalie to score a point.

To start have each team as far away from the center of the floor as possible. Place the ball in the center of the room. When you call out “go”, the game will begin.

Everyone must stay in a “crab walk” position.

Tip: For lower ceilings use a medicine ball. For higher ceilings a stability ball will work best.

fitness boot camp exercisesThis game is great way to end a boot camp class. Everyone leaves pumped up and the sense of community it creates in your facility is amazing.

As you could imagine, playing games like “Crab Soccer” is very beneficial to your clients on many levels. Here are some reasons why your clients will love playing games at the end of boot camp:

  1. Kills boredom
  2. IT’S FUN!
  3. They forget they are working out
  4. It’s a nice “treat” at the end of a hard workout
  5. Motivation to keep coming back
  6. Make new friends
  7. They feel like they belong to something great

Besides keeping your current clients happy, games also serve as an amazing business tool. If you learn how to properly structure your games with your marketing knowledge, you will be able to grow your business to new heights while keeping “client drop outs” to a minimum. Some benefits your boot camp could see from incorporating games properly are:

  1. Client Loyalty
  2. Better Retention
  3. New Leads
  4. Makes you different from other boot camps
  5. More Referrals
  6. Creates a “buzz” about your boot camp
  7. People will pay more to attend your boot camp

So the real question that everyone wants to know is how to market a fitness boot camp differently. Here’s it is…  If the clients and your business benefits from playing boot camp games, when are you going to start playing them? You and I both know this answer…NOW!

Go gather up you old knowledge of the games you used to play as kids and start twisting them to fit your boot camp. If you don’t the boot camp down the street will…

Let me know what you come up with!

Bedros here again… and be sure to leave a comment for Brain and let him know what you think about boot camp games.