Crunch Taps Struct Club To Enhance Cycling Classes at Signature Gyms
Crunch Fitness is investing in its indoor cycling offerings, tapping a fit tech startup to elevate the class experience with music and attendance-boosting strategies
Struct Club, a music-oriented programming platform and app for fitness studios and instructors, has partnered with Crunch Signature, the ‘No Judgments’ gym brand’s line of 27 premium facilities that include dedicated fitness spaces, Woodway treadmills, Boot Builder machines, saunas, steam rooms and on-site shops.
The Los Angeles-based fitness tech startup, dubbed the “secret sauce” behind the most memorable fitness classes, plans to elevate Ride, the indoor cycling class at Crunch Signature, by providing instructors with access to software to elevate the member experience.
“Today’s consumer expectations are higher than ever,” Struct Club founder and CEO Amira Polack said. “Impeccable quality, unique experiences and freshness have become table stakes – every class, every coach, every time. Adjacent hospitality sectors to fitness have tapped into tech that enables client-facing employees to ‘wow’ customers, but fitness is behind. Together, Struct Club and Crunch Signature are making it easier than ever for group exercise instructors to lead the pack.”
The partnership also sees Struct Club and Crunch Signature unveil a certification program to equip instructors and give them an edge in advanced music programming techniques based on behavioral research and strategies to engage class-goers and maximize attendance. Continuing education workshops will also be available for new and existing indoor cycling instructors.
Polack knows firsthand how imperative it is to lead a class with the perfect choreography and finesse, having once been an indoor cycling instructor and dealing with the frustrations of class preparation.
“I’d spend countless hours scribbling notes and memorizing my playlists, which ended up being insufficient teaching aids. I learned that I wasn’t alone,” she once shared in a blog post. Polack founded the startup in 2018 during her final semester at Harvard Business School, with the platform offering ready-made class templates with workouts, playlists and cues and the flexibility to design a class from scratch.
Beyond its Crunch Signature locations, Crunch Fitness is making good on its promise that 2024 will be the high-value, low-price (HVLP) gym brand’s biggest year ever in terms of growth.
One of Crunch’s largest franchisees, JF Fitness of North America, received new private equity funding to expand its footprint in the Southeast with new gym openings, while Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott recently linked up with CR Fitness Holdings, the largest operator of Crunch Fitness franchise locations, to grow the gym brand in Dallas and beyond.
Crunch CEO Jim Rowley believes the fitness operator could one day hit 1,500 locations in the U.S. and double (or even triple) that amount when considering the low-cost, high-value fitness brand’s international potential.
While Crunch has a presence in Canada, Spain, Portugal, Costa Rica and Australia, the big box brand is poised to enter new international markets with the help of former Xponential chief development officer John Kersh, who Crunch recently brought on to serve in a similar role.
Courtney Rehfeldt has worked in the broadcasting media industry since 2007 and has freelanced since 2012. Her work has been featured in Age of Awareness, Times Beacon Record, The New York Times, and she has an upcoming piece in Slate. She studied yoga & meditation under Beryl Bender Birch at The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute. She enjoys hiking, being outdoors, and is an avid reader. Courtney has a BA in Media & Communications studies.