Archive for October, 2009
Friday, October 30th, 2009
www.illuminategym.com is now connecting with some other blog websites to contribute some fitness and franchise information about the business of owning an illuminate gym and the process of helping people get more fit. We are trying to get some of our future franchisees and personal trainers involved with this new form of promoting health and wellness. We are excited for people to take a look at some of our business and fitness philosophies so that we can better connect with entrepreneurs and fitness professionals who may want to be a part of the illuminate gym model.
For us here at illuminate gym our personal trainers and franchisees understand that our ‘gym culture’ and approach to clients is what separates us from our competitors. Each individual client who meets with a personal trainer is different and needs their own workout regimen and dieting guidelines. At illuminate gym we understand this and that is why we are in the business of creating new lifestyles for people to become the best version of themselves. At illuminate gym we couldn’t be more excited to promote our personal trainers and illuminate gym. Thanks so much for reading and if you would like some more information about illuminate gym and our franchise opportunities check us out at www.illuminategym.com or give us a call at 1-877-427-2615.
Tags: diet, fitness franchise, franchise, franchisee, gym, gym franchise, illuminate gym, personal trainer, personal training, personal training franchise, www.illuminategym.com
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Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Blizzard like conditions in the Denver area have kept our newest franchisee from being able to meet with his real estate agent to finalize the ‘Letter Of Intent’ (LOI) on our newest location in Greenwood Village, Colorado. The storm crept up on us here at illuminate gym early this fall and has absolutely pummeled the us with snow. Today I sit in our franchise location on 7th and Colorado Boulevard and I watch as the snow continues to fall wondering when this winter wonderland will let up so we can get back to negotiating our latest real estate deal for our latest franchisee. Our attorney in California continues to call us wondering what the status of our meeting was yesterday not understanding the severity of the storm like conditions in the Denver area.
On a brighter not people are still warming up by working out here in the Denver franchise location. They just can’t miss that workout with their personal trainer even though there is over 2 feet on the snow. It’s a testament to our work ethic and the results we get for our clients as they continue to show up at illuminate gym to make sure they stay on track with their regimen. Thanks for reading and if you would like to read more about our franchise opportunity then please give us a call at 1-877-427-2615 or check us out at www.illuminategym.com. Thanks for reading!
Tags: Colorado, Denver, fitness franchise, franchise, franchisee, franchisor, Greenwood Village, gym franchise, lease, letter of intent, LOI, personal training franchise, real estate
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Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Losing focus on the fight against obesity is easy to to when you are a franchisor. Most franchisors began their career as motivated fitness professionals either as personal trainers or gym owners. Then they came up with the idea of becoming a franchise opportunity across the country and maybe even abroad. So then most of them either hired a franchise consultant or hired a law firm to develop their FDD and then eventually their operation manuals. After the completion of the the FDD and operations manuals then the franchisor begins marketing their franchise opportunity to their region or maybe to the whole country right away. Then the business of getting fit begins to be broken down into catch phrases and numbers in order to sell the franchise to a hopeful franchisee that is already counting the dollars they will make.
Now you’re probably wondering what’s wrong with this business progression. Well I can tell you the biggest problem with this business progression is what happened to the fitness. The business of fitness always seems to outweigh the actual fitness of a fitness franchise’s customers. Many fitness franchises seem to fail because their franchisees are not focused on the actual results or fitness of their customer base. At illuminate gym we refuse to let our personal trainers or our future franchises forget that our clients’ results are the core of our business’ growth. We never want people to say our fitness facilities or our personal trainers were alright. We want people to get value for their hard earned dollars and we want to change their lives. That is the bottom line at illuminate gym and as long as our doors are open we will continue to fight the fight against obesity in America. If we focus on that and our customers we know the illuminate gym model will continue to be a great success. Thanks for reading and if you have any questions about illuminate gym’s franchise opportunities then please give us a call at 1-877-427-2615 or you can check us out at www.illuminategym.com. Have a healthy day and thanks for reading!
Tags: FDD, fit, Fitness, fitness business, fitness franchise, fitness franchises, franchise consultant, franchisees, franchisor, gym business, gym franchise, illuminate gym, obesity, personal trainer, personal trainers, personal training, personal training business, personal training franchise
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Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
During our economic slow down illuminate gym and its personal training staff have still stayed busy by helping the Denver community stay fit. Within the next few weeks as a company we will be looking for a new franchise location in the Greenwood Village, Colorado area. We are working witha personal trainer who has worked for years at illuminate gym and now feels he is ready to move forward with his own facility. We have also began to look for a third location in the Denver area as we move forward with another franchisee here later this week. The third location will probably be located in the Saddle Rock, Colorado area which is south east of Denver. We are extremely excited that our brand has begun to grow in and around the Denver area because it is evidence that people see the hard work and perseverance of us and the staying power of our brand in such tough economic times.
Now it will be up to us to prove to national franchisees that our franchise can work in any part of the United States, which we know it can. We are on the search for fitness professionals or just people who want be entrepreneurs to carry our brand into new regions of the country. The only thing we ask is that people are passionate about helping people and their fitness goals. Thanks so much for reading and if you have any questions about becoming the newest member of the illuminate gym family please check us out at www.illuminategym.com or give us a call at 1-877-427-2615.
Tags: Fitness, fitness franchise, fitness proffessional, franchise, franchise opportunity, franchisee, personal trainer, personal training franchise
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Monday, October 26th, 2009
Gyms around the world are seeing more and more people entering their doors to get in better shape. For years America and Europe have widely been considered to be the culture of ‘gyms’ and weight rooms. Though our culture here in America has involved gyms for decades we can’t claim to be the most healthy nation in the world, and quite honestly the growing gym culture is partly because of our issues with obesity in America. However, the rest of the world is finding importance and opportunity in the fitness industry. Now many people could connect the growing fitness industry across the world to growing economies like India, China, and Saudi Arabia. After starting to offer our franchise opportunity across the country we have found at illuminate gym that a lot of the interest we are getting is from abroad. It is an interesting bird’s eye view of the world and what they are thinking of the fitness industry and getting in shape. Today I spoke with a group of business men in Indiaand what I found was amazing during our conversation. It’s so cliche but as a nation gets wealthy its people become fat with the riches…. And that’s where the fitness industry becomes so important. If you think about it as a nation makes technical advances then the need for manual labor becomes less and less because most of the lucrative jobs of an ‘advanced’ society happen behind a desk with a computer connected to the world.
It’s our job at illuminate gym to create a new safe place for people to workout with a fitness professional in a way that gets them results. Obesity is rising at an alarming rate and I think the international community understands as their nations economies grow they will be faced with the same sorts of health issues. That’s why these international business men are interested in the illuminate gym model because they see an opening in their nation’s economy for a place like illuminate gym. And here at illuminate gym we are very open and even motivated to help these business men develop their markets with illuminate gyms. Thanks for reading and have a healthy day! If you are interested in our franchise opportunities in America or abroad please give us a call or check us out at www.illuminategym.com.
Tags: America, business, China, Fitness, fitness franchise, fitness franchises, franchise, franchisee, gym, illuminate gym, India, international franchise, obesity, Saudi Arabia
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
A personal trainer at illuminate gym had an interesting question come his way this week from a perspective client. The gym floor looked great to the client but he just wasn’t sure how ‘High Oxygen Training’ would fit into his bodybuilding aspirations. The personal trainer told me that the bodybuilder said that our brand of personal training sounded like circuit training. I then proceeded to tell the trainer about how ‘High Oxygen Training’ came to fruition. When I was a young personal training I had heard of ‘SMRT’ Training which was referred to as ‘Speed Modified Resistance Training’. Early on in my career I felt the same as this bodybuilder who walked into illuminate gym. Speed training seemed to be developed and geared for people who were overweight. After all, bodybuilders must be in the gym for hours at a time right?
Then what occurred to me was I started working at a small gym that was geared toward bodybuilders and they also did a form of speed training. “I thought this form of personal training for people trying to lose weight?” Then one of my mentors and former bodybuilders put me through a speed training workout and after I was done with this near impossible workout I realized the power of speed training. After working at this bodybuilding gym for 5 years and perfecting my own version of speed personal training ‘High Oxygen Training’ was born.
So I told this concerned personal trainer to let this aspiring bodybuilder to know a few things about bodybuilding on the surface. Number one it’s absolutely false to think that bodybuilders spend hours upon hours training in the weight room. In fact, it is quite the contrary because bodybuilding is about having focused and efficient workouts that maximize their ability to grow more muscle mass or to maintain the mass they already have. In fact, bodybuilders who are wanting to grow more need to focus on where their calories are being burned and they also need to make sure they consume enough calories to ensure that they are able to grow muscle. I guess what I am trying to say is that ‘High Oxygen Training’ is a wonderful form of personal training for a aspiring bodybuilder.
At illuminate gym the core of our future franchise growth is with the results of our clientele and with ‘High Oxygen Training’. ‘High Oxygen Training’ is one of the most efficient and focused forms of training there is when it comes to resistance training regardless of your fitness goals. If you are interested in hearing more about ‘High Oxygen Training’ or our exciting franchise opportunities here at illuminate gym please give us a call or check us out at www.illuminategym.com. Thanks for reading and have a healthy day.
Tags: bodybuilder, bodybuilders, calories, diet, fitness franchise, fitness franchises, franchise, franchises, gym, High Oxygen Training, illuminate gym, resitance training, speed training, weight room
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Friday, October 23rd, 2009
So why do personal trainers and diets keep telling you eat protein? Many people will come up with the common answers such as, “Protein helps my muscles grow and recover” , “Calories from protein are much easier for the body to burn than carbohydrates.” This is all true but did you ever wonder how many calories you burn when your body actually digests food? That’s right your body actually burns calories when ti digests the food you eat. It makes sense that a bodily function would require energy, but most people don’t understand this so here at illuminate gym we’ve begun to educate our clientele about the actual ‘thermogenic effect of food” which is the amount of calories burned during the digestion of food.
In essence what I am saying is that when we eat food we not only add calories to the body because we also burn calories during the breaking down of our foods. This process of burning calories to digest food is call the ‘thermogenic effect of food”. Most foods cause the body to burn about 5%-10% of the total consumed calorie amount to break down and eventually digest the food. However, protein forces the body to burn a staggering 30% of the total calorie amount to digest. What this means is if a person eats 100 calories from protein it will take approximately 30 calories to digest leaving only 70 usable calories left for the body to burn. So this is another reason why eating protein is so important to a person who is trying to live a healthy lifestyle. Protein is the most complex nutrient for the body to break down making it an inefficient way to get calories to the body but a great way to keep your excess calories down. Keep in mind that eating complex carbs like vegetables and legumes are also ways to force the body to burn more calories during digestion….. “So that’s why my personal trainer told me to eat complex carbohydrates.” It’s all making sense now. Continue to eat your protein and complex carbohydrates…. Make the body work a little to get it’s energy and have a healthy day!
Tags: body, burn, calories, carbohydrate, carbohydrates, carbs, diet, diets, food, legumes, muscle, muscles, nutrient, nutrients, protein, proteins, thermogenic, thermogenic effect on food, vegetables
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Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
At illuminate gym our franchise model has begun to catch some steam here in the Denver market as fitness professionals and entrepreneurs begin to look at illuminate gym as a possible career move. At Illuminate Gym we have always considered our business model to be superior to some of our competitors’ in our market and over the past 3 years we have proven are staying power in a community full of larger fitness giants. It’s our attention to the most important part of the fitness industry which is ‘people’. Today we are looking at 2 possible locations for the next Illuminate Gym locations. It’s an extremely fun and exciting time for all of us here at illuminate gym and we hope that all of you continue to watch as our company grows into the fitness community across this country. As we have always said we are committed to changing the fitness experience in America… One person at a time…. One community at a time. We are currently looking for new franchisees to help us develop markets we are not currently in. If you are interested in speaking with us about how we can help you become a successful gym owner in your community check us out at www.illuminategym.com or give us a call at 1-877-427-2615. Can’t wait to hear from you and have a healthy day!
Tags: Colorado, Denver, fitness franchise, fitness industry, franchise, franchise industry, franchisee, gym franchise, illuminate gym
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Monday, October 19th, 2009
Some of the other fitness franchises out there who put their emphasis on personal training don’t believe that personal trainers should become franchise owners. In fact, they are looking for people who are business savvy rather than fitness professionals. Now at illuminate gym we concede that being a personal trainer is not enough to be a successful business owner because it takes so much more than just knowing fitness and how to get results for your clients. However, we also do not discount the business abilities of personal trainers. In fact, when I first opened the original illuminate gym I was just a personal trainer with a vision of a boutique gym that would cater to the fitness needs of a community in an affordable way. So for me to turn around as many other fitness franchises have and say that a personal trainer cannot run a fitness franchise or personal trainers can’t be successful illuminate gym owners would be ridiculous.
That being said we also don’t believe that you absolutely have to be a personal trainer or a fitness professional to be a successful illuminate gym franchisee. This is true because we offer training on not only our business practices at illuminate gym but also training on our proprietary ‘High Oxygen Training’ (Our brand of personal training). We just feel that with our easy to run business model that personal trainers can continue to grow their clientele while they help other personal trainers do the same. At illuminate gym we just don’t feel that it’s right to keep other fitness professionals from our franchise opportunity because at the end of the day they will make our model more successful as they can bring their own philosophies to help both illuminate gym and ‘High Oxygen Training’ grow into so much more. If you have any interest in hearing more about our exciting franchise opportunities or ‘High Oxygen Training’ then go to www.illuminategym.com and fill out a contact form. Thanks for reading and have a healthy day!
Tags: business, Fitness, fitness franchise, fitness professional, franchise owners, franchisee, franchiser, gym, illuminate gym, personal trainer, personal training
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Sunday, October 18th, 2009
The question on all of our perspective and future franchisees minds are… ‘What makes a great personal trainer?’ It’s the best question a franchisee could ask at illuminate gym because having great personal trainers is on of the keys to owning and operating a successful boutique gym. At the original illuminate gym I started I was always very fortunate to have wonderful personal trainers who always seemed to push our business and success forward. So after hearing this question for the second time late this week from perspective franchisees I began to think it may be worth it to share it over our blog here at www.illuminategym.com.
First of all every personal trainer a person should ever work with should have a nationally recognized certification like such as, ISSA, ACE or CSCS. The reason this certification is so important is not necessarily about workout combinations. It’s actually more about keeping clients from getting injured during their workout regimens and also knowing how to train clients with specific needs or pre-existing injuries.
Secondly, and as important as having a nationally recognized certification is finding a personal trainer who communicates and listens well with their clients. I personally have known some very educated personal trainers who don’t communicate well with their clients which ends up hurting their business in the long run because the client doesn’t feel as if their time with their personal trainer is all about them and their needs. Every great personal trainer I have ever known has always been personable and more importantly listened to the needs of their clients.
Lastly, a personal trainer should be creative and able to keep the interest of their clients by offering creative workout regimens for their clients. You have to remember that many clients seek out a personal trainer because they don’t know what their doing in the gym however, other people hire a personal trainer because they don’t enjoy working out and they need the liability of having a personal trainer to keep them coming to the gym. If a client doesn’t like to workout then a good personal trainer will show them more than just results they will also show them creative workouts that will keep their interest in the gym.
So here at illuminate gym these are the 3 things we look for in a great personal trainer. Let’s recap below…
3 Characteristics of a Great Personal Trainer
1. Educated
2. Personable and a good communicator
3. Creative with their workout combinations
I hope this blog helps you in your search for a good personal trainer and look for an illuminate gym in your neighborhood soon. Have a healthy day and if you would like to hear about our franchise opportunities check out our website at www.illuminategym.com and fill out a franchise application.
Tags: ACE, certification, CSCS, fitness franchise, franchise, franchise application, gym, illuminate gym, ISSA, personal trainer, personal trainers, personal training, personal training certificate
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