In an effort to increase your group exercise participant numbers, you’ve probably added some new and innovative classes to your line-up, including kickboxing, group strength, Pilates and group cycling.

And, in an effort to increase profits, or at least cover the extra costsfor equipment and instructors, you may charge for these “special” classes. This may work at your facility, but many members, who already pay a membership fee, expect all group classes to be part of their membership.

The club where I belong tried charging an extra fee for its group cycling and weight-training classes, but no one signed up. So, the facility ended up offering the classes for no extra charge.

This topic prompted many of you to answer our WebRant question from March 2011, which asked, “Should health clubs charge extra for specialty group exercise classes?” Most of you said no, that classes are part of the club offerings, but some of you feel that the extra cost and effort required to offer these specialty classes justifies an extracharge. Read on for your responses.