4 Steps to Building a Positive Fitness Culture with Kemper Sosa

This paradox , as I view it , is the trust , interaction and communication gap that exists between fitness professionals and our medical community . This podcast is all about closing off that gap by disseminating the latest , most evidence-based and most engaging information in the health sciences .

And to do that , in episode 105 , I'm joined by my good friend and business partner at Applied Fitness Solutions , kemper Sosa , to talk about leadership . Kemper has been motivated to not only lead our team here at Applied Fitness Solutions but , more importantly because this is not a conversation about applied fitness more importantly Kemper is highly motivated .

His core purpose is to share the benefits and the tools and the tactics of leadership , and that's what this conversation is going to be around . Specifically , we're going to talk about a blog that he wrote called Four Steps to Build a Positive Fitness Culture , and I think this conversation is more relevant now , today , than it ever has been .

I think this discussion is incredibly actionable . You're going to hear the passion that Kemper has for the subject and how he lives it and breathes it every day on the front lines as an owner-operator in the fitness industry .

Like so many of you are listening , so I think there's a lot of pearls that you're going to be able to take out of this conversation that will be highly actionable to implement into your business . Any information we'd like to share with you from today's episode can be found on the show notes page . That's by going to wellnessparadoxpodcom .

Forward slash episode 105 . Please enjoy this conversation with Kemper Sosa . Today I'm delighted and excited to be joined by my good friend and business partner , kemper Sosa . Kemper , thank you so much for joining us on the wellness paradox .

But I'm sure we're going to get into many other topics about leadership and we're going to do our best to try to keep this episode at its normal length , because you and I have talked for hours and end on leadership , and so this is just going to be a small snippet of that larger discussion .

But before we launch into a little bit more about the article and maybe even a little bit more about AFS , why don't you just tell us a little bit more about yourself to provide some context for the discussion ?

It was a part of my upbringing and then I pursued that , going into high school with some sports and then got into the exercise portion of how I make my sports better , even though a very average athlete . And then I took that and wanted to study it in school and I had to re-exercise . Science did the whole personal training route fitness coaching .

So I was involved in the fitness industry for a very long time , spent some time in the big box gyms . One of my professors went to Eastern Michigan University but one of my professors after we had a conversation I got me connected with you , shalavan , and that was almost 10 years ago .

I reached out to you and you know we'll talk about this a little bit more , but you know stepping into Applied Fitness Solutions as a young fitness coach was like a very eye-opening experience .

So started as a fitness coach at Applied Fitness Solutions , did some personal training , really got connected with the team and the people here , and it was at that point that I realized that my passion lied more in the relationship part of what I did with fitness , and from there that was a platform to use that interest to deep dive into my team members and just

organically kind of send me into this leadership role among the team , here and now , present day . You know this is basically everything that I focus on . Everything that we do and I do here is , you know , driven and imbued in , you know , leadership , and I am very conscious of that . That core value is driving , you know , pretty much all my behavior today .

And again , I've had a front row seat for the entirety of at least the bulk of your career's journey in the fitness industry .

And you know the part of that that you left out was kind of how you ascended from , you know , individual contributor in our system to peer leader to that actually formal leader and to the point where so much so that you know , you earned an equity share in our location .

So you know again , you're , you're a business partner of mine and the goal is not to make this an infomercial about the platitudes of applied fitness solutions . I always try to keep you know AFS and wellness paradoxes to you know separate things , and you know this .

This conversation gives us an opportunity to talk about some of the unique aspects of leadership in our culture that I think are lessons that are very much needed in the fitness industry at large .

So before we start to dive a little bit deeper into that talk on a very high level about AFS with the understanding camp that I've actually never really talked about applied fitness solutions to any great degree of deep learning .

And I'll tell you this question a little bit more specifically to you know kind of the population that we serve , maybe how that's unique and how we look at how we serve our members and how we also serve our team .

But these are the people that are a little bit nervous and cautious with jumping into your traditional fitness center . They don't feel like one , they don't feel like they belong . They feel like gyms and studios are for fit people , not them , and therefore they don't necessarily take the action necessary or feel safe enough to take action to engage with fitness .

And then , a lot of times they've had poor experiences in the past with fitness , whether it was feeling shame or a sense of insecurity by not fitting in , whether it was like the gym class or whether it was they went to the local rec center down the street .

So this person that we serve is already coming into fitness with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder .

So we realized that , you know , we realized that at AFS and that's , you know , part of the inspiration for this article that we'll talk about is , you know , we are very , very conscious of creating a safe and inclusive community so that when people walk in they feel very seen and very welcomed .

And we extended to our team so I mean the people that are going to take care of that population the best are the people that also feel seen and safe and valued and purpose driven , which is our fitness team . So we pour as much as we pour into our members .

We pour the same amount of , not more , into our team to make sure that they are up to , you know , the education levels , the emotional intelligence levels , the soft skills , all the things that are needed to make this environment as welcoming as possible . It kind of mainly stems from our team .

But what's interesting is that you spend no time doing fitness right now whatsoever . All of your time is spent , you know , pouring into our team . You know we've said it many times . You know , as leaders , it's our job to take care of our team so they can take care of our members .

So , you know , we don't necessarily believe , you know , the member or the customer is always right , or the direct focus . You know , we focus on our team and , by the way of that , our team focuses on our members and I've seen you very much embody that in your role as a leader in our business .

So it starts with a very in depth lifestyle analysis . With the first meeting . A member comes in , we sit down , we talk to them , we hear about their story , their struggles , their goals , get to know them as a human and see if this thing is actually a good fit for them .

And if it is , then they go through a very in depth health and fitness analysis and orientation with their coach . And this is a 90 minute appointment where they actually sit with their coach . We do a battery of tests to assess their fitness levels and we'll use that information alongside their goals to actually create the best band with them .

And there's a very collaborative process that takes their lifestyle into account with implementing and executing the plan . Once that's created , then they take that workout , they come into our facility and they do their exercise among the green and national certified coaches .

So every time they step into our facility they're in a guided , overseen setting where they don't have to feel insecure or unsure of what they should be doing . They literally walk in with their program and a coach will be there to guide them every step of the way . So that's our , that's basically what we do here and then we do offer .

You know , I know a lot of listeners are personal trainers or owner operators , but we also offer course training that a lot of the listeners are probably familiar with , the one on one session . But I'll be honest , I mean we don't .

20 , maybe 25% of our membership does personal training , and it's mainly for those people that need a lot of , a lot of accountability or they have unstable medical or ortho issues , and that's another form of our business that we offer .

We probably also are all employing , at least on the frontline levels of our business , people that are between the ages of 20 and 30 , probably , more specifically , between the ages of 20 and 25 , maybe their first actual professional job right out of school . Maybe there are people that haven't even gone to school for this .

So , even though business models might be different , I think the same business imperatives and leadership needs are consistent across our industry , which is why I'm most excited to have this discussion and kind of drilling down a little bit more specifically . You recently wrote a blog article . You know four steps to build a positive fitness culture .

Before we get into the article , what inspired you to actually put pen to paper and write the blog ?

A lot of my time is spent with my team and then our community members in a very intimate style . We're talking about things that matter , the goals , their aspirations , things that they're working on , and it was with this reflection . Like man , this is like one . It's something that I'm very passionate about .

So I'm going to write about something that I'm passionate about , but two , this is something that not just fitness but any leadership position needs to be mindful of . What is the environment they are creating or stewarding , and a lot of times it's ?

There's a lot of upfront work that can seem like taxing and exhausting , particularly because the ROI on that upfront work is not immediate , but the trade off is putting fires out with . You know , if you are the one that is stewarding a lot of problem solving and you have a poor culture , you don't have a button team .

Those headaches not paying far exceeds the effort work of pouring into your culture . So for me , this was a way to , you know , share my passion , but then also to slow down some very tangible and actionable steps that owner operators can take .

If they're looking at their business , they're looking at their team , that they can one just start reflecting on and kind of do a self analysis on how is my culture and my business performing right now and if there's work to be done , which there always will be , this is an endless job , but if we're just somebody who's just starting this work , you know this .

These are some , some good tactical steps to just begin the process .

You know leadership and management . Yeah , so just really briefly for our audience , can you unpack the difference between those two things ? Because I think a lot of people think they are leading when they are actually managing , and there's a very distinct difference between the two .

I think the best way I can put it is you're coming alongside people and you're doing a much deeper dive , interpersonally on what makes this person tick , and there are very , very distinct characteristics that need to exist , such as curiosity , accountability in genuine care and compassion .

Those things can exist in management , but you can manage without having those attributes . You cannot lead without having those attributes . So management typically , you know people think of getting problem solved , getting deadlines met , pushing objectives across a finish line , and they kind of combine the two leaders , leadership and management .

But to be an effective manager I think it needs to be you need to have a foundation of leadership that exists before that .

So management is very hard skills , very tactical , very operational , where leadership does require a much higher level of emotional awareness , emotional intelligence and just that genuine humanity and care for the people that you're centering yourself around so much to quickly reiterate there .

On emotion , I think you are right to be an effective , a truly effective manager , which businesses need . Like you or I aren't saying that we don't need management in business . Things need to get done , people need to be held accountable and so on , but it's a question of what path do you want to take ?

I can speak for myself when I say managing is exhausting because you're always having to put guardrails around people . Hold them accountable , provide them the motivation through the carrot or the stick . Leadership is inspiring .

Leadership not only uplifts you but it uplifts somebody else , and when I'm helping some lead someone , I'm finding that I actually have to manage them less . It's this very interesting virtuous cycle that exists .

But I did want to point that out because I think , unless people start to think a little bit more deeply , they'll automatically assume that the person who's the manager is a leader , and we all know people who've been our manager in certain organizations that have very few attributes to the leader .

But we also know a lot of people in organizations that , by their position or their title , aren't a manager , but they definitely are a leader . And our good friend Tom Johnson , who we've had in the podcast , says everyone's a leader and you start by leading yourself , and I think that there's a lot of truth to that statement .

, talk about you know why they're important and what the ROI is , because we're also not having this discussion just to talk about the niceties of leadership and putting our arms around people . We're doing this because it has real business impact as well .

One , they're not impossible to measure , but they are probably a little bit more challenging to measure than you know other more tactical business KPIs . Two , they do take longer to actually manifest themselves right ? So , going into what we're going to talk about , I think there has to be a degree of patience and consistency and then the ROI will come .

There is actually data that does support some of these concepts . To return a business ROI , you know for the positive regarding your fitness business . So I just want to . There's four tips to start building a more positive culture .

The first two are going to be more self and team focused , and then tips three and four is going to be more looking at your community or external community . So yeah , let me , let me , let me offer you the first one here . This sounds counterintuitive , but I'll kind of expand on how we open .

You know your team should be probably the most important thing , aside from you taking care of your own self and health that you focus on as a leader to serve your community and your business . Your team is the front lines . They are the gatekeepers to the experience .

Whether this is your fitness team , your admin team , your sales marketing team , and however big your organization is , every person that's in that organization should be poured into from a growth , development and leadership capacity .

And , as the owner operator , as the leader of the organization , that should be your number one focus , going into every single day and I realize this is challenging when we have so many urgent things that come up whether it's a scheduling issue or you know , you didn't hit your revenue numbers like you thought you would , or your consulates are lower than you

thought and you want to dive into these things .

Those things will always be there and to effectively manage and run those things for the long term , the people that are around you need to be put into so that they can be the ones doing this problem , solving and running the operations effectively and meaningfully , or more meaningful than you would , just by yourself .

So I think a lot of times that the urgent Trump's the important , and this is where we get into . You know , the fitness culture in itself is one that isn't so much talked about as like the thing to measure your culture up to .

You know , we do have some work to do with building our the industry culture and what it means , and I think there's a lot of movement in the positive there . So things to think about with leading your team is actually kind of put in the ROI , out of mind right now . The first step that I talked to emerging leaders about is do you know your people ?

Do you actually know who they are ? Do you know what matters to them ? Have you had a genuine , authentic , non-agenda driven conversation with this person you see every day ? And if the relationship is stronger and there's mutual understanding and respect and care for each other , it makes every problem that you face so much easier to solve and more fun .

That's more fun , like I think , too many times operators come into the to their day in trying to do hand-to-hand combat with with all the things that are coming their way , versus being excited to go see their friends that they can do this with . So that's tip number one is pour into your people , and I see you pulling your finger .

You look like I got a question .

One you know , particularly as , like AI and all these technologies advance , they can do a lot of the things that fitness professionals have typically done , like write programs , for example . I can probably write better programs than even a master's degree .

You know , exercise physiologist , we now have machines in our facilities that progress load , that allow you to determine , you know , seat positions and ranges of motion , and it's all AI driven .

So the the currency that is going to be the most important commodity , or even something that transcends a commodity going forward , is the emotional intelligence and connection that our teams make . And how can we ever expect our teams to make that with our members if we're not taking the time to do that with them ?

So I mean , that's one thing I was struck by , I think you know .

The other thing I'm struck by as far as ROI goes is that and I see this like our team really knows that you care about them , which makes difficult conversations that much easier and also improves retention and I don't know anyone who's listening to this podcast right now as an owner or an operator that is not struggling to retain talent , acquire talent and it's

not to say that we don't have that issue here , because I think every organization does .

But I'll say this you know , we know , turnovers costly well in excess of $10,000 per employee , and that is something that I think I've seen you minimize because of that first point you said , which is how much you care for people , and that causes those people to want to stay .

It's tough , like it's a hard and it's a time consuming process , and if you're hiring right like it's not just finding the right resume . Now you got to vet this person to make sure they're cultural fit . They got to make the team like it's time consuming .

So , yes , the retention piece is a massive ROI and I'm glad you brought that up because sometimes we forget that . Because you know , if we have a great culture and we have low turnover , we forget that that's even a problem in the industry .

So , when it comes to pouring into your team , not only are you responsible for making sure that they are academically in , you know they have the right academic acumen and they're up to the latest evidence based practice in the industry .

They need to be up to speed on all of the social and soft skills that they need to connect with people , make it and having create the culture that we're trying to build , so that that can open the door for them to actually insert their expertise to help these people achieve the outcomes they want .

So a lot of intentionality behind language , and I'll start with verbal words were very powerful . They carry a ton of weight and what I encourage owner operators to start to do is think just reflect on the language that you're actually using day to day when it comes to the people that you work with , the community that you serve .

We are very intentional with language and in the article you'll notice I don't say employees , I say team members . We don't necessarily say clients , we say members .

These words carry a much , much more positive , collaborative energy and again , you know , not too many people would put too much stock into this , but you'd be surprised that the energy shift you'll notice when you start to adopt some of this language intentionally .

It's just everybody's on the same playing field and it's just more compassionate type of language and that's one thing that you know . Again , when we're doing our self reflection of a culture , to look at what is the actual words that I'm actually using and then , probably more importantly , is the nonverbals right ?

So it starts with leading the self you know , and then pouring into your team and then what is actually like ? What is the message that's being displayed throughout your organization or facility ? Being mindful of nonverbals ? Just body language , the way you dress . You know your hygiene .

If somebody walks into your facility , are you stepping around the front desk to greet them or are you staying behind when you're walking through ? You know fitness classes or personal training sessions .

Are you making eye contact and holding a disposition that is inviting or are you spraying this energy that is like I just don't want to be bothered and I'm going to get to my house . I don't know if any of your listeners are familiar with Zingerman's , but Zingerman's is a great business here in Ann Arbor . They do organizational development .

They have a rule that they'll teach leaders , called the 10 for rule , and what it means is you know , when you are 10 feet from a member , a customer , a team member , you make eye contact , you make some type of eye contact model or not to acknowledge them and then when you're four feet from this person , you actually verbally acknowledge them and greet them or

engage in some conversation . So that's kind of a rule that we like to abide by here with our team and then to build on that . You know the facility .

There's messaging and language that exists in your colors and your photos and all of the marketing that you do , from pictures to the font style , like all of this connotes a message and not to say that every fitness organization should have the same .

You know messaging guidelines , but if you are trying to create a very specific culture , you know part of that extends to some of the photos and marketing colors that you're using with your ads or facility or postage , and all of that is very important to building this safe , you know , accommodating and welcoming environment for your members to be a part of .

So the first two tips , very much focusing on the self and your team . Number three this goes more into expanding what you celebrate with your members and most of the fitness industry .

We , at least when I grew up in the industry the main metrics of success were body weight and body composition , which I will say like those are important metrics for sure , but if those are the only metrics that we're celebrating and posting on our social media pages for success , we are leaving a lot of impact on the table .

And this is where I think the industry can start to make some very significant progress with targeting the non-traditional fitness people , the 80% that are on blood pressure medications , that are just coming up with hip surgery , that are looking to just climb the stairs as a win .

And this is where I think we can expand our celebratory efforts to highlight some of those other achievements with our membership . But then , lastly , celebrating diversity in your fitness club this kind of ties back in . Who are the people that are being shown in your marketing , or who are the success stories you're highlighting ?

Are these fit , young , jacked people that went from 10% body fat to 7% body fat ? Or are we highlighting the 70-year-old grandmother that lifted her kid , her grandchild , up at his birthday party ? Are we celebrating the single mom that's working two jobs to take care of her kids ? Are we celebrating the fact that now she's coming off of her metformin ?

These things are ways that we can bring more inclusivity into our fitness community and then bring more safety . So these are all . Again .

There's really no right way to start , whether it's starting with tip number three , I think for the operators that are listening here , just doing a self-reflection on where's my culture right now and are there any gaps that exist from what I listened to today ?

I am someone that if I'm going from my office to your office , I want to get to your office and have my conversation and just the awareness and the intentionality of being present as I walk through the facility and just not even stopping to talk to people , but just head up smiling , I mean those little things make a difference and it does take a degree of

intentionality and first self-reflection to develop that intentionality , to be able to achieve even some of the lowest levels of what you'd want to achieve as a leader , not talking about the ceiling that I feel like you're always aspiring to .

But at the same time there is a business ROI here that we didn't really get to talk to and in my blog I mentioned a meta analysis on a higher engaged culture and workforce and what that does to your business . And these are big numbers that can add up at the end of the year there's 18% increase in total revenue .

Your profitability tends to be about 23% higher at the end of the year . And then your member satisfaction rating , whether it's E and PS or another system that you use that's up an average of 10% and if we kind of extrapolate that , that probably at least a higher retention . That's more furloughs .

So you know all of the stuff does amount to a net positive for your business and I do encourage opportunities that are when they're in the middle of or starting the journey with trying to create a better culture . Just to keep in mind like there is , there is payoff here at the end of the day and if we don't have a margin we have a million .

And if it's not where you want it to be , which I think you know , I will say from you know our collective perspective . I think we're always trying to make our culture better . But if your culture isn't where you want it to be , that's not something you have to accept .

That is something you could do something about as a leader in a business and , in fact , it's incumbent upon you . It's your job . So where can people go if they want to find out more about you and the work you're doing ?

This has been a great conversation and I'm really excited to ask the last question to you , because you and I are kind of in lockstep on trying to solve the wellness paradox , but I've never actually asked this question directly to you , so here it comes .

I consider the wellness paradox to be the trust , interaction and communication gap that exists between fitness professionals and the medical community . What's your one piece of advice to fitness professionals on how to close off that gap ?

This starts with becoming aware of the paradox in itself and then , once that awareness is called to fit , I do think on the fitness side of things , we need to educate ourselves , or at least get connected with some type of entity or person to educate us around what is actually happening in the healthcare landscape and how we could be a big part of solving that

problem . I think it's not lost on me , you and probably a lot of other fitness owners or fitness professionals that when COVID hit , that basically was the world saying what you guys do isn't all that important , and if that didn't rile you up , then I don't know what does .

But that visceral emotion , at least for me , is going to cause me to seek to understand what is the problem that exists right now in our current healthcare climate . Get educated and then find out a way that you can start to help . So education in one word , Michael Education .

Any information we'd like to share with you from today's episode can be found on the show notes page , that's by going to wellnessparadoxpodcom forward slash episode 105 . Please be on the lookout for our next episode when it drops in two weeks , and don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform Until we chat again next . Please be well .