Senior fitness center

It is neither a "downgraded version of the gym for the elderly" nor the kind of health care product sales den that is rumored on the Internet. It is a gym for the elderly that can truly survive for a long time and make some solid money. It is essentially a community service node that does business with acquaintances. Fitness is just an entry point, and it earns long-term, low-margin service money. Anyone who wants to make a quick profit by relying on prepayment is basically dead.

Last week, I accompanied my mother to a "senior fitness center" that has been open for three years near my home to apply for a quarterly card. When I walked in, I bumped into Aunt Zhang, who lives in Building 12, holding a 2kg small dumbbell and chatting with the coach about yesterday's embarrassing incident of her grandson snatching her mung bean popsicles. A group of aunties were in the Tai Chi stretching area next to it. While pressing my legs, I muttered to myself that I was competing for a front row seat to the Shaoxing opera performance next week in the community. The old men who often come to the equipment area were competing around the lower-body power bikes that they had just replaced last year. They made an appointment to decide who would cover the most mileage this month and get everyone’s iced mung bean soup next week. There is no loud spinning music in the whole house, no noisy coaches chasing you to sell personal training classes, and even the mirror is only installed on half of the wall - the boss said that when the whole wall was installed before, an aunt said that it looked dizzy, so he had half of it removed.

I met a boss who came from the commercial fitness track before. He opened a senior fitness gym in the commercial street near our home last year. His logic was very smooth at the time: gyms for young people were involved in price wars. The fitness needs of the elderly were just rising. The heavy weight equipment was replaced by lightweight models with armrests. The annual membership price was 1,299, which was half the price of young people. It would definitely be popular. As a result, it was closed and sublet after less than half a year of operation. It’s quite funny to say that his shop is decorated exactly like a young man’s gym, with black and gray industrial style, and dazzling lights. The trainers have all helped young people gain muscle and lose fat before. They measure the body fat percentage of the old man as soon as he comes, telling him that you don’t have enough muscle mass and you need to take private lessons. The most amazing thing is that he dares to sell you a 2999 annual pass. The old man in the community walked around and left - "Who knows whether you will run next month, how dare I pay you thousands of dollars."

Completely different from this kind of career changers are the people who have been doing community services. The boss of the senior citizens, Lao Zhou, had opened a meal shop in the community before and was familiar with most of the elderly. At first, he just placed two massage chairs and a few stretching mats in the corner of the meal shop to help the elderly people stretch their muscles after eating. Later, more people asked, so he rented the 180-square-meter fitness room next door. The card has always been sold on a quarterly basis, with unlimited times for 399 yuan, and comes with 10 free blood pressure and blood sugar tests. The coaches are all students from the physical education institute who study sports rehabilitation. Rehabilitation doctors from community hospitals also come to sit for two hours of public welfare clinics every Wednesday afternoon to teach people how to relieve knee pain and lumbar protrusion. Their coach never mentioned words such as body fat percentage and basal metabolism. He always said, "After practicing this move, you can climb the fifth floor without resting." "If you persist for half a month, you can dance square dance without getting dizzy." When it comes to the heart of the old man, he is naturally willing to come.

Of course, we cannot avoid the current controversy. When many people hear about senior fitness centers, they think they are defrauding the elderly of their money. It is not unfair. In the past two years, there was indeed a group of people who, under the guise of senior fitness, distributed flyers on the street to invite the elderly to try it for free. They would test your bone density as soon as you entered, saying that you would suffer from osteoporosis and break your bones if you didn’t practice. They would first trick you into offering private training courses worth several thousand dollars, and start after just two sessions. They started selling protein powder, high-calcium tablets, and even physical therapy devices worth tens of thousands of yuan. They deceived many elderly people and ruined the reputation of the entire industry. Now when the elderly in the community see "free fitness" flyers on the street, their first reaction is to walk around.

I did some calculations with Lao Zhou. The rent for his store is 8,000 yuan a month, the two coaches’ salaries add up to 8,000 yuan, the water, electricity and equipment losses are 2,000 yuan a month, and the fixed costs are 18,000 yuan a month. There are now more than 180 fixed members, and each person consumes an average of 150 yuan a month, which is just enough to cover the cost. The real money earned is from other things: service fees from cooperating with the street to do physical fitness tests for the elderly, commissions from cooperating with nearby pharmacies to manage chronic diseases, and profits from organizing short-distance tours for the elderly in spring, summer and autumn. Added up, the initial investment of 200,000 was repaid just last year. He always said that doing this business is like buying clothes for the elders in the family. You can't buy tight-fitting fashion brands that look fashionable. They look good but are too tight to wear, so you have to buy loose ones with soft materials and multiple pockets that can hold keys and handkerchiefs. Practicality comes first. If you look at his shop, there is a shelf with a vegetable basket at the entrance, there is always warm chrysanthemum tea in the rest area, and there is a row of umbrellas in the corner, all for the elderly when it rains. These details are not something I would have thought of if I didn't have the patience to deal with the elderly.

Yesterday, my mother practiced for a month. When she came home, she happily said that she went to climb Baoshi Mountain with her old sisters last week. She didn't even catch her breath when she climbed to the top. She had to rest for half a day when she reached the middle of the mountain. At night, she even carried dried radishes that she had pickled to deliver to the coach. Did you say this place is a gym? That doesn't seem to be the case, is it an activity station for the elderly? It can indeed help the elderly improve their physical condition. Anyway, if you want to get into this business, if you don’t have the patience to spend three to five years, and your mind is full of thoughts of making quick money, it’s better not to get involved in this muddy water as soon as possible. After all, the trust of an old man comes slowly and is broken faster.