On trend: how does a premium fitness club work?

The fitness industry is growing by leaps and bounds in Russia and, of course, abroad. Today it is fashionable to be not just healthy, pumped up and fit, but also to have in your arsenal a couple or three triathlon starts or an unusual hobby like aeroyoga.

On the eve of the largest fitness festival in Russia “Russian Fitness Fair 2018” we met with Vlad Petrov, General Director of the Crocus Fitness chain of fitness clubs, Deputy Chairman of the organizing committee of the festival, to discuss current sports trends, the trend for healthy lifestyle and development points for the work of clubs.

– Where did your path in the fitness industry begin?

– It was a long time ago. I have been dancing professionally since I was six years old. In dancing I achieved certain successes at the international level. After that I worked in famous groups. When fitness came to Russia, they recruited coaches to clubs only with high sporting achievements, like mine in dancing. That’s how I started working in the first fitness club in Russia. I worked there for about 20 years and climbed the career ladder almost to the top. At the same time, of course, I always wanted something of my own to emerge, and this is what led to the emergence of Crocus Fitness.

– What drives the fitness industry?

– Nowadays it is fashionable to be healthy, beautiful and fit. In America, this trend has existed for a long time, but in Russia, the healthy lifestyle industry is still at the beginning of its development. It used to be customary to drink and smoke, but now it has become sharply fashionable to lead an active and healthy lifestyle, to overcome marathons, participate in races and engage in various types of sports and fitness, and this is very good. Following fashion is not always expedient, but in this case this trend is important for the health of our citizens, and accordingly it contributes to the rapid development of the fitness industry in Russia.

– Do you think fitness has become more accessible?

– Absolutely. After all, what is fitness in essence? It is physical training. When the fitness industry was in its infancy, we were reading a lot of textbooks, looking for so-called forbidden exercises, which are not so easy to perform, finding information piece by piece.

After Crossfit appeared, everyone realized that you can carry logs and run on the street to keep yourself in shape. Things are slowly getting back to normal. Buffet walls and goats, on which we practiced in school, are now insanely popular – this is fitness.
You can just put on sneakers and run to the park, take a bicycle and go for a walk, and that is also training.

– Crocus Fitness Kuntsevo has a professional gym for gymnastics. What is this connected with?

– We aim to develop sport. We even have “sport and spa” written in our logo. We write “sport” because we want to promote triathlon, gymnastics, swimming, martial arts and other areas, not just to hold classes in children’s sections to develop a child, but to raise real athletes with great potential. Of the fitness clubs in Russia, we are probably the first to emphasize this. We hope that our children will become Olympic champions in the future, and we will try to create all the conditions for this.

– Are professional sports schools for children based on fitness a Western trend?

– I traveled to many foreign fitness clubs, watched and borrowed something before working out the concept of our club. I saw gymnasts in Hong Kong, I really liked the fact that there real gymnasts practiced on professional gymnastic equipment in the crossfit zone of the fitness club. We took it a step further and made a separate gymnastics room specifically for our clients.

– You also have a circus studio. Tell us more about it.

– Yes, this is also one of the most interesting borrowings. In Las Vegas, my Russian friends work at Cirque du Soleil. They also opened small aerial gymnastics studios for beginners and amateurs. It was from them that we ordered all the exclusive equipment, and their sketches were used to make the hall for us. By the way, the girl who now teaches in our circus studio used to work in Cirque du Soleil.

– Is the format of small studios also being tried at Crocus? How interested are you in this direction?

– Small studios are actively developing in America at the moment. If you walk around Santa Monica, in every big house you can see a small studio, and in some even two. For example, a yoga studio, a Crossfit studio, a Saikle gym. If we talk about the situation in Moscow, I know of only three studios that are successfully operating. Many opened, but closed down over time. This is most likely due to the fact that with high rental rates and other significant costs, studios do not have club membership, while the cost of classes is relatively small. In addition, location is of great importance, and it is the city center that is best suited, otherwise, compared to large clubs, studios do not survive. This, of course, is a shame. It seems to me that they are the future, especially in small towns. You can say that they are hobby circles for adults.

– Besides triathlon, what is at the peak of popularity now?

– Interval training, working with your own weight – very popular directions. Why? Fitness originated in California, where the weather is nice year-round, so the trends come from there. Functional training in the air is the most popular thing right now.

– What is a trainer needed for? Is it necessary?

– I’ll compare it to cooking at home and going to a restaurant… Of course you can cook yourself, but if you want food from a professional chef with a lot of experience, then you go to a certain restaurant, with good service and quality of food. There are professionals in every business, fitness works on the same principle. You need to try to achieve your goal together with a trainer, and then you will realize that what you did at home has nothing in common with the approach to training of a professional expert. And one more important point is the technique of performing exercises. Very often there are situations when after independent training, especially newcomers in fitness get significant injuries and then recover for a long time.

– Tell us how you work with ambassadors? How effective is such an advertising strategy?

– People ask me: how much did you pay this person, that person? We don’t pay anyone anything, only those who really come to us are starring in the Crocus Fitness advertising campaign. We even have a slogan “clubmates”.

This advertising campaign starred both superstars of sports and pop, for example tennis player Ekaterina Makarova, soccer player Alexander Samedov, and our coaches and club members who actively train with us. We try to use for promotion only those who are with us in the team and are determined to sport and popularization of a healthy lifestyle.

– Tell us about the fitness festival that will be held at the end of August.

– Russian Fitness Fair is a large-scale fitness fair where there will be a lot of interesting and useful things for both fitness professionals and active lifestyle enthusiasts. World presenters will come, including the legendary fitness trainer N1 – Todd Durkin, whose master classes can be attended by anyone. For all Les Mills fans, which are a huge number all over the world, there will be a grand Les Mills Day dedicated to the 50th anniversary of this famous company. Only one day, 12 master classes from the leading Les Mills trainers. There will be a lot of drive, the best music and, as always, amazing energy.

Of course, we have prepared a lot of interesting things for the business audience. The exhibition will present fitness equipment and modern equipment, the latest trends and novelties of the industry.

If you are a fitness professional, you will be able to order equipment for your club, and if you just came to walk around the exhibition, you can try out thesefitness machines, look at new equipment, try protein ice cream, bars. One day, Friday, August 24, we will have a business conference where business industry leaders from various sectors will speak and share their experience.

The highlight will be the international start of the triathlon together with IronStar. For the first time in Russia, the start will be carried out from a ship, as on the Bosphorus, and the swimming stage will be held in open water.

Separately, it is worth noting that we will have competitions in artistic gymnastics. Together with the famous athlete Emin Garibov we will hold competitions for children and adults. Olympic champion Alexei Nemov will also take part in the selection of contestants.

Come and see the coolest athletes and coaches at our festival!