When I first conceptualized the idea of Arkitect Fitness, I did exactly what they tell you to do on page one of every business book ever written: Ask yourself what question your business answers. I took a look around at what was available in the fitness industry, and I wasn’t satisfied. If you head to Google and do a search for “gyms near me” this is likely what you’ll find:
- Regular gyms (no coaching)
- Personal training (very expensive)
- Group training (generic one size fits all workouts)
I needed to get people on the individual programs and instruction that comes with personal training, but allowed for the flexibility of a regular gym, while adding the unique and no BS equipment of a bootcamp or CrossFit and still maintain affordability. That’s when the concept for Arkitect ID training was born. We believe in offering a fair price for our service, but we also believe that our service is exceptional, and as our community grows and it allows us to fill out our facility with even more coaches, more equipment, more services and more space, our product will continue to get better and better. This is one of the reasons why whatever rate we’re offering RIGHT NOW, is the best rate you will get. But there are a few more very important reasons you won’t ever get a better deal:
OUR LOYAL CUSTOMERS DESERVE THE BEST PRICES
Ever see an ad for a service you already have like cable TV or cell phone that has some amazing price, and next to that price is a little asterisk that reads “new customers only.” You have been using that service for YEARS, but people who are brand new get a better deal! That’s not cool! We are extremely appreciative of those who joined our community early on when we were a new business. It wouldn’t be fair to them after months or years of business to give someone just walking in the door a better rate.
PEOPLE COME TO US BECAUSE WE’RE THE BEST, NOT BECAUSE WE’RE THE CHEAPEST
Cleaning products, cutlery, toilet paper…those are the types of things where it’s okay to buy what’s cheap. Your health? Not a great idea. A lot of gyms try to lure you in because they’re offering the best deal, or they have the cheapest membership. Our marketing plan is simple: Be THE best at what we do. We know that not everyone can afford a premium service like Arkitect, but the saying “you get what you pay for” is absolutely true. In a perfect world everyone could get expert coaching for free, but the reality is, there isn’t a business in existence that can cater to everyone, especially when it comes to price. We train people because we’re passionate about helping others, but we also know what we’re worth. But it’s not just that, it’s also about knowing what YOU are worth too. You deserve the best coaching, so don’t cheat yourself by going for a budget trainer or program. Bell Helmets used to run an ad that said “if you have a ten dollar head, wear a ten dollar helmet.” If you’ve got a ten dollar body… well, you get the point.
OUR SERVICE COMES FIRST
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Our approach to fitness is one based in empowerment. Many fitness programs only feed you enough information to keep you coming back. Our goal is for our clients to have the same deep and fundamental understanding of fitness as we do. I would go so far as to say that some of our long term clients are probably more knowledgeable than then fledgling trainers employed at other facilities. What that means though, is new clients are tons of work. But that’s okay! We are happy to spend the necessary time with each and every one of you…but we need to know that you’re committed, which is why it’s unlikely you’ll ever see a “Living Social” or “Groupon” for our facility. True health and fitness is a long term process, those customers just interested in a cheap month need not apply. We cannot take time away from our committed customers to serve someone who is just here for a cheap or free month.
WE SELL RESULTS, NOT IDEOLOGIES
Our entire program is based on custom programs. This can be a hard idea for some people to grasp, since they’re used to gyms selling them on a type of fitness. Most gyms say “come do OUR way, it’s the best way to get in shape.” We reverse engineer our programs based on YOUR goals. That’s why we can’t answer the question “what is a typical workout like?” We have so many different people training for so many different things, that one program can look drastically different from the next. Of course there are principals of training we rely on, but at the end of the day someone training for triathlon will have a different program than someone training for Weightlifting, which will be different than the program for someone who is just looking to lose a little weight and look and feel better.
We use a wide variety of tools and methods to help people get to where they want to be, and we’re constantly adding to our toolbox. Spinning will always be spinning, the classes you go at bootcamp will always be constricted to churn a large volume of people in and out in an hour or less. Some of our client’s workouts take 45 minutes…others 2 hours. It’s all about the individual, which gives us a tremendous amount of flexibility…and fun!
As our community continues to grow, our services and offerings will continue to expand, and so will the cost of our membership, so if you want a deal, join now, because unless you have a time machine, it’s the best one you’re going to get, and we are okay with saying that. We believe in what we do and the value it holds, and the effect it can have on your health, on your life, and in our community.
UPDATE: This article was originally written in June of 2015. As we approach our 5 year anniversary we are proud to say that our staff has grown from 1 to 7. We’ve knocked down walls to expand our training space. We’ve added thousands of dollars of new equipment, expanded our hours and services. None of this would have been possible without two things:
- Believing in our business and our service
- Our clients believing in us
Those who have been here since the beginning can vouch for the changes they’ve seen in this business, and to all of you who have been a part of this project, we say THANK YOU.
