No, Moot. Diane and I do not talk politics with our gym members or overhear such conversations. We avoid political conversations in the gym. That's because politics divides people. In the gym, we work to build a supportive community in which members encourage each other's success.
When the occasional member initiates a political conversation with us (happens maybe once in 3 months), we politely explain we do not talk politics in the gym. We explain we are here to support people of all stripes in their fitness success, including the person who is initiating a political conversation. We point out that in that very moment, when this person is thinking about Washington or a political figure or issue, he or she is thinking about one's health and fitness. The gym is a health and fitness place, we say. Talking politics in the gym does not support your health and fitness success. When you're in a fitness center, it's most productive to focus on fitness.
They get it. Most of them got it before they even joined. They're at the gym for their health, not their politics. Several elected officials have joined our gym, as have many people who are politically active and/or are passionate in their political views. Because our county is "teeming with white, blue collar, evangelical Christians lacking any post secondary education," our gym is too. Additionally, our county and gym are teeming with people representing the highly educated, and virtually all races, sexual orientations, religions, income levels and other such ways demographers categorize people. These people nicely share their common health and fitness space and get along quite well.
There are no political conversations to overhear in our gym because our members keep their politics to themselves when they are here.
Regarding your question, "Are all your Trump supporting clients abandoning Trump?" I have no idea because I do not talk politics with them and they do not talk politics in the gym.
Finally, there is no Life Time Fitness in our area and it is debatable that a free membership to the LA Fitness up the road would be an upgrade. They opened three months after we did and have since lowered their prices. When we opened five years ago we counted 12 competitors in our market. Today it's over 20. In that five years, every gym in the area, except us, has lowered their prices. We raised ours. We charge more than LA and every other gym in our market.
LA has six times the floor space we have. They have basketball courts, pools, juice bars and other amenities we do not. More people use LA in an hour than use our gym in a day. Yet we are able to charge more because we provide a certain gym culture and experience other gyms don't; one that certain members are willing to pay a premium to obtain.
There is movement in Washington toward providing free gym memberships for all. This has been going on for years and, regardless of who is in the White House, it has been making step-by-step progress. The idea is the healthier America is, the lower our health care costs will be. There is significant movement in the direction already in the private sector. Numerous insurance companies now provide free gym memberships to their policy holders for the same reason. The healthier their policy holders are, the less the insurance company pay out in claims. Industry wide, a good number of gym members are already members under these plans and the number of these plans is increasing.
It's not going to happen today or tomorrow, but the day may well come when everyone in America gets a free gym membership because it reduces health care costs. Personally, I'm not so sure about that idea. With the government so involved, what comes next, mandated gym use? Sugar tax? Body composition scanners at restaurant entrances that admit only those whose body fat percentages are below a certain level? Such health behavior regulation may not sound far-fetched to CDL holders who have sleep apnea.
With employer-paid insurance plans, we're seeing shades of that now. If an employee's health numbers are not at a certain level, their benefits are more costly and some are counseled about their fitness behavior.
Freedom and getting something free are not the same thing.
Last edited:
