Democratization in academies

In recent years, we have witnessed two very important phenomena: the democratization of academia and hyperconnectivity, the latter being responsible for promoting easy access to the most varied types of knowledge.

Today, we know that franchises are ways to implement a functional, attractive and profitable business model. Since the new millennium, when we see a construction project on a street corner or on a busy avenue, one of the most common questions is “what’s going to open?”

Among so many possibilities, such as fast food chains, retail stores, restaurants and other examples, there are also gym chains. Thanks to this new business model, which brings excellent benefits to users, access has become even easier.

In practice, the prices are usually very attractive. Furthermore, this almost symbolic fee allows you to use not only all the equipment, but also attend gyms from the same chain, but spread across other cities and regions.

There is no doubt that this strategy makes things easier and should be one of the main reasons for promoting a healthier routine. However, there are caveats.

This is because, during the boom of new gyms with strength-based operating models, experience was put aside. In parallel to this, there was a clash between the democratization of knowledge.

With hyperconnectivity, any teacher — or pseudo-instructor — can produce content for social media. In other words, while before only a few could suggest exercises, today anyone can not only suggest, but also demonstrate activities for students or followers.

This is a warning sign for gyms.

When we compare how gyms are set up and how these activities are carried out, we realize that most gyms cannot move at the same speed as knowledge.

Therefore, we must be grateful and maintain easy access to gyms, but at the same time these operational models need to be attentive to new knowledge, instructing, teaching and bringing activities that follow current science, which are disseminated almost instantly in the era of social networks.