Prensa

The Swiss Health Club Secret

01.04.03

Club Business Journal
by Catherine Larner - CBI's European correspondent

Werner Kieser has created a successful 118-club company by focusing, exclusively, on strength training

Werner Kieser makes no apologies for the fact that his training facilities offer no saunas, or steam rooms, or swimming pools, or aerobic studios, or yoga classes... or even bikes, treadmills, steppers, or elliptical trainers. And why should he? His clubs, by design, focus exclusively on one thing-strength training-and the concept has proven remarkably successful both for his company, Kieser Training AG, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, the 190,000-plus members it has throughout Europe.

«Cardiovascular equipment is unnecessary and expensive,» insists the 63-year-old Kieser. «Anyone can get a good cardio workout without having to join a fitness facility.» Social areas, relaxation facilities, and entertainment- e.g., television-are also unnecessary, in Kieser's opinion-mere distractions from the real business, which is exercising.

«We're targeting the health and fitness market, not the leisure market,» he explains. «People have different tastes in music, art, television, etc., and there are plenty of nice places where they can get together and socialize, so why should we try to compete with the bar or restaurant down the street? Other clubs may feel it's important to provide members with places to relax and be pampered,» says Kieser, «but we've taken an entirely different approach- one that, we believe, produces better results for our clients.»

A muscular concept

Kieser's approach to the health club business is, to put it mildly, unorthodox.

While most fitness facilities are striving to expand on their core offering-e.g., by adding mind/body classes, spa treatments, recreational amenities, etc.-Kieser Training maintains a single-minded focus on strength training. And the approach is clearly working. In 2002, the company, which currently owns and/or franchises a total of 118 facilities in Germany (93), Switzerland (20), Austria (3), Luxembourg (1), and the U.K. (1), generated more than $100 million in revenues.

Kieser Training facilities provide scientifically based preventive, and medically based strength-training, programs, and concentrate exclusively on the improvement of the musculoskeletal system. A special emphasis is the prevention and treatment of back problems.

«One-half of all health problems are musculoskeletal, and the back is at the top of the list,» observes Kieser. «In Germany, for instance, approximately $22 billion a year is spent on back treatments, while, in the U.K., the figure is estimated to be approximately the same. Theoretically, we could reduce that expense by 80% by putting people through our strength-training program twice a week.»

The typical franchised Kieser Training facility is equally focused and Spartan. It's 6,000-8,000 square feet in size, and includes: a medical department; an exercise hall for supervised resistance training; approximately 50 strength training machines, primarily ones manufactured by MedX; a drinking water dispenser; and locker rooms equipped with futuristic stainless steel shower pods. (In 1995, Kieser entered into a licensing agreement with MedX to manufacture and sell the company's equipment in Europe.)

Normal people's needs

The Kieser Training concept originated in 1967, when Kieser, an amateur boxer who had used strength training to rehabilitate himself after an injury ended his career in the ring, decided to open up his own gym in Zurich. He soon became disillusioned, however, because the people he felt could profit most from exercise simply weren't coming into his club; instead, it was attracting bodybuilders and elite athletes. «Individuals like that have a lot of self-discipline and generally don't need much supervision,» notes Kieser. «My goal was to help Ônormal' people.»

So Kieser stepped back, reevaluated what he was doing and delivering, and even began to build his own line of resistance equipment. Eventually, he resolved to eliminate those elements of the club that, as far as he was concerned, served no fundamental purpose, including the stationary bikes, steam bath, and massage and tanning services. He stripped the operation down to its bare bones, to what he regards as its most essential and important product: strength training. «In an ideal world,» avers Kieser, «everyone would have a line of strength machines in their own home.»

Gradually, the club began to attract more and more members who, impressed by the good results they got from a few short workouts-Kieser advocates three, or fewer, half-hour strength-training sessions a week- started to recommend it to their friends. In 1981, Kieser Training embarked on an expansion program that involved a combination of franchising and, to a lesser extent, new developments.

Today, 80% of the company's sites are operated by franchisees, who pay an initial entry fee of approximately $32,800, plus 5% of revenues, and are required to make an initial capital investment of nearly $700,000 (see sidebar). The most successful franchisees, reports Kieser, are invariably former customers who are fervent in their zeal to convert people to «Kiesering»-now the generic Swiss term for strength training.

A no-frills product

Kieser clubs clearly aren't at all «club-like,» and that, it seems, is one of the central reasons for their success. Unlike most fitness facility operators, Kieser doesn't attempt to create environments that would tempt members to linger, and he isn't interested in providing them with a social or entertainment experience. Rather, Kieser Training has carved out its own unique niche, following a strictly utilitarian, results-oriented approach that's based on strength training alone. Gone are all the distracting TVs, sound systems, and other extraneous bells and whistles.

Equally important to its progress and prosperity is the fact that, while the workouts that Kieser recommends are demanding, the investment of time and money required of members is not. An annual membership costs about $650, and clients are encouraged to work out no more than three times a week, performing only one set on each of the 10 machines used in the program, and without engaging in either warm-up or cool-down activities.

«Most people like our program because it's straightforward, doesn't require much time, and produces fast results,» explains David Fritz, the managing director of the company's U.K. subsidiary. «But it isn't easy-the sets are performed to exhaustion and, thanks to the machines we use, you really can't cheat during the exercises. The training can be boring and painful,» he admits, «but it works.»

Pumping up prospects

Kieser Training facilities are, in some respects, reminiscent of the original Gold's Gyms of the early 1970s, which put strength training center stage, and where cardiovascular exercise, basically, meant running around the block. The big difference, today, is that Kieser offers a strength-training product that's more sophisticated, more productive, and, as a result, more appealing to a greater number of populations: it is modern, medically based, utilizes equipment specifically designed for the task, and does the job for a wide range of members-youth, women, seniors, the sedentary: in short, Kieser's target audience of «ordinary» people.

«We attract a different type of customer than most other clubs,» observes Kieser. «Most of our clients have never been in a fitness facility before. Essentially, they're people who, at one point or another, have said to themselves, 'Okay, I need to do something about my health and fitness-something that's effective, doesn't cost too much, and doesn't entail any social obligations.'»

Confident that the Kieser club concept can «travel,» surmounting cultural boundaries, the company is now exploring opportunities in France, Spain, and the Netherlands, and plans to open an additional 25 facilities this year. Within three to four years, it hopes to launch an expansion initiative in the United States.

«We've created a very effective and efficient product that relies on strength training in its purest form,» concludes Kieser. «People come to us for medical and preventive strength training, and, for a relatively modest fee, we help them build the muscles that they need- it's that simple.»

*Preventative Strength Training and Medical Strengthening Therapy Gross Group Revenues.

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