What I’ve Learned Over the Past 15 Years
We are about to celebrate the Ultimate Body Challenge’s (UBC) 10th anniversary. Believe it or not, I consider Thanksgiving Day as the anniversary of the UBC. Why you might ask? Because that was the first day that I marketed the UBC program to the public. Mindy and I(not yet my wife at that time), passed out close to 2,000 fliers at the Turkey Trot. The Turkey Trot is a road race that’s held every year on Thanksgiving morning.
Anyway, we passed out 2,000 fliers and received one call! I learned a great lesson that day and have learned many more in my 15+ years of teaching, marketing and running a martial arts fitness programs. (Don’t forget, I was the person who developed the Cardio Karate program for NAPMA and certified over 6,000 instructors starting in 1995). What I learned that day at the Turkey Trot is this….people who are already involved in an exercise activity, like running, are a hard sell for a program that’s designed to get people in shape quickly.
They are runners and already active, so a program that focuses on weight loss and fitness is not as appealing to them as it is to the average person who’s not working out. That was just one of the lessons that I learned over the past 15 years.
Something I learned from the Cardio Karate days is to not limit your market. Realize if you create a work out that is limited only to people who want to participate in a martial arts-styled workout, or the class is perceived to be so demanding that only people who are young and in shape can participate, you limit your ability to grow your program. This is why, when I created the UBC, I did not create the program just for the 18-35 year old fitness market. I had already seen how fickle that market could be. One day you’re hot, the next day you’re not.
What I learned from my Cardio Karate days, I used to develop my UBC program. Having licensed over 500 studios and sold over 50,000 student manuals, I think I got it right the second time around! I knew, for long term success, I had to come up with a program that would attract the fitness crowd but would also attract the 45 year old mother of three who hasn’t worked out in ten years, or the 50 year old male who’s tired of the local fitness center, as well as the person who wants to take off 20-50 pounds. (The record is 59 pounds in the ten week course). I wanted to a create a program that everyone could participate in and one that would appeal to a much larger portion of the adult population, not just young people who were looking for a new challenge. Plus, by sticking with time-tested, proven methods to get people in shape and lose weight, the UBC program would guarantee results and would never go out of style.
There are certain elements of fitness that will be around forever, because they work. Just like a good front kick or round kick, some things will never go out of style. Aerobic conditioning (not rhythmic), resistance training, sound nutritional guidance and flexibility training will never go out of style. By sticking to the basics and adding some basic martial arts techniques performed on a stationary heavy bag, we have been able to consistently attract the adult fitness and weight loss market to the UBC.
Many of the martial arts studios that license my program have said to me that they would not still be in business if it wasn’t for the UBC. We have helped many schools recoup the 20-30% revenue that they’ve lost because of the economy market downturn. The UBC program allows a martial arts school to go after a whole new segment of the population; adults looking to get in shape fast. The best part about the UBC is that it’s not designed for just the fitness market (a market you would have to spend more time and money marketing to if you were to put in a program that only appealed to the 18-35 year olds).
The majority of our new UBC licensed studio’s first started marketing the program to the parents of their martial arts students. There’s usually enough interest to start the program without having to do any outside advertising. I guarantee, if you took our UBC brochures and distributed them to all of the parents of the children in your classes, you would receive more interest in the UBC than any other martial arts fitness program out there.
I know for a fact that the majority of moms would be interested in the UBC because the UBC talkstheir language; weight loss, nutritional guidance, fun, team support, and a doable time frame, just 10 short weeks. Plus, we are able to guarantee results, and because of our guarantee there’s a much higher perceived value than just another workout class.
I am very proud that the UBC is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Just like I can guarantee fitness results for anyone who takes the UBC, I can also guarantee that the UBC will be here for at least another ten years because a well-structured, proven system that gets results for the students who take the course and the studio that sponsors it, will never go out of style.
