The UK’s No 1 fitness industry magazineFebruary 2013 No 233 £3

Unregisteredinstructors ‘putclients at risk’

PTs head towork happyon ‘BlueMonday’PERSONAL trainers werethree times more likely thanoffice workers to head towork happily on ‘BlueMonday’ – the third Mondayin January, labelled the mostdepressing day of the year.

Research conducted byOnePoll for The TrainingRoom found 77 per cent ofoffice workers get theJanuary blues – more thantwice the number of person-al trainers who feel downabout going to work thatmonth. And on ‘BlueMonday’ a healthy 63 percent of PTs would happilyhead to work, compared to29 per cent of office workers.

Head of training LucyJackson said: “Personal train-ing is a very rewarding careerand the motivational, upbeatmanner of our work, theflexible working hours andthe inevitable health benefitsof having an active job alllead to work and lifestylesatisfaction. We train around2,500 people a year and thepositive impact on thosewho are switching careers isparticularly dramatic. Ifyou’d like to head to workwith a spring in your step,being a personal trainercould just do the trick.”

TV presenter Caroline Pearce will be the host forthe 2013 National Fitness Awards, Workout canreveal. Caroline, a former international heptath-lete, is also a successful nutritionist, fitness con-sultant, author and model. She is also known forplaying the character Ice in the TV showGladiators on Sky One.� Watch out for the next issue of Workout, whenwe will be announcing more details on this year’sawards.

By Christina Eccles

UNREGISTERED fitness instructors areputting clients at risk of serious injury,according to The Register of ExerciseProfessionals, which has launched anew campaign urging gymgoers tocheck their trainers are appropriatelyqualified.

REPs claims that with the use of per-sonal trainers on the rise, there is a sig-nificant percentage of people receivingineffective and even potentially damag-ing advice from untrained and unquali-fied instructors.

The Ask the Question campaign isdesigned to help everyone starting anexercise regime to ensure their workouthas been created by certified profes-sionals that are able to generate realresults.

Registrar Jean-Ann Marnoch said: “It’svital that anyone using a fitness profes-sional, whether it’s a gym instructor,personal trainer or yoga instructor,checks their credentials before theysign up to use their services.

“Across the country, there are far toomany people who are unknowinglyendangering themselves by puttingtheir trust in the hands of rogue fitnessstaff, some of whom have had no train-ing.

“Many others haven’t had trainingthat has been formally recognised toprotect members of the public and as aresult, their methods are often untest-ed, unsafe and unfit for the individualgoals a customer may have.”

In order to gain membership to theregister, instructors must prove theymeet the required industry standards,giving peace of mind to customers.

Jean-Ann added: “Gymgoers paying apersonal trainer should expect to behelped to meet targets, not hindered.However, those who employ the servic-es of professionals who aren’t REPs reg-istered are more likely to be given anineffective programme.

“Unqualified fitness trainers couldhelp explain why there is a sharp fall ingym attendance after the first sixmonths of membership. This meansBrits are wasting millions of pounds ayear on unused gym memberships. Thefinancial cost, and the much moredamaging cost to one’s health is whyanyone joining a gym should ask thequestion. Is your fitness professionalREPs registered?”� What do you think about the newcampaign? Send your comments toce@scriptmedia.co.uk or contact us viaFacebook and Twitter. We’ll print aselection next issue.

UK FITNESS SCENE 3

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EditorialGroup Editor:Judith HalkerstonTel: 01226 734639jh@scriptmedia.co.uk

Chief reporter:Christina EcclesTel: 01226 734463ce@scriptmedia.co.uk

Reporter:Dominic MusgraveTel: 01226 734407dm@scriptmedia.co.uk

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Personal trainers join forcesfor new mums’ programme

Katie Bulmer-Cooke (left) and Kelly Rennie.

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By Christina Eccles

TOP personal trainers Katie Bulmer-Cooke and Kelly Rennie have joinedforces in a bid to help mums andmums-to-be revolutionise the waythey feel about their bodies.

The pair have created The FitMummy Manual, a programme forbusy mums designed as an alternativeto the many celebrity fad diets on themarket and the media pressureplaced on women, which may influ-ence how they feel about exercise andkeeping fit.

The plan includes nutritional advicesuitable for the whole family andshort home based workouts – rangingfrom six to 24 minutes in length –making them ideal for mums whohaven’t got much spare time.

Katie and Kelly have also released arange of products including a FitMummy Manual e-book, DVD, seriesof downloadable pregnancy workoutvideos, a breast feeding friendly cook-book and branded clothing.

Katie said: “Both of us are very pas-

sionate about showing mothers thatthey can regain their pre baby figurewhile juggling family and work com-mitments.

“As we live in different cities it wasimpossible for us to run classes andwe knew that if we wanted to reachout and work with women all over theworld we had to use the Internet andtake out products online.”

Katie added that as busy mumsthemselves, both her and Kelly havebeen there themselves so now want toshare their secrets with other women.

And she told Workout, so far the ideahas been well received by customersfrom all over the world.

She added: “We've had a brilliantresponse and haven't just made salesin the UK but also in New Zealand,Australia, New York, Florida and SouthAfrica.

“The feedback from our customershas been great. So many people arealready seeing their bodies changeand also feeling more energised andable to take on the day (and the sleep-less nights).”

By Christina Eccles

PERSONAL training company TheTraining Room has claimed the indus-try needs more female trainers, fol-lowing figures which show only about35 per cent of REPs registered PTs arewomen.

According to REPs, just 5,256 of its13,770 registered personal trainers arefemale, with The Training Room nowurging more women to kickstart acareer in fitness.

Head of training Lucy Jacksonexplained: “We train around 2,500people each year and there is nodoubt that personal training as a pro-fession is growing healthily.

“However, like the rest of the indus-try, the percentage of women on ourcourses is low at around 22 per centand that’s something we want tochange. We have women of all agescompleting our courses – from collegeleavers and university graduates tomothers and returners to work intheir 30s, 40s and 50s. The moremature students are often seeking ajob to fit around their family or as asupplementary income and theseladies bring a huge amount of life skilland empathy to their work.”

Chief executive of the Women’s

Sport and Fitness Foundation SueTibballs said: “We know that womenand girls need strong sporting rolemodels to inspire them to get fit andmore female personal trainers canonly be a good thing.

“It’s a great time for women to getinvolved in the fitness industry – suc-cessful female athletes, like JessicaEnnis and Laura Trott, have made itaspirational to be fit and healthy andwomen’s fitness is finally entering themainstream. The fitness industryoffers excellent career opportunitiesfor women. Making young peoplemore aware of these career optionswould be a great way to keep girlsmore engaged in sport at school,which is a time when a gender gap inparticipation starts to emerge.”

UK FITNESS SCENE4

More female PTsare needed, claimstraining company

Lucy Jackson

SCOTLAND’S first Anytime Fitnessfranchise has opened in Glasgow.Situated in the city’s West End,Anytime Fitness Glasgow is also oneof the first clubs in the UK to offer thenew Life Fitness Discover TabletConsoles on cardiovascular products.

Life Fitness business developmentmanager Alan Louden said: “It’s fan-

tastic that Anytime Fitness Glasgow isexclusively equipped by Life Fitnessand not only does it have the new LifeFitness Discover, but our new LifeFitness Synrgy360s functional trainingsystem will also become a focal pointof the gym and create an interactiveand exciting live training area forusers.”

Anytime opens first Scottish gymAnytime Fitness in Glasgow.

By Christina Eccles

AN independent gym has bouncedback from devastating floods by rein-vesting over £200,000 in refurbishingthe facility.

Pioneer Health and Fitness Studio inRossendale was flooded three timeslast summer, causing extensive dam-age to the club.

After being forced to close for a cou-ple of weeks to clean up the facility,the gym re-opened – but still neededfurther work to get it back to its best.

Waiting for the insurance money tocome through meant the improve-ments couldn’t be carried out straightaway but after receiving a payout latelast year, the club invested heavily inequipment from Cybex, new flooringand the creation of a fourth studio,with the revamped facility opening itsdoors in time for the New Year.

General manager Tim Weir said thefloods were ‘devastating’ but addedhe was really pleased with how staffand members responded to the chal-lenges which lay ahead following theevent.

He said: “We had to close for a cou-ple of weeks – the whole building wasruined in a couple of hours. When wereopened not all the facilities wereuseable but the refurbishment hasbeen absolutely fantastic.”

The gym is located in a valley and

although the building had flood pro-tection measures installed by thelandlord, they couldn’t withstandwhat Tim described as “freak flood-ing.”

But thankfully some of the club’s1000 strong membership base were

on hand to help with the clean upoperation and show their support togym staff who were working shifts lateinto the night to get the job done.

Tim added: “Quite a lot of memberswere down here within an hour help-ing us out – we have a real ‘club’ feel –

which made us feel better and we hadstaff working until midnight.”

The final phase of the refurbishmentis due to be completed in April andwill include new male and femalesaunas attached to the gym’s chang-ing rooms.

UK FITNESS SCENE 5

Gym bounces back from floodswith £200,000 refurbishment

The clean up begins following the devastating floods at Pioneer Health and Fitness Studio in Rossendale (above left), and how the gymlooks now following the refurbishment.

UK FITNESS SCENE6

Totton Health and Leisure Centre in Hampshire has raised more than £3,500 for charity byholding an indoor cycling event in its studio. More than 200 sports enthusiasts completedfour hours’ non stop cycling at the centre to generate funds for chosen charities Honeypot,Naomi House and Southampton Hospitals Trust. The event was organised by New ForestDistrict Council’s fitness manager Toby White.

By Adam Guest

FITNESS fans in Barnsley can nowenjoy a novel way to stay in shape fol-lowing the opening of a new gym inthe town.

The Fit4it Hybrid Gym at MapleCourt in Tankersley is described as agrown ups’ playground and usesalternative methods to boost people’smetabolism and help them burnenergy.

Gymgoers can try methods such asthrowing sandbags, pushing a fitnesssledge or lifting a tyre to help themlose weight and stay fit.

It has been set up by Sheffield-basedpersonal trainers Katie Ford and RyanDack, who have been running bootcamps at a gym in Sheffield.

Katie, 30, has won two nationalawards for personal training andRyan, 23, is a former internationalkick boxer, specialising in strengthand conditioning of the body.

Indoor boot camps will also be run

at the new premises as well as person-al trainer programmes.

Katie said each member is given afitness plan and her and Ryan havecarried out research in Australia,London and New York to make surepeople make the most of their exer-cise.

She said: “It’s right down people'sstreet because people think youshould be exercising for a long spaceof time and you don't have to.”

She said the boot camp courses arenot gruelling military regimes, insteadthey are set at the right amount forpeople to get the most from theirworkout.

She added: “It's making sure peopleare doing the right level of exercise forthem so they are getting results.”� If you have recently opened a gym,we would love to hear how it’s going.Contact us by emailing ce@script-media.co.uk or Tweet us@WorkOutUK and you could appearin a future issue of the magazine.

Personal trainersopen ‘grown ups’playground’ gym

ALMOST all of GLL’s 95 centres willbe put through the Quest Plusscheme this year, the operator hasrevealed.

82 sites began the process inJanuary, with the remaining centresundertaking Quest Entry.

Centres put forward for the QuestPlus award include Barnet CopthallLeisure Centre, The WaterfrontLeisure Centre in Greenwich,Clapham Leisure Centre in London,Henley Leisure Centre in SouthOxfordshire, Larkswood LeisureCentre in Waltham Forest and MileEnd Leisure Centre in TowerHamlets.

GLL’s audit manager MikeLockwood said: “A number of ourleisure centres have alreadyachieved Quest Plus with an excel-lent rating, despite it being anextremely testing standard.

“We believe its continued roll outwill act as a great motivational toolto develop our centres’ aspirationabout where they’d like to go.

“Quest Plus is a structured processand, as a company, GLL believes itprovides the perfect opportunity forcentres to strengthen their opera-tional skills as well as ensuringthey’re meeting legislation andhealth and safety requirements.”

GLL embraces Quest Plusacross its leisure centres

UK FITNESS SCENE 9

Suki Hayer

MISTER International Great BritainSuki Hayer has revealed how he madethe journey from sales manager tosuccessful fitness model in less than12 months.

Fitness fan Suki works full time insales and has to plan his workout ses-sions around a demanding job – butthis did not stop him from taking thetitle last year, becoming the first Asianwinner and earning himself a trip toThailand where he competed in theMister International finals againstwinners from 38 different countries.

Although he has always been inter-ested in keeping in shape, winningthe competition has spurred him oneven further and he is now hoping tobuild on his success in future compe-titions and by becoming a well estab-lished fitness model.

He said: “I have always trainedthroughout my life and I really want-ed to test myself against other peoplein the industry.

“I saw the competition online andsent a picture over and when I wonfound out it also entailed going to thefinals in Thailand for two weeks.

“When I came back I started a newjob but spent evenings and weekendscontacting people in the fitnessindustry to pursue my career in fit-ness modelling.”

His persistence paid off and he has

already picked up sponsorship fromcompanies including ICON Nutrition,Liquid Grip and Blueberry Nutritionto help him achieve his dream ofbecoming a cover model for a majorfitness publication.

And after perfecting the art of jug-gling his job with gym sessions,healthy eating and modelling, he isnow hoping to inspire others, particu-larly within the Asian community,that is possible to get into fitness, nomatter how hectic your lifestyle is.

He added: “I’ve always been one tokeep busy. I’m based in Derby and myoffice is in Leicester so it’s a two-hourround trip. I get up at 5.30am to go fora run and after work go to the gym todo weights.

“I also prepare and cook my food inadvance.

“In the future, I would like to think Ican still work full time and maintainmy fitness career. I want to show peo-ple that you don’t have to quit yourjob if you want to make it in the fit-ness industry.

“Everyone sees fitness models aspersonal trainers but I have beenworking 10 hours a day and alwaysmade time for my health and fitness.

“It’s a very exciting time for me. Lastyear I went to Bodypower as a cus-tomer. This year, I will be workingthere.”

Fitness modeldiscusses hisyear’s journey

UK FITNESS SCENE10

Successful first weekfor ladies’ only gymBy Christina Eccles

A NEW ladies’ only gym has got off toa flying start – attracting a top fitnessmodel and 50 new members throughthe doors in its first week.

The owners of Oasis Ladies inBenfleet decided to open the clubafter spotting a gap in the market fora gym which caters exclusively forwomen.

They already have a mixed gym,Oasis Health and Fitness, situatedabout 10 minutes away by car, andasked existing member of staff AngelaAnderson to come across to the newsite to manage the club.

She said: “We did some research andnoticed ladies’ gyms can be quite lim-ited in what they offer. We wanted tobe a real gym for real women.

“In our first week, we’ve had a greatresponse and there have been a fewladies who have come in who havenever set foot in a gym before.”

Another highlight of the gym’s firstfew days in business was a visit fromfitness model and USN ambassadorCarly Thornton who brought somesupplement samples with her formembers to try.

Angela added: “I have met Carly acouple of times and spoken to her onTwitter. I asked her to ‘re-tweet’ some-

thing about the gym opening andthen she came in and brought somesamples. We found in the other gymthat ladies tended not to go for pro-tein and supplements but I’m lookingto compete myself and want to tryand encourage good nutrition and ahealthy lifestyle in our clients as well.”

Carly added: “The gym is fantastic. Ithas a great range of equipment forany goal, from weights, boxing,

machines, TRX and a great chill outarea to grab a coffee and a proteinshake. The ladies all train and are verypassionate – helpful advice is alwaysat hand.”

Carly also told Workout she is happyto visit other ladies’ only gyms to givethem nutritional and supplementa-tion advice. If your club is interested,contact us and we will pass on yourdetails.

Carly Thornton (centre) with gym manager Angela Anderson and instructor Hayley Redi.

Ralph Scholz has become FIBO’s new eventdirector, replacing Olaf Tomscheit who isleaving Reed Exhibitions Deutschland afterthis year’s show to take up new careerchallenges. Ralph took over the manage-ment of the trade show on January 1, work-ing together with his predecessor for atransitional period. CEO of Reed ExhibitionsDeutschland Hans-Joachim Erbel said: “InOlaf Tomscheit we lose a Reed man of greatmerit who, in quite a difficult phase, tookFIBO on a new, successful course, andtogether with his team gave the tradeshow a new face and a second lease on life.“In Ralph Scholz we gain a colleague who iscapable in every respect to continue FIBO’ssuccess story and to develop it further.”

UK FITNESS SCENE12

Leisure centre makes asplash as TV locationBy Christina Eccles

A LUTON leisure centre got a taste ofthe limelight after being chosen toappear in a new primetime ITV show.

Inspire: Luton Sports Village waspicked as the filming location forSplash! – a new reality show where 15celebrities were taught the art of div-ing before showcasing their skills infront of a live audience and a panel ofexpert judges.

The stars – mentored by Olympicmedallist Tom Daley – were also hop-ing to impress the viewers at homewho got the chance to pick up thephone and vote for their favourite.

The £26m centre, which was official-ly opened last October, is operated byActive Luton on behalf of LutonBorough Council, with facilitiesincluding a competition standard50m, eight lane main pool and 10mdiving platform.

And leader of Luton BoroughCouncil Hazel Simmons said appear-ing on the show would be great forthe club as it would help to showcaseits impressive facilities to a wideraudience.

She added: “We are delighted thatmillions of people across the countrytuned in and got to see the worldclass facilities we have at Inspire:Luton Sports Village.

“This is good for Luton. The pooland facilities looked absolutely fan-tastic.

“Inspire is a venue that everyone,irrespective of their ability or culture,can use to get active and becomehealthier and we believe this showwill help us attract new users who willsee that there are world class facilitieson their doorstep.

“This is so helpful as we look toincrease participation in sport and

physical activity in our communities.Money received will be used for re-investment. The intention is that thisre-investment will include additionalequipment for gymnastics, trampo-line and dry dive ready for launch ofnew programmes.”

The celebrities taking part includedSugababe Jade Ewen, TV presenterJenni Falconer and comedienneHelen Lederer, with the show present-ed by Gabby Logan and Vernon Kay.

Olympic bronze medallist diver Tom Daley

ACTIVE IQ Academy is to provideLes Mills Nordic with an eLearningpackage to help the company’strainers meet European Health andFitness Association standards inEurope.

The resources will offer assis-tance to Les Mills Nordic trainersin order to meet EHFA standards inGroup Exercise Instruction.

The trainers will then be able toroll out the programme to instruc-tors from Denmark, Sweden,Finland and Norway.

The Academy’s eLearningresources package has also beenused by Les Mills Slovenia and hasbeen adapted into eight Europeanlanguages.

Director at Active IQ AcademyYvonne Cooper said: “It’s fantasticto be working with a company withthe international breadth of LesMills Nordic.

“We think this partnership is onethat makes real sense; oureLearning package can be adaptedand tailored to Les Mills Nordic’sspecific needs, whilst remainingflexible and accessible.”

Academy toprovide LesMills withresources

UK FITNESS SCENE 13

Phone mannergetting better,claims survey By Christina Eccles

GYMS are getting better at dealingwith telephone enquiries from cus-tomers, according to the results ofthe sixth annual National call-Focus survey, which tests andscores all aspects of a telephonemembership enquiry againstindustry standards.

The survey, conducted by Leisure-net Solutions, revealed that overallscores across the 70-plus healthclubs and leisure centres surveyedin the private, trust and localauthority sectors had risen to 79per cent, compared to 66 per centin 2011.

Scores for answering the phonewere up significantly, with 65 percent picking up within five rings orless and 99 per cent using a stan-dard greeting, such as ‘good morn-ing/afternoon’ as well as the nameof the club/centre.

Leisure-net managing directorMike Hill said: “Learning whatwe’re doing right and wrong withour telephone customer service,and how we can do it better,remains a crucial element of ourindustry’s success.

“Our 2011 survey saw operatorsgetting the worst score in call-Focus’s six-year history (66 percent, compared to 74 per cent in2010 and 78 per cent in 2009), soit’s encouraging to see that the tideis turning as centres realise howvital a sales tool the telephoneremains.”

But the survey also revealed a dis-tinct gap between how quickly theprivate sector answered calls com-

pared to management contractorsand leisure trusts.

Alongside this, more than half ofall receptionists gave out pricesbefore discussing individualrequirements, despite most opera-tors having a policy of not revealingmembership prices too easily.

Mike added: “There’s clearly stillwork to be done. Nearly a quarterof all enquiries could be lost at theinitial call answering stage, becausethe phone isn’t answered in time orin a professional manner, and staffare still not asking the “killer ques-tion” – whether enquirers wouldlike to tour the facilities – whichcould be losing around half ofpotential sales.”

The survey consists of a brandconformity score and a subjectiveassessment score.

The brand conformity scoreincludes a target for answering callsin three to five rings, a standardisedgreeting – including the name ofclub/centre and the personanswering the phone – and takingdetails of the caller to pass on to amembership advisor or offering tocall back.

The subjective assessment scaleconsiders people skills such asphone manner and tone of voiceand makes up a third of the overallscore.

Mystery shoppers rate attributessuch as helpfulness, informationgiven, efficiency, friendliness andenthusiasm on a scale of one tofive.� What do you think? EmailChristina Eccles at ce@script-media.co.uk

Zumba creative director Beto Perez.

Zumba Fitness launchesSentao chair workoutZUMBA Fitness has developed a newconcept which involves using a chairduring workouts to increase partici-pants’ range of movements.

Zumba Sentao combines chairbased choreography with traditionalfitness moves including seated tricepsdips, squats, lunges, push-ups andabdominal crunches.

Zumba Fitness co-founder and CEOAlberto Perlman said: “Like all of ourprogrammes, Zumba Sentao wasdesigned to be easy, effective and dis-guise the workout – all you need to do

is grab a chair and get in the happyzone.

“This class is revolutionary for theZumba programme and revolution-ary for fitness.

“By turning the chair into a dancepartner, we’ve created a fun and exhil-arating new way to strengthen thecore, sculpt the body and burn calo-ries – and have a fantastic time whiledoing so. Zumba instructors all overthe world are going to see the benefitsin bringing this new programme totheir students.”

Gym raises money for charityA RANGE of fundraising events at aladies only gym in Wokingham raisedan impressive £6,200 for BreastCancer Awareness.

The most successful initiative atCurves involved asking members tofill empty Smarties’ tubes with 20pence coins, which alone raised

£1,900. Staff and members also tookpart in other events including a spon-sored walk, silent auction, coffee andcake day and jewellery sale.

Gym owner Bev Gellard said: “Weare so proud of our members for theirshow of support and their enthusi-asm.”

UK FITNESS SCENE14Running her own business, teaching fitness classes and even an appearance on TV’s Take Me Out have all beenkeeping personal trainer Krista Pettit busy. She spoke to Christina Eccles.

One of Krista’s Hipbox classes in action (above) and her appearance on Take Me Out.

Krista’s mission tomake fitness funLONDON based Krista is on a missionto make fitness fun.

Since falling in love with dance at ayoung age, she has long been anadvocate of the benefits of exerciseand keeping physically active, kick-starting a career in the fitness indus-try to spread the message to others.

She explained: “I have been dancingsince I was three and it quicklybecame a huge passion of mine. Itmade me associate fun and fitnesstogether so I always enjoyed PE les-sons and excelled in physical activityat school.

“When I was accepted into the RoyalBallet School it gave me a whole newinsight and I became more interestedin the science and theory behindexercising.

“I then did an A level in PE and wentto university to study sport and exer-cise science to build up more knowl-edge and start my career as a person-al trainer.”

As well as her PT business, Basically

Get Fit, Krista also teaches at a localgym – both Zumba sessions and aclass she created herself calledHipbox.

She added: “Hipbox combines box-ing and dance into one class – boxingto a beat – and it’s so much fun.

“I love teaching the classes and I’mkeen to promote Hipbox even further.I also want to do some kids’ fitnessclasses and teach them about nutri-tion and wellbeing.”

Two appearances on hit dating showTake Me Out have also helped Kristato raise the profile of her businessand she told Workout that being onthe programme was a great experi-ence.

Having first been a contestant dur-ing the show’s second series she wasinvited back for the 2012 celebrityspecial – shown on screen just beforeChristmas – where famous facesincluding actor Joe Swash and come-dian Keith Lemon looked for a date.

She added: “I was first on Take Me

Out in series two and from that hadpeople getting in touch asking how Istayed in shape. When I got theopportunity to go on the show again,I thought it was a great opportunity toget myself known.

“I’ve got a lot of business throughbeing on the show from people askingabout personal training and classes.”

Although 2013 has only just begun,Krista already has big plans for thecoming months.

She will soon be working at popularLondon gym chain Gymbox andhopes to take her Hipbox class there –and eventually to other gyms aroundthe capital.

She added: “In the next few monthsI want to take on London and becomeestablished as a well known personaltrainer.

“In the long term, I would like tohave my own studio to include differ-ent sides of the company withBasically Get Fit and things like danceand beauty.”Krista Pettit

UK FITNESS SCENE16

CEO of The Gym Group John Treharne.

Budget operator awardedthree-star accreditationBUDGET operator The Gym Grouphas been awarded a top accreditationof three stars by the Sunday TimesTop 100 Companies To Work For.

The full list of companies to makethe top 100 list and their ranking willbe announced at a ceremony inLondon on February 27, with the listmade public on the Sunday Timeswebsite on March 10.

CEO John Treharne said: “The staffare absolutely our key asset and we

work hard to ensure we provide all thesupport and development they needto feel happy, content and rewardedin their day to day roles.

“As part of this awards process, TheSunday Times surveyed individuals inour team, from gym instructors tomembers of the central managementteam, and I’m delighted that individu-als have spoken so positively aboutthe company and how valued theyfeel within it.”

New manager Neilreturns to his rootsA FITNESS expert who grew up nearThe Belfry in Sutton Coldfield hasbecome the new manager of theresort’s leisure club.

Neil Walker brings 12 years of expe-rience in the leisure industry toHealth and Wellness at The Belfry andsaid he was excited to be taking onthe role at a time when plans are inthe pipeline for a £30m refurbishmentof the resort by new owners,American investment firm KSLCapital Partners.

He added: “Having been born andraised in Solihull, I grew up knowingthe fantastic heritage and reputationof The Belfry and can rememberwatching the Ryder Cups there.

“It’s an exciting time to be joiningwith the major investment plannedand I’m looking forward to ensuringthat Health and Wellness lives up tothe expectation of The Belfry andstands out over other leisure facilitiesin the area. I’m keen to meet and get

to know the members of Health andWellness. I will be expanding my teamof 15 and focusing on attention todetail to make sure the facilities andthe service that we provide are assharp as they can be.”

Neil Walker

PREMIER Training International haslaunched a competition to find 13candidates looking to start a careerin the health and fitness industry.

Premier is inviting people acrossthe country to enter, explaining whythey deserve the opportunity tomake a genuine career change and

will offer each of the best 13 entriesa scholarship for its flagshipDiploma in Fitness Instructing andPersonal Training. Worth £3,450, theDiploma will fully qualify learners aspersonal trainers upon graduation,and provide the foundations for acareer in the industry.

Competition offers career change

UK FITNESS SCENE 17At this time of year the pages of fitness and lifestyle magazines are awash with articles about the latest andgreatest ways to get in shape. PR expert Cheryl Hersey reveals how to claim some of these valuable column inchesfor your club.

Trends and getting mediacoverage for your gymOVER the next couple of months wecan expect to see pages packed full ofmiracle products, pills and potions,all promising to melt away Christmasweight gain and reveal the ‘new you.’

While it’s fine to be sceptical, alsorealise that this is also the perfectopportunity to get some columninches for your own New Year fitnessoffering – which hopefully has a lotmore merit than some of the otherfads gracing the pages.

Whether you’re offering a new typeof class, a new small group exercisesession or you have just taken deliv-ery of some great new kit, you cantake advantage of the media interestin new trends to get your facility intothe spotlight.

Likewise, if you’re taking an alreadypopular trend and giving it a freshperspective or new twist it’s worthsharing this with the media. WhileZumba might be ‘old hat’ we’re stillseeing press coverage of spin-offs likeZumbatomic, Aqua Zumba andZumbaGold.

Making your approachIf what you’re offering is genuinelynew and exciting, it shouldn’t be ahard sell. Write a short paragraphdescribing your new trend. Avoidtechnical jargon and focus on thebenefits and the unique sellingpoints. Include information like Whyis it different/ better? What happensin a session? Who invented it? Why isit popular? How many calories willyou burn?

A strong image is important to illus-trate the story,and also to help thejournalist understand the new con-cept – this is of particular importancefor new trends that are completelydifferent to anything we’ve seenbefore. You might also like to invitelocal journalists to come and try outyour new offering and write a review.

Spreading the word Make the most of any press coverage

about your new trend – whether itfeatures your facility or not. Usepress cuttings to create some hypearound your new offering.

Members are always keen to try thenew class they’ve just read about inthe Daily Mail, or to use the new kitthat Kim Kardashian swears by.

Post links to any articles you comeacross on your social media channels,and let members know they can trythis hot new trend at your facility.

Fitness trends most likely to get columninches in 20131. Running groups

The public has finally cottoned onto idea that running is accessible,

effective and free, and they are takingto it in their droves. There’s not onlythe opportunity for clubs to tap intothis new found enthusiasm for run-ning but with more running dedicat-ed media popping up all the time,there’s plenty of opportunity to sharenews about the running clubs andevents taking place at your facility.

2. The high-energy dance workout Thanks to Zumba the public is

already on board with the benefits of‘dance fitness.’ While Zumba might beyesterday’s news, we’re likely to seelots written about new incarnationsof the dance workout, like Bokwa andSh’BAM.

If you’re offering these or other simi-lar sessions at your facility, make themost of all the media attention bymarketing these sessions to yourmembers.

You might even like to pull quotesout of media titles to use in your mar-keting material.

3. Interval training HIIT The more the media write about HIIT,the better it is for fitness facilitieseverywhere. So many fitness trendsfeatured in the media take the focusaway from ‘real exercise’, instead pro-moting easy 15-minute fixes andchair-based – gym membership notrequired. HIIT promotes hard workand lends itself to instructor led ses-sions including personal training,small group training and classes.

4. Fitness challenges From Race for Life to UltraMarathons, fitness challenges are nolonger just for die hard runners. We’llcontinue to see events featured in thepress this year, particularly team chal-lenges which, with their focus on funand camaraderie have a real main-stream appeal. Harness this enthusi-asm and use media interest to fillplaces on your own fitness challenges– you’ll have the local advantage overthe majority written about in themedia.

5. Bodyweight training Bodyweight workouts are likely to bagbig column inches this year, particu-larly ‘back-to-basic’ moves and func-tional exercises. If you offer a classthat harnesses bodyweight, likeGRAVITY training on the Total Gym,or if you have installed kit likeSynrgy360 on the gym floor, you’realready ahead of the curve. � Cheryl Hersey is a founding partnerof Action PR, a specialist agency sup-porting the health and fitness indus-try. For more information visitwww.actionpr.co.uk

Cheryl and the Action PR team.

UK FITNESS SCENE18

AN exercise referral scheme, whichhas been used by more than 6,300people, is being scrapped by healthbosses in Barnsley.

NHS Barnsley has decided to stopfunding the scheme, which hashelped patients suffering from dia-betes, heart problems and other med-ical complaints, from the end ofMarch.

The scheme is run at theMetrodome, Hoyland, Royston andDearneside Leisure Centres and theDorothy Hyman Stadium – centres alloperated by Barnsley Premier Leisure– and offers specialist support fromclinically trained staff.

Patients are referred by their GP, butGPs were told not to refer afterJanuary 1 because patients would nothave time to complete the 10 weekcourse before the funding ended.

Business manager at Hill BrowSurgery in Mapplewell, Julia Gledhill,

said they were aware funding is beingstopped and had been asked to stopmaking referrals.

She added: "We have certainlyreferred quite a lot of people, and itgives them an introduction to exer-cise.

"We've referred people with morethan one illness, or long term illnessand it's a way of giving people whohave never been to a gym, or areafraid to go, support.

"We've had some really good suc-cess, not just with health but also Ithink with people who have had lowmood, or depression.

"I know people have continued todo some form of exercise after theprogramme has finished and I thinkit's been quite useful."

Barnsley MPs Dan Jarvis andMichael Dugher slammed the deci-sion and Mr Jarvis said he would belooking carefully at what had hap-

pened to the funding.Tim Wilson, chief executive of BPL,

said the scheme had been runningsince 2008, and the contract wasrenewed in October 2011.

He said they were informed inDecember that funding would cease.

He added: "BPL are saddened by theloss of funding. We have receivedsome outstanding feedback about theservice and we are extremely proud ofthe success the scheme hasachieved."

A spokesman for NHS Barnsleyadded: “This exercise referral schemewas commissioned by NHS Barnsleyin autumn 2011 as just one of a widerange of other services that work withlocal people to support them to man-age their weight and their health con-ditions. This particular service wasonly contracted for 18 months' dura-tion and therefore is due to come toan end on March 31.”

Health bosses stop fundingfor exercise referral scheme

Gym website partners with O2WEBSITE payasUgym.com has part-nered with O2 to provide 3.4m O2customers with access to over 800gyms and health clubs that have beenlisted on the payasUgym.com site.

By using the real-time geographiclocation of the customer via mobilephone devices, participating gymsand health clubs will be promoted toO2 customers through the popular

‘O2 Priority Moments’ App. CEO Jamie Ward said: “This partner-

ship with O2 Priority Moments is sig-nificant for the fitness industry as itenables payasUgym.com to provideO2 customers with access to gymsand health clubs that are both localand highly relevant to them thanks tothe location-based search facilitiesenabled by their mobile phone.”

Matt Roberts

CELEBRITY personal trainer MattRoberts has strengthened his part-nership with London hotel 45 ParkLane following the success of his inroom workout programmes.

The Exercise Matt at 45 Park Laneconcept has been expanded toencourage new year fitness andsupport people training formarathons.

As part of the programme, Matt’spersonal selection of healthy disheswill be available upon request,including a special ‘Booster Slider’of spicy lobster and raw vegetables.

Also available from April 1 to 21will be an Exercise Matt at 45 ParkLane overnight stay, catering espe-cially for those running the VirginLondon Marathon or wanting morefitness support.

The package includes a one nightstay, healthy breakfast suggestionsfrom Matt, a pre and post-run MattRoberts fitness shake, a copy ofMatt’s Getting Running fitnessbook, a Booster Slider on arrivaland use of the hotel’s BromptonBicycles and in-room yoga mat andDVD. Guests can also request a fit-ness pack on checkout, whichincludes step-by-step training tech-niques, a healthy seven-day eatingplan and top tips from Matt.

Matt’s hotelpartnership

UK FITNESS SCENE20

A GUERNSEY hotel has transformed agolf retail shop into a fully function-ing gym, thanks to help from EscapeFitness.

With the golf shop at the La GrandeMare Hotel relocating to join the driv-ing range across the road, the four-star hotel decided to turn the spaceinto a gym.

Director Chris Vermeulen and PTAshley Carter came up with the ideaof creating the gym and studio about18 months ago and opened the doorsto the public last November.

Escape supplied a range of equip-ment including Rubber Olympic GripDiscs and Curl Bars, ReebokKettlebells, Rep Sets and MedicineBalls, Reebok Steps and Studio Mats

On top of the equipment, a PavigymSprint Track was also installed, alongwith Pavigym Free Weight flooring tocomplete the transformation.

The club’s range of membershippackages has also been extended andstaff have already held a successfultaster weekend to promote the newfacilities.

Ashley said reaction from membershas been “incredibly positive”, withthe club already thinking about fur-ther improvements it can make dur-ing the coming months.

“We are looking to up our classesand group training, particularly look-ing into the business sector. We’replanning on reaching out to business-es on the island, to get them to usethe facilities not only in the gym butalso the health club generally, includ-ing business lunches after their work-outs.”

Golf shop transformed into gymThe new facility at the La Grande Mare Hotel in Guernsey.Virgin Active has appointed a new chief

marketing officer across its portfolio ofover 100 health clubs. Brian Waring’srole as CMO will be to be to lead mar-keting and build both the brand andbusiness in the UK. He said: “It’s a reallyexciting time to be joining Virgin Active.Virgin is such an iconic brand and VirginActive is number one in its sector.Following the success of the 2012games, a generation has been inspiredand it’s our role as the leading healthclub operator to motivate and encour-age new and existing members to beactive in an effective, yet enjoyableway. We want to help each individualachieve their goals – whatever theymay be.”

UK FITNESS SCENE22

Club dedicated toCrossFit opens itsdoors in Worksop

The new facility at CrossFit Worksop

By Christina Eccles

THE CrossFit phenomenon has takenoff in Worksop with the opening of anew club dedicated to this style ofworkouts.

Daniel Wankiewicz opened CrossFitWorksop last October after growingout of his previous group fitness stu-dio, P1Fitness.

Moving premises to a more centrallocation has had several benefits –allowing him to rapidly grow the busi-ness by tapping into a bigger towncentre audience, take on staff to sup-port him and purchase more kit.

The new site is also much bigger,which means he can sign up moremembers and introduce a greatervariety of workouts – both inside thebuilding and eventually by utilising itslarge outdoor space.

Daniel explained: “It’s made a hugedifference. Before it was just myselfbut the move has allowed me to takeon three full time coaches and openfor longer from 6am to 10pm.

“We are now also affiliated withCrossFit – moving has taken us to

another level.”The club already has almost 50

members signed up on a CrossFitmembership and another 50 doingpersonal training.

According to Daniel things are goingwell, but he would now like to spreadthe CrossFit word even further tolocal people.

As part of this, he is planning to stepup his marketing strategy and aims tohave another 50 members signed upby the end of the month.

He added: “Worksop’s not very bigand we are pushing Crossfit forward.We’ve got that niche and are nowattracting people from Sheffield,Doncaster and Rotherham.

“Our main thing for this year is get-ting established within the UKCrossfit scene. We have our first eventcoming up at CrossFit Blackburn andabout 30 of us are going up there.”

Future plans include introducingmore outdoor workouts once theweather improves and potentiallyexpanding to make some additionalspace if needed once the membershipbase grows.

Moving to a new site has had many benefits for owner Daniel Wankiewicz.

UK FITNESS SCENE24

TWO of the celebrities taking part inthis year’s Dancing on Ice got in somepre-show training at a leisure centrein Surrey.

Eastenders’ actor Matt Lapinskasand TV presenter Anthea Turnerhoned their skating skills at FreedomLeisure operated Guildford SpectrumLeisure Complex ahead of their selec-tion for the ITV show.

The pair worked with two ofSpectrum’s professionals Jo Garganoand Melissa Galvin before passing thenerve wracking ‘show and tell’ stage –impressing Olympic skating duoJayne Torvill and Christopher Dean

enough to be chosen to compete inthe live shows.

Freedom Leisure’s marketing man-ager Rob Price said: “We are delightedAnthea and Matt have chosenSpectrum as their training venue.We’ve obviously known about this forsome time but have been sworn tosecrecy but now the line-up isannounced we are proud to be able totell people.

“They should be commended fortheir dedication and work rate as bothof them have put in long hours andfrom what I’ve seen they should dovery well in the competition.”

Matt Lapinskas training at Guildford Spectrum Leisure Complex.

Celebrities get their skates on

UK FITNESS SCENE26

THE phase three winner ofKettlercise’s 12 week body transfor-mation challenge has been crowned.

Mark Coates took the first prize afterachieving a massive 42lb weight lossand 31 inch loss.

He won the first prize of £1,000 andnow has a one in four chance of win-ning the main prize of £20,012.

Jo Ounsley was named the secondprize winner of phase three after los-ing 18lbs and 31 inches, whileHannah Tuff took third prize – achiev-ing a 25.5lb weight loss.

Kettlercise instructor Michael Rosshas also been celebrating afterdescribing his first year running theclasses as a ‘tremendous success.’

In just 12 months, Michael has pro-

gressed from his first class of six peo-ple to now running 13 classes withabout 250 people a week.

He has also achieved success byincorporating themes into his classesto appeal to different groups withinthe community.

He explained: “Incorporatingthemes into my kettlercise classes ishelping us all become aware of all thedifferent ethnic members of our com-munities, drawing them in throughmusic and exercise, helping breakdown cultural barriers.”

His upcoming themes for this yearinclude a Bollywood style class com-plete with Asian music and aBollywood inspired dance session aspart of the class warm up.

Mark wins first prize FREEDOM Leisure had introducedhot new class Primal Move into oneof its clubs.

Crowborough Leisure Centre isthe first Freedom site to offer theclass, which was originally devel-oped in Hungary by Peter Lakatos, aRussian Kettlebell instructor andfunctional movement screeningexpert. It encompasses fundamen-tal and functional movements tomimic and support natural every-day moves like bending, twisting,stretching, turning, sitting downand standing up.

Fitness manager and instructorSteve Collins said: “Primal Movebrings together a range of natural

movements, many of which we dideffortlessly as children such ascrawling, squatting and rolling.

“The class brings together ele-ments of yoga, martial arts andgymnastics in a range of easy-to-follow, free-flowing movements.

“I was interested in the PrimalMove concept and we hosted aworkshop here at CrowboroughLeisure Centre which was only thesecond coaching session on the UKmainland.

“I could immediately see its meritand straight away found three slotson our weekly timetable to intro-duce it here. I think it will catch onpretty fast as word gets out.”

Freedom launches PrimalMove at Crowborough

UK FITNESS SCENE 27

The past does not haveto equal the futureBy Matt Januszek, Escape Fitness

A NEW Year is upon us and I’m sureplenty, if not all, of you will have setgoals for the year ahead.

I imagine the same was true 12months ago and so this time of year isalso a time for reflection, whatworked and what didn’t.

Over the Christmas break I managedto find some precious quiet time inbetween too much food, alcohol anda young hyperactive family to dosome reading.

I came across an interesting articleby a man called Peter Thompson,quite well known in the field of per-sonal development and worth check-ing out if you have time.

He put together an exercise with alist of thought provoking questionsthat helped me to put things in per-spective and have a fresh look at theyear ahead.

I found the exercise valuable andthought it would be an interestingsubject to share with you.

So, if you have any clear time inbetween kick starting the New Year,and keeping on top of your new year’sresolutions, then give it a go.

� What are my values?

� Am I living my life in a mannerthat’s true to them?� What have I learned in my life todate?� How do I use that knowledge?� What is it that I enjoy doing?� Is what I’m doing now, how I’m liv-ing my life, contributing positively tothat?� If I won the lottery would life sud-denly be better?� If I was given £1m tomorrow whatwould I do?� What is in my life right now that Icherish, and what could I do without?� How would I describe myself?� What am I most proud of?� Am I living the life of my dreams?� If I only had a day/ week/ month/year to live, what would I do?� Am I mixing with the right people –is my circle of friends reflecting posi-tively on me?� Who do I spend the most amountof my time with?� Do they empower me or do theyhold me back?� If I chose to change, am I strongenough to handle that?� If there was a single thing that Icould change today about my life,what would it be?

� Why am I so certain it would makethings better?� If I could live my whole life againwhat would I do the same?� What would I do differently?� If I was 20 years older, what would Ihave liked to have done in the timethat’s past?� What advice would I give to myselfif I could go back five years? � If I knew I couldn’t fail, what wouldI do?� Where do I want to be in atwo/three/five/10 years’ time?� What mistakes do I continuallymake, and why do I keep repeatingthem?� What is it that I’m afraid of?� Why am I fearful?� What are my bad habits?� Would it all be better if I had struc-tured goals to aim for?� Why would that make it better?� What are my strengths?� Why am I not doing more of thethings that make me happy?

So what do you think? Did you findany new insights like I did? Well Ihope, like me, 2013 will be one ofyour best years yet. You may want towrite down your answers so you cancheck back every now and again

throughout the year so you stay asexcited about your New Year’s goals asyou were when you created them.

Let me know how it goes and dropme a line at marketing@escapefit-ness.com

Matt Januszek

UK FITNESS SCENE28Fitness model and healthy eating ambassador CarlyThornton regularly trains at different gyms up and downthe country. Here she reveals some of the clubs leadingthe way when it comes to nutrition and healthy eating.

ON my travels around the UK, I havenoticed a huge increase in gyms pro-viding a wider range of benefits fortheir members to help them achieve ahealthier lifestyle.

Below are a few gyms that are goingthat extra mile and excelling in pro-moting a healthier way of life

Ria Ward is a top female figure ath-lete and personal trainer at EvolutionGym in Rochdale.

She said: “We practice what wepreach. Every single member of thestaff and management is experiencedin training techniques and nutritionso no matter who you approach,you'll always be able to get the adviceyou need. We may not always tell youwhat you want to hear, but it willalways be honest, sincere advice thatwill yield results.

“We offer tailored training plans andtailored healthy eating plans to helpget you set up with a healthy newlifestyle for a healthy new you.”

Monster Gym in Cheshunt are notonly well known for many movie starstraining there while filming but theyprovide members with a fullyequipped café, which cooks allhealthy food and caters to everyone’sneeds.

With this they have also gone onestep further and with the expertise oftheir chef, make and sell fresh proteincookies and cakes.

Oasis Gym is a ladies only gym inBenfleet Essex. It has only recentlyopened and on my visit I was inspiredby what the ladies had achieved insuch a short space of time. All staffare fitness enthusiasts and generalmanager Ange is looking to take it onestep further and compete this year.

They provide a mixture of USNproducts to help and educate ladies

that protein is important. They pro-vide training and nutritional plansand are also looking into makinghomemade treats for members to buy.

Ripped Gym in Harlow Essex has afantastic café with all freshly cookedfood to cater for everyone’s needs – Imyself have eaten here when compe-tition prepping. With friendly staffwho promote a healthy balancedlifestyle, they have a fantastic mixtureof trainers from ex pro boxers to ex-pro footballers, whatever goal, theyhave it all to offer, making fitness fun.

It’s very inspiring to walk into thesetypes of facilities and see the energyfrom the love and passion they give tohelping others succeed and achieve.

Gyms helpingmembers leadhealthier lives

Carly Thornton

Celebrity personal trainers and former TV Gladiators Wayne Gordon and Jenny Pacey havelaunched a new website to promote their services and share top fitness tips. www.pace-andgo.co.uk includes advice on exercise and nutrition, details of the pair’s personal train-ing packages and case studies from successful clients.

‘Motivated Monday’ biggestonline fitness shopping dayTHE first Monday of every year hasbeen dubbed ‘motivated Monday’, fol-lowing data which shows it has con-sistently proven to be the busiestshopping day in the fitness retail cal-endar.

Sales data from the last five yearshas shown that people hit the shopsmost on this day, looking to stock upon exercise equipment to aid theirNew Year’s resolutions.

CEO of Sweatband.com, a websitewhich sells sport and fitness equip-ment, Maz Darvish said: “When look-ing at sales data from the last five

years, we noticed that the firstMonday, whether it was right at thebeginning of the year or, as in the caseof 2013, further in, consistentlyproved to be the busiest day of shop-ping each year. The team have evenstarted calling it Motivated Monday!

“The second interesting fact to comeout of it was the increase in the num-ber of people buying exercise bikesthis year. We're putting it down to theWiggins Effect, with Team GB and MrWiggins inspiring a nation of exercis-ers to cycle their way to a healthier2013.”

PLYMOUTH Life Centre has hit amilestone of 1m visitors in just ninemonths.

The millionth visitor was greeted byCoun Peter Smith, deputy leader ofPlymouth City Council and TonyHopwood, council programmes direc-tor, as well as David Greenwood,Plymouth contract manager forEveryone Active and Julian Egan, gen-eral manager at the Plymouth LifeCentre. She was awarded a year’s freemembership, as well as a celebratoryglass of champagne.

The centre is operated by EveryoneActive in partnership with PlymouthCity Council.

Centre hitsmilestone

UK FITNESS SCENE30

THE Active Channel is now availableto watch on subscription free satelliteTV service Freesat, increasing itspotential audience by nearly 2m view-ers.

The channel, which is available 24hours a day and seven days a week,will be Freesat’s first fitness dedicatedchannel, offering a range of health,exercise and nutritional advice.

Channel highlights include:� Raw Kitchen – the world’s first culi-nary show dedicated to raw food.� Fit Britain: Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor –a show which follows the internation-al darts icon on his journey to fitness.� Celebrity Trainer – where trainer tothe rich and famous, Ricardo Macedo

puts a celebrity, such as Strictly ComeDancing professional Natalie Lowe,through their paces.

The Active Channel’s CEO ParhamDonyai said: “We are absolutelydelighted to be able to make ourchannel available to even more view-ers.

“Since our launch and subsequentrapid growth, we have had countlessrequests for The Active Channel to beavailable to even more people, andnow we can finally say we can.

“Our availability on Freesat, givesnearly 2m more viewers the chance toimprove their health, fitness and well-being by watching The ActiveChannel.”

Active Channel nowavailable on Freesat

Chain signsagreementwith KeiserGYMOPHOBICS has signed a newagreement with Keiser UK to pro-vide their Air resistance equip-ment to franchisees.

The Keiser Air resistance circuitis used for the Gymophobicsresisted tension programme,which integrates four differentexercise modalities in just 30 min-utes.

The circuit features 10 exercisestations and each member is pre-scribed their own programme,including the exercises to be per-formed, number of repetitionsand resistance settings so theycan reach their goals.

Managing director RichardHubbard said: “We like Air ratherthan weights. Our customers arefemale and mainly new to exer-cise so the smoothness and quiet-ness of pneumatic resistancerather than weight stacks is idealfor our clients.”

Online facilitylaunched

Beat the blues

BADGEMASTER has launched anew, user-friendly, fully interac-tive online design facility,enabling customers to designtheir own badges and create theirown designs instantly on screen.

This new and innovative websitemakes all the professional skills,experience and resources used bytop badge designers available toeveryone with internet access. Viaa user-friendly, step-by-step pro-gram, it allows users to exploredifferent looks for their newbadge and to create instantlytheir chosen options without anyof the delays or costs involved inthe need to use a designer.

Accessed through www.badge-master.co.uk, this unique facilityenables users to select from acomprehensive range. Oncehappy with their chosen designusers can send it electronically toBadgemaster to receive a no-obli-gation quotation by return.

THE Register of ExerciseProfessionals urged people tostart the year by getting active inorder to beat the January blues.

According to REPs, exercise canhelp cure the mild depressionexperienced by many people fromChristmas through to the spring.

Registrar Jean-Ann Marnochsaid: “Everybody knows that exer-cise is good for our physicalhealth, but it is really just asimportant for our mental wellbe-ing.

“Studies show that even 10 min-utes of aerobic exercise can havea positive effect, so even a briefwalk at low intensity can improveyour mood and increase yourenergy.”

UK FITNESS SCENE32

How to retain the NewYear rush at your gymBy Dave Wright

AS we embark upon an exciting 2013and prepare for a rush of deliriouslymotivated and excited new prospects,ready to embark on their quest of ful-filling their new year’s resolution, wemust take heed of the long termnature of those members who are tak-ing that step.

The bottom line in making moremoney for your club is down to the‘average length of stay’. Or to put itanother way – members paying youfor a longer period of time. This allcomes down to retention.

If your club does not have a thor-ough retention plan in place to setthem on course in the first 30-60 dayon-boarding period, it’s very likely,according to studies, that they will falloverboard after the initial rush ofmotivation lags. So start your plan-ning now so that improvements thatyou need to make are ready for the2013 new year’s resolution stampede.

A great checklist you can use for theinitial 60 days for new members atyour club is the acronym M.E.M.B.E.Rcreated by The Retention People – asoftware company that conductsresearch into member retention.

M – Managing expectationsWhen they first join your facility,members will have various expecta-tions about the benefits of exerciseand how much exercise is required toachieve these benefits. As fitness staffwill know, many members have unre-alistically high expectations. Researchhas shown that members who havehigh expectations that are not metundertake significantly fewer exercisesessions, (club visits), over 12 monthscompared to members who have real-istic expectations that are met.

Action: Under promise and overdeliver. If you can let your membersknow that training once a week regu-larly is often more than what they aredoing now, it prevents them fromthinking exercise is a complete bore.

E – Exercise self-efficacy (confidence)The more confident your membersare about the exercises that they do,the more likely they are to do them.High skill exercises such as many ofthe stability exercises take much

longer to learn and therefore canreinforce beliefs about not being goodat exercise, lead to embarrassmentand drop out.

Action: Communicate with yourmembers so that they know what theyare doing and why. The quicker theycan master the exercise, the morecomfortable they will be with contin-uing on.

M – Monitoring and feedbackEarly meetings with members (withinthe first month) to take stock andmeasure progress against expecta-tions shows the member that the clubis genuinely interested in helpingthem to achieve what they came forand therefore it represents value formoney. It is also an opportunity tonip any problems in the bud beforethe member’s mind turns to reasonsto cancel!

Action: Too many members cancelbecause the scales say the same, butthey have become leaner and havedropped dress sizes etc. If membersknow that they are being successful,they will more likely continue.

B – Behavioral choicesMembers who perceive that they areactively engaged in the design of theirexercise programme exercise morethan people who perceive they haveno involvement in it. This level ofownership is important for membersto feel as if they are in control of theirdestiny.

Action: Whilst writing programmesfor your members, ask them whatthey enjoy doing and then if applica-ble, try and incorporate that intotheir programme.

E – Exercise intensityMembers need to understand theintensity that they are training to. Toomany members either train too hardor not hard enough and therefore arenot getting the goals that they areafter or can’t sustain the level ofintensity for the long haul.

Action: Invest in ways to monitorthe intensity of members so that theyare aware of what and how hard theyare training. This will keep themmotivated and on track to receive thebest goals possible.

R – ReinforcementPositive reinforcement in the form ofaffirmations from fitness staff increas-es motivation, confidence and adher-ence.

Too often the only time fitness stafftalk to members is to point out whatthey are doing wrong. Although thiscan improve safety and performance,if this is the only time members getspoken to it can quickly dent theirconfidence.

Action: Providing frequent and posi-tive reinforcement to your membersthat is relevant to their goals will cer-tainly help them stay on track.

The role of any form of retentionprogramme is to encourage membersto be more active more often. Yourhealth, like your finances, can veryrarely be achieved overnight.

So if you can employ as many wayspossible to keep your members exer-cising for a much longer period oftime, then you will have certainly wonthe retention game, will be able tocapitalise on 2013 and all along makemore money whilst you do it. � Dave Wright is the CEO ofCFM/MYZONE, a company with over300 staff that have served the interna-tional fitness industry for over 21years in 10 different countries;focussing on either getting new mem-bers and/or keeping existing ones.Dave is also the owner of 11 healthclubs across two continents, a boarddirector of ukactive, founder of IOU(Independent Operators Unite), anIHRSA presenter and the creator andglobal distributor of a new monitor-ing device used by clubs around theworld called MYZONE.

He may be contacted onDave.Wright@cfm.net

Dave Wright

Brummies tophealthy listPEOPLE in Birmingham are themost committed to getting healthythis year, according to research byonline voucher and daily deal spe-cialist DiscountVouchers.co.uk.

According to the money savingwebsite, Brummies’ list of NewYear’s resolutions are most likelyto include a detox, joining the gymand giving up smoking.

BODYPOWER Expo hasannounced the headline speakersfor its industry and preview day,which is supported byIndependent Operators Unite.

A key aim of the programme,taking place on Friday May 17, isto educate and explain the differ-ent areas of sports performancethroughout various feature areas.

Key speakers include:� Jim Stoppani, PhD – a leadingsports nutritionist and senior sci-ence editor for Muscle andFitness, Muscle and Fitness Hersand Flex magazines.� Phil Learney – director of edu-cation for Ultimate Performance,expert in the strength and condi-tioning field and writer for leadinginternational health and fitnessmagazines and publications. � Kris Gethin – Founder of DTP(Dramatic TransformationPrinciple), Physique Elite ambas-sador and author of the best sellerBody by Design.� Neil Hill – Founder of the revo-lutionary Y3T programme,Physique Elite Ambassador, for-mer IFBB professional body-builder and world classtrainer/nutritionist.� Rehan Jalali – certified sportsnutritionist and president of theSupplement Research Foundation �Ben Coomber – runs a success-ful personal trainer academyteaching PTs advanced nutritionconcepts while coaching peopleonline.

Bodypowerspeakersrevealed

REFURBISHMENT 33

£7m project tolead to rise inmembershipBy Christina Eccles

MORE space, better changing facili-ties and reduced queuing times willbe just some of the benefits memberswill see following extensive refurbish-ment at a group of Freedom Leisuresites.

About £7m is being spent at centresin Crowborough, Hailsham, Uckfieldand Heathfield, with improvementsincluding enlarging the gyms, creat-ing additional studios, modernisingchanging rooms and external work tomake the clubs more visually appeal-ing.

The project began in January and isdue to be completed in September –with figures predicting membershipscould rise by about 20 per cent in thefirst year across the contract andcasual visits increase by 13 per cent asa result of the changes.

Freedom Leisure area manager forWealden Neil Roberts explained:“Freedom secured a further 10 yearcontract to manage the four centresfor Wealden District Council, and theresult of this has meant significantinvestment to increase usage at thecentres by adding to capacity andmake the centres more accessible, aswell as improving the quality of thesites which will increase the overallcustomer experience.

“We have worked closely with thebuilding contractors to ensure we areable keep the majority of facilitiesopen to the public throughout theduration of the works. The use ofsome facilities will be limited butwhere possible we will try to providealternative options. Members will alsobe able to use any of the other centresin the Wealden contract.”

According to Neil, the work willresult in many improvements includ-ing:� Increased capacity, ease of accessand reduced queuing times toimprove customer experience.

� Improved café areas, which willencourage customers to enjoy thecentre for longer and increase dwelltime.� Better changing facilities.� Bigger areas for small group train-ing and space for assessments –increasing opportunities for second-ary spend (PT and group PT) andimprove member retention.� Additional studios which willimprove options for increasing thenumber and variety of classes. � Installation of turnstiles to enablecloser tracking of attendance num-bers.

A detailed marketing plan has alsobeen implemented to ensure existingmembers – and the wider community– are kept up to speed with the devel-opments.

Neil added: “Nearer to completion apresales marketing campaign willcommence to drive new membershipsales and encourage previous mem-bers to return.

“Promotional activity will increaseas completion of the refurbishmentgets closer and will result in signifi-cant launch activity/open weekendsto encourage local people to visit andsee the changes for themselves.”

Neil Roberts

Burnley Council has refurbished its flagship facility with the aim of providing a venuewhich would wow existing members and provide something different for new ones.St Peter’s Leisure Centre has installed the latest Synrgy equipment from Life Fitness, givingthe club the ability to hold dynamic gym based group circuit sessions, as well as being use-ful for one to one personal training. Leisure facilities manager Neil Hutchinson said: “Thishas ensured that our customers old and new get the latest and most innovative fitnessequipment in Burnley, keeping us at the forefront of health and fitness in the area.”

A NORTH Somerset gym has becomethe first in the area to install the latestvibration training equipment.

theclub at Cadbury House inCongresbury has invested £32,000 infour new Power Plate machines, lovedby celebrities such as ElleMacPherson, Courtney Cox andRachel Weisz.

Club manager Jason Eaton said:“These really are the very latest inhealth club technology and to be the

first health club in the region to havethem installed proves we are leadingedge when it comes to improving ourmembers’ experience. It’s what sets usapart from all other health clubs.

“Regular sessions on the Power Platemachines combined with a weightmanagement programme will helpusers tone up quicker and is a greatway to get back into shape followingthe excesses of Christmas and theNew Year.”

Vibration plate first for theclubClub manager Jason Eaton with one of the new machines.

REFURBISHMENT34

A gym in Hampshire has revamped its facilities, including more resistance equipment tokeep up with the latest trends. Yateleys Health and Fitness has capitalised on a renewedinterest in resistance training by investing in key pieces of strength equipment from StarTrac. Sports and leisure manager Debbie Warne said: “Resistance training has certainlybecome a big buzz word at Yateleys, so it would have been foolish to neglect the wantsand needs of our clients. Feedback from all members has been really positive, but we’veseen a real upsurge in male members choosing to train at Yateleys. The introduction of theMax Rack has definitely been a draw card and has complemented the free weights andcardio equipment, giving our members a renewed passion for training.”

INDEPENDENT health club CrowWood gave existing and potentialmembers a sneak preview of its newmulti million pound spa facilities byrunning tours over the Christmasperiod.

Staff at the Burnley based clubdecided to host visits to the £4mdevelopment at The Woodland Spaafter becoming aware of interestfrom members and non memberswho wanted to see what it lookedlike.

Director Oliver Brown explained:“We were keen to ensure that ourvalued members would be amongstthe very first to see The WoodlandSpa redevelopment.

“In the event, we’ve had almost1,200 people viewing the new devel-opment – members and non-mem-bers alike.”

Members will be able to access thenew facilities – set to open withinthe next few weeks – at an introduc-tory reduced cost.

The spa will include a range of lux-ury pampering and treatment facili-ties, a spectacular thermal experi-ence, a new ladies only gym and anew restaurant called Bertram’s,offering a quality dining experiencewith views of Pendle Hill.

Oliver added: “The feedback frompeople who went on the tours of TheWoodland Spa has been absolutelyexcellent. Even though the facility isyet to fully open, we’ve had lots ofnew people signing up for packagesand current members upgradingtheir packages so they can takeadvantage of what will be one of thefinest day spa facilities in northernEurope.”

Club offers glimpse of spaThe new multi-million pound facility at Crow Wood health club in Burnley.

REFURBISHMENT36

London health clubreplaces its lockersIN a bid to improve the managementof its lockers, The Landmark HotelSpa and Health club in London hasreplaced all 40 of its key-operatedchanging room lockers with KitLockdigital locker locks.

The upgrade will help prevent guestsfrom claiming lockers as their own forthe duration of their stay.

Manager Joey Cererio said: “We’dfound that regular guests, especiallyones using the facilities over a num-ber of days, would take the locker keyaway with them.

“Not only did this limit the numberof lockers available for the other

guests to use, also, when we checkedthe lockers at the end of the day, itwas impossible for us to identifywhether a locker was in use or if thekey was genuinely lost. It was becom-ing very difficult to monitor.”

KitLock 1200 is a durable electroniclock suitable for securing lockers.Fitted in place of a standard cam lock,it provides simple keypad accesswithout the hassle of keys, coins ortokens.

Instead, access is gained by enteringa four-digit code on the keypad.Guests simply enter a user code, then‘lock and go’.

Agency transforms firm’s gymAn artist’s impression of Vodafone’s new facility.

CREATIVE agency Platform hastransformed the gym at Vodafone’shead office in Newbury.

Working with Nuffield Health,which operates the franchise withinEdison House, Platform was taskedwith turning the gym into a dynam-ic exercise space which fits with thecorporate branding of Vodafone’scampus.

The concept included creating dif-ferent zones for aerobic, stretch,resistance, spin and weights with

graphics and imagery used to reflectthese areas and motivate gym users.

Director Krishna Money said: “It’sgreat to work on a very different sortof project with Vodafone havingdesigned their customer experiencecentre, network operations centreplus offices, receptions and cus-tomer experiences in the UK andinternationally. We took their brandcharacteristics and combined themwith a fresh, energetic and dynamiclook for the gym.”

The new changing room at The Landmark Hotel Spa and Health club.

REFURBISHMENT 37

Giving your gym a new look canbe much cheaper than you think

Advertiser’s announcement

AS you can see in the photos, simplychanging the upholstery in your gymwill dramatically improve the look,not only of your equipment, but ofyour club too.

And it’s easier than you might think.Gone are the days of taking your

own pads off and taking them to alocal upholsterer to be recovered in amismatched fabric, leaving machinesout of action for days or even weekson end, or even ordering expensivereplacements from the manufacturer,waiting for them to be delivered andthen paying someone to fit them ormessing around fitting them yourself.

Thanks to the guys at Gym Wizardall it takes now is a quick phone calland you can let them do the rest. Youmight not think much when a vanpulls up at your club, until you seewhat’s in the back.

A fully kitted out upholstery work-shop with sewing machines, stapleguns, a trimming bench and a lot ofrolls of fabric. Wood and woodwork-ing tools and sheets of foam for thosepads that that are a little worse forwear. Basically, everything requiredfor professional upholstery work.

The guys take the pads that requireattention from a couple of your

machines at a time, and in their placeleave a polite, professional lookingsign informing your customers thatyou are renewing the upholstery andthe machines will be ready to useagain very soon.

And it really is quick. The guys takethe pads outside and into theirmobile workshop and within half anhour or so, the pads are back on themachines and the next batch arebeing removed for the same treat-ment.

A typical gym can be fully recoveredwithin the day for about the same asit costs you to replace a deck and belton two of your treadmills. Not badwhen you think about it – nobodynotices what you spend on mainte-nance but they can’t help but noticethis.

Don’t be thinking you need to begetting your full gym upholstered forthem to come out to you either.They’re just as happy to come out andrecover a handful of pads and caneasily match them up to your existingupholstery colour.

Gym Wizard was set up seven yearsago after realising the need for a dedi-cated, hassle free upholstery serviceand have over 25 years’ experience in

the fitness industry, so it’s safe to saythey know what they are talkingabout.

Their customer portfolio speaks vol-umes. From the very smallest per-sonal trainers and private clubs right

up to the biggest chains, prisons andcounty councils, even the major man-ufacturers themselves.

For more info check out www.gym-wizard.com

or call them on 0700 3400 335

REFURBISHMENT38

PAVIGYM is the only flooring brandspecialising in the health club indus-try.

Pavigym is a way to define the area;to differentiate, personalise, optimiseand increase the profit of your sportscentre.

Pavigym is celebrating its 50th yearin business this year as well. We havealso been working closely with manyof the leading gyms, health clubs andhotel chains around the world overthe last two decades.

We can differentiate you from yourcompetition through:� Innovation.� Inspirational layouts and personali-sation.� 3D Service for free.� Customer service.

� Functional zone.Clubs will drastically improve their

image and maximise the space avail-able without large investment, PTswill increase their knowledge and willbe able to create their own program-ming and members will enjoy shorter,more effective, more fun and moreinteractive workouts.

Create a new revenue stream andincrease retention rate: small grouptraining is more effective, more inten-sive and much more fun than 1:1 ses-sions. Follow the latest trend in theindustry; we’ll help you from designto installation.

For more information contact UK salesmanager Steven Sykes on 01223 969 870,email steven.sykes@pavigym.com or visit

www.pavigym.com

The complete flooringsolution for your gym

REFURBISHED gym equipment spe-cialist GYMKITUK is celebrating adecade at the top – reporting its bestever year in business.

Specialising in the refurbishment,installation and service of gym equip-ment for more than 10 years, GYMKI-TUK employs over 20 service engi-neers and 15 support staff. The com-pany cites its year on year growth tocontinually evolving and developingnew revenue streams.

MD Howard Braband said: “We are avery different company to the onethat was formed 10 years ago.Whilstrefurbishment and servicing remainsour core business, we have developedother revenue streams, particularly inthe manufacture, sales and distribu-tion of new products which hashelped our growth and kept us mov-ing forward.”

The company is also the Europeandistributor of Teeter Inversion tables –the world’s largest inversion product

company – manufactures the VplateVibration plate, has developed a REPSaccredited training course and Vplateworkout DVDs, as well as a library ofimages and marketing material.

Most recently, the company hasbecome the UK distributor for FitInteriors, the luxury Italian lockermanufacturer.

Howard has operated a number ofaward winning clubs himself for over25 years, including a large chain ofover 80 sites.

He still runs his own small healthclub chain and believes his opera-tional experience is also an importantfactor in the company’s success.

He added: “I understand what oper-ators want, because I’ve been in theirshoes.

“I think like an operator, and notjust like an equipment supplier whichis a great advantage.”

For more information call Howard on 08082315 756 or visit www.gymkituk.com

Refurb specialist reportsrecord sales in 2012

AS Virgin Active Health Clubs takeover Esporta and grow significantlywithin the UK fitness industry, itseems they have a keen eye on retain-ing customers by ensuring their fit-ness equipment always looks at itsbest, with the help of Gym UpholsteryUK as its approved contractor forreplacing any worn or torn uphol-stery.Gym Upholstery UK have been pro-viding a professional on-site uphol-

stery service for the UK’s fitnessindustry for over 12 years and alsomanufacture complete upholsteryunits for several UK fitness equip-ment manufacturers.They have now introduced new HeavyDuty Foam Rolls to replace any weakor damaged leg rolls for machinessuch as leg extensions, lat pull downsetc. These can be ordered directly viamail order from www.gymuphol-stery.com

Gym Upholstery UK appointed

Large wall mirror specialistsGymmirror.co.uk is owned and oper-ated by Aspect Safety Mirrors, a familyrun business based in Cambridge andundertaking contracts throughout theUK.

ASM have been supplying andinstalling unbreakable and shatter-resistant mirror products for over 20years. ASM are the preferred mirrorsupplier and installer for many of theUK's leading gym chains and inde-pendent gym operators. Last yearASM completed over 275 installationsin gyms and health clubs throughoutthe UK.

Head of installations Alex Day said:“We have done tremendously well inthe past 12 months with the new'Pilkington Optimirror'. It is a fantas-tic product that works brilliantly forfunctional training purposes, but

equally as well for interior design(reception areas, lounges, changingrooms etc). We have so many gymoperators now installing mirrorsthroughout their facilities, not just intraining areas, it really does totallytransform the ambience of anyroom."

For more information visit www.gymmirror.co.uk

Refurbished or new equipment– what are the considerations?THE choices for every gym owner arereally quite straightforward. You needsome fitness equipment:should youbuy new or refurbished and if youplump for second hand what shouldyou take into account?

Whether you are a start-up gym,expanding the equipment you have,replacing old kit or adding a class, doyour finances run to buying new?Have you considered leasing?

So what should you consider whenchoosing refurbished:� The most important thing to thinkabout is the level of refurbishmentyou are being offered. Typically tradesuppliers offer a full refurbish and aneconomy level. It’s important tounderstand what level you’re beingoffered so ask for a specification.� Full refurbishment will alwaysinclude re-painting so you can use theopportunity to customise. It’s amaz-ing the difference you can make witha change of paint colour and brightupholstery. At this level you shouldexpect key components that havebecome worn will be replaced andthat you will get a warranty – anythingfrom one month to a year is normal.

With regular maintenance this sort ofkit should give you years of good serv-ice.� An economy refurbish often meanslittle more than a clean and service,so it will not compare with the ‘asnew’ you would expect from a fullrefurb. Ask for photographs so youcan check the condition.� Refurbishing takes time so checkthe delivery lead-time fits with yourplans. Check the specification andwarranty you’re being offered, chooseyour supplier carefully and youshould benefit from the huge savingsrefurbished kit can offer.

For more information visit www.amazon-leisure.co.uk

COMBAT 41

The improved gym features new wall graphics, flooring and doors, as well as some of the latest kit available.

Improvements to benefit existingmembers – and attract new onesBy Christina Eccles

NEW wall graphics, flooring anddoors are among the improvementsat an independent gym, which alsohouses a successful combat fitnessdivision.

Sol Gilbert, who owns ZT Fitness inHove – also home to ZT Fight Skool –wanted to move the business forwardand implemented the changes tobenefit both existing members – andattract new ones.

Sol said: “2012 saw exciting times forZT Fitness as we went through refur-bishment. We wanted to move for-ward and show the ambition ZT hasas being a finalist in the NationalFitness Awards really shows what weare doing is working.

“I wanted to make changes that willhelp our members enjoy their experi-ence, keep them motivated and helptheir results. So I had a look at whatwe had and where I wanted us to goas a brand.”

As the member experience begins atreception, the club installed newdoors and flooring through theentrance and around reception tohelp create a better first impression.

The club’s changing rooms andsauna also got new flooring, as well asnew paintwork in the men’s changingfacilities and a complete revamp inthe ladies.

Sol added: “I had Arrow who is oneof the top graffiti artists come down.He really gave the gym a nice newfresh look with some brilliant motiva-tional pictures and quotes to helpremind our members “Hard workbrings great rewards” which is ZT’sslogan.”

New kit has also been installedincluding Tanita body analysis scalesand new equipment in the gym.

He added: “We upgraded the cardioequipment by bringing in new LifeFitness treadmills and cross trainersthat look brilliant.

“To finish, I had Beaver Fit design abrand new multi rig that looks epic inour newly designed strength and con-ditioning area. These really give thegym a modern vibe that our memberslove.

“Making these changes shows weare always doing our best to keep thegym looking fresh and helping ourmembers get the most out of ZT toachieve their goals.” Arrow, one of the top graffiti artists, gave the gym a new fresh look.

OUTDOOR FITNESS 43Outdoor fitness has become increasingly popular in recent years, with activities suchas Nordic Walking and British Military Fitness leading the way. Workout looks at thebenefits of exercising outside and reveals how operators can tap into this trend.

Nordic Walking is a popular way of keeping fit outdoors.

The outdoors offersomething for allFROM a gentle walk to a long distancerun, the public interest in exercisingoutdoors is showing no sign of slow-ing down.

Fitness sessions in local parks, out-door ‘green’ gyms and running clubsare just some of the ways people arestaying active outdoors and theorganisations which look after ouropen spaces are also getting in on theact.

The Forestry Commission offersoutdoor classes in some of its mostspectacular woodland surroundings,suitable for everyone from mothersand babies to the older generation.

Spokesman Charlotte Magowanexplained: “Pushy Mothers sessionsare great for multi-tasking mums! Notonly can you tone up, lose weight andimprove your posture – you get totake baby for a walk in a beautiful set-ting too.

“We also have gentle Walking forHealth classes and more intensiveBodyFit Bootcamps led by personaltrainers. From toddlers to grandpar-ents, there is something for every-body to enjoy.”

With the appetite for getting activeoutside growing, savvy gyms havealso been looking at how they can getinvolved.

One of these is independent gymOxygen Fit in New Barnet which runsa successful twice weekly walkingclub, with each session regularlyattracting up to 30 people.

Gym owner Emma Godly has alsorecently launched an outdoor postnatal mums’ class, which takes placethree times a week in the local park,and she is launching outdoor boot-camps in the spring.

Emma said: “There are a lot of ‘gym-phobes’ who would be encouraged to

train outside rather than in the gym,so I initially set up the walking club toencourage people who felt a tradi-tional gym might expect too much ofthem.

“I have a lot of people who cometwice a week but the word ‘gym’scares them. If I wasn’t running theclass, where else would they go?”

Emma said all of her outdoor classesalso create a really good social envi-ronment and with many of her walk-ing club retired – her oldest partici-pant is coming up to his 90th birth-day – it provides them with a greatway of getting active and also meetingnew friends.

She added: “In a traditional class,you are working people so hard, youdon’t get chance to talk to them. Inthe walking club, you get to know

them – it’s incredibly social.”Walking club sessions cost £3 each

or for post natal mums, it’s £8 perclass, but both are free for members,giving people who go regularly anincentive to sign up to the gym.

Emma added: “With the post natalmums, it’s generally a younger audi-ence and some of them have convert-ed into members. If they are comingto two classes a week and sign up formembership, they have already madetheir money back. We also have otherclasses in the club, which they can doas well.”

With outdoor fitness sessions grow-ing in popularity, ukactive launchedan outdoor code of practice last yearand is now looking to engage withmore operators to develop it.

Continued on page 44

A post natal mums’ class run by Oxygen Fit.

OUTDOOR FITNESS44Continued from previous page.CEO David Stalker added: “ukactivecreated a working group representingboth operators and local councilswho have developed a draft code ofpractice – “ukactive outdoors” –which details the minimum standardof operation for fitness providers inoutdoor spaces and covers areas suchas route planning, codes of conduct,right of way, health and safety, andsafe and proper use of public spaces.

“The code aims to guarantee quality,protect the consumer and improverelationships between fitnessproviders and local authoritiesresponsible for outdoor spaces.”

David also said outdoor activitiesare expected to become increasinglypopular this year as operators look tobroaden their offering to members.

He added: “Through developingpartnerships with outdoor providersin their communities, operators can

capitalise on this trend. ukactivemember Nordic Walking is an outdoorwalking group that have partneredwith larger chains such as DC Leisureand Leisure Connection to delivercourses across the country.

“Similarly, ukactive Vanguard mem-bers British Military Fitness work withlocal authority gyms to offer dis-counted membership, and have runclasses for them in the past.

“Another example we have seenamongst our membership is the useof innovative design of facilities thatcapitalises on the feel of outdoorexercise, allowing gyms to capture theimagination of exercisers who are notalways able to exercise outdoors.

“Ultimately, any indication that peo-ple are being more active, more oftencan only be a positive development,and I would encourage all operatorsto find ways to embrace the broaden-ing of our sector in this way.”Oxygen Fit owner Emma Godly (centre) with members of the walking club.

ONE of the biggest outdoor exercisetrends to develop in recent years is fit-ness bootcamps.

Promising to help participantsincrease their fitness levels – andmake exercise fun – the residentialcamps include a number of outdooractivities – from hiking in the localcountryside to team games, rockclimbing and canoeing.

Prestige Bootcamp has been run-ning trips since 2009, beginning witha venue in Devon, followed by addi-tional camps in Suffolk, Spain andmost recently, two day, non residen-tial camps in London’s Hyde Park.

Rather than simply helping peopleto lose weight in the short term, thecompany prides itself on focusing onwellbeing and education – encourag-ing clients to change their attitudesand mindset about exercise andnutrition to achieve long term bene-fits.

Co-owner and head fitness instruc-tor Iain Reitze spent 27 years in thearmed forces as a physical trainer andhas also been named as one of the topfive A list body trainers in the worldby Harper’s Bazaar magazine.

He said: “Our ethos is education andmotivation and even though we aregeared around weight loss, we try andchange people’s perceptions.

“We genuinely care and I’m confi-

dent in believing I am one of the mostexperienced bootcamp personaltrainers out there.”

The outdoors plays a big part in thecamps, with much of the action hap-pening outside and Iain added thatattendees are encouraged to opentheir mind to trying something new.

A typical day involves a variety ofactivities – anything from a long walkto explore the local surroundings tosurfing, mountain biking and canoe-ing depending on what’s available ateach location.

He added: “The majority of trainingis based outside but we do haveindoor areas at each camp for whenthe weather gets really bad.

“People love being outside. It’s morerevitalising and accessible. And wher-ever I go, I always try and get us outand about in the local area.”

Although time and money to spendon leisure activities may be tight, Iaintold Workout he doesn’t see the busi-ness as competition for gym basedtraining and sees no reason why peo-ple can’t be gym members and alsoenjoy outdoor workouts such as run-ning or a trip to a bootcamp.

He added: “People can definitely doboth. I would never put anybody offdoing anything if it made them moreactive. The more variety out there, thebetter.”

Bootcamps also focus onwellbeing and education

Prestige Bootcamp has been running trips since 2009.

Awareness ofoutdoor trendrising, claimslatest reportBy Christina Eccles

LEISURE-net Solutions recentlyrevealed the results of a reportfocusing on outdoor fitness, whichshowed operators are increasinglybecoming aware of the trend – withmany now looking to expand theiroffering to include it.

Managing director Mike Hillexplained: “Operators are beginningto realise that outdoor and indoorexercise can complement eachother; one need not take prece-dence and exercise outdoors does-n’t have to be in competition withthe traditional gym set up.

“Members may, for example,attend an outdoor class twice aweek but at the same time retaintheir gym membership for strengthand conditioning, swimming ormore specific training.

“Close to half of consumers (44per cent) now say they prefer toexercise outdoors and operators arebeginning to realise this, with 100per cent of those questioned inLeisure-net Solutions’ OutdoorFitness Report saying they plan tooffer some form of outdoor classesin 2013.

“The industry is realising that the80 per cent of people who need tobe more active aren’t currentlyusing our gyms and leisure centreson a regular basis.

“Perhaps in 2013 centres need toadapt and diversify their offeringsto embrace the outdoor fitnesstrend and so drive participation? It’sa trend that fits in with the hugegrowth in popularity of outdoorparticipation events in general,

such as the Great North Run, theLondon Triathlon, cycling chal-lenges and competitive outdoorswims.

“To incorporate an outdoor fitnessoffering, operators don’t necessarilyhave to embark on a wholesalechange of direction – an estimated3,300 instructors work in this sector,many of whom are in small or sin-gle instructor companies, who canbe bought in to run sessions.

“Centres don’t have to start fromscratch with an outdoor fitnessoffering of their own to reap thebenefits.”

Mike Hill

46 SUPPLEMENTATION AND NUTRITION

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Performance Meals– a world’s first

AHEAD of the final round of theUCI Track World Cup in Mexico,Team USN took extra precautionswith their nutrition before andduring competition.

Advice from the World Anti-Doping Agency to athletes compet-ing stated there was a risk of con-suming contaminated meat whichcould result in a positive anti-dop-ing test. As part of a healthy diet,meat provides essential proteins tokeep their diet balanced and assistmuscles in repairing the damagecaused by heavy training.

A lack of these vital elements inthe riders’ diet whilst in Mexicomeant the use of nutritional sup-plements became even moreimportant to ensure all the athletescould compete at the highest level.

Welsh Cycling director of per-formance and Team USN managerMatt Cosgrove said: “We alwayslook to provide the riders with thenecessary support to enable themto compete to their potential. Weare fortunate to receive excellentsupport from Sport Wales in thisrespect. They have provided uswith advice and resources toenable the riders to cope with thetravel, climate, altitude and nutri-tional challenges of competing inMexico.”

Team USNtake extraprecautions

Instant porridge= instant incomeGOPROTEIN – the company thatbrought you the world first Go-Pro-Station for great tasting healthy pro-tein shakes – has done it again.

Drawing on their group’s experiencein manufacturing sports and foodsupplements, they have just launcheda High 25g Protein Porridge.

Nuffield Health, Roko Health, theEnergie Group and many independ-ent clubs have taken the product intoover 100 clubs. The feedback is thattheir customers ‘’love it’’.

It’s an instant, healthy porridgeready in three minutes by simplyadding hot water into a convenientdisposable pot. Our product develop-ment team, headed by Goprotein’smanaging director Dr Kees de Nijshave produced what we know is sim-ply the best tasting premium porridgein the market today.

Head of UK sales Nick Mills said: “Itis well known that breakfast is animportant start to your day, yet it isoften a low protein meal. Goprotein’sHigh Protein Porridge can help youbalance that back and give you a realkick start to your day. We believe it’sthe most delicious and nutritiousstart to any day….in fact it’s a greathealthy snack to be enjoyed anytime,anywhere!”

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But with huge interest after theDecember feature and January advertin WorkOut magazine, freezers arebeing reserved fast, so get in touchnow to secure your freezer.

With new members looking foradvice on diet and nutrition duringthe New Year boom there is a hugeopportunity for additional revenue.

Peter Rogerson from OptimumSupplements at Fitspace in Lincolnsaid: "It's a great product! We sold outin the first four days and our cus-tomers love it.”

Jonathan Walker from GambaruFitness in Harrogate added: ”TheGold Standard Nutrition team camewith the full kit; branded freezer,roller banner, poster and flyers, mak-ing my job of selling it so easy. The

best part is that I've added value tomy business and I’m not losing cus-tom to the supermarket.“

After successful trials in 40 outletsacross the north of England, GoldStandard Nutrition are now extendingthis offer across the country and aimto have 300 stockists by the summer.For more information call 01757 211 740 or

visit www.GoldStandardNutrition.co.uk

PRODUCT NEWS48

NEW from Escape Fitness and TriggerTherapy is the Cold Roller, the mostadvanced and effective recovery prod-uct on the market.

The Cold Roller aims to recovermuscles in the most effective manner,using just one piece of equipment.With myofacial release and cold com-pression in one device it gives you theleast amount of time rolling with thegreatest rate of return for next dayexercise.

Placing the roller in the freezer fortwo hours will ensure the Cold Rollermaintains its cold effectiveness for upto three hours and, after a wipe downwith a warm cloth to remove anyfrost, you’re good to go.

The temperature of the roller meansit’s important to start rolling lightly,with minimal pressure, to allow yourmuscles to adjust. The beauty of theCold Roller is, unlike other cold treat-

ments such as ice baths, the roller tar-gets only your muscles meaningquicker and more noticeable results.

The stainless steel roller resistsscratching and is strong enough toavoid breaking down while thepolyurethane wheels aid easy rollingand durability while at the same timebeing forgiving on any surface. On topof all that, it’s designed to be compactand travel friendly.

For more information visitwww.triggerpointuk.com or contact

Escape Fitness on 01733 313535.

Rolling rolling rolling

An extra revenue sourceAN experienced sports scientist hasopened a new gym in Burnley, withfacilities including a large fitnesssuite, separate heavy weights gym,boxing area and two studios.

Owner, Dr Chris Edmundson, hasdrawn from his years of experience asa sports scientist at Blackpool andBurnley football clubs, and as seniorlecturer at the University of CentralLancashire Sports division, to create agym and social environment that hasalready stirred up a lot of local inter-est.

Liam Carney, also local to Burnley,will be looking after the day to dayrunning of the club, having studiedpersonal fitness training at theUniversity of Central Lancashire.

Preston based Fitness Warehouse

were chosen to supply the equip-ment, encompassing a range ofGymGear Elite Series strengthmachines together with SterlingSeries free weight strength machines,dumbells, indoor cycles, and a rangeof refurbished Life Fitness cardiomachines and aerobic equipment.

Chris said: “I spoke to a number ofgym suppliers and found FitnessWarehouse were able to tick all theboxes. The price was very competi-tive, and the service has been superbfrom start to finish taking away a lotof the stress from setting up a newgym. I would definitely recommendanyone looking for gym equipment togive them a try.”

For more information visitwww.FitnessWarehouseUK.com

Chris uses hisexperience toopen gym

FFITTECH are continuing to impressthe fitness industry with another greatinstall at The Peoples Gym and HealthClub, Wrexham.

Ffittech were involved from start tofinish with this project, giving directorSteve a detailed floor plan to max-imise space and create a comfortabletraining experience.

Mark – director of Ffittech – said:“It’s all part of the package, you don’tjust buy Ffittech equipment, you alsobuy all the help and advice you needto make sure your facility is a com-plete success. We will help with budg-ets, floor plans and even advise onwhere to get additional products andservices.”

Steve, Dave and Kath, (owners)

along with suppliers, have been hardat work every day, transforming thederelict site into a fabulous trainingfacility. Boasting a wide range of car-diovascular kit, coupled with Ffittechpin loaded resistance and plateloaded machines, not to mention themassive amount of free weights anddumbbells, it’s The Peoples Gym thatreally does have it all.

For a full brochure and price list call0115 7529548 or view a promotional

video at www.ffittech.co.uk

Ffittech complete gym

THE UK weight loss industry is saidto be worth £5bn pounds annually.

People are paying well knownnational slimming clubs around £5per week just to get weighed (with-out the support of a qualified fitnessprofessional)

These people then buy their sup-plements and not yours!

Offering a free weekly weight man-agement programme as part of yourmembership will increase your

appeal over your competition andadds serious value to your business.

At my gym in Anglesey (Clwb 21)we have increased supplement salesby over 250 per cent and member-ship over three years by around 40per cent. Please feel free to email meto see how we did it and grow yourbusiness while new members andold are keen for results.

For more information contact WilLovelock at c-slim@live.co.uk

Free programme increases appeal

THE Posiflex DT-308 is being used byBritish Gymnastics as an integral partof their unique scoring system BGScore.

BG Score is an advanced electronicscoring and results service, availablefor use at any gymnastics event. Themost important part of the systemalongside the BG Score software is thetouchscreen terminal which enablesthe quick and accurate calculation ofeach individual gymnast’s score.

Judges input their score using a“Power over Ethernet” networked key-pad linked to the touchscreen termi-nal and once all the scores have beenentered, the final score is displayedvia 42” three-sided scoreboard dis-plays, ensuring the audience, athletesand officials all see the final score foreach gymnast immediately. Havingspent 10 years developing the soft-

ware in house, British Gymnasticsdecided it was time to introduce anew element – a new, more flexibletouchscreen terminal – and contacted4Court Solutions for advice.

The Posiflex DT-308 was quicklyidentified as the perfect terminal forthe job; light, compact and with abuilt in keyboard, it got a perfectscore from all the judges on the panel.

For more information contact DED Limitedon 01797 320636 or visit www.ded.co.uk

Posiflex part of BG Score

FIBO has launched a special offer forWorkout readers, allowing them to save upto 25 per cent on tickets. Customers want-ing to book should visit www.fibo.de/tick-ets and log in using the following details tobe eligible for the discount: Login Account:av_workout Password: 546ghDTF The 2013 show takes place from April 11-14at the Exhibition Centre, Cologne.

December Spinning apologyIN the December issue of Workout,the term Spinning was misused in anarticle on Ffittech in the product newssection.

Ffittech would like to apologise toMad Dogg Athletics, Inc. the ownersof the Spinning brand and Star TracEurope, the distributors of theSpinning programme in the UK andEurope.

Spinning is a trademarked brand

name and can only be used whenreferring to the official Spinning pro-gramme. It is not the collective termfor group cycling and should not beused to describe group cycle sessionsin this way.

Should you have any questionsabout the Spinning programme, con-tact Star Trac UK on education@star-trac.com or visit the Spinning websitewww.spinning.com.

If you’ve got a story for Workout magazineemail Christina Eccles at ce@scriptmedia.co.uk

CLASSIFIEDEQUIPMENT

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