The Buffalo Athletic Club for Women has put together a few videos on gym etiquette that get the message across with humor. They call them ~ Don’t be “THAT GIRL”.
Debbie Zieziula Hastings is the group fitness director at the BAC. She is a Star 3 Spinning® instructor, a personal trainer, and a TRX instructor. She gave me permission to share this video with you and said she loves to motivate and educate her members every chance she gets. She just used her cellphone to film this, nothing fancy. Here is what the video says on their Facebook page:
The BAC for Women has put together a few videos on gym etiquette. We call them ~ Don’t be “THAT GIRL”.
Our first video focuses on…
* Be on time for your class
* DO NOT wear your snowy boots into any of the arenas
* For your safety, please bring your dry athletic shoes into the club and change when you get there
* Put all of your belongings into a locker and lock it. Make sure you bring your own lock
* No cell phones in class
* If it’s your first cycling class, please come early to have your bike set up and learn about safety features
* There is a time and place for “selfies” and an exercise class is not one of them
* No talking
We hope you enjoy our first video!
Hopefully, this will give you some ideas to create some of your own. Put them on your studio or club website. I suggest you create a page just for helpful videos, and if you have a welcome email(s) for new members, make sure to link to that page in the email. Make sure to post them at regular intervals on your Facebook page (and other social media like Twitter), such as every 3 weeks. Also send the link out to your regular mailing list.
Humor is a great way to address touchy issues that aren’t always comfortable in person, and videos are a proven way to get the attention of your audience. This shouldn’t entirely replace your rules of etiquette that should be posted on your website and studio entrance—make sure you have those too so instructors aren’t tasked with policing members. But videos (especially humorous ones) sure will make more people aware of the rules!