Progression: Lessons from Grading during Lockdown, and how to boost member engagement

A couple of experiences through lockdown made me think about gym member journeys. Not inductions, messages or re-engagement calls, but progression.

I do taekwondo with my son, and during lockdown, we tried to keep up with weekly sessions over facebook and zoom. It was challenging keeping a 7-year-old engaged, to be honest. Personally, I thought it was great that we were training with the best instructor (the business owner), but as soon as we could return to outdoor sessions in the summer, it was clear that the kids enjoyed their regular ‘Sabum’ (teacher). 

However, colour belt gradings continued over zoom. Some of the black-belt assistant teachers were unhappy that the gradings were easier and thought students weren’t getting the same experience. But the most important thing for engagement and retention is that students are progressing through their grades, and not stagnating. They’ve got something to work towards, and a target date and motivation to do it.

The other example was with piano gradings. Both my kids continued their piano lessons over zoom during lockdown, and both did piano exams. My daughter in particular was over the moon that she didn’t have to do sight reading on her zoom piano grading. Again, the exams were perhaps a little easier, but they needed to progress, otherwise they would be practising the same pieces and scales over and over. Now they have their certificates, new targets and maintained interest.

Gym Member Progression

Both these situations made me think about gym member progression. Of course, some members set goals, work towards them, and get results. But the majority are visiting once or twice a week, and only getting an interaction if they are lucky. They are offered (or promised) an exercise programme review every 4-6 weeks, but rarely get reminded about it, or take it up. Here are some views on reviews.

There are lots of ways you can help your members to level-up regularly. Of course, the programme review is the classic interaction, which is often declined by the member, because they’ve had a poor experience before. Progression doesn’t have to be more weight/more reps/less rest time (although if you google gym progression, this is what the largest gym chain in the UK suggest on their blog).

ParkRun, myzone, EGYM

Alternatives are to give members rewards (or simple congratulations) messages after a number of visits. ParkRun are great at this, handing out wristbands or letting people buy t-shirts when they’ve achieved certain distances. Every 10, 50, or 100 workouts, classes, or visits should be good milestones for your members. Since we’ve come out of lockdown, logging visits has improved across the fitness industry. Since we have better data, let’s put it to use.

The myzone status levels of iron through to diamond and onto hall of fame are a great example of progression measures, as are EGYM’s activity levels of wood through to diamond. Like frequent flyer points, you need to workout to reach and maintain your level.

Another alternative is to run regular events, challenges, or other fitness tests for members to measure and celebrate their progress. A club or charity 5k, 10k, and onwards is great for members to level-up, if they are into running. Of course, we must mention Body Composition measures, such as Tanita or BodiTrax as no-brainers for tracking and demonstrating member progress.

Recognition of a member’s level is key to the success of your programme. Earning different coloured t-shirts is therefore a great way to celebrate progression, one of the triumphs of ParkRun. You can immediately tell who’s in the club, it’s a talking point between members, plus everyone loves a t-shirt!

Send a High-five

Depending on the systems you use, you might be able to trigger a congratulation message (suggest SMS or post, rather than email) as e.g. the 100th visit is logged. Alternatively, you could run a monthly report to show everyone who has passed certain points in their membership and send a couple of mailshots to the relevant members.

Just as kids need to progress through their grades to maintain interest and develop, health club members benefit from seeing progression, even if it’s just a count of visits, classes or workouts and a virtual pat on the back. 

Let me know how you measure and celebrate progress for your members in the comments below. Or if you would like to discuss how you could set-up member progression programmes at your club, please get in touch.