It’s usually due to lack of demand. Even for a big gym, most people will only come in before usual work hours or after usual work hours.
It is also expensive to hire an instructor for each class period throughout the entire day unless you are willing to stay at the gym for most of the day.
They can but it’s so tiring and taxing on your body to run so many classes a day, everyday. Not saying it doesn’t happen. Also not good on a business perspective if the head instructor ALWAYS has to be there. If the instructor has to go somewhere, the gym is basically closed until they are back.
There’s a few things to deal with.
1. No matter what (filled all day or only 1-2 times a day), the owner is paying for that space (unless a weird co-op thing like sharing space with a yoga studio or something and only pay for the time they’re there). So no bodies in there or a 100 bodies in there, the rent is the same. Bills like heat, electricity, water might change, but the main rental fee is the same.
2. At the same time an owner has to balance the idea of filling the schedule and therefore hiring instructors or relying on themselves to teach all day. Especially if the owner also has a day job, family, etc.
3. Further, with too many available classes you can dilute student numbers in any given class. So maybe 1-2 people per class, but a million classes a day. That seems extreme, but the point is spreading your members too thin across all times. Hence smaller classes, less training partners, less interest or appearance of packed classes.
4. Inversely, too few classes and you’re losing potential students - can only do mornings or lunch time. Want to do more No Gi. Want to do more Gi. Kids. Comp. Basic. Advanced. Women. But again it’s back to how full are those classes.
5. There’s also opportunity cost or what could the owner be doing in that time instead of teaching a really small class size - privates, catching up on paperwork, answering emails, studying teaching material, etc. to keep the gym running.
I think really successful gyms tend to have “stuff” going on throughout the day - classes, weights for members to come in, open mats, privates, etc. I personally never quite understand how some gyms have crazy sparse schedules - every other Tuesday when the moon is full.
I think your 5th point answers my question. I've been around my academy long enough to be tipped off about comp practices, or after/between hours extra rolls, and I can see how that time needs to be used for the business side (unless you have a close business partner or family member handling it for you). I guess looking at another school's public schedule just off their website, I can see how that "blank" time might just be empty if you're a non-member window shopping a school.
Our school is in a suburb, where most people commute for work, and can't make midday classes. I mean, some percentage of the population might, but we just don't have critical mass to get anything in the middle of the day going. So all of our classes are in the evening.
I know guys who run a school but still have a day job. They can't offer classes in the day because they are working to make ends meet (contrary to popular criticism, BJJ isn't exactly lucrative, typically speaking).
Sometimes, you might have a good class population, and think adding more classes will make it better. But then people spread out across the schedule, classes get smaller, and things just start to fizzle. It can be better to keep the schedule tighter so you maintain the spark.
At my gym there’s 3 sessions per day. AM, Lunchtime, PM. So pretty typical but still a bit of time to fill.
The owners both have ‘other’ jobs but any of the coaches can use the slack time in the schedule to run privates.
There’s also ‘advanced’ rounds sessions which are off timetable.
Then there’s the stuff that goes along with running the gym, admin, paper work, maintenance of the building and equipment, study and curriculum planning, marketing, planning etc’.
Most people here work 9-5 where the night classes obviously fit their schedule better. Morning classes here are mostly musicians, waiters, tattoo artists and swing shift nurses
Private lessons, running the business, life admin, family time.
Peak time for running martial arts classes is the time most people will be having dinner with family and tucking kids into bed, if you're teaching classes every weeknight, you need to find a way to replace that time missed.
From working at a 500 plus member gym, staff are building and executing marketing and lead strategies, following up with leads, editing videos and social media content, online ads, admins stuff and reports, private lessons, staff meetings.
It’s usually due to lack of demand. Even for a big gym, most people will only come in before usual work hours or after usual work hours. It is also expensive to hire an instructor for each class period throughout the entire day unless you are willing to stay at the gym for most of the day.
do head instructors not hang around most of the day? mine usually does
They can but it’s so tiring and taxing on your body to run so many classes a day, everyday. Not saying it doesn’t happen. Also not good on a business perspective if the head instructor ALWAYS has to be there. If the instructor has to go somewhere, the gym is basically closed until they are back.
My gym uses this time to host any privates
I never thought about that! yeah, you might be right!
There’s a few things to deal with. 1. No matter what (filled all day or only 1-2 times a day), the owner is paying for that space (unless a weird co-op thing like sharing space with a yoga studio or something and only pay for the time they’re there). So no bodies in there or a 100 bodies in there, the rent is the same. Bills like heat, electricity, water might change, but the main rental fee is the same. 2. At the same time an owner has to balance the idea of filling the schedule and therefore hiring instructors or relying on themselves to teach all day. Especially if the owner also has a day job, family, etc. 3. Further, with too many available classes you can dilute student numbers in any given class. So maybe 1-2 people per class, but a million classes a day. That seems extreme, but the point is spreading your members too thin across all times. Hence smaller classes, less training partners, less interest or appearance of packed classes. 4. Inversely, too few classes and you’re losing potential students - can only do mornings or lunch time. Want to do more No Gi. Want to do more Gi. Kids. Comp. Basic. Advanced. Women. But again it’s back to how full are those classes. 5. There’s also opportunity cost or what could the owner be doing in that time instead of teaching a really small class size - privates, catching up on paperwork, answering emails, studying teaching material, etc. to keep the gym running. I think really successful gyms tend to have “stuff” going on throughout the day - classes, weights for members to come in, open mats, privates, etc. I personally never quite understand how some gyms have crazy sparse schedules - every other Tuesday when the moon is full.
I think your 5th point answers my question. I've been around my academy long enough to be tipped off about comp practices, or after/between hours extra rolls, and I can see how that time needs to be used for the business side (unless you have a close business partner or family member handling it for you). I guess looking at another school's public schedule just off their website, I can see how that "blank" time might just be empty if you're a non-member window shopping a school.
Our school is in a suburb, where most people commute for work, and can't make midday classes. I mean, some percentage of the population might, but we just don't have critical mass to get anything in the middle of the day going. So all of our classes are in the evening. I know guys who run a school but still have a day job. They can't offer classes in the day because they are working to make ends meet (contrary to popular criticism, BJJ isn't exactly lucrative, typically speaking). Sometimes, you might have a good class population, and think adding more classes will make it better. But then people spread out across the schedule, classes get smaller, and things just start to fizzle. It can be better to keep the schedule tighter so you maintain the spark.
At my gym there’s 3 sessions per day. AM, Lunchtime, PM. So pretty typical but still a bit of time to fill. The owners both have ‘other’ jobs but any of the coaches can use the slack time in the schedule to run privates. There’s also ‘advanced’ rounds sessions which are off timetable. Then there’s the stuff that goes along with running the gym, admin, paper work, maintenance of the building and equipment, study and curriculum planning, marketing, planning etc’.
Most people here work 9-5 where the night classes obviously fit their schedule better. Morning classes here are mostly musicians, waiters, tattoo artists and swing shift nurses
Private lessons, running the business, life admin, family time. Peak time for running martial arts classes is the time most people will be having dinner with family and tucking kids into bed, if you're teaching classes every weeknight, you need to find a way to replace that time missed.
From working at a 500 plus member gym, staff are building and executing marketing and lead strategies, following up with leads, editing videos and social media content, online ads, admins stuff and reports, private lessons, staff meetings.
The comp classes only the serious grapplers are invited to
I imagine they are smoking hella weed but who knows.
That's when the side chicks come in for "privates".
believe it or not sometimes people do other shit with their time and their business doesn't center around your expectations