The three Moms who run Wheel Power Studio; Stephanie Rubinstein, Tracy Chutnow and Donnie Stutland
Here's a fun studio pre-launch story you'll enjoy hearing – especially if you're planning a new studio yourself.
Former Flywheel Sports Instructor Tracy Chutnow partnered with former participants Donnie Stutland and Stephanie Rubinstein to launch Wheel Power Studio in Deerfield, IL.
During our interview, Tracy and Donnie explain how exciting it was to pre-sell class packages – generating profits long before their Zingfit website was completed or studio was open. These early purchases helped to reinforce their commitment to opening an Indoor Cycling studio + resulted in full classes from day one!
They both credited Charlie Green website design for creating an effective website landing page, that they promoted on social media. You can click the image below to request information.
You can hear their story below – or – you'll find this Podcast in our iTunes feed. You can subscribe for free here.
Sadly this is what some people see when they look at your Indoor Cycles. Image from www.bikeradar.com
The big IHRSA convention starts tomorrow (can't wait) and as a follow up to my visit last year I wrote this article. If you visit that link and scroll down a bit, you'll see this image of a banner displayed at the entrance of the convention.
Recumbents in a Group Cycling class?
At the time I wrote:
This banner was the very first thing you saw walking into the LA convention center. My first impression was; “that’s dumb… who would ever want to ride a recumbent bicycle in an Indoor Cycling class?”
As I walked past this display I did a double take and then it hit me > there’s a huge population of people who are intimidated by the skinny, little seats on Indoor Cycles.
Obese/overweight people for starters and you can’t forget Seniors. Together they make up a sizable demographic that we are completely missing. They’re two groups who would really benefit from the comfort of riding on a recumbent, with its large seat and easy to step through design.
Despite all of the technological changes we've witnessed (Power Meters, Virtual Ride Videos & Display Training systems) + the massive increases in popularity (Thank You SoulCycle), Indoor Cycling is still failing to attract large segments of society who would really benefit from our classes.
I'll bet you can quickly describe the profiles of the typical people you do not see in your classes. They include:
Obese people of either gender.
Pregnant women.
People with a physical impairment or limitation – I group all the folks with back injuries here.
Seniors / Elderly living with everything negative that comes from aging.
People recovering from an injury.
Why is that? What's preventing (or discouraging) all the people in these groups from experiencing your awesome class? That skinny saddle for one thing. In the mind of someone 100lbs over weight, it may as well have sharp spikes sticking out… what about the person with a bad back? No way they'll even consider bending forward to reach those handlebars, no matter how high you adjust them. A common scourge of aging is limited mobility; “there's no way I could ever climb on that bicycle. My hips and knees just don't flex like they used to.”
It's the design, stupid.
The riding position of Indoor and outdoor cycles, while perfect for you and me, just doesn't appeal to the populations listed above. In fact there are many who would be terrified at the thought of mounting and riding the Indoor Cycles in your studio.
However they might be willing to join your class, if you offered them a recumbent to ride…
Again from last year's article I added;
I talked at length with the representative from Cascade Health & Fitness about helping them establish a few beta recumbent cycling locations. They are very motivated to meet with anyone who’s interested.
As it turned out there were some Instructors who were interested to experiment with adding a few recumbent Indoor Cycles to their classes. John Kennedy with Cascade Health and Fitness provided three studios each with a pair of recumbents and now, after about six months of use, we're hearing some favorable responses 🙂
Marietta Colberg Roberts is the Fitness Director at Old Town Hot Springs in Steamboat Springs CO. Listen as she describes her experiences bringing people into her classes, who otherwise wouldn't attend.
There's a new option for prospective Indoor Cycling Studio Owners to consider – purchasing a franchise license from a proven & profitable studio vs. creating a new business from scratch.
Studio owner Paul Harmeling with Full Psycle Indoor Cycling joins me to discuss the details of their new cycling studio franchise offering. I've really enjoyed the classes I've taken at his studios in Los Angles and Chicago – primarily because of how effectively those classes combined a non-traditional format, with solid performance based metrics.
Listen as Paul explains both the costs and benefits of starting and owning a Full Psycle Indoor Cycling Studio franchise – or the option for you to possibly re-brand an underperforming studio.
Paul is hosting a “discovery day” on March 23rd and 24th at his studios in LA for prospective Full Psycle franchisees. They'll be presenting the business opportunity, touring two of their studios and answering all of your questions. Please use the form below to pre-register.
I can't remember ever talking to a new studio owner, who didn't express the dream to open & own a second… and possibly a third studio once their first was established.
Which raises an interesting question…
When is the right time to open a 2nd studio? And should you?
Studio Owner Nancy Katinas owns The Revolution, a pair of Indoor Cycling studios in upstate New York. She joins me to share her thoughts and experiences about how she and her partners built their first profitable studio. And then opened a second a few years later.
What about Instructor exclusivity? Dennis Mellon share his thoughts from the Instructor's perspective last week. Be sure to catch Nancy's explanation of her studio's policy – one that I found pretty gutsy as it takes a bunch of confidence to pull off.
If you're interested in learning about franchising options for opening an indoor cycling studio – we have a podcast you should listen to here.
Great stuff here for any current (or future) studio owners!
As you hear in the interview, despite not having Indoor Cycles with power indication, Nancy is a fan of Performance IQ – she's using PIQ's heart rate display training system with great success. Here's a few of her participants sharing their thoughts.
Dr Joan Kent joins me to give us a few ideas on how we can help our participants make better choices for fueling before and after an Indoor Cycling Class.
Dr. Kent has published a simple and concise ebook for you and your participants –
This is NOT the definitive sports nutrition manual. This short book simply contains suggestions for fueling for optimal athletic and endurance performance — without using the sugary junk that is typically recommended for athletes and fitness enthusiasts. Several suggestions were designed for distance cycling but can apply to other sports, as well.
I've been in my share of Indoor Cycling studios where, by the end of class, the air is so thick with humidity that you can no longer see yourself in the mirrors. The room stinks and every breath feels like you're riding at 10,000 feet – your lungs starving for oxygen.
Are your experiences similar to mine?
I'm discovering that there's a very simple cause for poor/bad indoor air quality; insufficient ventilation that is the result of a HVAC (Heating,Ventilation & Air Conditioning) system that wasn't designed for the occupancy and activity levels of the rooms inhabitants.
Typically new small/boutique fitness studios are opening in retail spaces with HVAC designed for sedentary office workers – not 30 athletes riding below/@/above threshold for 60 minutes 🙁
The lead author of the study is PhD student Carla Alexandra Ramos from the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Carla agreed to join me to discuss her findings and offer suggestions to improving the quality indoor air in your club or studio on this addition of the Podcast.
Carla has published a number of research papers on indoor air polution that you can find them here at researchgate.net
Are you committed to the health & wellness of your participants?
Then shouldn't we all be doing something to improve the air we're breathing in class?
A good start would be completing this short survey on the quality of the air in your club or studio. Create your own user feedback survey
