Alpha Strength and Alpha Flight reflect the boutique brand’s strategy to meet evolving member goals from heavier lifts to long-distance runs
Alpha Fit Club, one of the industry’s fastest-growing boutiques, knows fitness appetites change at a rapid pace. One day, members are hungry for a run club-like social experience. Next, they want a personalized strength training program.
“Boutique fitness consumers grow bored quickly,” said Sam Tooley, Alpha Fit Club co-founder and CEO. “We get it! In today’s fitness landscape, you need to keep the customer engaged.”
That’s why AFC has a rotating menu. Its recent updates are already gaining momentum as well, including Alpha Flight, a half marathon training program that pairs its out-of-studio training program with its in-studio protocol, and Alpha Strength, a class which ditches cardio entirely and fully focuses on strength. Both arrived on the heels of Alpha X, a longer class format for individuals to participate in fitness competitions.
The brand is able to pivot and evolve because it remains tapped into its members through corporate-owned locations.
“For us, it was less about gaps and more about opportunities to give members new offerings and products that we knew they’d enjoy before they even knew they wanted them,” Tooley said. “One of our strengths as a franchisor is that we actively operate several corporately owned studios. We have an incredibly strong pulse on member sentiment and can make strategic decisions based upon their in-studio and ongoing feedback.”
Sam Tooley (credit: Alpha Fit Club)
Alpha Strength
Alpha Strength doesn’t deviate from its name, featuring strength training exercises and nothing else. Members move through five stations, each involving eight minutes of training, with rest time in between. Sessions feature controlled tempos, heavier loads and simplistic programming.
AFC’s inspiration to launch the class came from looking inward.
“It wasn’t much more than the consistent feedback that started with ‘I love Alpha, but I wish… XYZ,’ that led to our interest in designing the Alpha Strength experience for members,” Tooley said. “We often put on our consumer hats and ask ourselves if we would enjoy this option or if it fits within the larger framework of our Alpha ecosystem.”
credit: Alpha Fit Club
After doing that, Tooley and his team realized pretty quickly that a strength-only class would complement AFC’s preexisting programming perfectly.
“Logically speaking, since members have chosen to make Alpha their main focus, it makes sense that members would want an opportunity at some point during the week to turn the intensity down and the weights up,” he said.
As far as his rollout strategy goes, Tooley said AFC will again lean on member feedback — gauging what demand looks like for the class and adapting accordingly.
“It could end up being a situation similar to Alpha X (run 2-4 times a week) or it could take up an entire day of programming,” Tooley said. “Time will tell. It’s more about members understanding their goals and choosing accordingly.”
Alpha Flight
Alpha Flight charts a different — more extensive — course. This training program specifically helps individuals train for long distance race events, taking them through a 12-week program that combines running and AFC class programming.
Alpha Flight garnered member interest almost immediately; now with 600+ members signed up for the program which will gear them up specifically for the Jersey City Half Marathon on April 19th.
“Selfishly, with my running background and much of the Alpha DNA stemming from my time as a runner and a track coach, gearing members up for a half marathon felt like an amazing opportunity to bring the community outside the four walls of our studios,” Tooley said.
credit: Alpha Fit Club
Like most other AFC classes or even events like the Alpha Games, Alpha Flight welcomes fitness consumers of all levels and emphasizes camaraderie as well as positivity.
“We have members training for their first half-marathon to others looking to set a new PR,” Tooley said. “Our membership truly encompasses every fitness level, and the varying goals within the Flight program showcase exactly that. Our members are passionate about toeing the line of new challenges, and we’ve continued to find ways to help them feel confident in doing that.”
Tooley shared that AFC’s mass of initial registrations comes from as many as 20 studios. Like Alpha Strength, it launched on February 1st.
“This was no easy lift and certainly an undertaking but the excitement within the studios certainly made it worth it,” he added.
Sticking to the Core While Adapting
Although there’s significant hype trailing these new offerings as they launch, AFC knows its original programming serves as the foundation for both new classes.
“We feel like we’ve earned the right to dip our toes in the water of other offerings because we’ve hyper-focused on our core offering for over five years,” Tooley said.
As it continues to innovate, AFC has no plans to stray from what already makes the business work, even while remaining open to new ideas. That all comes back to letting its members lead the way, Tooley argues.
“We need to remain curious and open to change,” Tooley said. “To that point, we have built an incredible community and brand around our core offering and we don’t intend to move away from that anytime soon. But that decision reflects what our members want, not what we want. We are here to support the community. As long as we keep listening, they will guide us.”
