S.S. Krivosheev, postgraduate
E.V. Kuz'micheva, Dr.Hab.
Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sport, Youth and Tourism, Moscow

Key words: individual classes, fitness club, boxing, physical fitness.       

Introduction. The number of those engaged in physical culture and sport in Russia has increased by almost five percent (4,8%) over the last four years (2008-2012). The number of fitness clubs exceeded three thousand (3168), and the number of club members reached 1,613,000 people. Club management is a priory aimed at comfortable provision of services, and primarily major for a club, which are sports and fitness services. Most clubs are tenants of premises and it does not always contribute to expansion of the area of gyms and swimming pools with an increase in the number of club members. Moreover, for a club member the unacceptable situation is when a planned group class is denied due to the inability to fit everyone in one gym (pool), or queues in shower and sauna. As has been shown before, the size of rooms for group classes, gym and swimming pools, as well as showers, saunas and cloakroom facilities define the upper limit of the number of members (2). The need for continuous improvement of effectiveness of activity, including financial, within a permanent number of club members forces clubs to intensify the efforts to expand individual classes, i.e. personal trainings.

The purpose of the present study was to develop and experimentally substantiate the content and the basic parameters of individual boxing lessons for middle-aged men in a fitness club.

Materials and methods. The research methods included the following: analysis of regulatory documents, questionnaire survey, physical fitness test, methods of mathematical statistics, etc.

The study was conducted in the premises of Moscow premium fitness clubs. Survey results revealed unmet needs of the club members regarding the expansion of the service list, including personal trainings. Individual classes based on the experimental program were organized in compliance with the identified interest in boxing.

Boxing classes in a fitness club are a variety of an aerobic workout that is recreational and simulates a martial arts training. Besides training the cardiorespiratory system boxing contributes to an increase in dynamic strength and endurance, improves motor coordination (3).

The educational experiment involved 41 men aged 24-55 years who attended boxing classes in a fitness club. In accordance with the age periodization this age belongs to the first and second periods of adulthood. It is these age groups that make up to 70% of fitness clubs members. The experimental group consisted of men who preferred classes with a personal trainer, and the control group - of men attending group boxing classes. The experiment lasted from September 2012 up to June 2013. Ten first classes (involving stage) and 20 classes of the developmental stage made up the experimental group program. Duration of the classes during the involving and developmental stages was 60 minutes. All the classes included a proper warm-up, elements of aerobic, strength and flexibility training and cool down (Tables 1, 2).

Table 1. Boxing classes content.

Table 2. Training classes parameters.

Physical fitness was estimated using three tests of cardiorespiratory endurance, abdominal muscle strength and flexibility. 1. Step-test as a basic test of cardiorespiratory endurance that can be used for individual and group testing of physical fitness (3). 2. One-minute test “sit-ups (number of times)” used to evaluate abdominal and hip flexor muscle endurance (3). 3. Straight leg stretch exercises, when the starting point (heels of the testee) is 38 cm from the ruler (3). In the experimental group subjects were tested individually over the set period prior to the program start and after thirty classes (Tables 3, 4).

The coefficients of variation for the three tests ranged from 1.54% to 2.99%, indicating that the sample is homogeneous, i.e., it is obtained from the same general population. This is also confirmed by the calculation of the Fisher-Snedecor distribution that ranged from 1.06 to 1.14, that being significantly less than the critical F-value for the given group sizes (1).  

Results of the study. Before the experiment significant differences between men of the experimental and control groups were not detected in the performance results in all the three tests, while after thirty classes the differences were statistically significant.

Table 3. Test results before and after the experiment, t_st.=2.09

Before the experiment the standards of heart rate recovery after a three-minute step-test for men of the experimental group attending individual classes corresponded to the average fitness level, while after 30 individual classes the indicators increased to the “above average” and “good” levels (3). The test indicators of men in the control group remained “good” after thirty classes and did not improve significantly.

The results in the one-minute test “Sit-ups (number of times)” were at the ”below average” level for both of the groups, while after 30 classes the test results in the experimental group rose to the “average” level, and remained unchanged in the control group. 

The results of the test “Straight leg stretch exercises” were ”below average” in both of the groups, and the groups’ results did not differ significantly, while after the classes they increased to the ”average” level in the experimental group and remained unchanged in the control one.

Table 4. Dynamics performance of test results, tst.=2.09.

A survey of subjects in the experimental and control groups after thirty classes revealed significantly exceeding indicators of satisfaction with the achieved goals and the level of control over the physical state of trainees in the experimental group over those in the control group (Table 5). 

Table 5. Statistical processing of the survey results (а=0.01; j_cr.=2.31)

The regulatory capacity of sports facilities of the club (four gyms with a total area of 506 sqm and a swimming pool of 112 sqm) was 410 people a day, and its serving capacity was 2,570 people. Taking into account the fact that every club member uses 1.5-2 services on average (group classes and gym, classes in the swimming pool and gym, etc), the number of members being 2,090 people can already be considered ultimate, as evidenced by the clients’ complains about crowded gyms.

The recommendations of the Moscow Department of Physical Training and Sports contain several evaluation criteria of efficiency of using sports facilities, including the criteria of social and technical efficiency. Social efficiency is defined as the ratio of the actual volume of services (persons x hour) to the working time of sports facilities during which the service was provided (hour) and regulatory simultaneous capacity of the sports facilities while providing the service (persons). For the club in question social efficiency was 0.669 or 66.9% per year.

Technical efficiency is defined as the ratio of the time of operation of the facility during the reporting period (time during which services were rendered at the facility (in hours) to the maximum possible (standard) time of operation of the facility during the reporting period (in hours). For the club in question this figure is considerably higher than provided by the regulations (25,200 / 12,960 = 194.4%), as fitness clubs usually operate 18 hours a day.

The income from individual classes (personal trainings) so far account for not more than 20-25% of the total revenue of the club.

Conclusion. Types and amounts of services provided in fitness clubs are constantly increasing. Training programs are more focused on a particular member, on the problems he wants to solve. Individual boxing classes according to the proposed experimental program enable club members to consistently achieve goals set at classes and monitor physical state that is an incentive to new achievements. Responsibilities of a fitness trainer include motivation of trainees, assessment of their physical fitness, program development, conducting classes, etc. Development of the area of personal training, on the one hand, can effectively improve physical fitness of trainees and provide loyal customers for clubs, and, on the other, increase financial stability of fitness clubs.

References

1. Higher Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics: study guide for universities / Ed. by G.I. Popov. – Moscow: Fizicheskaya kul'tura, 2007. – 368 P. (In Russian)
2. Krivosheev, S.S., Kuz'micheva, E.V. Organizational management in a modern fitness club / S.S. Krivosheev, E.V. Kuz'micheva // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2011. – № 6. – P. 100–104. (In Russian)
3. The basics of personal training / Ed. by R.V. Erl, T.R. Behl; transl. from Engl. – Kiev: Olimp. lit., 2012. – 724 P. (In Russian)

Corresponding author: fizkult@teoriya.ru; 8-903-598-7617