🌎 What CrossFit Affiliates Could Learn From Planet Fitness

INDUSTRY

The Audience CrossFit Affiliates Aren’t Reaching (Yet)

This year, 3.7 million teenagers participated in the Planet Fitness High School Summer Pass, a program that offers free gym access to 14- to 19-year-olds during the summer months, according to Athletetech News.

While that sounds impressive, the article continues, noting that those 3.7 million teens logged 19 million workouts across the 2,700 Planet Fitness locations in the United States and Canada.

• This means each teen completed an average of just five to six workouts over the two months. Not exactly something to boast about.

The more likely scenario, however, is that some teens probably went to the gym regularly, while others signed up for the program but didn’t actually use it.

This is, of course, the problem that the CrossFit community has long recognized at globo gyms. People sign up for a gym membership with good intentions, but they don’t make use of it for various reasons.

There is one big positive takeaway that functional fitness and CrossFit affiliates can take from Planet Fitness’ summer program, though. 

• The takeaway: There’s clearly a massive market of teens seeking strength and conditioning, and most affiliates aren't tapping into it. Or at least, not effectively.

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COMMUNITY

Upstate Nevada Launches Campaign to Serve First Responders, Veterans, and Adaptive Athletes

First responders, veterans, and adaptive athletes face daily challenges most of us overlook.

This led to the founding of Upstate Nevada in 2019, a non-profit CrossFit affiliate in Reno, NV, that offers 50 percent membership discounts to first responders, active military members, veterans, nurses, and teachers, as well as free memberships for individuals with physical or intellectual disabilities.

• “Our gym is open to anybody, but we chase the everyday hero demographic because we believe they are underserved and lack resources for the toll that their jobs take on their mental health,” Kyla Romero, the gym’s manager, said in an interview with the Morning Chalk Up. 

Today, 137 of their 179 members – including 65 adaptive athletes – belong to the “everyday hero” group, and this count excludes those who receive free memberships.

Needless to say, their free and subsidized programs need funds, which is why on October 1, Upstate Nevada launched Dollar for Upstate, a campaign with ambitious goals.

The details: In an effort to “create a stream of outside funding,” Dollar for Upstate is asking people to sign up and pay just one dollar per month, aiming for 5,500 sign-ups by the end of 2025.

• “We want to make it easy to support us. Just $12 a year, and show that every dollar makes a difference,” Romero said.