CORPfitness:
corporate outdoor recreational
programs
An interview with Phil Karlhuber - Director CORPfitness.
Q: Put you on the spot, firstly can you tell me a little
about your background.
A: Okay, my background is as a firefighter of 8 years. During the time as a firefighter I was
in the educational training division. I was involved in development of recruit firefighting
and training firefighters to become qualified firefighters in all aspects of their job. Within
that role I was responsible for physical conditioning, of the recruit’s inline with national
physical standards required for firefighter’s. This involved setting entry standards and
testing to identify the people that we were looking for. Once selected, we conducted the training
for those firefighters to a very high standard to prepare them for the task and skills required
to be a firefighter.
Q: And what lead you to consider the corporate arena to help out with fitness training?
A: I considered what I was doing and could see an opportunity to apply my knowledge to corporate
activities. My skills allow me to get the most out of a person. Both the corporate sector and
the firefighting are quite similar in a way that they are very
stressful, they are intense. People rely on colleagues to have a strong team dynamic and to
get people through arduous situations whether their contracts are due or…deadline are
required.
Q: What type of organisation would be best suited to using your services?
A: Organisations that rely on a lot of teamwork and abilities of others to help, get set tasks
done, whether they are in a, stressful environment, whether its physical demanding or mentally
demanding. A corporation that rely on a network of people regardless whether they are in the
actual same office or same desk area to be all working together with a common goal and that’s
to complete the task ….at hand and pull together using other peoples strengths and weaknesses.
Q: What type of organisation or individual would benefit the most?
A: All organisation would be suited. CORPfitness can offer skills in communication, active
listening, learning to better understanding of other people. We excersise the mind and body through verbal, visual or physical
types of activities and skill tests. And basically training people to utilise those skills
so they can transform that into the work environment.
Q: Why are your Wellness programs important to say, corporate businesses?
A: Okay, I guess there a couple of areas where they could benefit and that would be as simply
as just by reducing some aspects of health issues.
The result of exercising the body and mind in different
ways can dramatically improve a persons well being and positive outlook.
It helps to provide a better service by learning to work
better under stressful conditions. And not just the physical aspects. From my experience, If
people feel better about themselves, they become resilient to life's ups and downs. This can result
in lowering the amount of days people take off. They are able to work with more efficiency because they are better able to handle stress.
As I train people in teams, I also instill people with
a sense of camaraderie. I work on developing skills of listening to others, working together
with others and delivering deadlines and projects with others with a common goal.
Q: Speaking of goals, does everyone have the same goal when they come to you?
A: Yes. They tend to be looking for something different. The packages that CORPfitness can provide
give people a framework of activities and objectives.
Q: So do you have ongoing training programs?
A: Yes, we have programs that can be provided on an ongoing basis. Programs can be expanded
further on certain levels to get people to start exploring and working at different areas and
different levels of whatever work environment they are in.
That product may be Thinking
fitness, physical fitness or working on strategies in business to help those people improve
those skills such as active listening and communication …
Q: Do you have a discount, for instance, for paying advance for classes, or how do you break
up a class, is it 10 sessions, 5 sessions or 1 session, how do you do it?
A: Our pricing structure works with a ratio of numbers of people that we are dealing with, the
actual skills that are required time frames durations of programs, can be one off a series of
different sessions and of course on location at conferences.
CORPfitness bases a strong emphasis on the ratio of instructors
per participants so that we can deliver the correct quality service for the right amount of
people. When we’re looking at numbers that will give me a pricing guide. The benefits
of Corpfitness are that we are not running with many overheads in terms of outsourcing being
required to have a lot of props and equipment. It depends on the circumstances. We like to use
the environment and the surrounding to actually deliver the service and therefore reducing the
outlay costing of using products and props. The costing relates on
• how many, the student base /instructor ratio,
• program type
• duration,
• location.
Session packages are certainly available.
Q: For instance, there are 4 employees from a company, what would you do?
A: Okay say, 4 employees, 4 weeks of 1 hour morning sessions, on let’s say, Group Fitness.
Location provided by CORPfitness, approvals fees etc $400.per plus 1 hour for screening is a
fair ballpark figure. On a ratio of 1 to 4, it would be duration
and type of services provided
Q: Do you quote based on the company and based on the needs?
A: We can design a pricing structure that can be per head of participants or on an hourly basis.
Q: So what level of staff would approach you?
A: Either senior or middle management, where a supervisor would be looking for productivity
out of their working crews
A manger in a marketing department or human resources.
Q: So your programs could be linked to an existing program that the business has in place that
you could just slot right into?
A: Yes, CORPfitness can design entire Wellness programs or incorporate existing programs in
place…….
Q: So it sounds like if you met a few human resources people, you could get specific philosophies
or corporate philosophies and values and try to tailor something that could fit.
A: Definitely, CORPfitness can design a program that utilise and or incorporate strategies and
philosophies to encourage full potential of the organisation.
Q: What’s your preference, do you work from a specific location or does a client come
to you?
A: Generally for events we would use their location or nominate a location that will be useful
for both of us, depending, we like to use outdoor activities, weather permitting. Locations
that detach people from the office or working environment so they can learn to relax and enjoy
fresh surroundings and learn to embrace new ideas and not resisting them…..
Q: Are there specific times of the day that are more appropriate for doing what you are doing?
A: First thing in the morning is always a popular time, I've found that its the best time as
people are fresh before work and they can apply leant skills immediately.
"Corpfitness programs are about setting boundaries
for people that are higher than they set for themselves we then encourage people to lift those
boundaries even higher … "
A: For example I put people through a group physical activity where its a little harder physically
than they are used to. After that, they ask themselves ‘what else could be harder for
the rest of the day?,
Apply that mentally to the work environment and conquer…..
Q: Alight so, do you cater to different fitness levels?
A: Definitely, we understand that everyone’s going to have a different fitness level.
We cater for different fitness levels. Sometimes I place a fitter person with a not so fit person
to help them work as a small team within the larger team. And other times I place fit with fit.
Q: How hard would you push someone in the first session?
A: The first session is always generally at a lower
level, its more about entertaining the dynamics of the people involved in things, I work out
strategies for each of the individuals and how we can apply their personalities into the sessions.
It's not all about physical fitness.
Q: And at the core of it, are you trying to make people have fun, or is it down to business?
A: It’s definitely all about having fun. All instructors enjoy their jobs and don’t
mind enjoying themselves, we believe that it breaks down barriers and opens pathways to learning!
But at the end of the day, the works has to be done.
Q: Can you give me an example of what someone might do on a first session compared to second
session training?
A: Okay, first session they’ll probably, will be more team orientated, people are little
bit more out of their paradigms on the first sessions if they haven’t experienced before:
they may not know the people they are working with, the group that we are delivering, so I guess
its more about bonding and getting people to understand each other. Then in the second class,
second session, would be expanding where they are starting to work with other people on a more
I guess intimate level, where they may be in pairs of two or pairs of four as opposed to one
large group.
Q: And an example of a training activity might be what?
A: Okay, activities, depending on what’s required and what services is being delivered,
would be…
Q: Like for instance, a group of reasonably fit corporate office workers, what would you suggest?
A: Okay, if its something involved a bit of thinking fitness with a bit of physical activity,
it could be something as simple as a group of 20, given an object, one object it could be a
ball, it could be a book, it could be something from the office, it could be a product of the
organisation is marketing. The simple task for that session could be that the object is not
to be placed on the ground or dropped in any way for the whole duration of the session. Something
that simple, and I’ve never had a session where the object hasn’t hit the ground
at least once or more, and they are totally achievable tasks, it just identifies straight away
that people need to work together to achieve just even the simplest task as to keep something
off the ground.
Q: What types of physical activities do your programs involve?
A: We do have programs designed where that for example if they’re in the large group broken
down into pairs, where one will be given a task or objective where the other will be at a station
having to achieve another task. So getting to the next objective could include running walking
crawling sitting on someone else’s back while they take you to the next objective, so
running, physical activity definitely can be involved.
Q: What would be the largest amount of people you would work with before getting another assistant
to help you out?
A: Depending on the type of clientele, we are running a ratio of 1 to 20 max, per instructor
per student ration or participant ratio, but that definitely depends on what type of skill or
product is required to be delivered, including, all aspect of safety of all the participants
are being duly cared for by the instructor and quality of service is assured.
Q: When and how do companies pay for your training sessions? Would it be at the end of each
session or would they buy a group of sessions?
A: Generally packages or sessions are paid up front…..this guarantees resources and services…through
experiences it is also somewhat a motivational tool on occasions where that the product has
been purchased..So there is some financial commitment that brings participants along……..
Q: So would you take credit cards?
A: CORPfitness has many payment options.
Q: And if I were a potential client, would we have a face to face meeting before our first session
and how would we assess your services prior to hiring you?
A: Good question Nick, A face to face meeting definitely, I always like to meet potential clientele
first to make sure there is no confusion on what is required and what will be delivered. A face
to face meeting could be as simple as a 15 minute to 30 minutes discuss, making sure that we
both understand, the services that will be delivered and the outcomes.
Q: And how would we assess your services prior to hiring you?
A: Website. Current and previous clients..
Q: Can we speak to prior clients of yours or existing clients of yours?
A: Yes. I'll provide upon enquiry.
Contact CORPfitness
Phil Karlhuber - Director
Mobile: 0430 433 088
Fax: +613 9497 3745
Phone:+613 9499 8306
Blog:CORPfitness.blogspot.com
Studio Address
Corpfitness
Rear 258, Level 1,
Lower Heidelberg Road
East Ivanhoe VIC,3079
www.corpfitness.com.au
© Copyright CORPfitness 2009
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