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15 July 2015

What Gyms Are Doing Or Not Doing To Help With Freestyle Step?

What Gyms Are Doing Or Not Doing To Help With Freestyle Step?

In years gone by you couldn't move without bumping into somebody who was involved with Freestyle Step in one way or another. If you weren't an instructor or a class member yourself, then chances are virtually every other person you knew was – or so it seemed! However, times have changed. Freestyle Step just isn't the same as it used to be. Well, technically it is the same, but for some reason it simply isn't as popular as before.

The reasons for this are contentious. After all, other countries around the world haven’t seen the same dip in popularity as we have here, so what are we doing wrong? It could be down to any number of factors, but that’s a whole other discussion in itself. Since the classes are usually taken within larger gyms or fitness centres, it’s worth taking a look at exactly what – or what not – they’re doing to help Freestyle Step’s cause.

When Freestyle Step was at the height of its popularity, gyms seemed to be busting at the seams with the number of classes which were held each day. Have you noticed how nowadays the classes are few and far between, and those that do exist are usually held at the most inconvenient times of day? There’s got to be a reason for this.

A large part of it has got to be down to the fact that gyms like to put on classes that are popular. That is the key to good business, after all; if they only hold classes that nobody’s interested in, they’ll never make any money. Sadly, Freestyle Step simply isn’t as popular as it used to be, which pushes it right down the pecking order when it comes to gyms arranging their timetables. As a result, it’s been pushed out of the highly desirable ‘Prime Time’ slots in most gyms.

However, this does end up becoming a bit of a perpetual problem – a vicious circle, if you like. By arranging the Freestyle Step classes (which are sparse at the best of times) to fall at inconvenient times of day, it means that even fewer people will be able to attend. Fewer people means the classes get pushed back again and again, and so the cycle continues. It does beg the question: would the popularity of Freestyle Step increase again if gyms boosted the frequency of the classes or moved them to better times of day?

That said, although gyms obviously have a large part to play in the matter, the members aren’t helping themselves, either. In fact, some of the biggest Freestyle Step enthusiasts are part of the problem. I know, I should have warned you before announcing something so ludicrous, but hear me out.

Quite understandably, those more experienced, enthusiastic, long-term Freestyle Step class members want to attend classes which are pitched at an advanced level. Going to classes which are aimed at beginner or mid-skill levels are simply too boring. The whole point of going to a Freestyle Step class is to set yourself a physical challenge, so why would they even bother going to classes that are too easy? This makes sense, but the result is that the numbers within the beginner and mid-level classes are dwindling. Once again, this is because Freestyle Step isn’t popular enough anymore to see a high turnover of new members.

Looking at this from the instructors’ points of view, it’s easy to see things from a similar stance. Teaching an advanced level class provides the instructors with a greater challenge as well, and because of the flexibility they usually see these classes as being more fun.

Unfortunately, this means that not only are there fewer members for the classes with lower skill levels, but now there are fewer instructors for the classes, too!


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_070414-N-6854D-008_Sailors_
participate_in_a_two-hour_aerobics_class_held_in_the_hangar_bay_of_Nimitz-class_
aircraft_carrier_USS_Dwight_D._Eisenhower_(CVN_69).jpg By U.S. Navy photo by 
Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Jon Dasbach [Public domain], 
via Wikimedia Commons
On the one hand it’s fantastic to have instructors who are keen to teach at such a high level, but on the other hand it does have a detrimental effect on the flow of members through the classes. For newer members who are looking to progress, they’re often put off by the complexity of the routines which the over-zealous instructors put together. Conversely, those people who have been attending for a while already are slowly but continuously moving on and away from Freestyle Step. This could be for many reasons – not necessarily anything related to the classes themselves – such as injury, old age, moving house, a change of personal circumstances, and so on. When you look at it this way, it’s easy to see that even in the best classes there aren’t enough new people coming in, but not enough is being done to keep the old members from leaving. The result? Declining class sizes once again.

So, we’ve already established that there are fewer Freestyle Step classes being held in gyms nowadays. There are also fewer instructors; of those, many have become too picky with the abilities of the groups which they choose to teach. These factors in themselves have not done Freestyle Step any favours, but they're hardly enough to see the entire craze fall from hero to zero. There is one key, extra factor which always starts a downwards spiral from which most fitness trends find it difficult to recover: Illness. Or – more generally speaking – absence.

Believe it or not, Freestyle Step instructors are just humans like the rest of us. They change, they take holidays, they get ill, and they’re prone to injuries. Sooner or later the day will come when every instructor needs to take a break for a week or two (or potentially even longer) for one reason or another. We’ve already discussed how instructor numbers are falling, so of course when one needs to skip a week, gyms find it incredibly difficult to find a replacement to cover their classes.

What happens when an instructor can no longer take a class, and there are no replacements available? What is a gym to do? It makes no sense financially to leave the timetable blank, so their solution of choice is to replace the Freestyle Step class with something similar but much more popular. So it is that they turn to Les Mills BodyStep: the bane of Freestyle Step’s life.

It’s got to be said that on paper Les Mills look a whole lot more attractive to gyms. They don’t have that ‘freestyle’, individual approach, so each instructor is pretty much the same. What one instructor does, they all do. That’s why if one BodyStep instructor cancels a class, it’s easy for gyms to pick up the phone and find another, because they can pick up exactly where the original teacher left off. Most Freestyle Step fans will recoil in horror at the thought of this, but it does make life an awful lot easier for gyms. Ultimately, it all comes down to business again.

As if that wasn’t enough, with Les Mills being so much more popular than Freestyle Step, available instructors are a dime a dozen; they’re so easy to come by, which seriously helps with the running of a gym.

From everything we’ve seen above, it’s not really much of a surprise that gyms think Freestyle Step is an unreliable class to put on the timetable. When it comes to running a stable, steady, effective business, who can really blame them for going for the safer option of Les Mills BodyStep?

All things considered, it’s pretty clear that gyms are pushing Freestyle Step aside. Sad as it may seem, they do have good intentions. However, those intentions are focused on the well-being and happiness of the members overall, rather than just the Freestyle Step members. As awesome as you all are, gyms simply can’t prioritise your own personal wishes over the experiences of hundreds of others. Remember that for them it’s just business, and they have to find a way to keep the people coming in and the money rolling over.

That said, we’ve also seen that the gyms can’t be forced to take all the blame. Instructors and members have given gyms the push they needed to let Freestyle Step fall by the wayside. Of course this wasn’t intentional, but their attitudes meant that fewer people were able to attend, and fewer instructors were interested in teaching a wide range of abilities.

You and I both agree that Freestyle Step is pretty much the best thing since the dawn of time. However, you can’t deny that the Les Mills programs give gyms exactly what they want; reliability, style, choreography, and a wealth of instructors ready and waiting in the wings to take over. What more could a gym want?

That was our article for July 2015. Remember to feel free to comment, or contact me via email to FreestyleStepXTRVGNZ@gmail.com, and comment on what you think of this article, or any article you have read, or just any improvements you may want to see happening.

Next month, we will looking at the subject of "Reebok Step v's LesMills SmartTech Step" here we will looking at the good and the bad of both designs. with a perspective of "The Stepper"

In August 2015 article... I concentrate on how this change in direction of Step design makes the freestyle step workout a much more difficult one. Next month article has some interesting and strong points discussed.

Bruno Jimenez
July 2015
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Location: Australia
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