Clayton Leah has explained the ‘unconventional approach’ he’s taking
Business partners (left-to-right) Jack Bramhall and Clayton Leah who run Ascendancy Fitness in Warrington, Cheshire
Gym owner Clayton Leah is taking a bold stance this January by refusing to sign up new members in a bid to provide a superior experience for those already committed to his gym. The b31-year-old boss of Ascendancy Fitness, in Penketh, Warrington, accepted its’s an “unconventional approach” during the fitness industry’s peak season.
Clayton said his decision was driven by a desire to maintain quality over quantity and to inspire a shift in the typical surge of health commitments that come with the New Year. He said: “We thought this year there was a real chance we could get a lot of sign ups in the New Year – because even through November and December we just continuously had grown in memberships.
“That was a warning sign that in January we could have a significantly busy month and that would then just annoy all of our existing members who have been with us for so long. We wanted to try and break the mould. Try and take an unconventional approach and protect our existing members – that is the most important thing for us.”
Beyond just managing gym capacity, Clayton is keen on encouraging people to adopt healthy lifestyles at any time, not just as part of a fleeting New Year’s resolution. He said: “People want to lose a bit of weight in the New Year and make a pact to join the gym and then obviously you get an influx of members. When you make those resolutions in December – because you are making them at that point in time it is only natural that the motivation is not going to be there forever.”
Ascendancy Fitness in Warrington, Cheshire
Shedding light on seasonal membership trends, he added: “That is why you have this big influx in January and it comes February and people tend to drop off a little bit. The only negative response people have is a case of ‘I was going to join but now I can’t’. For those people I say ‘well, you should have joined sooner’.”