Hey, guys! As most of you saw and a lot of you participated, we have a brand new section of the board where we are taking your feedback and ideas to constantly make Performance360 better.
As you can imagine, the staff is spread pretty thin and a lot of things we unintentionally overlook due to complacency or precedent. It’s why we are so excited to start hearing ideas because fresh voices always equal better changes.
There were almost 20 suggestions in August and we’ll provide the feedback for each and every idea here. Many we have adopted, a few we’ll consider and a few we’re turning down. Don’t take it personally if your idea didn’t make the cut.
Yes, We’re Adding!
Yoga
It’s high time we brought yoga back into the mix and are really excited to do so. The reason it was pulled last time is because attendance was not where we needed it to be to financially provide it for you guys. We’re working on trying to get it indoors, and we are currently looking for an instructor so if you know anyone interested then please let us know.
Class on Sundays
We are hopeful to try and get Yoga going on Sundays. We will not be adding weight based classes on Sunday because believe it or not, you guys need rest and sometimes we need to force you to take it, but we have kicked around yoga on Sunday morning as a change of pace and excellent way to recover and prime for the rigors of the upcoming week.
This way, we can have it either outdoors when it’s warm or indoors when it’s chilly.
Stay tuned for an official yoga announcement as soon as we make one, but it’s coming back!
5# Plates
You got us. You finally wore us down. We’ll be gathering a few here and there over the coming month.
Little Towels
Someone suggested little towels to wipe things down during a workout when a human sprinkler might lay on the bench. Good idea. We’ll get a stack and store these by the water fountain, and then wash them at the end of each week. Continue to use the disinfectant wipes whenever and wherever you please, as well.
White Jump Rope & Yellow Kettlebells
When the jump ropes become non functional or frayed, we replace them. They are very expensive so it’s not a process we rush at first sign of wear and tear.
We are always slowly adding more kettlebells and the 70# yellows are on our list. Kettlebells are amazing, which is why they cost so much money. An order of four or five heavy bells can run $1,000 with shipping, so we’re just waiting for the right time to knock out 5# plates, heavier KBs and a few other scattered items.
Guest Playlist
Another good idea! This will have to be earned, however. We’ll come up with some good qualifications to what earns the right to control the playlist for a class…maybe winning the cape?!
Bro Tanks
Yes, we’ve wanted to get tanks for a while. Once our budget opens up a bit more and we have some dedicated time, we’ll design and order these so the cannons can be strutted around town on the reg.
Purple Bands
Done. Already ordered and stocked in the gym.
Replace the Water Cooler with a Keg & Pie Day
We’ll Continue to Listen…
Core Blast
A couple people have suggested this one. We’ll continue to keep it in mind, but at the moment with our current staff, class offering and frankly, massive amount of core work we do in class we’re not rushing to bring this back. Traditional “abs” feels great, but doing crunches and sit-ups, while effective and good to consolidate, is not as functionally effective as the barbell and kettlebell work we perform daily. You can always throw together a 20 minute ab circuit in your living room, too.
Morning Outdoor Classes
We have dabbled in these here and there and attendance has always been very poor. If there becomes overwhelming demand, like anything, we’ll add it to the schedule. With the addition of the current 8 am class, we feel there are plenty of options in the morning for the time being. Also, in the fall there is dew on the ground that makes it wet and a bit annoying when working out. We didn’t get great feedback on that the last time we did it.
Black Ops
A few years ago we ran a Wednesday night class called Black Ops. It was performed in the dark and at the most advanced intensity we offered. It was fun, but at an 8 pm start time and consistently declining attendance, it became too costly for us to run. Just so you guys know, we need an average of about ten people per class to make it worth our while to run, and we were constantly getting about five or six. Like anything else, if we continue to get demand we’ll also re-experiment with adding back.
We’re Politely Declining, and Here’s Why…
Boxing Class
This is not in our core competency or frankly, anything we’re interested in learning. It’s just a bit too diversified from our area of relative expertise and where we can help you guys.
Class on Gym Safety & Form
Pay attention to the walkthroughs and what we say when teaching the main exercise. The reason we take five to seven minutes to repeat things over and over is for you guys and to hammer in that technique. Feel free to grab a coach during any class to spend an extra few minutes with you. That’s why we are here and that part is up to you. That, and have patience in learning it.
Also, use common sense. If you are attempting to squat a weight you have never achieved, don’t do it quietly in the corner without alerting a partner at your station or preferably, a coach to spot you.
Gym Sexy Calendar Featuring Dave & Bryan
No one wants to see this. We assure you.
BUT…we have kicked around the notion of a calendar and/or promotional shots featuring members who’ve created some head turning physiques for themselves. Would we have any willing participants? My guess is you might know who you are!
Rope Climb
We agree, this would be awesome. However, our motto is all about scalability and multiple use and a single rope climb would not have a place in a class. This can kind of fall into the ‘maybe’ list as it could be cool for open gym, but the vision of how this could work is just not there at the current moment.
Stretching Pre and Post Class
We put together a post on Facebook of why we don’t do pre-class stretching and here is why again. Rest assured, it is deliberate and intentional.
Static stretching is not the ideal way to warm up for interval, total body, athletic workouts. In fact, it’s detrimental.
As a cool down, it’s great, but as a warm-up it can make you weaker and can actually increase injury risk since you’re priming the muscles (lengthening) in the opposite way they are about to perform (contracting).
If you want more of a warm-up, we suggest you get here early, take a foam roller outside, grab a jump rope in the lawn, do some laps, etc. We’ll happily show you how to foam roll.
Dynamic, nervous system priming warm-ups will always reign supreme and be the way we warm-up, which is why we take a few minutes to thoroughly prime the main movement before each class and before we run the clock.
Just thought you guys might like to see the reasoning behind the way we do it.
That’s a wrap, guys. Great suggestions and in month one we’re already on track to create a better gym. Excited to see where we go as a result of you goes six months from now!
