You were spot on with your ‘Creating wellness cities’ editorial in the March issue (see HCM March 14, p5).

Our industry has discussed for years the concept of ‘the club with no walls’ as a means of extending our market reach, and if we can help drive wellness concepts such as this – the wellness city – it’s sure to create a win-win.

When you look at the markets in America with the highest health club membership penetration rates, they tend to be areas that also have high degrees of walkability – places like Boston, New York City and Colorado.

Recently, the Parliamentary Commission on Physical Activity announced: “It was clear from the evidence shared that at the heart of improving levels of physical activity through transport and urban planning is grassroots engagement with children, parents and communities to create safe environments which enable people to get active.”

In addition, study after study has proven, ironically, that ‘low level of fitness’ is one of the main barriers affecting people’s decision to join a health club or leisure centre.

The evidence is there: our ability to grow as an industry will ultimately be dependent on our ability to help promote and provide the benefits of physical activity outside our own four walls, helping the ‘not yet converted’ to get fit. As the old saying goes: ‘If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain.’

I was interested to read your feature about the functional trend (see HCM March 14, p60), as I agree with comments from Rory McGown, founder of GYMetrix, that “functional training has to be actively sold to gym-goers”.

The success of functional training, in terms of attracting and retaining members, is reliant on instructor buy-in. Operators can mistakenly see functional training as a way of introducing something new without the need for significant investment. While the kit is relatively low in cost, savings should be redirected to instructor training.

Without the support of an education package, a piece of functional kit is foreign to most and will not be used to full effect or user benefit. It’s the programming created by a quality instructor that brings the product to life.

Operators must avoid viewing functional training as a low-cost option and must recognise the opportunity to invest in staff development and deliver exciting, individual and limitless new programmes for users. This will increase engagement, retention and achievement for the clients – and with it produce greater ROI.