The hot new gym classes are in the kitchen

Nothing against juice and granola bars, but health clubs across the country are hiring chefs, giving cooking classes and teaching nutrition to help their clients drop the weight and keep it off.

“People want to see results when they join, and we have to teach them they’re not going to get results if they don’t have an eating strategy,” said Nanette Pattee Francini, cofounder of the Sports Club/LA chain. The Sports Club hands out nutrition books to all new members.

“Fully 50% of fitness is how you eat,” Francini said.

Two-thirds of health clubs nationwide now offer some sort of nutrition guidance, industry experts say, with nutrition lessons thought to help members make sense of confusing diet news. Low carb? Low fat? Gym dietitians are stepping in to answer the questions.

In the crowded health club market, nutrition classes can give gyms a membership edge. About 36.3 million Americans belonged to health clubs last year, up from 17.3 million in 1987, according to the International Health, Racquetball and Sportsclub Assn.

Gym owners say innovative lifestyle classes -- from cooking to quitting smoking -- can bring in new clients when the traditional gym market is just about saturated.

“There are only so many memberships you can sell, so this is where the market is going,” said David Jamison, general manager of HFC Health Fitness Centers in Atlanta, which holds $35 cooking classes twice a month in its show kitchen. People who don’t want to join the gym can come just for the cooking lessons.

The investment in nutrition also can pay off with higher fitness club retention rates.

At Flagship Athletic Club in Eden Prairie, Minn., employees say an in-house restaurant and varied nutrition classes keep members coming back.

There are wine tastings, classes by cookbook authors, even a call-ahead service where clients can order hot, healthy meals to carry home after working out.

“If they’re not eating right, they’re sabotaging all that exercise,” said Sue Masemer, director of Flagship’s lifestyle department. “You can put ‘em with a personal trainer, but it’s like, two steps forward, one step back.”

It’s a lesson Natalia D’Angelo knows well. A native of Russia, the Atlanta telecom analyst knew she needed to change her homeland cooking habits -- lots of sour cream and pancakes.

So D’Angelo joined HFC, took a class on making paella and a tutorial about easy ways to prepare chicken breasts.

She’s so happy with the cooking classes she plans to sign up for more.

“You can’t rely on working out only -- you have to eat healthy, too,” she said.