Workout February 2018

February 2018

The UK’s No 1 fitness industry magazine

Staff could be putting data at risk, claim

By Christina Eccles

GYM staff using unofficial channels such as Facebook and WhatsApp to communicate with colleagues could be putting company data at risk, new research has claimed.

A survey, carried out on behalf of team communication platform, Our People, discovered more than two thirds (69 per cent) of employees are using platforms such as these to communicate with their team around work matters.

Founder and CEO of Our People Ross McCaw explained: “Whilst management are adamant their companies don’t use Facebook or WhatsApp for staff communication, their employees clearly do, according to our research.

“Whilst these group chats are set up with the best intentions, company data could be at risk if employees leave the company with full access to confidential information.”

The findings are at odds with the rating of seven out of 10 which respondents gave to the importance of security. But with more than a third of leisure employees without access to email, more than four in 10 said day to day communications with colleagues is a key challenge for the industry.

Ross added: “From our research, it appears head offices are unaware of these practices going on at their sites, which leads to the question what other IT or operational procedures and policies are being ignored?

“Terms and conditions for platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp say they should not be used for business purposes, meaning companies would be in deep water if an incident were to occur.

“From a personal point of view, colleagues added to a WhatsApp group have their mobile number shared with everyone in the group, which some staff may not feel comfortable about. With the Our People platform, all personal data is hidden.”

Our People is a smart-phone driven communication tool enabling employees to communicate in realtime with team members that don’t work from a desk.

All communications are tracked and can be reported on.

Ross added: “Perhaps it’s time operators carry out an internal review to find out exactly how their staff are currently keeping in touch, remind them of company policies, and put measures in place for both safe and effective communication channels going forwards.”

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Wearable technology among top 2018 trends

TV presenter and fitness enthusiast Helen Skelton is helping Nuffield Health raise awareness of the importance of a personalised approach to fitness.

Nuffield Health members receive a free Health MOT, which includes looking at resting heart rate, aerobic fitness and sleep levels among other indicators, all of which can be used to plan a bespoke fitness programme based on a person’s goals. Helen said: “A Health MOT can help identify the best exercises and frequency to help people reach realistic and achievable goals.” *Full story, Page 10.

WEARABLE wellness technology and gamifying your workout will be among the technology trends the industry should watch out for in 2018.

Representatives from MINDBODY were among the attendees at the recent Consumer Electronic Show: the world’s largest tech trade show.

Their predictions for trends to watch out for include wearable wellness technology, such as Spire Health Tags, which feature a small piece of tracking technology, keeping users connected and monitoring activity, sleep quality, heart rate, breathing patterns and stress.

Senior marketing manager at MINDBODY, Charlotte Newton, said: “The future of health and wellness is evolving, with consumers taking an avid interest in their own wellbeing, and eager to track every component via their smartphone or wearable device.

“Businesses may consider how these technologies could be integrated into services offerings, or how the latest trend will impact consumer demand for a certain product.”

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Katie’s empowerment project a huge success

By Christina Eccles A DETERMINED gym owner has successfully launched a female empowerment project, which aims to help women become the best versions of themselves.

Personal trainer Katie Ford, who owns Fit4It Hybrid Gym in Tankersley, South Yorkshire, created the first Shine Bright Like A Diamond event last year to encourage participants to support each other, make new friends and learn to feel comfortable in their own skin.

The 10-week challenge was designed to help the group boost their self esteem and included regular training sessions to improve their fitness, nutrition plans, mindset work and style advice; all centred around the three themes of inspire, transform and empower.

It culminated in a glamorous event at local venue Tankersley Manor where the ladies could showcase their new found confidence in front of friends and family with a catwalk show and awards were given out to those who had gained the most from the experience.

Katie said: “The main thing was they weren’t trying to be anything but themselves. It’s not about shape or size, it’s about how we feel in our own bodies.

“It was such an inspirational night and taking part opened up a forum for girls to be honest and true to themselves. They say it has changed

Gym owner Katie Ford (right) with Shine Bright Like A Diamond participants. far she has come on her own journey. their lives for many more reasons She added: “For me, it’s come full than what they originally went on the circle. programme for.”

“I’ve gone through my own Almost 30 women took part in the confidence transformation to see that first event, which also raised over £2,000 for Yorkshire Cancer Research, I can do it on my own.

“Doing Shine Bright Like A Diamond and following its success, Katie has also increased my confidence in now plans to host more this year; that way. potentially making it even bigger “If you get like-minded women and better, with up to 50 participants who will be chosen via an application together who support each other, that’s really valuable.” process.

She added: “It was a dream come true. I had created something in my head, so to see it flourish and come together was amazing.”

Katie has recently celebrated her gym’s fifth birthday and holding the www.workout-uk.co.uk event also helped her to realise how

At Script Media, we try to get things right but occasionally, we make mistakes. If you have a complaint about a story featured in our magazine or on our website, please, in the first instance, contact us by email: ce@scriptmedia.co.uk We abide by the Editors’ Code of Practice as demanded by the Independent Press Standards Organisation. For details on the code and what to do should you be unsatisfied with the way we handle your complaint, please visit www.ipso.co.uk

Health and fitness expo FitCon is returning to London this year, with organisers expecting to attract up to 60,000 visitors. On April 28 and 29, Olympia Hall will play host to industry leading brands, vendors offering fitness supplements and kit, workshops, professional athletes and Instagram stars, all gathered under one roof.

Exhibitors include Dedicated Nutrition, Ronnie Coleman Signature Series and MusclePharm, with fitness influencers Michelle Lewin and Simeon Panda (pictured above) among the big names already signed up to attend.

Photo credit: Arron Dunworth Advertising

Editorial

Sales manager: Danielle Hornby Tel: 01226 734709 dlh@scriptmedia.co.uk

Editor: Christina Eccles Tel: 01226 734463 ce@scriptmedia.co.uk

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Group production editor: Dominic Musgrave Tel: 01226 734407 dm@scriptmedia.co.uk

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New categories and venue for 2018 National Fitness Awards

By Christina Eccles

THREE new categories and a new venue form part of the changes planned for the 2018 National Fitness Awards, with the event shaping up to be the biggest and best one yet.

The awards, now in their ninth year, are organised by Script Events in partnership with Workout, and recognise excellence in all corners of the sector.

New for the 2018 event will be the addition of three categories; Boutique Facility of the Year, Education Facility of the Year and Outstanding Achievement.

Boutique Facility of the Year will recognise businesses who are leading the way in the boutique sector; providing a five star service throughout every part of the business, or carving out a niche to deliver a certain type of class within a luxury studio environment.

Education Facility of the Year is aimed at gyms which are based within a school or on a college or university campus.

For this category, judges will be looking at the range of facilities on offer, how the club engages with pupils/students, staff and the wider community and how they are successfully spreading the word about health and fitness to the

Rigs Fitness, winners of the Regional Gym of the Year (Midlands and Wales) in 2017. younger generation. night; rewarding an individual for his They will also want to see evidence or her unwavering commitment to of kit and classes, how the club the industry. supports any sports clubs or The recipient could be someone elite athletes who train there and who has dedicated a lifetime to health overall, how the facility enhances and fitness or who is fairly new to the the experience of those living and industry but has already made their working on campus. mark.

The Outstanding Achievement Nominations for the industry’s Award will be the biggest award of the biggest free-to-enter awards are now

open at www.nationalfitnessawards. co.uk and will be closing on July 30.

A shortlist in each category will then be drawn up, with winners chosen by an expert industry panel.

Trophies will be handed out at a glittering ceremony celebrating the best of the best, with a venue and date to be announced very soon.

Event director Judith Halkerston said: “We’re delighted to launch the National Fitness Awards for 2018 and with three new trophies up for grabs this year, there really is something to suit clubs from all across the industry.

“It’s free to enter the awards and past finalists and winners have reported many benefits; including positive press coverage, an increase in memberships and a big morale boost for staff and members, so you have nothing to lose by putting yourself forward.

“Shortlisted clubs also get the opportunity to celebrate and network at our glittering end-of-year awards evening and our team is working hard behind the scenes to make this year’s event even more spectacular.

“Look out for some exciting announcements coming up in the next few issues and start thinking about how you’re going to wow us with your nominations. We can’t wait to read them.”

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Brand heading to the West End BOUTIQUE brand Digme Fitness is to open its fifth site in the spring, situated just off London’s Oxford Street.

The site will offer Digme’s indoor cycling concept, Ride, and its Matrix HIIT classes, complemented by luxury facilities and a smoothie bar.

Located in the new Rathbone Square development, just 50m from the new Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station, the studio will share the square with a handful

of high end cafes, shops and restaurants.

Founder Caoimhe Bamber said: “We are incredibly excited to be coming to this amazing new location in the heart of London’s West End. “Rathbone Square will be a fantastic new urban hub and we are delighted to be right at the centre of the development.

“Our innovative, immersive classes and strong sense of community are a brilliant fit for this area of London.”

Gyms registered with Myzone will be able to sign up to the new content.

Hatton Boxing joins forces with Myzone

Celebrity personal trainer Niki Wibrow has launched a new fitness plan aimed at the over 40s. Sharing the secrets of her own success, Niki’s 404040 Plan provides the recipes she swears by and the exercises she does herself to stay in shape. She said: “I’m 50, and I’m always told I look great – and much younger than my years. I’m frequently asked, ‘How do you stay in such good shape at 50?’ This plan holds all the answers. There are many fitness plans for the younger generation, but not much that caters for the largest segment of the UK population; those in their 40s and 50s. I intend to change that with my new 404040 Plan.”

HATTON Boxing and Myzone have partnered to deliver boxing for fitness training sessions to Myzone facilities.

Gyms that are registered with Myzone will be able to sign up to access the content, enabling their trainers to deliver sessions via the Myzone screens used in the gym.

This content can then be used to support the delivery of new group training classes or for fitness instructors and personal trainers to work with their clients.

Gym members that then take part in the classes or training can track their progress via the Myzone Live Display as well as connecting with and challenging friends and earning points to achieve status rankings.

All gyms that sign up will be

provided with staff training via the Hatton Academy ‘Fundamentals’ course, as well as receiving Hatton Boxing focus pads and boxing gloves and marketing materials.

Myzone creator and CEO Dave Wright said: “We are extremely excited to partner with Hatton Boxing and to display their world class boxing programmes into the Myzone system. This helps any operator to be able to deliver group training with boxing alongside the Myzone telemetry display with a click of a button.

“It eliminates the hard work and science that goes into programming, and simply allows the operator to provide instructors that can focus on form and motivation.”

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Council aims to move sites to zero subsidy

By Christina Eccles

A giant ‘fatberg’ made of real lard has appeared in central London, designed to encourage people to think about the health impacts – inside and out – of overindulging over Christmas. The huge mass, which was the height of a London bus and more than 10ft wide, was made by preventative healthcare service Thriva, following a survey of 2,000 young professionals which found they gained 4.41lbs during the festive period. Co-founder of Thriva Hamish Grierson said: “Even though most people see the benefits of a regular check-in on their health, very few actually do it because it’s such a pain to organise. As well as getting their bodies back into shape at the gym, we want to encourage Brits to consider what’s going on inside, as well as outside.”

Event combines running and pizza A NEW running event has launched which combines fitness with one of the nation’s favourite foods.

Pizza Run UK aims to make fitness fun for everyone and is suitable for beginners through to advanced runners.

Participants can enjoy the event in running gear or fancy dress at any of the six Pizza Run events happening in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, London and Manchester.

Participants will get a medal, as well

as two slices of pizza each to enjoy during or after the race.

Run coordinator Ben Walsh said: “We are really proud and excited to launch the Pizza Run UK events and promoting the possibilities of a healthy balanced lifestyle that does include life’s treats.

“We’re looking forward to seeing lots of smiles, people having fun with their fitness, some fancy dress and people embracing that balanced lifestyle.”

INDUSTRY veteran Dave Monkhouse has been commissioned to support Chesterfield Borough Council’s leisure service’s bid to move its sites to zero subsidy within the next two to three years.

The six-month appointment will see Dave working two days a week across the borough’s two local authority managed leisure centres.

As well as acting as a support service to the leisure centre teams on a day to day basis, he has created a Gateway Zero action plan to drive the council’s leisure services to the next level and facilitate the move to zero subsidy.

Over the last five years, Chesterfield Borough Council has halved the subsidy the leisure centres receive, but recognises the need for a more commercial focus in order to make the facilities totally self sufficient, while remaining council run.

Executive director for Chesterfield Borough Council James Drury said: “We are in a fortunate position, with two relatively new leisure centres – one is 10 years old and the other just 18 months old, which has clearly created interest and demand.

“Now we need to make the best of what we have to ensure we keep up with the private sector competition whilst still ensuring a good balance of activities to encourage participation from right across our local community.

“Dave’s experience and expertise in this field are really important for us. We need our staff to be engaged by the challenges he sets for them, we didn’t want a consultant Dave Monkhouse creating documents in a dark room somewhere off site.”

The plan is based on actions that will attract the biggest reductions in subsidy, while enhancing the customer experience, including revised swimming lessons and gymnastics programmes and the introduction of direct debit payments to make courses more accessible to lower income families.

Dave added: “Customers buying into courses currently have to pay for a 10-week course up front, which can be a big commitment for low income families.

“The introduction of direct debit payments alone should have a big impact on the accessibility of Chesterfield’s courses, and bring them bang up to date too.”

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Gym opens second site and launches franchise

By Christina Eccles THE team behind an award winning gym is celebrating the success of its second site – and the launch of a franchise package.

Husband and wife team Josh Ahmet and Rachelle Solan opened the first Solan Fitness site in Orpington in 2013 and since then business has boomed; with highlights including winning National Fitness Awards for Strength Training Gym of the Year and Gym Team and being shortlisted again last year.

In early 2017, the pair opened a second site in East Grinstead, which is proving equally popular – if not more so – reaching the 1,000 member mark within six months, dominating the local fitness scene and picking up the award for Best

Newcomer at the 2017 NFAs. Rachelle said: “This was such a tough category. To win was amazing – we were speechless.

“It’s been very busy and the awards really help. Being able to say you are the best new gym in the country is a massive statement.”

The Solan Fitness brand has quickly made a name for itself as somewhere which combines a great atmosphere and space to socialise with a premium training environment, geared to results.

And after getting off to a great start in Orpington, opening a second club has allowed Rachelle and Josh to further refine their offering and strengthen their place in the market.

Rachelle added: “It’s a social hub – and you get results.

“With East Grinstead, we have upgraded everything we did [in

Orpington].

“We’re revolutionising things.

There’s a lot of technology in the gym and virtual classes – and we’re the talk of the town.

“A lot of gyms mimic what we do.

But we’re really proud. A lot have decided to upgrade and invest back into their clubs since we opened.”

Interest in a franchise scheme has also been high, according to Rachelle, with positive meetings already having taken place with potential franchisees.

She added: “Franchising is about growing the brand as big and as fast as we can. We are still looking to open more of our own clubs but also looking at franchises.

“A lot of people want to own a gym but they don’t know how to. We have done all the mistakes and we want to save them the time and the money –

and give members what they need.

“There’s a massive gap in the market. You have the boutique gyms and spaces but there’s no-one taking the strength gyms or the combat gyms and systemising them.”

When it comes to the perfect franchisee, Rachelle told Workout they want to work with people who will be hands on operators; able to adhere to the Solan Fitness values while also using their own initiative.

She added: “We’re looking for owner/operators. They have to have that passion for the industry. People who are not scared of operating and doing everything.

“They have to have the core values of the company and brand but every franchisee puts their unique twist on it.

“It’s a different business to opening your own gym. We’re really excited.”

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Owners plan to expand after first year success

By Christina Eccles A FAMILY run gym in Nottingham has celebrated its first birthday, having signed up almost 500 members in year one.

Kinetik Fitness has already expanded since its inception and now has an offering which includes personal training sessions, its own fitness app, state of the art gym equipment and over 30 classes a week from yoga to circuit training.

Husband and wife duo Sarah and Ali West, who own the business, together have over 13 years’ experience in the industry.

Following a successful first year, the pair now have ambitious plans to expand; including doubling the number of classes on offer, installing more equipment and growing the membership base to 750.

Ali said: “It’s fantastic to have reached our first year in business and to have helped hundreds of men and women to achieve their fitness goals over the past 12 months.

“The success of the gym so far is testament to our dedicated team who always put our members first and deliver the best.

“Being at the helm of the business is extremely rewarding and we’re proud to be providing our services in Nottingham, which is a fantastic city to live and work in.”

To mark the club’s first birthday,

Retreat venue Bovey Castle in Newton Abbot.

Sarah and Ali West. anyone who signs up online before the end of February – using a special discount code – can gain 12 months membership at a cost of £25 per month; reduced from £33 per month.

Ali added: “We are now looking at the year ahead and have lots of plans in the pipeline, with more staff appointments, events, new equipment and more classes on our schedule. It’s a very exciting time for us.” n Has your gym recently celebrated an important milestone? We’d love to hear about it. Send details to ce@ scriptmedia.co.uk and we could feature your business in a future issue.

Website launches health and wellness retreats SPABREAKS.COM has launched a series of health and wellness retreats in the UK and abroad, which focus on specific health issues and solutions including stress, nutrition, the menopause, and yoga.

Under the guidance of qualified experts, including doctors, dieticians, and instructors, the new White Calm Retreats offer a chance to take time out and rebalance.

Retreats include a Women’s Wellness Retreat; aimed at helping women over the age of 35 with health issues including the menopause, hormonal imbalance and weight gain, a Nourish and Flourish Retreat; focusing on healthy eating and

developing a healthier relationship with food and a Mindfulness and Meditation Retreat; focusing on learning the skill of meditation and mindfulness, how to address stress and manage it in daily life.

Founder of Spabreaks.com Abi Wright, said: “We always stress the importance of taking time out and looking after yourself physically as well as mentally.

“We are delighted to be working with White Calm Retreats to offer a fantastic range of new wellbeing retreats, which not only reflect this ethos but also provide long term solutions to every day health issues.”

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Brits admit being ‘clueless’ about what they are doing in the gym

By Christina Eccles

Personal trainer and IFBB pro Carly Thornton has released a new fitness clothing range. Leggings are the first products launched under the Gluteywear brand, with items such as crop tops and long vests also in the pipeline, as well as a men’s range later in the year. Carly said: “I wanted to bring out a range that every women would feel great and confident in when training. I personally find it so hard to find fitness clothes that fit correctly and never really seem to complement a ladies figure especially the glutes. At Gluteywear our motto is every woman deserves to feel confident and hot.”

OVER half of Brits who go to the gym admit they don’t know what they are doing – and many just copy someone else, according to research from Nuffield Health.

The study of 2,000 current or past gymgoers discovered almost half, 46 per cent, of those joining a gym have no specific goal in mind and, of those that do, nearly three quarters (74 per cent) don’t set a deadline for achieving their goals.

The survey also revealed nearly two in 10 gym users admitted to ‘making it up most of the time’ and feeling ‘largely clueless’ about how they should be working out, with almost a quarter being too embarrassed to ask for help.

The lack of direction is such that one in five gym users have even followed someone else’s workout because that person seemed to know what they were doing or looked good physically.

Results also identified some marked regional differences in gym time and workouts: n People in the South East are the most focused on exercise at the gym, spending the lowest percentage of time doing other things like socialising. But Londoners are one of the most likely to spend more time at the gym doing things other than

Helen Skelton is helping Nuffield Health to raise awareness of the importance of a personalised approach to fitness. exercising like chatting, listening to music or watching TV n Gym users from Yorkshire and Humberside are the most likely to report feeling ‘largely clueless’ about how they should be working out. n In Scotland, gym users are the most likely to carry on with an exercise/on a machine because the person next to them started before them and was still exercising. n Wales had the highest number of people who hurt themselves at the gym because they didn’t know what

they were doing. n The West Midlands had the highest number of people admitting to using the same free weights as the person before them as they didn’t know what weights they should be using.

TV presenter and fitness enthusiast Helen Skelton is helping Nuffield Health to raise awareness of the importance of a personalised approach to fitness.

Nuffield Health members receive a free Health MOT, which includes looking at resting heart rate, aerobic fitness, blood pressure, cholesterol, waist to hip ratio, existing injuries and sleep levels among other indicators, all of which can be used to plan a bespoke fitness programme based on a person’s goals. Progress is measured and workouts reviewed at quarterly follow-up Health MOTs. Helen said: “Wellbeing is so individual, it just makes sense that everyone needs a plan that is built around them and their needs.

“Copying someone else’s workout in the gym is not only likely to prove ineffective, as it hasn’t been tailored to you, but it could also result in injury.

“A Health MOT can help identify the best exercises and frequency to help people reach realistic and achievable goals. Without this, people can not only waste time and money, but also lose motivation.”

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Class for owners and their dogs grows in popularity

By Christina Eccles

A Team GB mind body coach, a community fitness instructor and a Glasgow gym team have been recognised with awards. Over 100 fitness professionals entered the Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Fitness Awards online, with winners selected by experts including ON athletes Shaun Stafford and Carly Newson and international fitness trainer and presenter Fitzroy Gaynes.

The winners were: Personal Trainer of the Year: Kim Ingleby (Energised Performance); Group Fitness Instructor of the Year: Jay Banks; Gym Team of the Year: The Club Gym. Winners from each category will receive £2,500 worth of Optimum Nutrition product, £1,500 towards an educational fitness or nutrition programme of their choice, and have the opportunity to provide their clients with discounted products.

Pictured above is Kim Ingleby.

Photo credit: Simon Howard.

A LONDON based outdoor class where fitness fans and their four legged friends can work out together is growing in popularity.

Power Paws started on Wandsworth Common last August after founders Klara Bilsland and Amber Chichester noticed that while there were plenty of mum and baby fitness classes taking place in the park, there were no group exercise sessions where owners could bring their dogs.

She explained: “I live near a beautiful park and see lots of baby classes and we thought, why not do that with your dog?

“Our class is one hour long and structured as a HIIT session. We warm up with a brief walk, followed by exercises we perform in a shuttle run.

“We keep the dogs engaged and they often entertain us very much.

Although we’d like them to follow our exercise runs, they prefer to play together.

“We finish the workout with a cool down walk – with dogs – and stretching. By the end, we are all equally exhausted and happy.”

Following the popularity of the first sessions, the pair are now rolling out a second class on Tooting Bec Common and are looking to train up more instructors to deliver classes on

A second Power Paws class has been rolled out in Tooting Bec Common. a larger scale.

A new website is also in the pipeline, complete with an online booking platform to make the booking process more streamlined.

Klara added: “It’s got great growth potential. We’re just recruiting our first personal trainer outside of Amber.

“We are very excited – it’s a serious business now.”

It’s not compulsory to have a dog to attend – dog lovers are also welcome to join in – and Klara told Workout, participants are enjoying many

benefits from attending the classes.

She added: “The main thing they really like is that the class combines two things.

“No one has ever got enough time; you have got to walk your dog and then you may also want to exercise.

People are happy they can do both at the same time.

“The dogs also give them common ground. They’re meeting people who maybe they would never have spoken to before. The workout is important but it’s all about being happy and making new friends.”

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Advertiser’s announcement

‘If you’re going through hell, keep going’ HEAVEN v Hell was first established in April 2014 by CEOs Daniel Ryder and Gary Sykes.

Since then it has built up an excellent clientele base and reputation for being a gym that offers a personal approach to fitness.

Both incredibly experienced in the fitness industry, Daniel and Gary joined together to form a new and exciting gym in Pemberton, Wigan back in 2014.

Fast forward almost four years and they’ve developed a team of highly qualified trainers running two facilities, one in Pemberton and the newly-opened second gym in Standish – supplied and kitted out

by Fitness Systems, on the back of a recommendation from the MD of a leading fitness brand.

When speaking to Daniel during a recent interview, it was clear that from an early age, he’d found a passion and a love for fitness.

This was the driving force behind inspiring others to share his love, by helping local communities to become more active.

Daniel and team, now well established within the industry, are growing from strength to strength daily – with hopes to franchise Heaven v Hell in the near future.

The service provided by Fitness Systems meant Daniel and Gary had

the option to personalise the kit to their exact specifications – eventually opting for their trademark electric blue on the machines, branded with their gym’s logo on not only the machines, but also embroidered onto the sweat covers, and even going as far as to having personalised decal instruction charts.

Gary himself even states that the job went “Beyond expectations – kit and service”.

All in all, the job was all completed with a time frame of roughly four months, although it took a little longer to get the kit out due to some set backs with the site renovations.

However, it was clearly worth the

wait as Gary described it as “better than I could have dreamed; and still getting better.”

This isn’t the end of Heaven v Hell as they are currently in the process of looking for other sites in which to further expand the company’s horizons; with the hopes of attracting potential franchisees.

Armed with their philosophy that ‘you have to go through Hell,to get to Heaven’, the pair are certainly putting themselves through their paces in order to achieve their dream.

But hard work pays off it seems for Heaven v Hell – and we wish them the best of luck in all their future endeavours.

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Welcome to WorkOut Weigh In – it’s your chance to have your say and share your views on industry issues. You can email us at ce@scriptmedia.co.uk or you can message us on Facebook or Twitter.

Talking point: WHAT has been your biggest new year success so far? Have you gained a record number of new members? Or seen a new marketing campaign really take off?

Send your answers to ce@scriptmedia.co.uk or contact us via Twitter or Facebook. We’ll print the best responses next issue.

Editor’s Comment WELCOME to the February issue of Workout, where this month we have lots of exciting announcements and additions to the magazine.

Firstly, we’re really pleased to open nominations for the 2018 National Fitness Awards and launch some big new categories for 2018, more of which you can read about on page 4.

The boutique industry has exploded over the last few years, so we felt it was only right we should create an award recognising those who are leading the way.

We’ve also noticed a big trend for high quality fitness facilities based in educational establishments and with schools, colleges and universities really upping their game when it comes to the equipment and service they provide to students and the wider community, we expect this to be a hotly contested award.

As well as some new additions, many of our most popular categories are also returning; meaning there really is something for everyone. And it’s free to enter, so what are you waiting for?

Get those entries in at www. nationalfitnessawards.co.uk – we’re looking forward to seeing how you’ll impress us this year.

This issue, we’re also welcoming our new columnist Katie BulmerCooke. Katie is a familiar face among many Workout readers, thanks to her involvement in the National Fitness Conference and Awards, and as an award winning fitness industry entrepreneur, she really knows her stuff. Over the next few months, Katie will be sharing her expertise on a range of topics, revealing her top tips for fitness professionals and starting with this month’s column on the power of video, which you can read on page 18.

We’ve also launched our new Workout Way to Go Award, where every month, we’ll be recognising a gym member or member of staff who’s done something amazing or really gone that extra mile.

Congratulations to our first winner Leanne and thank you to the team at Mas Body Gym for sharing her story with us.

If you want to nominate someone, email a few details and picture to ce@ scriptmedia.co.uk – we’ll be choosing a new winner next issue.

Over the next few months, we’ll also be including columns from more regular contributors, who have interesting insight to share, so watch this space. And if you have any topics you think we should be featuring expert comment on, let us know and we’ll do our best to find someone who fits the bill.

Have a great month!

Christina Eccles

Congratulations to our first Workout Way to Go winner, Leanne Browbank, who was nominated by staff at the club she trains at – Mas Body Gym in Middlesbrough. When 27 stone mum Leanne found herself unable to fasten her seatbelt on the aeroplane during a family holiday, she knew something had to change. Leanne had steadily gained weight since having her daughter Izzy, 13, and after losing six stone on her own, found herself at a sticking point with her weight loss. Gym owner Mike Hind stepped in and set Leanne a challenge of losing three stone in eight weeks. Over the eight weeks, Mike planned every session and tailored every meal with Leanne in order to help her reach her goal. She has now lost a total of 13 and a half stone, goes to the gym regularly and has found a love for heath and fitness which has completely transformed her life. Way to go Leanne! You’re our February winner!

Leanne is pictured with Mike Hind and the team at MAS Body Gym

Picture of the month

Follow us on Twitter @ WorkOutUK or contact us on Facebook at www. facebook. com/workout magazine Leisure operator BPL gained over 1,000 new customers across its sites, thanks to an innovative referral campaign which gave members the chance to win prizes, including a new car worth over £12,500. For every successful referral made throughout the Refer Win Drive campaign, members earned one ticket into the final draw to win a new Toyota Aygo, supplied by local car company Burrows. Those with the most referrals at each of the 10 individual Fitness Flex sites across Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Mansfield and Pontefract could also win a hoody and further prizes – such as holiday vouchers – each month, worth up to £500.

Dearneside Leisure Centre member Jordan Parks – pictured here with BPL chief executive Tim Wilson and general manager at Burrows Barnsley Steve Davidson – was the lucky winner of the car.

#social media ...

@wightfit: Incredible feedback from the judges at the ‪#nationalfitnessawards thank you!!

And thank you to all our awesome members for filling in all our feedback forms!!! This is why we do what we do!! ‪#nationalchamps ‪@WorkOutUK

@MikeHindFitness: ‪@WorkOutUK‪ @FitnessAwards Thank you for

giving me the chance to showcase the work we do. Winning The Best PT of the year Award has helped me in business but also benefit my clients in more ways that I could explain. @FitnessAwards: We’re already making plans for the 2018 National Fitness Awards and can’t wait to reveal more in the coming months.

Nominations for this year open on February 1. Look out for an update in the next issue of ‪@WorkOutUK! @stogieteach: Blown away by the feedback from the judges, they got what we are trying to achieve and how we are involving the community! ‪@WorkOutUK a great night. Bring on next year ‪@ FitnessAwards.

UK FITNESS SCENE

Everyone Active has been awarded a further 15-year contract with Watford Borough Council. The continued partnership will see Everyone Active managing the Watford Woodside and Watford Central leisure centres, as well the Woodside Stadium, with the new contract starting on June 7. Everyone Active regional director Duncan Jefford said: “We are thrilled to have extended our partnership with Watford Borough Council. Our mission is to get more people active across local communities nationwide, and we’re looking forward to continuing to work with the council to reach this.”

Personal trainer Frank creates bootcamp with a difference...

By Christina Eccles PERSONAL trainer Frank Sinclair has created a boot camp with a difference – giving clients support and accountability without them even having to leave their house.

The Fit With Frank six-week online boot camp includes daily 15-minute workout videos, regular emails from Frank and a members’ Facebook support group.

He created the programme to appeal to people who may not want or have the time to go to a gym, while also enabling him to expand his client base and reach out to a wider audience.

He explained: “I was training people one to one and a lot of trainers have been in the same situation as me.

“You only have so much time you can give and price can be a barrier for some people.

“This is a scalable way of making more money – and

Frank Sinclair helping more people.”

Following the success of his first online boot camp last year, Frank is currently part way through the second one.

About a third of his initial participants have rejoined, as well as some new faces joining

in for the first time.

He added: “I ran our first boot camp in September 2017 and we have already had over 200 clients working through it and over 10,000 workouts completed at home, with the majority of participants being beginners and/or clients who struggle to find time to attend the gym or classes.”

Frank also told Workout, he believes this is a formula that could work for other trainers; giving them an additional revenue stream and the opportunity to help more people get results.

He added: “As a personal trainer for over 10 years, I have never been as excited about a programme as I am about this and truly believe that the combination of ‘boot camp’ structure, group support and the convenience of exercising at home provides huge potential for us to help more clients than ever before.”

Council appoints new partner to enhance leisure facilities WOKINGHAM Borough Council has appointed a new leisure partner to enhance facilities across the area.

Places for People Leisure is due to take over the running of the contract from May 1, with the 15-year agreement covering Loddon Valley Leisure Centre, Carnival Pool, St Crispin’s Sports Centre, and Bulmershe Leisure Centre, as well as Arborfield Leisure Centre and Ryeish Leisure Centre.

As part of the new contract, improvements are planned across the borough, including two new council built facilities to replace Bulmershe Leisure Centre and Carnival Pool.

Chief executive at Places for People, Sandra Dodd, said: “We’re delighted to be appointed as the council’s leisure partner.

“As a social enterprise, we aim to enhance opportunities for all members of the local communities we serve to adopt more active and healthier lifestyles, in line with our mission to create active places and healthy people.

“Over the coming years we are looking forward to working in partnership with the council to invest within the facilities and ensure that we provide inspirational places for people to take part in physical activity.”

Pictured left to right: Darrell Gale, consultant in public health; John Bates, Places for People; Coun Norman Jorgensen, executive member for environment, sports, environmental health, leisure and libraries; Dan Walker, Places for People.

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Tom revamps group exercise timetable

By Christina Eccles

Boom Cycle has launched its fourth studio in London’s Monument, following its acquisition of the Cycle Beat brand. Located a stone’s throw away from Monument station, the new site will offer Boom Cycle’s signature class format to provide riders with the ultimate ‘party on a bike’ experience. The studio will be kitted out with state-of-the-art FunktionOne sound systems and top of the line Schwinn bikes.

Hollywood PT opens London gym PERSONAL trainer to the stars Steve Halsall has opened a gym in West London.

Steve, who has more than 20 years’ experience training Hollywood A-list celebrities and popstars, has used his expertise to open ENRGYM gym, as part of The Collective co-living movement in Old Oak, Willesden.

The boutique gym offers noncontract services and a dedicated team of personal trainers. Members can also benefit from Steve’s Fitness 12 programme and an onsite health café.

In addition to securing the contract

with The Collective, funding from NatWest was also used to equip the gym with state-of-the-art machines and weights.

Steve said: “With ENRGYM I’ve used my 20 years of experience listening to customers on what works and doesn’t with gyms and so I’ve tried to create the perfect environment for our customers.

“Thanks to NatWest we’ve secured the site and been able to stock the gym with the best equipment. In partnership with The Collective we’re now looking to expand to other sites in the UK.”

A NEWLY appointed facility manager at Fitness Flex Mansfield has already made his mark on the club; revamping its group exercise timetable and extending weekday opening hours.

Tom Desborough started his career with centre operator BPL six years ago as a fitness instructor at Dearneside Leisure Centre before working his way up to general manager at Fitness Flex Pontefract, where he helped grow membership at the club from 1,600 to 2,100 members in 18 months.

Reporting to regional manager Tom Galvin, Tom will now split his time between the Mansfield and Pontefract clubs and has already made positive changes at Mansfield based on customer feedback, including opening half an hour earlier on weekdays at 6am.

The club’s group exercise timetable has also been revamped and new classes have been added, including Les Mills BodyPump and BodyCombat.

Tom said: “The response from members and staff at Mansfield has been wholly positive and that’s been evident in the improvements which have already taken place here.

“There has been a challenge considering the proximity of the sites, as they are our furthest north and furthest south, but both sites have responded fantastically.”

Tom Desborough Further investment to improve the customer journey and joining experience is also planned for the next few months and Tom plans to build on existing relationships with neighbouring Mansfield Town Football Club, whose players use the facilities to train, and local groups such as running and cycling clubs to encourage their members through the doors.

He added: “I’m looking forward to managing the investment at this site.

“The goal for me is to eclipse the success of Pontefract in terms of numbers and performance and prove that the two sites which we operate outside of our management contracts in Barnsley and Bassetlaw are also successful business models.

“I’m excited to be a part of BPL’s journey going forward and Mansfield will be at the heart of that.”

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UK FITNESS SCENE Multi award-winning fitness entrepreneur Katie Bulmer-Cooke will be sharing some of her top tips and secrets to success with Workout readers over the coming months. In the first of a series of columns, she explains why fitness professionals should sit up and take notice of the power of video.

Take notice of video’s power JUST when you think you’ve nailed social media, another exciting feature comes along for you to get to grips with, but one thing that never changes is the prominence of video.

It doesn’t matter which social media platform you opt for, or which one is most frequented by your customers, the use of video and the opportunity it presents is growing rapidly.

Despite said opportunities, I still hear so many people in the fitness industry say that they don’t use video.

They aren’t sure what to film, or how to make it really work for them.

So with that in mind I’m sharing some of the most effective ways to use video as a tool to grow your audience with relevant followers and how to turn those followers into customers.

Although we, the fitness lovers, may not think twice about stepping into a new gym or trying a different class for the first time, the reality is that most of the general public do.

They wonder what will happen in the group fitness class or if they will be the most unfit person in the gym, and it’s thoughts and unanswered questions like these, that stop people from taking the leap.

The solution? Video! Video can

be used to remove uncertainty and answer the many questions whirling around the head of the potential customer, and here are my favourite ways to use it.

First up it’s using the Live feature on both Facebook and Instagram (the platform you choose will be determined by your customer demographic) and making your followers feel like they are actually there with you.

So why not grab your phone, go live and physically take them on a tour of your facility and do the nerve wracking things on their behalf.

Give them a tour of the gym, showing them how to use the kit, open the studio door and take them inside a class.

Let them see their potential fellow members and get a true feel for what it’s like to be there in person. Doing this will make it so much easier for non-members to make a decision to join you!

The ability to go live is a real gift and it really works, but beware of perfection! Too many people worry about their live streams being perfect.

They over think camera angles and how their voice sounds. It really doesn’t have to be immaculate, so

Katie Bulmer-Cooke don’t obsess over it, just do it!

One of the other great ways to use video is to host a social take over.

We all know that when members build relationships with staff members such as PTs, group fitness instructors and gym floor staff, they are more likely to become a

member and stick around, making those working in the facility the perfect people to take over the social accounts.

A social take over involves one person almost hijacking the social media platform for the day. They post useful, quality content, their day, the classes they teach, interviews with clients and generally share their personality with the account’s followers.

This gives followers the chance to get to know the staff member, gain some useful health and fitness advice, thus positioning the staff member as an expert and adding real life credibility to the account.

In addition, if the member of staff has a solid social following of their own, they can publicise the take over to their followers in the days leading up, encouraging them to follow the facility’s account, resulting in an increase in relevant followers.

Video is powerful and we are just scratching the surface here with what can be achieved, so grab the opportunity with both hands and don’t forget to tag me in your videos so I can check them out! n Follow Katie on Instagram @ katiebulmercooke

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The installation of a Les Mills Immersive Cycle Studio has helped a Lancaster leisure centre to grow its membership dramatically. Workout reporter Dominic Musgrave tried out a session.

The Les Mills Immersive Cycle Studio at Salt Ayre Leisure Centre in Lancaster that has been installed as part of a £5m refurbishment project.

Cycle studio helps centre increase its membership SALT Ayre was the first local authority facility in the country to install the Les Mills Immersive Cycle Studio as part of its £5m project to transform the facility into a thriving community hub.

As well as the cycling experience, new attractions also included Europe’s first outdoor Flight Tower; an 80-station gym; adventure play area; XHeight climbing wall; baristastyle café and a luxury spa.

Working with Lancaster City Council, Alliance Leisure and its long term construction partner Createability, have revolutionised the offering at Salt Ayre Leisure Centre; resulting in a 72 per cent increase in customer visits.

Alliance Leisure led the project from concept stage to delivery, working with Createability, as well as architects Bignell, Shacklady, Ewing as interior designers.

Will Gardner, business development and partnering manager for Alliance Leisure, said: “There are three classes that take place within an Immersive Cycle Studio at Salt Ayre Leisure Centre by Les Mills. These are The Trip™, RPM

The new entrance to the redeveloped Salt Ayre Leisure Centre in Lancaster. and Sprint. keep them motivated and returning.

“The Trip™ is the main focus “The Trip™ is a fully immersive of the Immersive Cycle Studio in workout experience that combines which customers are immersed into a 40-minute multi-peak cycling the surroundings via a large curved workout with a journey through screen. It is inspired by cinema, live digitally-created worlds. With its concert experiences and interactive cinema-scale screen and sound gaming, Immersive Fitness™ system, The Trip™ takes motivation combines purpose-built studios and and energy output to the next level, live instructors with immersive video burning serious calories throughout to fully engage the customers and the class.”

Gym attendance has increased by 83 per cent and fitness class attendance by 83 per cent, with the Les Mills immersive experience attracting more than 5,000 visits alone.

The new adventure facilities, including XHeight and the Flight Tower, have also generated more than 10,000 visits to the centre.

Research has also shown that the new facilities are attracting people from further afield, with users travelling from almost a kilometre further away to use the centre.

Stuart Glover, sports development and facilities manager at Salt Ayre Leisure Centre, added: We opted for the immersive so we could ensure we had a USP for the new health and fitness offer within our £5m development of the centre.

“We run over 30 instructed classes of Trip, RPM and Sprint along with around 50 virtual classes on top of that.

“The facility cost a significant amount of money to construct and kit out with ongoing licence costs – but has been worth it to help us grow our numbers by more than 2,000.”

Enjoyable session has totally changed my opinion IT’S fair to say that for several reasons I wasn’t exactly excited about taking part in a session of The Trip™ on a cold and wet Saturday morning in Lancaster.

I’m a member of a gym near where I live on the outskirts of Sheffield, but I tend to go at anti-social times of the day (late in the evening and early at weekends to fit around my family commitments) and quite happily do my own thing.

Throw into the mix that I’ve never done a Spin-type class in my life and the last time I did a Challenge for Workout involved a bootcamp on a beach on a cold, wet day in Abersoch that left me struggling to walk for the remainder of my Easter holidays and you can understand my lack

of enthusiasm. But I’m pleased to say that the 40-minute session with the bubbly Sarah has completely changed my opinion.

I was made to feel very welcome by the rest of the class, which was made up of people of all ages and not the lycra-clad Bradley Wiggins wannabes that I was half expecting.

What I liked most about the class was that as a complete novice there was nobody monitoring my progress and effort.

The studio itself was pitch black like the cinema, which meant that under Sarah’s guidance I was able to go at my own pace.

The screen quickly took us into a digitally-created world through an American city for the warm-up, and

I quickly began to enjoy the ride and forgot the fact that I was pedalling like a mad man.

Once we’d got through the city we then continued to pedal through the Arizona desert, with Sarah encouraging us all of the time and advising us when to turn our gears up or down. Regular sprint intervals added to the workout, which then left the desert and took us on a trip under the sea.

It may sound slightly random if you’ve never witnessed this before, but the colourful distractions on the screen really did make the class fly by, and only the fact that I was dripping wet with sweat by the end of it made me realise that I must have burned off a serious number of

calories.

The fact that a slight problem with the sound system meant that we weren’t accompanied by pumping music for the 40 minutes didn’t take anything away from the experience as I truly did love every minute of it and came out buzzing for the rest of the day.

Being able to workout at your own pace helped massively, as did Sarah, whose enthusiasm and encouragement got my through some of the pretty tough hill climbs towards the end of the session.

It’s very easy to understand why the Les Mills Immersive Cycle Studio has proved a major attraction at Salt Ayre. This is definitely money well spent.

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UK FITNESS SCENE

Technogym is official supplier to PyeongChang Olympic Games TECHNOGYM has been announced as the official equipment supplier for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games.

The South Korean Games represents the seventh Olympic experience for the company after Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Turin 2006, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.

In PyeongChang and Gangneung, Technogym will equip 13 centres for the athletes to train prior to and during the Olympic Games.

The main training centre will be open to all athletes taking part in the Games and will be equipped with a wide range of products.

The other 12 training centres will be located at additional competition venues.

In total, about 1,000 pieces of equipment will be made available to the 3,000 athletes,

Marcel Hirscher – six times SKI World Champion – on the Technogym Skillrun. partner of the Olympic Games coming from 85 different for a seventh time. countries and performing in 15 “This important achievement different disciplines. represents strong reference on Founder and CEO of delivering innovation and a high Technogym, Nerio Alessandri, level of quality through each and said: “We are very proud to every one of our products.” have been chosen as the official

Technology experts to speak at Convention TECHNOLOGY experts from around the world have signed up to speak at the 2018 Retention Convention, organised by industry expert Dr Paul Bedford.

Delegates will be given true insight into the capabilities of beacon technology from US company Gym Farm, which already partners with Precor and Life Fitness to automatically log members in to the kit as they approach.

From push notifications in specific areas of the gym, adding workout data to health insurance records or ordering lunch as the member enters the cafe, Matthew Schober’s presentation will open delegates’ eyes to the opportunities beacons present, with case studies of clubs using beacons to their best advantage.

Matthew’s presentation forms part of host Dean Hodgkin’s interview sessions, which also include Mike Hills, general manager of software company TRP, who will explain how high performing operators use

Retention Convention organiser Dr Paul Bedford. technology to inform effective business decisions and deliver an exceptional club experience.

Mike said: “Drawing on my experience from working with operators across the world, I’ll advise on maximising technology to save time, money and effort, as well as how important the human touch is in making technology come alive.

“I’ll share real-world stories around the challenges and

successes of implementing Net Promoter Score technology to manage and measure member experience – showing delegates how to avoid the pitfalls and supercharge their success.”

Also on the line up is Shai Neiger from technology company, Coach AI. Dean will interview Shai about chatbots, how their virtual coach uses AI-driven behavioural psychology to help people make exercise into a habit, thus improving member retention, what they’ve learnt so far and the reality of what this could mean for the fitness industry.

Global retention expert, Melvyn Hillsdon, will also be taking to the stage to help operators measure whether their retention efforts are paying off and, during his own session, Retention Guru Paul will talk about how we integrate human and digital contact into the customer experience.

The Retention Convention 2018 takes place in Birmingham on April 26.

Clothing brand 2XU has become the official apparel brand of Jetts Gyms in the UK and Netherlands. Building on the existing relationship the partners enjoy in Australia, the brand will deliver performance apparel to Jetts Gyms’ members, staff and trainers. Business development director of Jetts Gyms UK James Garner said: “We’re proud to become a partner of 2XU, enabling us to outfit our team with one of the most specialist performance brands in the industry and educate our members about the benefits of compression. We provide access to a premium workout environment with the equipment that’s needed to get performance results and we feel that premium sports apparel plays a big part in that too.”

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UK FITNESS SCENE

Yoga and Pilates company’s first franchise set to open

By Christina Eccles

MIDLANDS based Sandstone Yoga and Pilates has sold its first franchise, with more to be announced later in the year.

The company was founded by Michelle Nicklin in Aldridge in 2013 and the first franchise will open in nearby Sutton later this month.

Michelle said: “The time is right for yoga – it’s always been big business in London but the rest of the country is catching on now.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence in the current uncertain climate that people want something more nurturing than an anonymous, soulless exercise class.

“The Sandstone brand is about authentic yoga and the bringing together of a local yoga community and this will be carried through with every franchise.

“Sandstone Yoga provides a holistic, supportive experience and yogis all

over the UK will be able come to our studios knowing exactly what they are getting.”

Michelle’s yoga community is strong and growing – the original HQ turns over £300,000 and has 5,000 registered clients.

The regular workshops sell-out and to date 76 people have graduated from or are in training with the studio’s Yoga Alliance Professionals accredited 200-hour teacher training course.

Michelle added: “I realised it was possible to share what I have done with others that perhaps don’t want the hassle of setting up a studio from scratch. I know how hard that part is and I aim to relieve franchisees of much of this.

“We will provide all the support and ongoing mentoring they need. They don’t even need to be a yogi to get involved. We are looking first for the right kind of business people.”

Michelle Nicklin and first Sandstone franchisee Louise Tonge.

Katie teams up with operator Podcast series launched FITNESS entrepreneur Katie Bulmer-Cooke has teamed up with Everyone Active to get more people in Sunderland enjoying the benefits of health and fitness.

The venture will see Katie run a number of fitness sessions at Everyone Active venues across the city, including group exercise classes and personal training.

To celebrate the partnership, Katie attended an event at Silksworth Community Pool, Tennis and Wellness Centre where she delivered interval training and Pilates classes, offered advice and launched her new range of fitness clothing, KBC+AIM. Katie said: “I am thrilled to have finally launched my brand new active wear range.

“The event was a huge success, and I hope that participants were inspired to begin their fitness journey at one of Everyone Active’s fantastic leisure centres.

“I am proud to partner with Everyone Active to deliver a wide range of classes over the next year

Katie Bulmer-Cooke with her new range of fitness clothing KBC+AIM. and work with members as a personal trainer to help them achieve their fitness goals.”

Everyone Active contract manager Ian Bradgate added: “Katie has worked in the fitness industry for more than a decade and we are thrilled that she will be working with our colleagues and members to deliver innovative training plans and exercise classes.”

ESCAPE Fitness has launched a new podcast series; sharing insight and experience from influential figures.

The Escape Your Limits podcast will explore what drives, fuels and motivates the leaders and entrepreneurs in health, fitness and beyond.

Hosted by Escape’s co-founder, Matthew Januszek, each episode reveals the mental, physical and emotional ingredients involved in standing out above everybody else.

Initial guests include David Cooper of Gymbox, James Balfour of 1Rebel, and Richard Earney of Midtown Athletic Clubs.

Matthew said: “We’re incredibly excited about launching the Escape Your Limits podcast.

“The level of insight we’ve learned from these influencers and entrepreneurs has far surpassed what we expected to discover, and we’re so grateful that our guests have taken time out of their busy schedules to share these stories with us and our listeners.

Matthew Januszek

“What you’ll get from every episode is not just a real level of depth about fitness industry figures’ stories, but also take-home messages and ways that your business can benefit from the lessons they’ve learned, whether you’re already a gym owner looking to benefit members or setting up your own entrepreneurial venture.”

Escape Your Limits is available on iTunes, on Android through apps such as Podcast Addict, and available to stream online. Some episodes will also feature video content available on YouTube.

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Nominate your gym to win an exclusive Eddie Hall-led class with Pulse Fitness

Elevate to be biggest yet REGISTRATION to attend the Elevate exhibition on May 9-10 at London’s ExCeL opened officially last month and has already seen over 1,000 operators, fitness and healthcare professionals sign up for their free pass.

2018 sees the exhibition grow by almost 50 per cent with over 150 companies including Matrix, Renew Health, PayAsUGym, Eliko, Idea, eGYM, Total Gym, FitQuest, Miha Bodytec, Concept2 and MyZone demonstrating and launching the latest products and innovation in the physical activity sector.

Event director Max Quittenton said: “With so much product innovation, new entrants to the market and content, Elevate is the must attend event for every operator and physical activity professional.

“The physical activity sector has much to look forward to and we are committed to creating an industry event dedicated to innovation, networking and growth.”

With more people attending and the event being larger than ever, the organisers have also promised to offer networking tools through the popular Elevate app that will enable exhibitors and attendees to arrange meetings in advance and make new connections.

As always the event will also feature an incredible line-up of speakers including BBC’s Dr Michael Mosley, MP Tracey Crouch and Sir Muir Gray.

All content at Elevate is free of charge for professionals working within the physical activity and health sector.

For further details go to www.elevatearena.com

IT’S not every day that you get the chance to train alongside the World’s Strongest Man and learn the secrets to his success.

Pulse Fitness is offering you the chance to win an exclusive workout led by none other than its brand ambassador, Eddie Hall.

Eddie Hall, otherwise known as The Beast, is one of the most recognisable strength athletes in the world.

He can lift cars, pull planes, and throw beer barrels… for fun.

He smashed the world record for the heaviest deadlift with a jawdropping 463kg… the same weight as an adult polar bear.

With legs thicker than the average man’s torso, who better to put you through your paces?

Three lucky winners will be taken through a scaled down version of a typical training day in the life of the World’s Strongest Man. The session will involve some key lifts and will be followed by a Q&A with the man himself.

Eddie will be sharing how he fought his way to the top, discussing how he conditions his body for the level of speed and power it needs and offering diet and nutrition tips for strength athletes.

Head over to www.pulsefitness.

com/competition to put your gym forward and get yourself in with a chance to win a workout with Eddie Hall.

Entries close on March 1 and their will be a lucky winner selected from the North, Midlands and South.

Further terms and conditions can be found at www.pulsefitness.com/ competition

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App set to expand after securing $5.7m funding

Business has big plans A SMALL group training business is gearing up for a busy 2018, with big plans to extend its number of franchise sites, including opening a flagship club in Greenwich.

Offering a bootcamp style, interval training workout, YourZone 45 classes are open to any ability; giving participants the chance to benefit from the motivation of a group training environment but in a smaller, more personal setting.

There are currently four new sites in development, including Greenwich, with more in the pipeline both in the UK and, potentially, internationally.

Founder Chris Elms explained: “We’re pushing the franchise side of the business and this year, we’re looking at about 10 to 12 sites.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve really been working on our systems, processes and business model.

In 2016, we started working with a new marketing agency on our branding and a new website.

“That and developing great workouts and focusing on our sales,

marketing and delivery has created a turnkey business for franchisees.

“We’re looking for owner/operators, who have got to have that element of business acumen to be able to tackle the business side of things and also be a ‘people person’ to be able to get the best from the studio.

“Greenwich will be a great location to bring potential franchisees. We’re really excited.”

According to Chris, what makes YourZone 45 stand out from the competition is the way they build a strong community and rapport with members, with a tagline ‘fit just got personal.’

Clubs also use Myzone to help clients track progress and see results; another strong motivator when it comes to retention.

Chris added: “This area of the industry has gathered quite a bit of momentum and is really starting to develop. I’ve been doing group training studios for about 15 years now, so I know how to make sessions engaging and motivating.”

THE fastest growing health and fitness app in history has completed a $5.7m round of funding to fuel its global expansion and product development.

The funding, secured from a consortium of Silicon Valley and European investors, comes as Sweatcoin hits number one on the U.S. App Store and marks the fastest ascent of any health and fitness app in history;acquiring more than 5m registered users in less than a year.

Additionally, the app increased revenue 266 per cent over last quarter.

Sweatcoin’s appeal stems from its ability to assign monetary value to physical activity to reward users for the simple movement of walking.

The app converts individuals’ outdoor steps into currency that can be used to buy gadgets, sports and fitness gear, services, experiences, and more from over 300 of the world’s leading retailers and lifestyle brands, including Boohoo.com, Graze, and Hellofresh.

Co-founder Anton Derlyatka said: “We are thrilled that our mission to create an entire Movement Economy powered by people’s physical activity has been embraced by users and visionaries alike.

“We have a very bold plan to take the concept of fitness into the future which even includes the ability to pay taxes with Sweatcoin.

Anton Derlyatka (bottom) and Oleg Fomenko (top) celebrate their investment.

“This funding round will allow us to build out the product and technology team in order to scale even faster so that we can help millions of people all over the world attain better health.”

Co-founder Oleg Fomenko added: “More than 2m weekly active users is a good start. Now, we must focus on delivering a great user experience for people all over the world as we continue to refine our stepverification algorithm.

“We are out to fundamentally change the value ascribed to health and fitness and provide the motivation for people to lead better lives.”

Advertiser’s announcement

Increase sales with brands your members will trust BY 2019, the UK sports nutrition market is predicted to increase by a further eight percent to £527m, with sales of powder-based protein products making up 36 per cent of the market, followed closely by protein bars.

The majority of the these sales are generated through very targeted end user channels, including gyms, national chains and independents, leisure centres and specialist in this field.

It has been suggested however, that the increasing number of online retailers is making it harder for traditional outlets to generate a good profit from the sales of these products, as the market continues to boom in popularity.

For gyms, offering products with a familiar brand that the consumer

recognises is proving to be the most powerful route to purchase.

Not all members will be familiar with specialist brands, and often buy on impulse.

Due to this, most gyms find that the product lines with the strongest brand recognition sell through at a much higher rate compared to those lesser known.

Anthony Potts, gym owner at TNT in Reading, said: “We have been stocking the MARS and SNICKERS Protein Bars for over a year now, and we typically see a 4:1 rate of sale of these bars against our next most popular.

“For customers who use our facilities that are less familiar with specialist sports nutrition brands, they are drawn into the brands they recognise, and enjoy the taste of.

“We have since introduced BOUNTY and MARS Xtra Choc, which we sold out of completely within a week, and we have now been trialling the sale of MARS 100 per cent Whey Protein Powder, which has proved just as popular.”

Michelle Frost, general manager for Mars Chocolate Drinks and Treats, added: “We developed our range of MARS, SNICKERS, BOUNTY and MARS Xtra Choc protein products

to offer the consumer familiarity, in a market that is becoming saturated with unfamiliar, low quality products.

“Our MARS brand particularly, for both protein bars and whey powders, has seen a phenomenal level of growth in sales, with a 1,099 per cent increase in 2017 compared to 2016 when it first launched.”

To offer your members the latest protein products by Mars, please call 01452 378500 with all stockist enquiries.

UK FITNESS SCENE

The art of gamification for the fitness industry

By Dave Wright REMEMBER how addictive games like Pac-Man were in the 1980s?

Remember the thrill you would receive when you passed a friend on the ‘high score’ section at the end of the game?

Did you ever think working out could give you a similar thrill? Well, it can with gamification.

Gamification is the process of adding games or game-like elements to something (such as a task) so as to encourage participation, according to Merriam-Webster.

This concept inevitably makes traditionally boring tasks like cleaning or going to the gym fun and more enjoyable.

With this knowledge, all new wearable technologies and their platforms have this in mind when they look to encroach into the fitness industry.

It’s all about integrating game-like elements in the hope of gaining and retaining members looking to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

The reason the use of gamification is so successful, specifically when used for fitness, is that it falls in line with creating a habit out of exercising.

A habit is created when you have a trigger, a routine and rewards him or herself for completion.

The habit cycle can be seen in something you do every night – brushing your teeth.

When it’s time for you to head to bed, your body naturally thinks of that as a trigger for your

Dave Wright ‘brushing teeth’ routine.

The ‘reward’ for this routine is the fresh feeling you have in your mouth once the action has been completed.

In order to enhance this routine by creating a reward, some toothpaste companies began adding citric acid to their toothpaste. The acid helps create that tingly fresh feeling in your mouth.

With this knowledge, let’s say one of your

members is about to leave work, this could be a trigger that ‘it’s time to exercise.’

This means that when the member leaves his/her office job at 5pm on Monday, instinctively he/she knows that ‘time’ and ‘action’ is a cue to ‘go to the gym.’

The member will then head to the gym and workout with his/her wearable to obtain some form of points.

The ‘reward’ for this member is seeing his/herself rise on the leaderboard, obtain social recognition from friends after completing his/her workout.

The more the member gets a reward for going to the gym (such as moving up on the leaderboard or obtaining a new status ranking within your system the greater the association and the dopamine release.

A strong dopamine release will lead to a stronger reward and trigger for the next time.

Have you incorporated gamification into your club? If not, it might be time to start. n Dave Wright is the CEO of CFM (Creative Fitness Marketing), CEO and creator of MYZONE, owner of the Feelgood Fitness and Voyage Fitness Club Chains, a former Board Director of UK Active and founder of the IOU. With offices in Chicago (US), Nottingham (UK) and Melbourne (Oz), Dave’s companies have worked directly with over 5,000 health clubs across 30 different countries, encouraging people to be more and stay more physically active. He may be contacted on Dave@ myzone.org

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Gym’s £1.2m extension project completed A GYM in Devon has got the new year off to a flying start, following the completion of a £1.2m extension project.

Exe Valley Leisure Centre in Tiverton, which is operated by Mid Devon Leisure, has almost tripled the size of its gym; adding new kit including ClimbMills and an S-Drive from Matrix, a functional rig and a Boditrax machine.

The changes have created more space on the gym floor itself, with an

extended dance studio also allowing the club to expand its class timetable, as well as introduce virtual classes.

Health and fitness duty officer Nick Denslow said: “Before the extension, the gym was quite small and got really busy – in the evenings especially – so it had to be done.

“We’ve had over 100 new members in the first week, which for our site is incredible.

“Members love the design – it definitely has that wow factor.”

The new functional rig is proving popular for small group training, while it is hoped helping members to keep track of their progress using the Boditrax kit will also help with retention.

Nick added: “We want to sell memberships but we also want to retain them. We’ve got the Boditrax machine and people have been responding very well to that.”

Changes were made following a comprehensive member survey and

a Gymetrix assessment, which helped the site identify how well its kit was being utilised.

And according to Nick, customers have responded really well to the changes, which were completed in time for the new year membership boom.

He added: “It’s been amazing.

Everyone is loving it and the comments have been so positive.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with it – and neither could our members.”

Equipment upgraded to enhance member experience YATELEYS Health and Fitness Gym in Hampshire has upgraded its equipment to enhance the member experience.

The not-for-profit facility, located in the grounds of Yateley School, now includes a range of Precor cardiovascular and strength equipment, including the addition of a

Precor Discovery Series half rack and a Discovery Series Selectorised leg curl, along with 10 Spinner Shift bikes.

Sports and leisure manager Debbie Warne said: “The gym has been here for 27 years, has a small, personal feel and a great community environment, and over the years our membership base has increased to over 1,500.

“The end of the old equipment lease gave us the perfect opportunity to invest in modern machines and provide the best possible environment for our members. The new strength half rack and leg curl machines were previously missed by both PTs and members and their addition considered a huge improvement.”

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Giving your gym a new look can be much cheaper than you think. Here the experts at Gym Wizard explain why.

A new look for your gym does not need to break the bank ...

What difference can changing the look of your gym upholstery make?

As you can see in the photos, simply changing the upholstery in your gym will dramatically improve the look, not only of your equipment, but of your club too.

Gone are the days of taking your own pads off and taking them to a local upholsterer to be recovered in a mismatched fabric, leaving machines out of action for days or even weeks on end, or even ordering expensive replacements from the manufacturer, waiting for them to be delivered and then paying someone to fit them or messing around fitting them yourself.

Thanks to the guys at Gym Wizard all it takes now is a quick phone call and you can let them do the rest.

How can Gym Wizard help operators in this area?

You might not think much when a van pulls up at your club, until you see what’s in the back.

A fully kitted out upholstery workshop with sewing machines, staple guns, a trimming bench and a lot of rolls of fabric.

Wood and woodworking tools and sheets of foam for those pads that are a little worse for wear. Basically, everything required for professional upholstery work.

The guys take the pads that require attention from a couple of your machines at a time, and in their place leave a polite, professional looking sign informing your customers that you are renewing the upholstery and the machines will be ready to use

again very soon.

How long does it take to provide this service?

It really is quick. The guys take the pads outside and into their mobile workshop and within half an hour or so, the pads are back on the machines and the next batch are being removed for the same treatment.

A typical gym can be fully recovered within the day for about the same as it costs you to replace a deck and belt on two of your treadmills.

Not bad when you think about it – nobody notices what you spend on maintenance but they can’t help but notice this.

Don’t be thinking you need to be getting your full gym upholstered for them to come out to you either.

They’re just as happy to come out and re-cover a handful of pads and can easily match them up to your existing upholstery colour.

What experience does Gym Wizard have in this sector?

Gym Wizard was set up after realising the need for a dedicated, hassle free upholstery service and have over 25 years’ experience in the fitness industry; so it’s safe to say they know what they are talking about.

Their customer portfolio speaks volumes.

From the very smallest personal trainers and private clubs right up to the biggest chains, prisons and county councils, even the major manufacturers themselves.

For more info check out www.gym-wizard. com or call them on 0700 3400 335.

REFURBISHMENT, SERVICING AND MAINTENANCE

Regular servicing of gym equipment can have many benefits to operators. But what are the key things you need to know when it comes to looking after your kit? Managing director of ServiceSport Colin Marriott explains more.

The benefits of regular kit servicing to gym operators Why is regular servicing of gym equipment so important?

Regular servicing of gym equipment is proven to reduce the number of breakdowns and increase the longevity of equipment, preventing costly repair and replacement.

We recommend that each item of equipment is serviced twice a year to meet the strict industry health and safety requirements.

During a service, our engineers will follow a checklist for each item of equipment and also look for any potential faults or wear and tear.

Engineers carry computer tablets giving them access to all the latest diagnostics equipment, updates and schematic diagrams.

All work carried out is inputted into the tablet and cross referenced to each machine so a clear history of work can be drawn up on every single piece of equipment our engineers work on.

Our engineers are linked up to the technical department at our head office for further support should they need it.

What are the different levels of servicing and maintenance packages available?

ServiceSport offers different levels of service to suit a customer’s specific needs. From ad hoc, annual scheduled service agreements, allinclusive contracts, audit servicing to

Colin Marriott full estate management.

smoothly. It’s important to follow a regular maintenance programme, regardless of how often the equipment is used, and to always keep a careful watch on regular wear and tear, addressing any small issues that may arise.

Give all your equipment a wipe down after each session. Don’t use abrasive or oil-based products – a diluted detergent and damp cloth is ideal.

Check things like pedals and saddles on spin bikes, and keep an eye out for any wear and tear across your other machines. You should also carry out a more robust check on a monthly basis.

What do gym owners need to think about when choosing the right one for them?

Cost and age of equipment are the main considerations, but the health and safety aspect also shouldn’t be ignored.

Ultimately a facility is only as good as its equipment, so investing in its upkeep will pay dividends in the long run.

How can servicing equipment prolong the life and value of equipment in gyms?

Regular servicing of gym equipment is proven to reduce the number of breakdowns and increase the longevity of equipment, preventing costly repair and replacement.

We recommend that each item of equipment is serviced twice a year to meet the strict industry health and safety requirements.

What advice would you give to operators when it comes to looking after their equipment on a day to day basis?

Keeping equipment maintained is important to help reduce the risk of accidents and ensure it runs

Does regular servicing add value to gyms from a member health and safety perspective?

Very much so. Keeping equipment in tip-top condition minimises the chances of accidents and gives

customers peace of mind that the operator cares about them.

Seeing our service engineers on site shows that the equipment is being looked after, giving additional reassurance to the users.

How easy is it for gyms that don’t currently have a service contract in place to get a service agreement set up?

We service and maintain almost every brand of indoor gym equipment, offering a range of service levels to suit a customer’s specific needs. Our engineers cover the whole of the UK. Fitness facilities across the country set up these plans to ensure that any issues with their equipment can be dealt with quickly and won’t have an effect on their customers.

It’s easy to get a service agreement set up – just call 0845 402 2456 and our dedicated service team will be happy to help.

Whether you have a small problem which needs fixing or you need us to look at a number of different fitness machines, we can offer our professional support through to a service level agreement which suits you.

Are smaller operators able to arrange to have one-off servicing on specified equipment and not enter any agreement?

Yes, our ad hoc agreements cover this.

Gym undergoes £250,000 refurbishment A HUDDERSFIELD fitness facility is giving its members a variety of new exercise options, following a £250,000 refurbishment.

Kirklees Active Leisure’s Stadium Health and Fitness club has added new weights, cardio and functional equipment to its fitness suite; providing members with the

tools they need to start their 2018 fitness journey.

New additions include top of the range Stairmasters, treadmills, Wattbikes and Skillmills, as well as a dedicated space for lifting weights.

Regional sales coordinator Josh McNeice said: “We added the

Stairmasters because we have them in some of our other sites and they’re really well used, so we know our members will like them.

“We’ve made sure most of our cardio area is like for like – where there used to be a treadmill we’ve added another – and all of our kit is top spec Technogym.”

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Operator takes its group cycling up a gear MULTI award winning Burnley Leisure has taken group cycling up a gear with the launch of its new state of the art studios.

The operator has chosen IC7 coach by colour bikes; installing 40 bikes at its flagship St Peter’s Centre and 12 at Padiham Leisure Centre.

With the aim to create a space with the ‘wow’ factor, Burnley Leisure

created a new brand ‘chain gang’ and hung vintage bikes from the studio ceilings.

Graphics and lighting have also been creatively used, as well as new sound systems boasting the latest wi-fi and Bluetooth capabilities.

Both facilities have also purchased the My Ride system to provide users with an immersive indoor cycling

experience.

Head of operations for Burnley Leisure Neil Hutchinson said: “We wanted to create something that stood out from other venues while also providing the most advanced training technology available to our members;making sure they never get bored and have access to many different forms of cycling.

“The vintage bikes are quite quirky and definitely a talking point and not something I have seen anywhere else in the UK. “It’s been an exciting development and we have worked closely with Life Fitness and ICG Cycling to develop these facilities. You can be sure they will form part of our National Fitness Awards entry in 2018.”

First phase of transformation complete THE Bannatyne Group has completed the first phase of its multi-million pound investment in the former Virgin Active health club in Humberston.

The club, which was acquired last September, now offers members the very latest in fitness, with equipment from the likes of Technogym, TRX, ViPRs and Ankorr.

Members can also enjoy a new functional training area, with features including a Technogym Omnia Rig, as well as benefit from the B:360 wristband, which enables them to access the health club facilities, use the lockers, engage with MyWellness and enjoy the simplicity of contactless payment.

The next stage of the investment programme will see the changing rooms significantly enlarged and upgraded and the development of

a new spa, designed to deliver the latest in relaxation and wellbeing treatments.

Chief executive of the Bannatyne Group Justin Musgrove said: “When we acquired the health club, we committed to members that we would bring equipment and facilities that are of the highest standard to help them achieve their fitness, health and wellbeing goals more effectively, and we are delivering on this.

“The exciting investment in the gym has greatly improved the health club and the new spa is essential to support our aim to provide a quality holistic health and wellbeing service.

“Bannatyne Humberston has a great country club atmosphere and the investment and refurbishment has significantly enhanced the facilities without compromising this.”

Member Joy Houltby cuts the ribbon watched by the team.

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Helping you to invest in the right areas of your business Time to evaluate your IN A market that is continually growing and changing, with more and more public and private sectors setting up it’s key to make sure that investment is spent in the right area and that members feel they are getting the best possible value for their membership.

All facilities want to attract new members and retain existing members, whether this is done by investing in a complete re-fit, new changing facilities, maintenance of existing equipment, selling existing equipment to fund new, simple redecoration of a club, changing a layout of a gym to provide a new fresh look.

Getting the right solution to suit your business need is key in attracting new members and retaining existing.

It doesn’t have to cost the earth, simply having a fresh pair of eyes

to look over your existing business and to advise and implement some effective solutions.

Gym Angels is a consultancy service that provides solutions for new or existing operators, we can help you invest in the right areas of your business whether it’s sales and marketing strategies, multi-platform marketing, equipment, gym design and layout, software solutions, timetable planning, staff training and compliance.

All these areas are key to running a successful facility, making the right investment in the right area will see membership and retention rise when value is added to the service you are providing.

Gym Angels is offering a no obligation consultation. For more information you can contact enquiries@gymangels.co.uk or call us on 0800 002 9531

equipment’s condition AT this time of year, it’s time to evaluate the condition of your equipment.

Does it need replacing or can you refurbish your existing equipment?

Are running belts looking tired, are cables constantly breaking, is the upholstery worn?

At Tek Fitness, we supply refurbished equipment, maintain your existing equipment and make it look like new again at a fraction of the cost of a major refit.

As a gym owner or centre manager, you have a duty of care to customers using your facility to ensure that the equipment you have is safe and functioning at all times.

It is important to maintain a level of servicing that incorporates

preventative maintenance and regular inspections.

Tek Fitness provides service visits, contracts and onsite upholstery with our own dedicated team of engineers. If you want to repair your own equipment, you can purchase parts over the phone or direct on our website www.tekfitness.co.uk and earn points whilst you spend just like a loyalty card.

We also offer full advice on fitting and fault finding.

By investing in maintenance and regular refurbishment, your facility can retain a dedicated customer base, allowing you to grow and compete with other clubs.

For more information call 01553 777513 or visit www.tekfitness.co.uk

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REFURBISHMENT, SERVICING AND MAINTENANCE

RecoPad is a quick and easy maintenance software app for fitness equipment upholstery padding in need of repair.

Maintenance app launched

Codeless functionality at affordable prices CODELOCKS KitLock range can be retrofitted to a wide range of lockers, cabinets and enclosures.

The KL1050 uses smart card technology to provide codeless access to almost any cam lock.

The easy-to-fit lock offers functions for single users (private function) and short-term use by multiple users (public function).

The lock can perform up to 15,000 openings on two AAA batteries.

The public function means that once a user unlocks the KL1050, it will remain in an unlocked state, ready for any other compatible MIFARE card to be used.

Pre-registration of the card is

not required, meaning that any compatible MIFARE card can be used, with no need for additional programming.

A master user card can be used to open any lock and delete the card currently in-use, while a technician card can be used to open the lock, retaining the user card currently in use.

This advanced functionality makes the KL1050 ideally suited to a wide range of short-term multi-occupancy locker applications.

For more information on the KL1050 and other KitLock products please visit www.codelocks.co.uk or call 01635 239645.

RECOPAD is a quick and easy maintenance software app for gyms, health clubs, hotels and service companies for fitness equipment upholstery padding in need of repair.

RecoPad has been trialled by the UK’s leading fitness equipment upholstery supplier Gym Upholstery UK over the past few months and is now an invaluable tool for their business.

It has reduced admin costs and efficiency dramatically for both customer and supplier.

Gym Upholstery UK’s 17 years’ service experience within the fitness industry has gained them a significant UK presence, serving some of the most prestigious health club chains across the country.

The ability to cover all makes and models, old and new with the

simplicity of the customer using RecoPad’s unique time saving service app available on their own mobile phone whilst in the gym, eliminates back and forward emails relating to serial/part numbers, sizes and colours.

This new app is revolutionising the industry. Not only are customers saving money but keep their fitness equipment looking fresh and free from harmful bacteria built up from frequent use.

Recopad’s new ‘downloadable service app’ is due to be launched this month, with its unique add your own supplier for gym owners and managers to save time ordering fitness equipment upholstery from their own suppliers including OEMs, as well as obtaining competitive quotes with a single, simple ‘tap the app’ solution.

Physique Sports – more than just a kit supplier

PHYSIQUE Sports Ltd is the UK’s largest independent supplier of high quality re-manufactured fitness equipment.

We supply equipment to a broad spectrum of public and private sector organisations.

Our primary objective is to constantly measure our own performance and identify KPIs that will track whether Physique Sports is operating according to our clients’ needs. As the market becomes bigger and more saturated, having a unique strategy to deliver striking and eyecatching 3D design within your company is vital to ensure customer attraction and retention.

Physique Sports is a strong believer that a good design creates a great customer journey and a lasting impression. Our specialist CAD design team will help bring your space and facility to life with world class visuals.

Physique Sports has the ability to brand and bespoke all equipment, enhancing the design flare and visual aspects of the club.

Regular servicing and frequent checks of gym equipment is evident to reducing the number of faults and increases the durability of

the equipment. This prevents unnecessary costs and a great level of service to your customers.

We offer specialist bespoke maintenance service contracts for all budgets for health clubs, gyms, leisure centre, local authorities, schools and many more.

Our team of experienced engineers will follow the correct code of conduct by using a manufacturer’s guidelines and checklists.

The checklists enable the engineers to diagnose any issues or faults with your gym equipment and can provide a solution. All of our engineers have the latest technology, allowing them to update our technical and parts department whilst on site with the customer.

Physique Sports monitor through strict KPIs, quality control, asset management tracking via a web portal. Utilising high quality components to ensure longevity of product. We offer tailored finance and rental packages made to ensure affordability.

The culture and passion of our company is over deliver rather than over promise, which is constantly reinforced by our client base, setting us apart from our competition.

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Mario appointed to new role Data and technology EGYM has appointed its head of sales for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Mario Görlach, to the newly created position of eGym vice president company development.

In his new role, Mario will be responsible for the concept development of strategically fundamental growth initiatives.

Under his leadership, eGym will pilot innovation projects, at first within the German speaking regions and later to be rolled out globally.

His successor in the head of sales role for Germany, Austria and Switzerland becomes Christin Görlach, currently running eGym sales in Switzerland. eGym CEO Philipp RoeschSchlanderer, said: “It is particularly important for the newly created role of VP Company Development to significantly develop and scale the eGym business to support our ambitious growth targets and longterm goal of becoming the global market leader.

theme for active-net

Mario Görlach “With this role, Mario will become the face of eGym within the German speaking regions. I cannot imagine a better brand ambassador for eGym.”

Free mini masterclasses

OPERATORS have been invited to attend a series of free webinars, with February’s sessions focusing on membership retention.

The format will be short, focused sessions of five to 10 minutes in length on a key retention message or initiative.

Topics will include how and why to sell more member inductions and seven day calls: why are they so

critical and why don’t they happen?

Managing director of organiser GGFit Guy Griffiths said: “These webinars have grown out of the success of conventions and webinar sessions we ran in 2017, along with client and delegate feedback.

“We look forward to spreading more knowledge and experience around the world on improved customer service and retention.”

DATA and the use of technology to enhance participation will be the theme of active-net 2018, organisers have revealed.

Delegates will have the opportunity to learn from sector experts Dr Steven Mann, head of healthy communities at Places for People Leisure; Utku Toprakseven from data authority 4global, Olympic medallist and founder of the Total Swimming programme, Steve Parry, and CIMSPA CEO, Tara Dillon.

MD of the Mosaic Spa and Health Club group Dave Courteen will also explain what happened when an innocent social media post went

viral, leaving him at the centre of a social media storm.

Through this real-life case-study discussion delegates will get the chance to put themselves in the shoes of a CEO in crisis.

The two-day event, now in its fifth year, brings together leading operators and suppliers from the active leisure sector for business-focused, pre-selected meetings, together with informative educational slots, networking lunches and an evening meal. active-net is free for leisure providers to attend and will take place at Eastwood Hall in Nottingham on March 14 and 15.

Dr Steve to lead health offering PLACES for People Leisure has welcomed Dr Steve Mann as its new head of healthy communities.

He joins Places for People following seven years associated with ukactive, including three years as research director.

Steve will be leading on Places for People’s health offering and will support their 36 local authority partners in the achievement of their health outcomes and social objectives for the benefit of local communities across the UK. As part of his new role, Steve will retain links with ukactive, feeding into

the organisation’s research strategy and collaborating on projects of sector-wide significance.

He said: “The role of leisure services has evolved with facilities playing an important part in tackling health inequalities as they are often at the heart of their local communities.

“I’m excited to work more closely within the wide spread of local authority communities that Places for People Leisure partner and will be focusing on getting more of the inactive active through innovative solutions that really make a difference to individuals.”

TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT SPONSORED BY

In her bi-monthly column for Workout, Active IQ managing director Jenny Patrickson explores the next steps for professionalising the personal training industry and the role technology plays in achieving this.

Professionalising the trainer WITH ‘Educated, Certified and Experienced fitness professionals’ a continuing global trend (as published in the ACSM Health and Fitness Journal’s Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2018), there has never been a greater time or need in our industry to ensure the professionalisation of personal trainers.

Over the past few years, and particularly in the last 12 months, we have seen a growing demand right across the industry for the need to develop our workforce, which has seen us introduce refreshed qualifications for Level Three personal trainers and soon to be released updated qualifications for Level Two gym instructors and group training instructors to ensure fitness professionals are meeting the needs of employers.

Taking the views of operators into account and speaking to PTs who themselves are seeking advanced training and qualifications, we also developed a Level Four Certificate in Advanced

Personal Training.

As part of that constant strive for excellence within our industry, we welcome the technology developed by Train Me Flair and chose to partner with them by introducing its Flair for Fitness platform to learners on our Level Four Certificate in Advanced Personal Training course, with plans to also implement it for the refreshed Level Three Diploma in Personal Training.

Technology is playing an everbigger role in our industry and embracing these new platforms can help enhance training and support our workforce.

Flair for Fitness is a pioneering technology for operators, PTs and their clients, which gives an accurate profile of each PT including their expertise, experience and service level.

The platform uses a sophisticated algorithm to measure the PT’s performance and success using input from themselves, their training provider and clients.

We are giving Flair for Fitness to our Advanced PT learners who will use the platform to capture and review relevant data from their learning process.

Learners will complete the course milestones via their phone, tablet or laptop using Flair, which can be viewed in real time by the training provider’s assessor for review and feedback.

Out in the field, it will be a great tool to highlight best practice in our industry and mark out those PTs and operators who are upholding the highest standards.

In effect, it’s a Trip Advisor for PTs – so potentially a valuable tool for connecting PTs and their clients.

As we strive to drive up standards and professionalise our PT workforce, we are excited to be partnering with Flair.

Bringing its technology to our training and assessment processes will transform the way learners experience their education before they use it in a work capacity to Jenny Patrickson prove their professionalism.

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Global fitness company launches commercial and medical division

The Global Active Leaders Programme takes place in Madrid from February 27 – March 2.

Programme to streamline fitness sector’s high fliers UKACTIVE has launched a new global leadership course, which will bring together chief executives from some of the physical activity sector’s leading international companies.

The Global Active Leaders Programme, which takes place at the IESE Business School in Madrid from February 27 – March 2 will be attended by representatives from companies including Matrix Fitness, GLL, MYZONE and Alliance Leisure.

The event has been developed to support sector figureheads with continued learning and development as they seek to drive the international physical activity movement.

The agenda has been tailored to the specific needs of the sector, based on consultations with current CEOs,

company founders, senior directors and key government stakeholders who interact with the activity sector. ukactive CEO Steven Ward said: “Even the best players in the world have access to a coach and the Global Active Leaders Programme marks the start of a conscious decision for all concerned to raise our game and strive for better.

“Every single person invited to participate the Global Active Leaders Programme is a leader in their own right, running fantastic organisations, delivering outstanding results, to their customers, shareholders and staff.

“Only those who recognise that they have even more to give will answer this call to join us on this new mission.”

Sports scientist on mission to help Brits live as well as Americans and Australians A CLINICAL exercise scientist is leading the way in the UK to help people access healthcare that helps them avoid illness and, if they’re already ill, to live better with their condition.

Dr Andy Scott, a clinical exercise specialist at the University of Portsmouth runs England’s only masters in clinical exercise course which trains exercise clinicians to work with people with heart disease, lung disease, cancer, stroke and other chronic conditions.

He said: “It’s very British to think the NHS will save you and your loved ones from everything health-related, but sadly, it can’t.

“In sports science, there’s been a historic emphasis on elite sport – can we help Bradley Wiggins go a 10th of a second faster, for example – but I’d like to see sports science expertise given to the rest of the population, too, to help more of us thrive and maintain a good standard of health.”

Dr Scott developed his course in an attempt to meet a gap in training for exercise careers in healthcare.

In addition to their academic studies, his students study four vocational qualifications in using exercise to help people with or recovering from heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer care, stroke and preventing falls.

Dr Andy Scott He added: “Unfortunately, preventive health care is not a high priority in the UK because the NHS can’t afford to prioritise prevention over looking after those who are already unwell.

“If you’re in the US or Australia, or if you’re able to afford private healthcare in Britain, you see a different emphasis – it’s about helping people avoid becoming unwell, and for those who are already unwell, improving their quality of life and reducing health care expenditure.

“That’s the goal for me and for those I work with – to help improve the quality of life for people living with long-term conditions and to help Britain meet the challenges of an ageing population.”

GLOBAL fitness company, Dyaco International, has launched a commercial and medical division, with industry veteran Daniel Clayton appointed as president.

Dyaco International, founded in 1990 and headquartered in Taiwan, manufactures world-class fitness and wellness products for home, commercial and medical markets.

Dyaco owns Spirit Fitness and Xterra Fitness, as well as producing and distributing a wide range of market-leading brands including UFC, SOLE and Fuel.

With over 27 years’ global experience in the fitness industry, Daniel’s previous senior roles include vice president at Johnson Health Tech, managing director at Technogym Asia and group director of innovation and development at Virgin Active.

Chairman of Dyaco Michael Lin said: “We are thrilled to have an individual with the calibre of Daniel leading the new division. His vast industry knowledge and leadership experience make him ideally suited for such a prestigious role.”

Other international appointments announced include Gary Peak, formally managing director for Johnson Health Tech Australia, who joins as president of Spirit commercial and medical division North America.

Robert Lake moves from his current position as regional director EMEA at Octane Fitness to become vice president global key accounts and Arjan van Dijk, formally sales director at Johnson Health Tech Benelux, will become vice president commercial

David Hughes strategy and infrastructure.

After 12 years at ICG, Graham Stoney joins as director of group training.

David Hughes brings his vast experience of 30 years in the UK fitness industry and medical rehabilitation sector to head up the UK business, with Andy Loughray leaving Matrix Fitness UK to become Dyaco UK sales director.

Daniel added: “We have gamechanging plans for the sector with global brands such as UFC and Jonny G in our portfolio and a comprehensive range of innovative Spirit equipment.

“We have carefully studied the emerging industry trends and we’re ideally placed to fulfil the demands of the ever-changing fitness and wellness sector, with high quality, versatile products and services to meet the needs of everything from HIIT, boutique gyms, Cross Fit and combat, through to traditional health clubs, wellness and active ageing.”

Bear Grylls’ personal trainer to talk about engagement BEAR Grylls’ personal trainer, Natalie Summers will advise the industry on engaging with its workforce and customers when she takes to the stage as keynote speaker at this year’s Quest NBS Conference.

Natalie is co-founder of BG Epic Training, Bear Grylls’ multi-level indoor obstacle training course, designed to build strength, flexibility and fitness.

She will offer delegates a unique perspective on physical activity, getting people active and her view of

the fitness industry today.

Other speakers will include Matt Charles, head of health and wellbeing at Age UK Hertfordshire, who will discuss the value of the silver pound and why the needs of the over 60s should not be a grey area of operators.

The conference will take place on February 20 at Chesford Grange in Warwick. The event will be followed by an evening networking meal, with the CIMSPA Conference taking place in the same venue the next day.

OUTDOOR FITNESS

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Don’t like going to the gym? It could be your personality THE effectiveness of someone’s exercise regime may depend on their individual personality type, with more creative people better suited to outdoor activities, research has claimed.

The study was presented by chartered psychologist and head of thought leadership at OPP John Hackston at the British Psychological Society’s annual conference of the Division of Occupational Psychology in Stratford-upon-Avon.

More than 800 people from a range of businesses across several countries were surveyed for the research, which found people with extraverted personality types were more likely to prefer exercising at the gym.

Staff with a preference for objective logic were also more likely to stick with a regimented exercise plan than those who view feelings and values as being more important.

More creatively minded staff, particularly those who enjoy working with new ideas, were much better suited to outdoor activities, such as cycling and running, when compared to a structured gym regime.

John said: “We were keen to investigate how organisations could help their staff’s development through exercise, finding that

“The most important piece of advice to come out of this research is that there is not one type of exercise that is suited to everyone.” matching an individual’s personality type to a particular type of exercise can increase both the effectiveness and the person’s enjoyment of it.

“The most important piece of advice to come out of this research is that there is not one type of exercise that is suited to everyone.

“There can be pressure to follow the crowd to the gym or sign up to the latest exercise fad, but it would be much more effective for them to match their personality type to an exercise plan that is more likely to last the test of time.

“Organisations can help their staff to improve their fitness using this research, with increased fitness potentially leading to lower illnessrelated absences and increased employee satisfaction.”

Are you looking to become a Bootcamp instructor?

JOIN us for a weekend packed full of ideas and education to help you build and develop your Bootcamp business The Bootcamp instructor training certified training course is aimed at exercise professionals who are either looking to teach Bootcamps or instructors who are wanting to enhance their skills, knowledge and learn new exciting ideas and formats.

The two day training course covers everything from mobilisation drills, movement preparation drills, fun warm up ideas, programme design, fun team games and also marketing

ideas to build a successful bootcamp business.

So if you’re looking at setting up your own bootcamp, train people in large groups and earn more money doing so then the bootcamp course is definitely for you.

Our next instructor training dates are: February 24-25 in Manchester.

May 12-13 in Basingstoke.

June 9-10 in Worcester.

To find out more about our bootcamp instructor training courses please visit www.bootcamp-fitness.co.uk

A new £25,000 calisthenics park has opened on Worthing seafront, which showcases some of the most exciting equipment in the UK. Equipment for the park was designed by Calisthenics UK, who worked in partnership with manufacturer EXF Fitness and world class calisthenics athlete Stephen Hughes-Landers to fulfil the brief. The suppliers were tasked with creating a park which offered a total body workout and contained as wide a variety of equipment as possible. Features include a large rig with a flag ladder, parallel bars, monkey bars and pull up bars of varying heights. An ab bench, plyo boxes and low parallel bars are also available to users.

Life Fitness SYNRGY BlueSky OPERATORS looking to take their workouts outside have been reaping the rewards of installing Life Fitness’ SYNRGY BlueSky outdoor equipment.

SYNRGY BlueSky sites include Scotland’s Sports Performance Centre Oriam at Heriot Watt University, Ford Motor Company’s Dunton Technical Centre in Essex and public sector leisure trust activeNewham, who installed the first ever outdoor SYNRGY BlueSky training system.

For Ford, the product forms part of the company’s dedication to providing a healthy working environment.

EDAP learning educational adviser

at Ford Jane Hayden said: “As well as creating a real sense of community, the outdoor workouts it offers are fun and exhilarating, they encourage lots of social interaction and most importantly, they help people reach their fitness goals and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

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UK FITNESS SCENE

Matthew Januszek of Escape Fitness explores how the time-poor can still keep up-to-date with all the important information needed to be successful.

Listen up and get in the minds of the fitness industry influencers FOR me, like many other business owners, I believe in keeping ahead of trends as this is key to business and success.

I want to learn and stay up-to-date, but rarely do I get time to sit down and consume information.

The piles of magazines in my office keep getting bigger and bigger.

I soon found that my only ‘free’ time for taking on new knowledge was while I was travelling or while I was in the gym, working out every day.

So, rather than listening to music, I started listening to podcasts.

This is a challenge faced by every business owner in finding the time to take in enough information.

The beauty of a podcast is in how it’s different from an audiobook.

Whereas with an audiobook, you’re listening to a constructed story or account of an event with a linear journey, a podcast allows you to explore multiple topics together with those in conversation.

You’re there with each interviewee as discussions develop and evolve between each other.

It’s a fascinating way of learning.

So once I’d identified the people I was interested in hearing more about, whether in fitness, nutrition, training, marketing or any other subject, I downloaded my chosen episodes and got listening, multitasking with whatever else I might be doing at the time.

It didn’t take long before I realised that I’m in the unique position where I’m regularly meeting people face to face – other business owners and trainers from around the world, for example.

It’s an opportunity that I had to take advantage of in order to find other people with the same challenges that we all face, and share solutions to these with a wider audience.

I also found these people were similarly short for time.

The medium of audio and voice is ideal for solving this problem.

The Escape Your Limits podcast’s goal is to allow listeners to get inside the minds of fitness industry influencers to reveal the mental, physical and emotional ingredients

involved in standing out above everybody else.

In leadership and success, it’s not about shortcuts for dreamers, and these people prove that hard work fuelled by the right frame of mind is what makes dreams a reality.

On a personal level, listening to podcasts is the ideal solution to making the most of my time, even when I’m not doing a hands-free activity.

On a professional level, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed meeting these industry icons and can’t wait to interview more.

Finally, on a promotional level, I’ve been on both sides of the microphone and found that a podcast is also a great way of marketing for any business.

I hope you enjoy listening to Escape Your Limits as much as I’ve enjoyed putting each episode together. n Matthew Januszek is customer solutions director at Escape Fitness.

To learn more about the Escape Your Limits podcast, visit www. escapefitness.com/podcast

Matthew Januszek

PRODUCT NEWS

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Myzone is named 2018 IHRSA Associate Member of the year MYZONE has been named IHRSA’s 2018 associate member of the year.

The award is presented annually to recognise an IHRSA Associate Member for their significant contributions to the advancement of the health club industry, as well as their support of IHRSA, its members, and its mission through program and event participation, advertising, and sponsorship.

Myzone was selected due to its outstanding achievements, innovations and support of the health and fitness industry, its continued investment in leadingedge technology, and its unwavering support of IHRSA and its members.

IHRSA president and CEO Joe Moore said: “Myzone has demonstrated its strong commitment to the industry and IHRSA time and time again.

“They are leaders in the technology sector and are truly helping club operators deliver measurable results for their members as well as healthier bottom-lines for their businesses.”

Myzone creator and CEO Dave Wright added: “In 2011, wearable technology was not a widely recognised term, but that has since changed.

“Myzone’s technology is now available in 5,000 clubs and 38 countries, which demonstrates the impact it is having on the marketplace and the industry.

“Myzone is honoured to receive this award because it truly highlights the hard work that went into making our ideas a reality. We look forward to working with IHRSA for many years to come and hope that our product will encourage more people to pursue and achieve their fitness goals.”

Why choose Jacobs Ladder?

DUE to the unique motion of ‘climbing the ladder’, it is considered easier on the joints than other pounding movements such as running.

Short-bout anaerobic or interval workouts are the most common types of sessions completed, so your highintensity circuit lover, sprinter, or someone who just likes a hardcore workout is going to be utilising this piece of equipment.

Beginners or those needing a steady-state cardio session can go a bit slower, making it accessible whatever your goals.

Because you utilise your entire body through climbing the ladder, it burns a very high amount of calories per minute in comparison to other cardio machines. End game: more efficient cardio workout and more calories burned per minute.

Plus, since moving all four limbs at the same time requires stabilisation, your core and joint stabilisers (especially in the shoulders) are activated at a higher rate than on most other cardio machines.

Senior key account manager at Podium 4 Sport, David Flynn, said: “The demand for Jacobs Ladder has far exceeded our expectations within such a short timeframe of taking on the distributorship for the UK and Ireland.

“We have appointed a carefully selected, limited number of official resellers for the UK market, all of whom we are confident will provide the high standards of customer service that this quality product deserves.”

Register your interest in a trial of the Jacobs Ladder at www.podium4sport.com or call 02890 701444

Outsmart your competition with Direct Debit payments Macdonald Hotels and Resorts is improving the health and fitness experience for its guests with a multi-million pound investment programme. As part of ongoing spa and leisure upgrades, the operator is in the process of a £2.5m overhaul at 16 Vital Health and Wellbeing Clubs across the UK. The project started in Macdonald Inchyra Hotel and Spa in Falkirk last month and finishes at Macdonald Houstoun House Hotel in Livingston. The new gym technology includes kit from Life Fitness, such as SPARC Trainers for high intensity interval training, PowerMill Climbers and SYNRGY. Indoor cycling fans will also be able work out alone or with a group in front of screens which will transport their workout to over 500 unique locations; showing footage from the Italian Alps to road trails in California, on the IC6 Myride indoor cycle bikes.

LOCKERS

FITNESS organisations audiences are similar and the services don’t deviate much.

As the competition becomes fiercer, it’s a good idea to take a closer look at the money you’re spending in order to drive profits and increase your working capital to help you grow.

Simplifying Your Finances Direct Debit has proven to be a far cheaper alternative to other payment methods like cash and credit cards.

This allows you to take advantage of the lowered cost by offering discounts and loyalty incentives such as new membership discounts and offers, as well as offering long-term savings to loyal customers.

Many Direct Debit services are built with convenience in mind.

DFC’s FastDD is an online debit form, accessible at any time of day.

This makes the customer signup process incredibly fast and convenient.

One of the most worrying issues for companies is late payments.

Direct Debit helps you stabilise your income so that your financial department has an easier time managing your financial situation.

LOCKS

Take Control of Your Finances There’s no business in the world that wouldn’t want more control over their financial situation. DFC do everything in their power to give it back to you.

DFC’s payment solutions give you more autonomy over your cash flow and can help boost your profits.

They even take care of your Direct Debits so that you have one less thing to worry about.

The fully managed service covers everything from billing, to tracking where and how your income arrives.

Leave DFC to collect your Direct Debits so you can focus on running and growing your business.

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:www.staffsfitness.co.uk

:sales@staffsfitness.co.uk

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If you’ve got a story for a forthcoming issue of Workout email it to Christina Eccles at ce@scriptmedia.co.uk or call 01226 734 463

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