Which do you think more adults are looking for, shedding unwanted pounds or after-school programming for their children? The fact that many adults don’t have after-school age children is one clue that fitness is a much bigger market. There has never been more interest in fitness and weight loss than there is today. Everybody wants to lose weight and get in shape.
Then why have so many martial arts schools embraced after-school care and dropped martial arts fitness? I believe it’s because we’re drawn toward our comfort zone. Most martial arts school owners are more comfortable dealing with children and their parents than with adults looking to get in shape.
I’m not saying this is all bad for our industry. There are many school owners having great success with after-school programming and are enjoying their school business. But, there are also many school owners who I’ve talked with that feel trapped by after-school programming because of the competitive environment in which we now live.
I truly believe that many school owners would much rather have a thriving martial arts fitness program than have to teach after-school care to increase their revenue. You can, in fact, have both since the class times don’t conflict. But, I still believe that many school owners would give up after-school classes if they could find a program that would replace the revenue.
My school in Seminole, Florida does over $300,000 in just martial arts fitness programming. (We’re talking about a town where the average age is 43 years old and situated close to the beaches, so there are many retirees in town. It’s not what you would call a “happening place”).
So why am I successful? Because, just like someone who has had success with an after-school program, I follow a proven system called the Ultimate Bodyshaping Course (UBC).
These are the primary things I‘ve focused on in developing my UBC. First is marketing. It’s so much easier to get the phone to ring for fitness than it is for martial arts, period. The challenge with most martial arts fitness ads is that their marketing doesn’t distinguish between martial arts and fitness.
My UBC ads almost never show someone in the ad doing any martial arts. Martial arts turns more people off than on in the fitness world. Remember, you want people walking through your door who normally wouldn’t walk into a karate school. So your ads can’t look like martial arts ads.
Your average client, if you are going to have success in fitness, is going to be a mid-30s/early-40s mom who’s trying to get back the body she had before having children. When marketing your fitness program, your ads should promote the results she’ll have and how much fun she’s going to have getting them.
Class structure is another eliminator of clients. I’ve said many times before: There’s a small segment of the population that wants to participate in a rhythmic fitness class. But the reason I like the non-rhythmic heavy-bag workouts best is because they are self-paced, appeal to everyone and only last 45 minutes.
Pricing is also very important. Most schools don’t charge enough and they don’t get paid in advance. People are coming to you for results and, if you can deliver the goods, then charge for it. I also believe in getting as much money up front as possible.
The biggest difference between an adult student and a child is the child has a mom who’ll make sure the child comes to class. Vanity is short-lived so this is why we always want to get paid in advance for our fitness programming.
There’s no reason why you can’t generate just as much income from martial arts fitness as you can from after-school classes. And I’ll bet you’ll have a lot more fun doing it!◆
Seminole, Florida’s Jim Graden is internationally recognized as a martial arts fitness pioneer. Jim developed Cardio Karate, the NAPMA Fitness Kickboxing Certification, The Ultimate Bodyshaping Course (UBC), and UBC for Kids. He’s also the president of the Project Action Foundation. He can be reached at info@ultimatebodyshaping.com.
