The IFPA Fitness Facility Manager uses the most valuable texts on the business of fitness ever presented:

Health Fitness Management

Table Of Contents

This comprehensive text brings conventional business management principles and operational guidelines to the unconventional business of health and fitness.

At a time when poorly managed health fitness facilities are failing at record rates, Health Fitness Management offers owners and managers, as well as students preparing to enter the industry, in-depth and insightful information on running a health fitness facility smoothly, efficiently, and successfully.

Owners and managers can turn to the book for immediate solutions to problems at their health fitness facilities. They can use the book’s evaluation checklist to see how their facilities and programs measure up to the theoretical benchmarks, and they can follow up on observed problem areas by referencing the appropriate section of the book. They can also use the book’s ready-to-copy forms and worksheets, which include sample membership applications, maintenance request forms, child care waivers, and more.

Students will benefit from the book’s chapter outlines, highlighted key terms, illustrations, and graphs, as well as its practical approach to presenting management theory.

Part I provides an overview of the industry and underlying principles of managing and operating health fitness facilities. Following an industry update, a contemporary approach to management is reviewed and alternative viewpoints toward organizational structure are discussed.

Part II deals with front-of-the-house management issues. Topics covered include sales and marketing, member management, service desk management, program management, profit centers, personnel management, and equipment issues. This section reinforces the importance of member relations and illustrates methods of ensuring quality control in this vital area of running a successful operation.

Part III addresses back-of-the-house management issues, which are less visible to the member but are critically important to a successful program. Topics covered include health and safety standards; maintenance; finance; compensation; and legal, insurance, and computer issues.

Part IV covers the process of evaluating facilities, personnel, programs, marketing, and finances. This section shows how ongoing evaluation of programs can be used to forecast change for optimal development and can be an important part of strategic planning.

About the Authors

William C. Grantham, now deceased, was the general manager of the Little Rock Athletic Club, which was named the best commercial fitness center in Arkansas in 1996 by both the Arkansas Governors Council on Physical Fitness and the Arkansas Times. Selected in 1974 at the age of 25 to direct Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s Aerobics Activity Center in Dallas, Texas, Grantham was involved in nearly every facet of health fitness facility management and operation. He directed facility design and start-up, managed as many as 135 employees, and handled all areas of marketing, finance, member services, food and beverage, and pro shop management. In addition, he served as a health fitness facility consultant and as a certified examiner for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Grantham was the coauthor of Developing and Managing Health/Fitness Facilities. He was a member of the International Health and Racquet Sports Association and a graduate of the organization’s Professional Management Institute. He was also a member of ACSM.

Dr. Robert W. Patton has been involved in the health and fitness field for the past thirty years. He is currently a regents professor of kinesiology at the University of North Texas in Denton, where he was instrumental in the development of the health fitness management and exercise physiology graduate programs. Patton is also president of Health Fitness Associates, a Texas-based company whose mission is planning, designing, equipping, staffing, programming, and evaluating health fitness facilities and programs around the world. His particular expertise is in the facility planning stages prior to construction and in the personnel and program development processes after construction. As a consultant and expert witness, Patton has served over fifty major clients, including corporations, hospitals, resorts, and hotels, as well as preventive medicine clinics and commercial fitness centers.

In addition to writing more than 80 journals articles and several encyclopedia chapters, Patton is the principal author of Implementing Health/Fitness Programs and Developing and Managing Health/Fitness Facilities. He is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and a former chair of the organization’s Health Fitness Director certification subcommittee. He is also a fellow of the Association for Worksite Health Promotion and the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance’s Research Consortium. Patton is married to Elisa Hardy Patton and has two grown kids, Laura and Scott. He is an avid traveler and a fitness enthusiast who enjoys jogging and cycling as well as reading and gardening.

Tracy D. York serves as director of operations for the Lake Austin Spa Resort, a destination wellness spa located in Austin, Texas. Prior to accepting this position, she served as director of The Spa at the Cresent, a luxury spa, fitness, and wellness facility managed by Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, which oversees five-star hotels and resorts around the world. In this role, York was responsible for managing all aspects of the private fitness facility and public day spa. In addition to her management duties at The Spa, York served on the development team for Rosewood Hotels, designing spa and fitness facilities. She is a contributing author to ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (Fifth Edition) and a section editor for the ACSM’s Resource Manual to the Guidelines (Third Edition). York is the recipient of a master’s degree in health fitness management from North Texas State University. She is a lover of outdoor activities and enjoys jogging, cycling, weight training, yoga, and golf.

Mitchel L. Winick is a consultant, author, and speaker in the areas of professional service management, marketing, and communications. During the past 20 years, he has applied his expertise to two distinctly different industries. As a consultant in the health fitness industry, he provides management and marketing research, analysis, and advice to many of the United States’ largest health fitness organizations, including the American College of Sports Medicine and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. As a licensed attorney, he serves as an adjunct professor of law, teaching law office management and technology, at Texas Tech School of Law and the University of Houston Law Center. He also serves as a faculty member and author for several professional organizations, including the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, the Center for Nonprofit Management, and the State Bar of Texas Professional Development Program. He is coauthor of A Guide to the Basics of Law Practice and Law Office Management: Practice and Technology. Winick received his JD from the University of Houston Law Center. He and his wife, Debbie have two children, Tyler and Lezah.

“This is a fast-moving, action-packed book on selling, full of practical tips and ideas that anyone can apply immediately to increase their corporate sales and personal income. Every salesperson in today’s competitive market should read this book from cover to cover. It will give you the winning edge over your competitors!”

- Brian Tracy, President, Brian Tracy Learning Systems

“Guerrilla Selling is one of the finest books I have ever read on brining all sales principles up to date. It is a how-to treasure and is not limited to just know-how principles.”

- Cavett Robert, Chairman Emeritus, National Speakers Association

“Guerrilla Selling is loaded with great ideas that will help salespeople excel at every phase of selling. A salesperson armed with this book will make everyone win-except the competition!”

- Dr. Tony Allesandra, author of Non-Manipulative Selling

Sales consultants Bill Gallagher, Ph.D., and Orvel Ray Wilson team up with the best-selling author of Guerrilla Marketing and Guerrilla Marketing Attack, Jay Conrad Levinson, to create the ultimate guide to selling.

About the Authors

Bill Gallagher, PhD., is a speaker, sales trainer, and management consultant.

Orvel Ray Wilson is a speaker and seminar leader in the field of sales. He directs a consulting firm from his home in the Colorado mountains.

Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the successful Guerrilla series, is a speaker and workshop leader as well as an entrepreneur.

The IFPA Fitness Facility Manager Certification is the most comprehensive educational course for managing and operating fitness programs and facilities available today. This course is designed to bring professional business management principals to our industry. This course will also provide the essential operational guidelines that are so critical for the success of your fitness business. Equally important, this course will provide a means for evaluating your existing programs as well as the tools necessary for strategic planning that is critical to your future success.

Taking the time and effort necessary to truly master these concepts will result in a tremendous increase in your ability to effectively manage your fitness facility and programs. Use the many principles and concepts you will learn during this certification program to expand your horizons and improve your ability to incorporate new information into your management repertoire.

If you are currently a manager or owner of a fitness facility, then you are already one of the leaders of the fitness industry. If you are taking this course with the intention of becoming a manager or owner, then you are on your way to becoming one of the leaders of the fitness industry.

In either event, I would like to encourage you to continually develop your knowledge, skill and character in your quest for success. As our industry continues to evolve, it is becoming more and more apparent that our industry is becoming more and more essential to the health, well being, and success of our country. It is now apparent that the preventive medicine delivered to our citizens by our industry is more critical to the overall health of our nation than the drugs and surgeries available from the medical community. Please recognize the fact that your careers are not dependent on developing the next generations of bodybuilders and fitness models. Your careers are dependent on developing the fitness, health and nutrition attitudes and abilities of our children, our seniors, our obese, our stressed-out professionals as well as the host of thousands in and around our communities whose lives deteriorate everyday because of lack of exercise, poor nutrition habits, unhealthy lifestyle choices and fad dieting.

Includes: Health Fitness Management and Guerrilla Selling textbooks, Study Guide/Workbook, certification exam.

"Hello all, I hope the weather is good for you in Florida. The leaves are turning up here in the north and it beginning to get cold. Enclosed you will see the Performance Nutrition package completed for continuing credits. Also in the package is my IFPA CEU Report Form since my certification is up in October. I have already paid for my re-certification when I requested the long distance learning course.

I would like to let you know that I found the Performance Nutrition course an excellent tool to further my knowledge in fitness. I am a full time police officer, working the graveyard shift, so it is difficult to attend seminars, formal training or stay up to date with the current advancements in fitness. The long distance learning is a perfect way to expand my educational knowledge to assist me personally as well as my clients. Since I do work the night shift and sleep when I can it is hard to eat healthy or appropriate all the time and stay on a constant routine. I learned valuable ideas and tricks to assist me in my own well being while learning about the proper aspects of nutrition."

-Derrick Kendrew

IFPA Certified Personal Fitness Trainer

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