It’s one thing to bring the Whole Life Challenge to your gym.
It’s quite another to turn it into a game-changing event that will shift the conversation about health and well-being, influence the decisions of your members and clients by igniting their inner drive and passion.
To do this, you have to create an event around the challenge that is worthy of their time, presence and energy. You must turn it into something that they will remember forever, and have fun doing in the process.
This is what we did at CrossFit Los Angeles back when we ran the first Whole Life Challenge in 2012. We had over 150 people sign up. And it was an event that many of our members still talk about to this day.
Here are the things we did to make it an event to remember.
About 2 months out we sent out a notice. We created a flier… with the start date, the end date, and a little bit about the elements. Not too many details… it was a more of a “save the date”... reminding people that this is something that they weren’t going to want to miss.
We got all the trainers on board. We held a meeting and talked about the details - explaining to them how it worked and what we wanted them to do to lead their subteams during the Challenge.
They would each lead a smaller group of clients. Since they each already had clients assigned to them, it would be their responsibility to get them signed up for the Challenge.
They would participate fully, honestly, transparently - humanizing them, and giving them a chance to connect on a deeper level with their clients.
They would get a window into the lives of their clients - giving them the ability to coach them at a deeper level - in ALL areas related to their health and well-being, not just fitness.
We had each coach reach out to the 2-10 clients that were already raving fans… whom they were sure would sign up for whatever it was that we were doing. And we got them signed up.
We created a list to put up in the gym. A sign up list… but we pre-entered all the people that were already signed up. So people could see before we made any additional marketing efforts that the “cool kids” were doing it… and that they probably should put their name down on the list too.
We then got to work on the Preliminary Event.
4-5 weeks prior to the event, we plastered the gym with fliers - giving more details of the Challenge, and of the preliminary event. We also sent out an email with the flier and with more details.
At the same time, we put up the physical sign-up list in the gym. This is the one that had the names of the people we had already pre-registered (already over 25 at that point). Having the list in the main part of the gym gave the trainers the chance to refer to it in classes, and to literally have members put their name up on the list to sign up. This didn’t guarantee that they would, but it was a huge step in the right direction.
As people signed up, we would ADD THEIR NAMES to the physical sign up list in the gym… so that list grew, and grew, and grew… at one point it was over 3 pages of names! That is called SOCIAL PROOF… and is a hugely powerful motivator.
We then went about finding sponsors for prizes.
Each week, as the Challenge got closer, we would send a new email out about signing up. One of the most important was the email we sent encouraging them to invite ONE friend or family member - from a completely different walk of life.
The next flyer we put up included info about prizes. On it, we also announced that all other events that day at the gym were canceled. We invited EVERYONE to participate… even if they weren’t registered for the Challenge.
Just prior to the week before the start, we decided to create a unique requirement for our gym members. We created a weekly movement challenge that we required them to get done prior to the end of each week to be entered into the weekly raffle. They varied in time and task like accumulating 10 miles of running (or 20,000m rowing), accumulating 350 push ups or 500 air squats.
Three days before the start, we went out to the site for the preliminary event and did a walk through with the coaches/staff. We laid out everything - where things would go, how they would flow, and what equipment we would need, where, so that the event went off without a hitch.
Also three days before, we held a pre-game huddle. This was a meeting at the gym where we gathered everyone registered and went through the rules and context of the Challenge with everyone and answered all their questions.
On the day of the event, it was clear that something cool and exciting was happening. We had a canopy set up with tables for check-in. We had stations for body measurements, we had a heat sign-up, we had the workout area all laid out. We had greeters, along with a photographer and a video person to get footage. Anyone that came as a guest was immediately welcomed, shown where to go and what to do, and given any basic training they needed to be able to do the workout.
We required coaches to participate in the Challenge. This was important for their authenticity in the reflection feed. It also gave them a presence there, so that they could offer guidance to anyone sharing things about how they were struggling.
We also required coaches to write captain’s posts… a minimum of one post each week (most did more than just the one). These posts were expressly created to give the coaches a voice, a chance to develop their leadership, and to create a theme/focus for their teams for the Challenge each week.
As the Challenge progressed, subteam coaches used the engagement stats to keep close tabs on their team members. If someone disappeared for more than a couple of days, they’d reach out in a text or email. The started to see the areas where people were challenged, even if they were showing up.
Weekly raffles were super fun. First of all, prizes were valued at at least $100 (so that it was something meaningful to play for). We would compile the list of people who were entered, assign them all a number in a list. We then shot a video of us making the drawing (it was before the days of Facebook or Instagram Live), and sent it out to everyone by email.
As people started losing weight, we realized that we needed something to give them evidence of their progress. We told them that as they lost, and a pair of jeans or pants became too big for them to wear any more, to bring the pants into the gym. We collected over 50 pairs of pants… hung them by the rafters… and gave them away to a charity at the end of the Challenge.
At the end of the Challenge, we began promoting the final event - the same way we did at the beginning. Good to remember - you won’t get as many people showing up at the end as you did at the beginning.
The day of the final event was identical to the preliminaries. The only difference… we had all the prizes on hand and ready to give away to winners that were there. We ensured that the feeling off being there was that of fun, competition, and excitement. We also made sure that we were able to calculate winners quickly, to minimize any waiting around time at the event.
The result of all this work?
We shifted the context of the community’s conversation at the gym - it shifted from one solely focused on fitness, strength, competition, and endurance, to one that included those things but also included health and well-being.
We gave clients the opportunity to feel AWESOME about the time and effort they put in.
We gave our coaches the experience to focus and lead smaller teams in the areas of health and well-being.
We developed a deeper relationship with all our clients.
We delivered such incredible results that we were able to double the number of people on our team the next year.
While this isn’t the “right” way… it’s certainly one way that I KNOW works. I encourage you to use any of what we did that feels good to you in building your team. I also recommend that you use your experience and creativity to make the Challenge your own for your gym and community!