ROSS
Over the course of a month, we speak to roughly 30-40 people who aren’t quite sure what we do or if we’ll be a good fit for their needs.
We get asked all sorts of questions, and so we thought we’d put together a short list of the ones we get asked most often, just in case one of them was on your mind.
(NOTE: If you’ve got any that haven’t been included, please feel free to email or PM us with it and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.)
1. “I’ve been ripped off by PTs in the past. How do I know you’ll not be the same?”
This breaks our little hearts as we’ve dedicated ourselves over a combined few decades to delivering a reliable and transparent service with integrity.
However, we’re aware that it’s a bit of a minefield out there so here’s what we’ll say to answer that question:
We’ve got something like 40-odd 5-star reviews on Facebook and nearly 30 on Google.
If we were in the business of ripping people off we would have at least a few 1 and 2-star reviews, we’re sure.
We’ve also got, roughly, 130 people using our gym at the moment with an average monthly member retention rate of 94% over the past year.
If we weren’t ‘good’ or were con men/women, we’d have nowhere near those numbers (which *prepare yourself for a humble brag* are up there with the best in our industry).
2. “I’ve never lifted weights/been to a gym before, will I be okay?”
If you’re totally new to exercise and have never done much ‘structured’ stuff before; i.e. lifted weights, etc. then you’ll be absolutely fine with us.
You will struggle a little in your first few sessions and your muscles will be sorer than you’d like for a few days afterward.
This is pretty unavoidable, however, we do our absolute best to make sure you’re appropriately challenged. What we mean by that is that we’ll try not to take it too easy on you or push you too hard.
We respect that everyone is at different levels and we’ll aim to ‘meet you where you are’.
3. “Is your gym busy at peak times?”
The bottom line is that if a gym isn’t busy at peak times it’s most likely going to go out of business sooner rather than later so if you’re looking for somewhere quiet then you’ll likely have to find another gym in the not-too-distant future.
That said, if you like a gym with loads of space then training with us at peak times (6pm and 7pm mid-week) in our current facility is likely a bad idea. Things get a bit manic and even though we structure our sessions and programs in such a way that everything works like clockwork, space can be hard to come by at times.
This will definitely not affect your physical progress and is usually looked at as a positive because the vibe and atmosphere are amazing.
But it can get a teeny touch claustrophobic at peak times, from time to time.
4. “I’ve trained with PTs in the past and I’d have sweated more going for a run around the block. Are your workouts hard?”
To re-use a phrase from above, we believe in appropriately challenging our members. That means that the fitter and stronger they become the harder we tend to work them.
At the start, you’ll find things hard. But as you get ‘better’, you’ll not necessarily find things get easier, you’ll simply be challenged at a higher level.
Put even simpler, we do not believe in namby, pamby bullshit.
Going through a workout that’s designed solely for how many likes it’ll get on Instagram, with a full face of makeup and jewelry on whilst not even breaking a sweat is not for us.
We spend a lot of time designing our programmes and have dedicated our professional lives to delivering workouts that increase strength, burn fat, build muscle and improve technique.
We probably wouldn’t get many likes on Instagram, but that’s not important to us.
Your results, however, are.
If you’re enticed by Instagram hunnies and are looking for workouts akin to what they do you will likely hate us.
5. “Is your gym full of meatheads who’ll intimidate me?”
We did an anonymous survey just last month where we asked our members to describe Improve Glasgow in 3 words.
With over 50 responses, the most common 3 words were:
Fun, friendly and family.
We don’t think those words connote intimidation or induce fear, and we’re sure you don’t either.
Our gym is full of people who don’t like gyms and therefore they’ll totally empathise with you no matter what stage of your journey you’re at.
Also, at the time of writing, our membership is 53% female and 47% male. We’re fairly sure that if our gym was intimidating for females that ratio would be dominated by males.
So, if you’re female you’ll be absolutely cool. And if you’re male, you don’t have to worry about huge egos and ‘dickheadedness’ as we simply wouldn’t, and won’t, stand for it.
6. “What if I don’t like it?”
Honestly, it’ll break our little hearts.
Only joking – we’ll be adults about it and respect your opinion, as well as valuing your feedback.
But, we set up in such a way that it’s quite difficult to get to that stage.
Before we ask you for a penny, we’ll have spoken to you on the phone, had a few back and forths over text/email and have had you in the gym for a 40-60 minute introductory session.
We do this to ensure that you’re totally comfortable with who we are and what we do before you make a financial commitment.
From there, we kick everyone off with a 30 Day Trial to deepen that sense of comfort and ensure that you know exactly what we’re all about before deciding whether you want to hang around afterward …or run for the hills.
That said, if you go through that process, sign up for the trial and instantly regret it, we’ll refund you your trial fee.
We’ll even hope to stay friends afterward because life’s just too damn short for ill-feeling.
7. “Can I come in and check the place out before I sign up?”
Of course, you can.
As we noted in the previous point, you’ll have loads of opportunity to back out before you commit; either after speaking to us on the phone or coming in for your introductory session.
The bottom line is we’d never put pressure on anyone to sign up with us if they weren’t sure/didn’t want to.
Just as you’d prefer not to spend time somewhere you didn’t want to be, we’d rather not spend time coaching and helping people who didn’t want our help.
8. “Will I get results?”
The bottom line here is that it depends.
If you show up regularly and consistently, improve your eating habits and make a conscious effort to be more active in your daily life (i.e. walking more often, etc.), then you will 100% get results.
If you think that by parting with a few quid, showing up once in a blue moon, half-assing workouts and continuing to eat like an unsupervised 7-year-old then you will likely achieve nothing.
We assume that those who choose to get involved with us want to make positive changes and we do all that we can to enable them to do just that.
However, as the saying goes:
“You can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.”
Fancy giving taking us for a test drive?
If you’d like to get involved with myself and the magic our team produces at Improve Glasgow simply click on the link below to apply.
Our 30 Day Trial gives you access to up to 12 Personal Training sessions, in our small group format, and unlimited access to our group HIIT classes for £139.
Included in the trial is a body composition scan on our state-of-the-art Inbody 270. We do this on the first and last day so that you can see, in black in white, exactly what you’ve achieved.
We’ll also help you out on the nutrition side of things with as much support and guidance as you need.
Here’s that link again, if you’re keen:
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