Amcham: How has the mental and physical health of your clients been impacted by the Corona virus period?
Raul Gabellini: The Corona Pandemic has impacted a lot of people not only our customers. The habits, the way of doing things, the way of thinking has changed, and we all had to adapt to it.
We, (House of Fitness 360) tried during the lockdown to stay in constant contact with our customers. We offered them free online classes via our Instagram page to stay fit and to stay in shape. We were having group chats and Video calls. Basically, we were there for them if they needed us.
They all appreciated our efforts and as soon as we re-opened our agenda got fully booked in less than 1 hour.
What are the top five health fitness issues impacting your clients?
Top Five issues? Mmmm … 5 is too much. Let us say that we noticed these 4:
Mobility loss (less stretching),
Articulation issues (less movement),
Muscle Mass loss (less strength)
and some weight issues (too much good home cooked food).
What do you do when you meet a new client in your studio? How do you proceed?
First thing we do is we always ask why they decide to contact us.
From there, we start a ‘New’ adventure.
There are a lot of facts that can come in play … Physical or Mental Health issues, family situations, the job, but also someone who has some objectives in a near or long future.
We also directly use our Body Analyzer Scale at the first meeting. Our Tanita MC-780MA Scale provides instant analysis of a client health and fitness status as well as monitoring their progress over time. With this analysis we can adapt the customer’s training depending on the results of the analysis.
Remember, that we are all different and we all react in different ways but our experience and our professionalism guide us in the good path.
Example:
A CEO or Manager comes to us because he is feeling ‘heavy’ and ‘mentally tired’.
Well, I cannot promise the CEO or Manager that he will lose weight if he is in constant meetings, lunches or diner with clients because it will stress him even more. But I can promise him that he will feel much better physically and mentally after few weeks of trainings.
What are your clients looking for when they come to you and has it changed during this corona period?
Our customers are looking for these topics:
– weight loss
– reducing and avoiding back problems by playing golf with prevention,
– re-building muscle mass especially for Seniors,
– getting back in shape
– reducing articulation pain
– rehabilitation
– preparing for ‘winter ski holidays’
– reducing stress
– getting a bikini body for summer holidays
– back strengthening
– Pilates and yoga
– Pilates fitness
– regain of mobility
– objectives for professional Athletes
– mental coaching
– team buildings
– seminars
– Organized Health Weekends
In general, they all want to be fit again and allow me to add at it … with a big Smile.
The objectives are the same as before the Pandemic … they did not changed too much, maybe the weight loss is coming out more often but don’t forget that we are 6 weeks away from summer holidays.
What advice do you give your clients to maintain their health?
Move, move, and move again!
Eat Healthy 5 days during the week and enjoy the other 2 in a certain limit.
Maintain your strength and Mobility.
Be guided by a professional Personal Trainer, he will enlighten your life again.
What was the immediate impact of corona on your business and what adjustments have you made?
We closed our studio for 12-13 weeks in total. It was a scary and hard time for our business.
Keep in mind that in January and February 2020 we renovated our whole studio.
We have a Personal Training Studio in a house of 160 Square meters.
Today it is a unique ‘Chic’ concept in Luxembourg. Quality Only and NOT Quantity.
We were so happy when all the work was finished … but the Pandemic arrived like a slap in the face. It was mid-March 2020.
Today we are still here. We survived and we are very happy about it.
To be able to start our business we divided our studio in 4 parts.
So that all our 4 Personal Trainers could start to work without mixing with any other customers. We can keep, at any time, social distancing with our customers.
We are still wearing masks and we installed a sanitary protocol to do before and after each customer.
How have you adjusted your business model over time?
Apart from the Sanitary measures, we did not change our business model.
We are always very present in our customers ‘life’ as ‘my coach’. We are exchanging a lot of thoughts with our customers. We are there for them all the time when they need.
What is for you the quality that House of Fitness 360 has and why it is the place to go?
We have customers that are following us since 2013 and they will be more than happy to justify you why they are still coming twice a week. They can also tell you what we managed to change in their life.
We never speak about other Studios or Personal Trainers. If a Personal Trainer is good, then he is busy.
Basically, House of Fitness 360 care! Maybe more than others and our customers love it.
How would you rate the physical and mental health of your customer / employees?
We are not here to rate anyone 😊. But It was a tough period for us all.
Notice that when they told us we could open again, either for our customers or for our Personal Trainers, it felt like Christmas. At the reopening we were all TOP Mentally.
Please describe a physical fitness health and wellness program your clients can do from home with minimum/no equipment?
12x Back Lunges Left Leg / 12x Back Lunges Right Leg / 16x Dips / 20x Crunches -> 3x
16x Squats / 20-30x Push Ups / 45 ‘’ Plank
But honestly … get a Personal Trainer and you will be in shape quicker.
You will pay someone to follow you during your progress, you will pay someone to pay attention at what you do plus … we do 15% discount to all AMCHAM Members (69€ Htva -15% = 60€ Htva per Session 60’ … )
Please describe an eating regime you recommend to clients to help them get into optimal health.
Difficult question. But in the end, it’s matter of quantity.
Try also to avoid Alcohol for 5 days in a week.
Do not eat or drink anything containing sugar after 2 PM until the next morning breakfast.
sugar kills. Sugar is everywhere and it is very bad. Sugar is like a drug. So, the BIGGEST advice we give you is to avoid sugars.
What are your five best pieces of advice to give to clients who want to gain optimal health?
I will repeat myself here on purpose 😊
Move, move, and move again!
Eat Healthy 5 days during the week and enjoy the other 2 in a certain limit.
Maintain your strength and Mobility.
Be guided by a professional Personal Trainer he will enlighten your life again.
Many thanks Raul for this interview!!
