Results of the Momentum membership survey 2016 – part 2
Following on from last week’s post on the highs and lows of our survey feedback, some other specific points you raised (and our responses) are below in a Q&A format. As before, even if we don’t address your comments directly, please know that we have taken them on board – feel free to approach us to chat further if you would like to talk about anything specific at any time.
You say |
We say |
Why are we called two names (Momentum Training and CrossFit Hackney)? |
My Momentum Limited (trading as Momentum Training) is the name of our company and the name of the gym. CrossFit is one of the things we do in the gym, amongst others (like yoga, metcon etc). When you set up a CrossFit affiliate (paying a licence fee to the big official CrossFit organization in the US) you have to choose a unique name – we thought about CrossFit Momentum but in the end chose CrossFit Hackney as it does what it says on the tin. So Momentum is more than just CrossFit Hackney (and the Facebook pages reflect this – the Momentum page is for general gym news while the CrossFit page is more for CrossFit specific stuff). |
I would like to ask whether it would be possible to have the Monday and Wednesday sessions of 12:30 an hour (or even just half an hour) before. Training from 11:30 to 12:30 would give possibility to have lunch break and then go to work. Starting at 12:30 means ending at 13:30 and this push everything a bit too far in the afternoon. |
We’ll put this on the agenda for discussion but off the top of my head recall that we scheduled them later at someone’s specific request. Know it’s not the same, but you could always do open gym earlier if you really needed to get out before lunch… |
Regarding metcon, it would be nice to know (roughly) which kind of exercises we will be doing, sometimes my legs are very tired and I would not sign up for classes with lots of legs exercises |
Each coach has their own unique take on metcon and variety is the spice of life. We plan all our other sessions rigorously but with met con we like to leave it a bit more open. |
There needs to be some lunchtime classes |
We have lunchtime classes on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. The uptake isn’t huge so we are unlikely to put on classes on further days. |
It’d be great to have a greater selection of Crossfit & Barbell classes available on weekend afternoons if possible |
As much as we’d love to do this, we have to close the gym sometimes to take a break and I hope you’ll agree that we do already offer one of the broadest timetables of any CrossFit box in London. |
It would be nice to see another Barbell class added during (Tues-Thurs) the week during peak times, or first thing in the morning. Unfortunately if you’re signed up for both the Friday night and the Saturday you end up repeating the program, so having flexibility or a program re-structure would benefit. |
Noted. We have looked over the timetabling during the week and struggle to find the right balance as everybody would like to see more of class x, y or z at a particular time. You’ll be aware that there is already an 8am Barbell club on a Tuesday morning – but assuming you can’t make this one? There are two Barbell club programmes (1&2) every week – if you come on Saturday and find yourself repeating the Friday program just ask the coach, which will probably be me (Geoff) if you can do the other program. |
Is it possible to keep the box open until later in the evening so people can do open gym. Most gyms are open until 2130-2200 – is this a possibility? |
As above, we really try to make the facilities available to you as much as possible but need to close the box sometimes to give our staff a break. |
I would love to go on the new InBody scanner thing but honestly think that £29 is a total piss take. |
Unfortunately we need to cover the cost of the rental – hence the price. We’re going to make it half price (£15) during January – hope that helps. |
I’d love to see the each crossfit workout description being visible on Mindbody app as the class description |
We will raise this with MindBody but suspect it’s unlikely that they’ll add this functionality imminently. |
Please open a franchise of gyms across the country, while leaving momentum exactly as is, become rich, and then reduce rates for long-term momentum members to £10 a year. |
We’re working on it! |
We haven’t had any social functions in a really long time |
A fair few people asked for more socials in the survey. Obvs we had the Christmas party last Friday. But point taken. We’ll arrange some. Watch this space. Someone suggested a coffee morning, which is quite a good idea. The CrossFit Open will be upon us in March and then every Friday night we’ll be doing the Open workout followed by some kind of social gathering. |
Some renewed jump ropes would be good |
The good ones need to be measured specifically for you so if you are using them regularly you are better off buying your own – we’ve got some in stock – Christmas present? |
More Open Gym sessions (6am on Thursdays) |
Ok we’ll look at this. |
I miss a lot of the open gym classes that have now gone to group PT. I understand that it is a good way to increase profits but it takes away some of the flexibility around training. |
Noted although I suspect we offer more open gym than other boxes? You know you can still use open gym when group PT is on (albeit there are limited spaces) so you need to get in early to book these. Group PT isn’t just about increasing profits, it’s proving popular as members like the more bespoke sessions in a smaller group format – some members prefer to see this kind of thing on the timetable than open gym so it’s about us finding a balance. We are aware, however, of the importance of open gym as an offering and we are looking at this alongside our PT business at the moment. Space is always an issue and we wish we had more. |
Can you publish next week’s schedule earlier (maybe Friday not Sunday night pls!) also used to be great when workout published on social media each day – is possible? Would be good marketing |
We leave it until Sunday night to give us as long as possible to observe the programming in the classes and how you guys are dealing with it – this allows us to tweak it at the last minute if we need to. Sorry about that. We’re about to look at the template for the programming on the blog so will throw adding it to social media into the mix. Not sure if we’ll be able to do that daily but will do our best. |
More heavy metcon |
Love to hear this but very sadly we just don’t have the available slots – it’s too demanding a class to repeat to repeat more than once a week. |
Sometimes a bit worried about bringing valuables. Not sure of the process / no sure if there is anywhere to leave my stuff. Some lockers would be great. |
Geoff is looking into some small valuables lockers to go on the wall in the main training area of the gym for you to put your phones/wallets in while you train. |
I cannot find the right membership for my situation. I cannot attend very often / week but I would like to take 1-2 classes per week and use the gym. I learned very much in the last 1 1/2 years of xfitting and know where to educate myself further so I need some opportunity to use the gym onmmynown terms. Also cost for such an “alumni membership” would need to come down below £ 15 per session |
We try to find the balance between keeping our membership structure simple (ish) and offering memberships to suit the greatest number of our clients. Like everything, it’s a balancing act for us. I think the best we can do at the moment, which probably isn’t going to help you very much, sorry, is the 9 times a month, which works out at around £12 a session. Come and chat to me (Geoff), next time you’re in. |
I would love a 630am start class during the week! |
With apologies, this isn’t going to be possible at the moment, as it would push everything too late – 6am works for the majority of our early morning members who need to be in work for 8am. Sorry about that. |
Jenna – pumping tunes. The boys could learn a thing or two! Really does make a difference to training especially during a wod. |
We’ll put this on the agenda for staff training! Every time we create a new playlist someone complains! Can’t keep everyone happy. |
An extra fan in summer would really help with ventilation |
Ok! |
Maybe could do with a few more of the lighter weight plates. |
We’ve just got some new 5 kilos and 1.25s are on the Christmas list. |
Some equipment that’d make a big difference would be some extra green and purple kettlebells |
Yes ok good point we’ll order some. |
Low points for the website mainly for the reason that, while it looks good online, it is really hard as a member to get to the information you need most often – i.e. the daily schedule. At the moment you have to find the site, then find the blog, then find the most recent blog post, scroll through it, then click into a PDF/excel sheet which is really hard to view on a smartphone!! Am I missing an easier way? If we could at least make this not be a separate file it would help, and have you thought about pinning a link to the week’s programme at the top of the private FB group and/or the FB page? |
Yes, a couple of people made this point – we’re about to look at the program/blog template so will throw this into the mix. |
The stuff that goes on in Body Composition PT looks good (nutrition advice and body analysis etc) but I honestly think that you should be trying to do a version of that for all members as part of a usual membership – or e.g. adding the option of a monthly session (short, like 20 minutes) where you go on the body line, bring a food diary, and get some nutrition advice – for e.g. £20. Or I think there’s a gap for offering sort of non-supervised PT-guidance – e.g. you get given a programme by someone, that would include some CrossFit and some Open Gym work – they’d discuss your goals etc and then see you maybe once per month. |
The additional services on offer in the Body Composition classes come at a cost of the coaches who run these classes. The additional InBody scans, nutrition advice, food diary analysis all take time and come at a cost too. With over 300 members in the gym we simply do not have the coaching resources to offer this advice to everyone for free, much as we’d like to. Those who are looking for the additional advice and assistance with their goals are encouraged to attend the group P.T sessions or to sign-up for individual personal training. |
More nutrition advice would be welcome. |
When you book a session on the InBody scanner (half price in January 2017), you get some nutrition info. We’ll look into more nutrition related events next year. |
More use of the shop, more t shirts for sale and more explanation on what the supplements are for. |
Okey doke. |
Can we have a front door that you can close? in winter season |
I (Geoff) am meeting a builder this week to look at a new door! |