The UK’s No 1 fitness industry magazineJune 2014 No 249 £3

Public’s interestbooming, eventorganisers claim

Excitementgrowing forindustry’sbig nightPLANS are taking shape for the2014 National Fitness Awards,with gyms around the countryalready excited about the event.

The awards, organised byScript Events, in partnershipwith Workout and headlinesponsor Servicesport, celebrateexcellence and achievementthroughout the industry.

Nominations are steadilycoming in via the website –www.nationalfitnessawards.co.uk – with big news about theevent coming up next issue.

Event director JudithHalkerston said: “It may bealmost six months till this year'sNational Fitness Awards butthere is already lots going on toensure this year's event is asspecial as ever. We have justfinalised our judging panelwhich will be announced nextissue and we are grateful tothem all as getting the rightpeople in this important role iscrucial to the success of theevent. And it’s great to seeentries coming in – if youhaven’t started on your nomi-nation yet please give it somethought as the more compre-hensive and informative yoursubmission the more chanceyou have of being shortlisted.”

Double Olympic gold medal winner RebeccaAdlington launched the fourth Schools’ LegacyGames Day, organised by Fit For Sport at theEveryone Active Basildon Sporting Village. Theswimming sensation (pictured) joined in themass warm-up before spending time with eachgroup of children as they took part in a seriesof sports activities and games. Four moreLegacy Games Days are planned for 2014 in StAlbans, Spelthorne, Ongar and Hornchurch.

By Christina Eccles

THE public’s interest in the health andfitness industry is booming, accordingto the organisers of Bodypower Expo,who are celebrating a 15 per centincrease in visitor numbers to thisyear’s show.

A massive 61,353 visitors passedthrough the doors during the three-dayevent – with over 1,000 key decisionmakers present on Friday’s industryand preview day alone.

Fitness fans and athletes from all overthe world descended on the NEC inBirmingham for the 2014 show, withticketholders able to discover the latestproducts and innovations to hit themarket; hear educational talks from arange of industry experts and meet andgreet some of the biggest names fromthe fitness and bodybuilding worlds.

BodyPower CEO Nick Orton said:“The continued progression of an exhi-bition brand like BodyPower requires along term strategy and a constantdesire to push the boundaries.

“Our aim for BodyPower has alwaysbeen to grow into the best expo of itskind in the world, accessible to allstakeholders within the health and fit-ness industry.

“As well as substantial investmentyear on year, maintaining the populari-ty and prevalence of a show likeBodyPower requires months ofresearching the market to understandwhat the Expo visitor wants, what thefitness industry requires, and what thevendors need to achieve.

“As interest in fitness and healthpeaks we are passionate about findinga prominent place in shaping people’sunderstanding and knowledge.”

Plans have already been announcedto expand the BodyPower offering for2015, with the show occupying largerhalls at the NEC to enhance the experi-ence for both exhibitors and visitors.

Organisers will also be returning toIndia with a show in March 2015 as theglobal portfolio continues to develop.

Nick added: “The most inspiring ele-ment of running BodyPower is theawareness that thousands of peoplewho attend get inspired to train andlead healthier lives, which ultimatelyshapes the future of the industry.”� Look out for a round up of newsfrom this year’s show in the next issueof Workout and if you were there, we’dlove to hear about your highlights.Email ce@scriptmedia.co.uk or contactus via Facebook and Twitter.

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By Christina Eccles

OPERATORS have been urged toensure they have a valid TV Licencefor their premises, following the firstprosecution case involving the use ofan unlicensed TV in a gym.

Sean Mitchell, owner of SuperflexGym in Wallasey, The Wirral, was fined£500 for the offence of using a TVwithout a licence on the businesspremises.

He was also ordered to pay £200costs and a £50 victim surcharge atthe hearing at Wirral Magistrates’Court.

Any business that shows televisionprogrammes as they're being shownon TV, whether for customers’ use orin staff areas, must be covered by avalid TV Licence.

If there is living accommodation onthe premises where a TV is also in use,this must be covered by a separatelicence. Those without a valid licence

are breaking the law and run the riskof a court prosecution and fine of upto £1,000 per offence, plus costs.

Businesses found guilty are alsorequired to buy a TV Licence at£145.50, or they could face a potentialsecond prosecution.

TV Licensing spokesman ClaireWotherspoon said: “We appreciatethese are tough times for businesses,but to be fair to the majority who dopay the licence fee, we have to takeaction against those who watch TVillegally.

“We regularly prosecute businessescaught using TV equipment, and asthis case shows, the law applies togyms in exactly the same way it doesto any other business.

“We’d rather businesses think aheadand check if they need a licence thanrisk being prosecuted. A licence costs£145.50 and can be bought in minutesonline at www.tvlicensing.co.uk/busi-ness.”

UK FITNESS SCENE 3

AdvertisingSales and marketingdirector:Tony Barry

Sales manager:Daniel LloydTel: 01226 734699dl@scriptmedia.co.uk

Assistant sales manager:Chris HartleyTel: 01226 734709ch@scriptmedia.co.uk

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

Editor:Christina EcclesTel: 01226 734463ce@scriptmedia.co.uk

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

www.workout-uk.co.uk

Official media partner ofukactive

Script Media47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire S70 2AS

First club ownercaught without TVlicence fined £750

A new community gym at one of Sheffield’s most-loved swimming pools has been official-ly opened at a VIP ceremony, attended by Team GB slopestyle skier, Katie Summerhayes,and the Lord Mayor of Sheffield, coun Vickie Priestley. The pair launched the FitnessUnlimited gym at Heeley Swimming Pool following an investment by operator SheffieldInternational Venues, which operates Heeley Swimming Pool on behalf of the charity,Sheffield City Trust. Chair of the trust Alex Pettifer said: “Investing in a value-for-moneygym in Heeley was about increasing the opportunities for local people to improve theirhealth. The gym has been open to the public for nearly a month now and the feedback wehave received so far has been overwhelmingly positive.”A NEW gym has opened in

Birmingham’s iconic Fort Dunlopbuilding.

24/7 Fort Dunlop is the secondBirmingham facility for the nationalhealth club chain – and the fifth in itsportfolio – and offers a 24-hour on-site facility for local residents andthose employed within the building.

As with the group’s other venues, thenew club features a full range of car-diovascular machines; includingMatrix Fitness treadmills, ellipticalsand cycles, plus resistance equipmentfrom Matrix’ Aura series, free weights,and a ladies only gym.

It also runs studio classes and per-

sonal trainer sessions, with membershaving the option to use the nearbysite in Bearwood too.

Head of national sales at MatrixFitness Andy Loughray said:“Research indicates that nearly 35 percent of the adult population inBirmingham is physically inactive,costing the local authority over £22mper 100,000 people per annum.

“As stakeholders in the fitness indus-try, this is obviously something thatwe are keen to help address, and weare delighted to be able to worktogether with the team at 24/7 Fitnessto support healthier lifestyle choicesfor the people of Birmingham.”

Gym opens in iconic building

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New Ripped gym becomes officialHammer Strength training centre By Christina Eccles

THE team behind multi award win-ning independent club Ripped Gymhas opened a second site in Basildon,which has become one of Life Fitness’elite Hammer Strength training cen-tres.

The new 12,000 sq ft site featuresover 80 pieces of Hammer Strengthequipment including HD Elite PowerRacks and V-Squat, as well as 27 LifeFitness cardio machines from theIntegrity and Activate Series.

The club, which aims to follow inthe footsteps of its successful sistersite in Harlow, was opened in memo-ry of Ripped Gym owner Elvis Meadewho passed away in January after ashort illness.

Joint owner of Ripped Gym BasildonAlper Kani said: “It’s a huge honourfor us to become a Hammer Strengthcertified training facility and by dis-playing Hammer Strength’s officialplaque we let our members know thatwe’ve selected the highest qualityequipment on the market.

“Since Elvis and Michelle Meadeopened the first Ripped Gym inHarlow in 2008, the business hasattracted a loyal membership base ofamateur and professional athletesand we’re recognised for our passion

and experience as the authority inbody building and power lifting.

“Through our second gym inBasildon, we’re helping to inspiremore people to reach their fitnessgoals and we’re looking forward tobuilding on our success and opening

new sites in the years ahead.” Account manager – private sector,

Life Fitness Lucy Day added: “Thenew Ripped Gym in Basildon is anexcellent showcase for HammerStrength equipment as it offers someof the industry’s most advanced per-

formance training. “We’re thrilled that Ripped Gym can

enjoy the prestige of being an OfficialHammer Strength Training Centreand it underlines their commitmentto offering members elite equipmentand facilities.”

Ripped Gym’s second site in Basildon has become a Life Fitness elite Hammer Strength training centre.

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UK FITNESS SCENE 5

By Olivia Taylor

A NEW tennis coaching programmethat seeks to inspire the next genera-tion of tennis talent across Britain hasbeen launched by operator VirginActive.

Developed in partnership with theLawn Tennis Association, the ActiveAces programme, which will be intro-duced across 21 Virgin Active Healthand Racquet clubs, will serve up pro-gressive, action-packed sessions thatenable youngsters to benefit fromexpert coaching.

The newly designed scheme takesbudding tennis hot shots from agedthree onwards through a series of dif-ferent bands – from “tots” rightthrough to “junior active ace.”

To celebrate the launch, VirginActive is also launching a talentsearch open to children aged betweenfive and eight to find the ‘tennis acesof the future’.

Youngsters will compete to win aunique prize: the opportunity of athree-year family membership, as wellas coaching from Virgin Active, a rack-et and clothing contract with Wilsonsporting goods and a once in a life-time opportunity to play a game withtennis ace Laura Robson, who willhelp to judge the competition.

Laura said: “Whilst I am extremelydisappointed that I’m not going to becompeting at Wimbledon this sum-mer due to having minor wrist sur-gery, I am incredibly excited aboutfocusing my energy on helping VirginActive find and nurture the next gen-eration of tennis talent. It is brilliantto see such a fantastic initiative whichhelps coach the young stars of thefuture.

“As a child I was very fortunate to

have some incredible coaching sup-port and guidance to help me to thetop level, hopefully Active Aces willmean that there will be more oppor-tunities for British youngsters in thelong term.”

Tennis star helpsoperator launchits talent search

Laura Robson launched the Active Aces pro-gramme for Virgin Active.

Technogym has been named as the official provider of fitness equipment for the Glasgow2014 Commonwealth Games. Technogym equipment will be available for use at the fitnesscentres within the Athletes' Village, which will be home to 6,500 athletes and team offi-cials from the 71 competing nations and territories at Games’ time.

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UK FITNESS SCENE6

MEMBERS and staff at a Bannatyne’sHealth Club have completed a gru-elling 12 hour spinathon to raisefunds for a cancer charity close totheir hearts.

Middlesborough police officerSharday Malik organised the event,which took place at the operator’s sitein Ingleby Barwick, to support Hopefor Holly; a charity set up by colleagueAndy Gowland in honour of hisdaughter who was diagnosed withleukaemia aged three.

Sharday and her team raised more

than £520.00 after completing thespinathon, which started at 8am andfinished at 8:00pm.

The money raised will be used toassist with furnishing a holiday homein Ribby Hall Village for families livingwith leukaemia.

Club manager Tom Carter said: “Weare very proud of Sharday and theteam for their hard work to raisemoney for such a good cause. Hopefor Holly is a wonderful charity andwe are delighted we could assist withthe spinathon.”

12-hour spinathon raisesfunds for cancer charity

Staff and members from Bannatyne’s Health Club in Ingleby Barwick.

ORGANISERS of Leisure IndustryWeek, UBM Live, have joined forceswith ukactive to create the industry’sbiggest piece of independent researchexploring what suppliers and opera-tors want from the event moving for-ward.

The organisations have appointedindependent research specialists,Redshift Research, to compile a ques-tionnaire which will aim to find outwhat key components the sector isseeking from the trade show.

The survey will be emailed to allukactive members and the LIW data-base – and will also be made availablefor anybody else to complete via theUBM Live and ukactive websites.

LIW event director James Samuelsaid: “LIW has maintained its positionas the UK’s leading leisure exhibitionbecause we take on board feedbackfrom exhibitors and visitors with theaim of growing and improving the

show year on year.“UBM Live has an ongoing agree-

ment with ukactive and we aredelighted to be working with DaveStalker and his team on this project toevolve and enhance the LIW offering.

“ukactive continues to be a valuedshow partner and we are now workingwith the organisation to facilitate con-versations within the sector aboutwhat it wants a UK showcase to looklike – in short this is incredibly excit-ing.”

ukactive CEO David Stalker added:“We will be encouraging as manypeople as possible to complete thesurvey. All responses will be reviewedand we will aim to be in a position toshare results at the FLAMEConference on July 2, 2014.

“Once we know what the sector feelsit needs from the event we will setabout creating the perfect event, withUBM for 2015.”

Leisure Industry Weekand ukactive join toshape perfect event

ABERDEEN Sports Village’s £22maquatics centre has opened its doors.

With a 50m, 10-lane training pooland 25m pool with diving facilities,the Olympic standard centre has,from concept to completion, beenthree years in the making, and is now

open for all to enjoy. More than 1,000children and adults have registeredfor the learn-to-swim and learn-to-dive programmes, which will takeplace in the 25m pool. The centre willalso be open for public swimming atall times.

£22m aquatics centre opens its doors

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By Christina Eccles

EVERYONE Active has installed a tem-porary swimming pool at FarehamLeisure Centre to ensure all water-based activities can continue withoutdisruption while its £1.5m, six-monthrefurbishment project is underway.

The operator worked in partnershipwith Total Swimming on the 18mlong, 6m wide pool, situated outsidethe main building, with easy accessfrom the centre and fully covered withits own toilet and changing facilities.

Everyone Active area contract man-ager Ian Cook said: “Fareham LeisureCentre is one of the best loved healthand fitness hubs in the borough with18 local schools attending swimminglessons each week and a vast ‘learn toswim’ programme.

“Thus Everyone Active and FarehamBorough Council felt it was importantto make alternative arrangements forswimming while these importantimprovement works take place.

“We’ve created a real buzz aroundthe facility through communicationsand the response from members andthe press alike has been extremelypositive.

“What’s more, installing the tempo-rary pool has played a very importantrole in retaining members who mayhave been tempted to go elsewhere

had we not provided an alternative.”The main and teaching pool will be

completely refurbished as part of theproject and changing facilities will betransformed with new shower cubi-cles, toilets, benches and lockers.

The reception area will also receive afacelift and the exterior of the build-ing will undergo some modernisationwork.

The project is due to be completedin September.

UK FITNESS SCENE 9

Centre installs pop-uppool during upgrade

The temporary swimming pool at Fareham Leisure Centre.

AQUATERRA will deliver Bath andNorth East Somerset’s Passport toHealth Exercise Referral Schemefor another 15 months in a movethat will help to further increasephysical activity levels andimprove health for residents.

Figures show that since it beganrunning exercise referral five yearsago on behalf of BANES Council’sActive Lifestyles and HealthImprovement team, Aquaterra hasdelivered an 18 per cent increasein the number of participantscontinuing to be physically activethree months after finishing.

Head of operations at AquaterraJason Curtis said: “Aquaterra isthrilled and delighted to have theopportunity to continue deliver-ing exercise referral in Bath andNorth East Somerset where wehave a long history of contributingpositively to the health and well-being of the community.

“We are extremely proud of theresults the scheme has alreadyproduced and look forward towelcoming even more local peo-ple onto the scheme and into ourcentres over the next 15 months.”

Charity winscontract torun BANES’Passport

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UK FITNESS SCENE10Always one of the most hotly-contested categories at the National Fitness Awards, Newcomer of the Yearcelebrates the achievements of clubs just starting out in the industry but who are already achieving big things.Workout spoke to the three previous winners of this trophy to find out what winning meant to them – and howthey capitalised on the success to push their businesses forward.

THE Newcomer of the Year categorywas introduced at the secondNational Fitness Awards back in 2011to celebrate the success of gyms openfor less than two years which have gotoff to a flying start.

The first club to pick up the trophywas Oxygen Fit in Barnet; an inde-pendent club owned by husband andwife Neil and Emma Godly.

Following their shortlisting, the cou-ple brought their whole gym teamalong to the awards’ evening inBirmingham where they were delight-ed to accept the accolade from thenight’s host, Coronation Street actressKatherine Kelly.

Emma said: “Best newcomer at theNational Fitness Awards wasabsolutely incredible. Both our staffand members shared our pride andelation – it brought everyone togeth-er.

“Local press did a write up, whichexpanded excitement in the area.Over two years later prospectivemembers continue to comment onthe achievement.

“Our winners’ trophy will remain inprime position in the club, and with-out doubt the award adds credibilityto our fitness business.”

In 2012, functional fitness andweight training specialists The

Warehouse Gym in Leicester tri-umphed on home turf when theevent was held at The Athena.

Managing director Lynton Delladded: “Being nominated forNewcomer Gym Of The Year after ourfirst year of opening was a huge cre-ator of publicity for us in the EastMidlands.

“With local papers and media cover-ing the story this really did help usbranch out to new potential clients.We also received post awards’ publici-ty after winning the category.

“Having the ability to mention thatyou have been nominated and suc-cessfully won a sports award out of

hundreds of gyms across the countryreally does help promote your busi-ness.

“Since winning the award we suc-cessfully got nominated for three cat-egories the following year at the 2013awards’ ceremony. The awards’ cere-mony is a very prestigious event thatme and the team definitely enjoyed.”

Last year’s winners were Rigs Fitnessfrom The West Midlands who werecommended by the judges for thevalue they place on their brand andtheir belief in offering a different wayof training to the local community.

Owner Sam Smith added: “Theaward was a massive reward for all

the hard work and effort that hadbeen put in by so many people tomake Rigs what it is today.

“Immediately after winning, wewere approached by a number oflocal and national magazines andasked to write blog posts about ourgym and being best newcomers. Wesimply made sure we spread the wordas far as we could, and in doing so wereceived a massive amount of expo-sure in the right areas. We capitalisedsimply by telling the story of Rigs andthe amazing first year we had had.

“Being officially crowned as the bestnew gym in the UK gave us even moremotivation to keep Rigs Fitness a suc-cess. We saw it as a beginning of theexpansion of Rigs Fitness, as well asthe end of a fantastic first year inbusiness. The gym is buzzing, and allmembers are excited to train at Rigs,even more so now we are 'the bestnew gym'.

“We saw an increase in member-ships, an increase in exposure andinterest in the gym by sports teamsand even fitness equipment manufac-turers, and an increase in personaltrainers wanting to train their clientsat Rigs. All of this adds up to the busi-ness performing better and allowingus to continue to improve RigsFitness and live up to our new title.”

Oxygen Fit, winners of the first Newcomer of the Year category in 2011, with host Katherine Kelly (left) and 2012 winners The Warehouse Gym with Charlotte Ord.

Award celebrates gyms’ flying start

Caroline Pearce present Rigs Fitness with the award in 2013.

Get your nomination in now for this year’s National Fitness Awards. Full category details are available online at www.nationalfitnessawards.co.uk

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UK FITNESS SCENE12

PARALYMPIC medallist and GLL dis-ability sport officer Ben Quilter hascompleted his epic two-marathonchallenge.

Ben ran the Brighton Marathon andLondon Marathon just a week apart,after recently recovering from kneereconstruction surgery.

He has raised £500 so far for chosencharities the GLL Sports Foundation –a supporter of young sporting talentin the UK – and Blatchington CourtTrust, a charity working to promotethe educational needs of young, visu-ally impaired individuals under theage of 30.

Ben said “My whole body ached, butthat was to be expected. I foundBrighton much easier with Londonhurting my tired body almost everystep of the way.

“Running 26.2 miles was very differ-ent physically to a judo match, but Ireally enjoyed the challenge andpushing myself – twice.”

Ben ran the Brighton Marathon inthree hours and 47 minutes with MattBarton, a childhood friend, and JohnPrescott, a British Judo medic for thevisually impaired squad.

Then just seven days later, he andMatt took on the famous Londonmarathon, completing it in threehours 50 minutes.

Ben added: “I don’t know if I will runtwo marathons in a row again, but Iam certainly up for another challengeas soon as I have recovered from thisone.

“I now want to have a final push onthe sponsorship front for my two cho-sen charities.”

Paralympic medallistcompletes challenge

Ben Quilter ran two marathons in the space of a week.

A group of luxury London apartments have launched a campaign to help those on businesstrips maintain their fitness levels. Grosvenor House Apartments by Jumeirah Living hasintroduced Business Balance, with the assistance of in-residence personal trainer KathrynTilbury, to help guests get in shape for summer. Guests will be able to benefit from ses-sions with Kathryn, who will devise a bespoke fitness programme, which can take place inthe comfort of the apartments. Complimentary jogging maps will also be available forthose who want to enjoy exercising outside.

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14

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

WE always enjoy catching up with ourreaders and recently we were atBodyPower where we got the chanceto meet lots of you in the Workouttrade lounge.

Each year it’s a busy, vibrant showand as well as chatting to visitors onthe stand, it was great to walk aroundthe exhibition and see the latesttrends and products on offer; as wellas attending some interesting semi-nars.

Thanks to everyone who took thetime to come and see us and look outfor a show review next issue.

Also this month I’ve handed over the

reins of our challenge feature to mycolleague Dominic who braved theever unpredictable British weather totry out a beachside bootcamp inNorth Wales. Turn to page 42 to seehow he got on – and if you’d like toput us to the test, we’d love to hearfrom you. Next month, we’ll be cele-brating our 250th issue, which is anexciting milestone for the magazine.

Watch out for a few surprises on oursocial media sites and as always, ifyou have a story for us or would liketo comment on an industry issue, letus know and you could feature in afuture edition.

Editor’s Comment

Follow us on Twitter @WorkOutUK or contact us onFacebook at www.facebook.com/workoutmagazine

This month’stop Tweets...

This month’s hot topic:

Women are 20 per cent more likely to take and share a ‘selfie’ at the gym than their male counterparts, but

30 per cent less likely to want to date someone they meet there, according to a survey by sports nutrition

company Multipower UK. What do you think? And do you take ‘selfies’ in the gym?!

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

In the April issue of Workout, we askedwhat gyms were doing to encourage youngpeople to be more active and utilise thefitness facilities available in their localcommunities. Here are some of yourresponses...YATELEYS Health and Fitness is acommunity gym situated within thegrounds of a secondary school. Herewe offer youngsters aged 13+ super-vised gym sessions for a discountedprice of £2.70.

We also offer opportunities for chil-dren aged 11+ to participate in sport-ing activities normally only aimed atadults. In conjunction with SportEngland we have obtained £2,800worth of funding to make this possi-ble. The scheme is called “Sportivate”and is a £56m Lottery funded London2012 legacy project that gives moreyoung people the chance to discovera sport they love.

It gives children who may not beparticularly sporty access to an eight-week programme of either Bootcamp,Spinning or Urban Rebounding. Dueto the success, we are now runningour sessions for a third term and planto run more sessions throughout theyear. All the children receive a freewater bottle and for those oldenough, can join our fantastic newlyrefurbished gym free of charge.

We also support our HampshireTalented Athlete Scheme whichenables children on Hampshire’s reg-ister to free access to both the gym,swimming pool and sports hall facili-ties. These children are our future,and they deserve the very best startpossible. Debbie Warne, sports and leisure manager,

Yateleys Health and Fitness.

I AM the director of IntoschoolFitness; we offer personal trainingand fitness classes to schools.

I specialise in children’s health andfitness and started this programmefive years ago with the aim to intro-duce fun fitness activities to under

16s. Children that do not like compet-itive sports or aren’t particularly goodat sports will inevitably drop out ofexercise as soon as they leave school,although many try to avoid it sooner.

In a survey I conducted it showed 97per cent of children didn’t know howto stay fit without doing sports whichis why I began this programme. Iteach a variety of fitness classes tostudents during their PE lessonsincluding: Spinning; circuit trainingand body conditioning

Fitness classes are non-competitive,fun and social which is why theybecame so popular within schools.This encouraged even the most inac-tive children to exercise.

Over the past five years my compa-ny has worked with over 5,000 chil-dren aged 11-16 and have made sucha positive impact on their health andwellbeing.

A high percentage of the studentswe have worked with have continuedto exercise by participating in fitnessclasses or joining the gym. My teamand I are dedicated to beating child-hood obesity and will continue tointroduce this programme to newschools.

Lianne Griffiths, director/personal trainer,Intoschool Fitness

AT Campsmount Fitness Club wehave been running a successful teengym for a number of years. The facili-ty is part of Campsmount Academywhich includes a fitness suite, dancestudio, sports hall, tennis courts andastro-turf.

We run the teen gym on aWednesday after school for two hourswhich is always run at full capacity.We also run one on a Saturday morn-ing.

We induct children from the age of11-15 years. A screening form is com-pleted by a parent prior to the induc-tion and includes a section coveringthe child's behaviour whereby wehave a three strikes you’re out rule toenable behaviour to be what shouldbe expected in a fitness facility.Children would like to access thefacility more. In fact I'm sure wewould have a full teen gym afterschool every day if we allowed it.

However with teen gym, interactionwith our regular customers has to bemonitored. Most are aware of whenthe children access the gym and try to

avoid those periods. From customerfeedback we feel further sessionswould impact on their enjoyment ofthe facilities.

We are keen to encourage childrento access the fitness suite as it beginsto ingrain the importance of fitness intheir lives. Many of the children weinducted in our early years still usethe facility now as adults. The con-cept of the teen gym clearly worksand is something we hope to developfurther with the introduction of cir-cuit type exercise too to cater for theever-growing number of childrenwishing to access at one time.

Robert Watkinson, sports centre manager,Campsmount Fitness Club

CONNAUGHT Leisure Centre inAldershot, Hampshire has been run-ning fitness training sessions for chil-dren over the last five years.

The sessions are aimed at nine to 14year olds with the view of gettingthem into regular fitness training.

Sessions run three times a weekunder the close guidance of the cen-tre’s fitness co-ordinator, AdrianWoolgar. Sessions are an hour-longand the participants go through acombination of gym work, outdoorworkouts and team building activi-ties. The centre has seen a continualupward growth from both childrenattending the sessions and parentsjoining the gym so that they can workalongside each other. With thosereaching 16 joining as student mem-bers in their own right.

Children are coming to us in allshapes and sizes, but with one com-mon aim, they are all keen to partici-pate and be fit in a friendly and wel-coming environment.

As with adults if they have a partnerto train with then the sessionbecomes a lot easier and along theway some firm friendships have beenmade.

Chris Beckett, centre manager,Connaught Leisure Centre

A teen gym session at Campsmount Fitness Club.

@FitProLive: News about@KatiePiper_ coming to Live is onthe front cover of @WorkOutUKmagazine! Can't wait to hear herspeak.

@KateLPortman: Delighted to beincluded in this special body confi-dence feature in @WorkOutUK.Thanks guys! :) #bodyconfidence

@POFbootcamp: Great review for ourclasses, thanks @WorkOutUK #pur-suitofhealthiness Glad you enjoyedit!

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@TheCoreFBS: @WorkOutUK Thanksfor the write up! Received our copyin the post today. Building workstill going strong and excitement isgrowing!

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WEIGHT MANAGEMENT16

A GROUP of leisure providers head-ed up by not-for-profit leisure trustFreedom Leisure has been awardeda three-year contract to operateweight management services acrossEast Sussex.

Freedom Leisure will be workingwith Wave Leisure and exercise refer-ral companies Zest People and ReferAll to deliver the service.

Called re:balance East Sussex, the12-week weight loss programme is

designed to facilitate long termbehaviour change and is available toresidents of East Sussex with a BMIof 30 or over.

Weekly sessions are run in smallgroups. The first hour comprises agroup session covering a wide rangeof topics, self-assessment exercises,activities and skills developmentexercises.

This is followed by a group exercisesession.

Richard Bagwell, leading thescheme on behalf of FreedomLeisure said: “With 65 per cent ofadults and 29 per cent of young peo-ple living in East Sussex deemed asoverweight or obese, re:balance willmake an important difference byhelping hundreds of people towardlong-term sustainable weight loss.

“Freedom Leisure has extensiveexperience in delivering successfulprogrammes for special populations

and working in partnership withWave Leisure we are able to offerover 30 courses at our facilitiesacross East Sussex.

“In addition, by working with Zestand Refer All, we are able to providean extremely comprehensive meansof measuring and evaluating thesuccess of the schemes as well asallowing us to offer a highly efficientand accessible method of onlineself-referral onto the programme.”

Group of providers awarded East Sussex contract

By Christina Eccles

A GLOUCESTERSHIRE personaltrainer has been using an innovativeanti-gravity treadmill to help clientssuccessfully address their weightmanagement issues.

For the last three years, Dan Fiveyhas owned an AlterG Anti-Gravitytreadmill, which uses high-tech airpressure technology to allow users to‘unweight’ themselves and walk orrun at a fraction of their body weight– up to an 80 per cent reduction.

This means a significantly reducedload on lower limbs and muscles –and is helping Dan’s clients achievegreat results.

He explained: “When people want toaddress their weight problem throughexercise I immediately get themzipped in to the Anti-GravityTreadmill.

“As soon as their body weight is

reduced (I normally begin at 75 percent), it’s like they get a new lease oflife and they can immediately start towalk or run; then gradually over timeI add more bodyweight back on asthey get fitter.”

The treadmill gives people the confi-dence that they can exercise again asit allows a slow introduction into fit-

ness by gradually increasing weightbearing. The weight bearing technol-ogy also means users can experiencewhat it feels like to be their desiredweight, providing motivation to helpthem achieve their goals.

Dan added: “Being able to reducethe user’s body weight in precise oneper cent increments is of huge value

to those who want to lose weight.“I have worked with one lady for just

over two years and she has managedto lose almost 10 stone.

“The treadmill was the perfect intro-ductory piece of equipment thathelped to build her confidence, con-tinue with her exercise plan, and ulti-mately shed a lot of weight.”

Take the weight off literallywith Anti-Gravity exercise

“Being able to reducethe user’s body weightin precise one per centincrements is of hugevalue to those whowant to lose weight.”

Personal trainer Dan Fivey and an AlterG Anti-Gravity treadmill which he uses with clients.

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17 Servicesport 30/5/14 10:38 Page 1

UK FITNESS SCENE18

Use the F word more if you wantto improve retention – part oneBy Dr Paul Bedford

THE F word here is the not the F wordpopularised by Gordon Ramsay andBilly Connolly… and me when I getfrustrated! The F word to focus on toretain more members is frequency –frequency of visit.

Recently the industry has been fixat-ed on intensity of exercise to helpmembers achieve their goals, whichmay be because the most commonlycited barrier to exercise is “I don’thave time.” But whilst these short,intense workouts can deliver results,one of the most cited reasons fordropping out of exercise is increasedintensity. In fact research shows thatas intensity goes up adherence goesdown.

Retaining members can make orbreak a business, and if we’re seekingto improve retention we must under-stand the difference between reten-tion, attrition and exercise adherence.

When I report on member retentionI mean how long they pay for.Attrition is a measure of how manyquit, and is not the opposite of reten-tion. Adherence relates to how manysessions are completed against howmany were planned.

While the media are quick to dis-courage people from joining clubs inJanuary, proposing they will havestopped by March, the data tells a dif-ferent story. In fact 30 per cent moremembers quit in July than January.But remember, this is a measure ofwhen they stop paying. When theystop attending is a measure of visitlength – the gap between first and lastvisit.

For a North American study we wereable to plot the retention curve fromjoining to stop paying as well as thefirst to last visit. The outcome can beseen in the image above.

At 12 months 42 per cent of mem-bers were still visiting the club whilst60.9 per cent were still paying.

In the first few months of member-ship members stop visiting and quitvery close together. As the monthsincrease the gap between last visitand last payment grows. This couldbe for a number of reasons includingthat those who made it through theearly months of membership believethey will get back into it in the future.Towards the end of the study the twocurves come together again, whichcould be the effect of contracts end-ing, inhibiting subsequent visits.

There is no one reason why peoplequit. However decreasing visit fre-quency can be used to predict mem-ber behaviour. You need to think of itas a cumulative effect, stemmingfrom several factors:� This results in reduced frequency ofvisits and a shift in mindset.� Exercise causing discomfort andpeople avoid discomfort.� People become bored and feel theyare not achieving their goals.� They begin to re-evaluate value formoney.� Daily hassles and irritations take on

an increased significance.� They feel they are receiving lowquality service.

Frightening Facts:My Black Report, which includesinterviews with 1,000 members whohave been members of more than twoclubs/facilities, shows that on averageonly one in 10 people are spoken towhen they visit a gym, including“hello” and “goodbye.”

The critical question therefore iswhether consumers feel they receivea service or merely gain access tofacilities? The data and the interviewsshow that interaction is key to drivingvisit frequency. Members want asociable gym, but this doesn’t meanthey want to socialise there. Theywant to be in a friendly and sociableenvironment.

I advise operators to provide all newmembers with the option of a consul-tation session to discuss and establishtheir personal goals. This shouldresult in a personal programme andfollow up consultation which focuseson realistic visit frequency.

By offering these basic services,members receive professional expert-

ise for their money and feel they areimportant and valuable to your busi-ness. It also allows us to discuss unre-alistic visit frequency or achievementgoals. These services are proven toincrease retention, so you may needto revisit your business model andconsider rewarding those who play akey role in retaining members as wellas the sales team who bring in newbusiness.

Interaction on the gym floor encour-aging, guiding and reassuring mem-bers should be the base level of serv-ice. Additional costs for this will becovered by your retained members.However, if this proves difficult,arrange for one person to be availableat the busiest times so they impact asmany people as possible. � Dr Paul Bedford is the fitnessindustry’s leading authority on reten-tion, attrition and customer experi-ence management and the author ofThe National Retention Report.

You can find out more atwww.retentionguru.co.uk or by fol-lowing @guru_paul on Twitter andlook out for part two next issue.

Pilot study (West South Central United States) measuring last visit and last paid.

Dr Paul Bedford

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20

From popular functional fitness classes to a successful running club and family swimming sessions, the wholecommunity is catered for at the award-winning St Peter’s Leisure Centre. Workout took a trip to Burnley to discoverthe secrets of the club’s success – and take a look at its latest developments.

CONTINUOUS innovation and adesire to lead the way are a key partof the St Peter’s ethos – and this wasrecognised when the club scooped atrophy at the 2013 National FitnessAwards.

Named Functional Training Gym ofthe Year, the club was rewarded for itsefforts in this area, with judges partic-ularly commending the team for theway they introduced a large piece offunctional training kit as the centre-piece of their gym floor – and suc-cessfully made it appealing to differ-ent user groups.

St Peter’s was the first club in the UKto install the full Synrgy 360x systemfrom Life Fitness – complete withlighting and music to add to theworkout experience – and has beenusing the kit for individual personaltraining, small group sessions andlarger circuit classes.

The kit was installed as part of anoverhaul of the gym’s offering and hasgone down well with both membersand staff, thanks to clever program-ming and a drive to spread the wordthat it can be used by anyone, not justexisting functional fitness fans.

Facilities manager Neil Hutchinsonexplained: “We decided we wanted todo something different and foundSynrgy and made it the focus of thegym.

“It’s a ‘push’ trend, so we needed toeducate people of the benefits ofusing it and show that it’s not justabout high intensity exercise.

“It’s been clear that programming,staff training and educating clientshas led to much higher level ofusage.”

According to Neil, one of the leisurecentre’s biggest assets is its team, witheveryone from management, to thegym staff, receptionists and cleanerson board with what the club is tryingto achieve in terms of making thelocal community more active andoffering high levels of service.

As part of this, the club holds weeklytraining where staff get involved intrying out various fitness sessions –whether they work on the gym flooror not – designed to educate them onthe activities on offer and widen theirproduct knowledge, which they can

then pass on to members, as well ashelping them to increase their ownfitness levels.

Group exercise is also popular; theclub was the first in the UK to launchwith the BTS group exercise pro-gramme, now known as MOSSA, andis now a UK test facility, meaning theteam gets to try out all the latestreleases first.

St Peter’s also holds a successfulrunning group – and has seen a hugeuptake from female members whofeel more comfortable running aspart of a group than going out ontheir own.

Neil added: “When I came in, part ofmy role was to look at how the mem-bership was performing. We scaleddown the programme and concen-trated on quality, focusing on stafftraining and group fitness – and wesaw a massive rise in membership.”

Another recent development is BankHoliday openings, which the club tri-alled over the Easter and May BankHoliday weekends.

It has also recently opened aFeelgood Factory; a dedicated ladiesonly 30 minute circuit, which can beused by members of any age, abilityor fitness level.

Neil added: “The Feelgood Factorybeen received really well. We achievednearly 50 members in the first threeweeks and had some positive feed-back on health benefits from cus-tomers already.

“The Bank Holidays were extremelybusy, particular the group fitnessclasses; they were all full.

“We did an offer on other activitieswhich was basically £1 for everything,which made sure everything else wasvery busy. We will certainly be doing itagain.”

The newly-opened Feelgood Factory at St Peter’s can be used by ladies of any age, ability or fitness level (left), while group exercise is also popular.

Innovation and a desire to leadhelp St Peter’s achieve success

“We decided wewanted to dosomething differentand found Synrgyand made it thefocus of the gym.”

St Peter’s was the first club in the UK to install Life Fitness’ full Synrgy 360x system.

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21 Pulse 28/5/14 09:43 Page 1

UK FITNESS SCENE22

Bolton gym named bestperformer by supplierBy Christina Eccles

A GYM in Bolton is celebrating after itwas crowned the top performing clubin the UK – and the ninth best in theworld – in a competition run byindustry supplier Technogym.

Over 20,000 people in 176 fitnessclubs took part in the Let’s Move for aBetter World campaign, whichencouraged members to collectMOVES – Technogym’s unit of meas-ure for movement – using its mywell-ness cloud platform.

The most active club in each coun-try – i.e. the one collecting the mostMOVEs – could then win the chanceto donate a Technogym Easy Linetraining circuit to a local school oftheir choice. 34 facilities took part inthe campaign within the UK – togeth-er accumulating almost 10m MOVEs –with The USN Bolton Arena comingin first with over 2.3m MOVEs.

The club’s commercial managerGwyn Hughes said: “We upgraded ourgym last December and January witha whole new range of Artis equip-ment. We’ve really bought into theTechnogym concept – and wanted tobuy into this challenge.

“For the first few days we were justhappy to be taking part and after thefirst week we were third or fourth. Butwhen we found out we were then infirst place, we thought now we’ve got

to win this.”Following the news of how well the

club was already doing, staff gave thechallenge an extra push on the gymfloor to try and motivate as manymembers as possible to take part andraise more points.

The initiative also had the addedbonus of helping to educate morepeople on the benefits of using the kitand why tracking their movements

could continue to motivate themeven after the campaign had finished.

Gwyn added: “That extra pushproved enough to get us first place. Itwas a really positive experience and areally nice story for us, the school andTechnogym.”

The rest of the UK top three wasmade up of The Dolphin Centre insecond place and 1610 Trinity Sportsand Leisure in third.

Commercial manager Gwyn Hughes and fitness manager Glenn Carroll.Photo credit: Bolton News

Professor Greg Whyte OBE is to chairthe ukactive Research Institute’sScientific Advisory Board. The movesees the sports and exercise scienceexpert assume the steering role, work-ing alongside a team of renowned aca-demics who will guide the future direc-tion of the institute, provide a sound-ing board for ideas and ensure therigour of research and project design.He said: “I’m passionate about buildingthe evidence base to inform the deliv-ery of physical activity interventions toaddress the nation’s spiraling healthcosts and personal wellbeing deficit.There is no greater way of successfullydriving this agenda than at grass rootslevel and I’m delighted at the opportu-nity to influence this from my positionas chair of the ukactive ResearchInstitute’s Scientific Advisory Board,alongside some of the most esteemednames in physical activity and healthresearch.”

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UK FITNESS SCENE 23

Leading where otherswill have to follow ...By Mark Laws, Jordan Fitness

AS the dust settles on another mam-moth BodyPower Expo I took sometime to reflect on the event and see ifI could learn anything from the expe-rience.

I learned that for one weekend ayear it is acceptable for men to toucheach other in the toilets, I learnedthat fake tan isn’t JUST for womenand I learned that on the hottestweekend of the year it is still possibleto get more naked people INSIDErather than outside.

From a professional point of viewthere was one other factor that reallystood out – most people operate insmall groups – and I believe this canbe crucial for facility owners/fitnessmanagers/personal trainers lookingto enhance their product range.

The industry is fully aware of SGT(Small Group Training) as a concept,but although it sounds good in theoryI don’t believe we are anywhere nearwitnessing its potential. But havingseen some eye-opening sights in theNEC this weekend, I have also had myfaith in SGT restored.

Human beings are simple creatures.We like what we like, and we try toavoid anything that is different fromour ‘norm’. But how many of us areactually 100 per cent satisfied with

what we have achieved? I would haz-ard a guess that the vast majority ofus are NOT 100 per cent satisfied –therefore it would make sense that wecould do with a few changes to ourroutines. After all, if you do what youhave always done, then you will havewhat you have always had.

We launched a new product atBodyPower and it really was wellreceived. ‘The Hub’ is the perfectsolution for SGT. Not only can it beused to store four Olympic Barbellsand six Olympic Weight plates, but itcan be used for an unlimited numberor workouts for up to eight people. Weran a series of eight minute highintensity circuits using ‘The Hub’ andthey were some of the most enjoyableand eye-catching workouts we hadever done. Being able to use so manybarbells as well as other productsadded a variety that has seldom beenseen before with SGT.

Just three of the eight minute cir-cuits was enough to push even thebest of athletes to the brink of theirlimitations. Our sessions ticked all theboxes – they were varied, challenging,enjoyable, time-efficient and mostimportantly of all they were perfectfor small groups.

Having spent three days observingthe behaviour of the crowds atBodyPower I think SGT is something

that can be utilised by any facility andtailored towards their specific needs.

‘Emotional Contagion’ is the keySGT success. No, it is not this sum-mer’s Hollywood blockbuster – it is infact one of the most powerful humaninstincts that we cannot avoid, other-wise known as the ‘bandwagon’ effect.Human conduct spreads and as morepeople start to believe in somethingothers will jump on the ‘bandwagon’.

So for the mavericks and visionariesamong you, act quickly to make sureyou are seen as a leader and not just afollower – contact sales@jordanfit-ness.co.uk because ‘The Hub’ is theplace to be.

Mark Laws

Fit4less opensin Warrington A NEW Fit4less by énergie gym hasopened in Warrington, offering peoplein the town an affordable way toworkout.

The 7,500 sqft gym features all thelatest technology and equipmentincluding TRX, Precor cardio equip-ment, resistance machines, freeweights, changing facilities and show-ers.

Owner Stuart Kelly said: “We aredelighted to be opening in BridgeShopping Centre and the responseleading up to their launch has beenoverwhelming. After months of build-up we are happy to finally be openingand for customers to see for them-selves what we offer.

“Fit4less is very much a communitygym and we pride ourselves of givinglocal people the best facilities possibleat an achievable price that allows ourcustomers to reach their goals.”

FOCUS Hotels has taken over themanagement of the Tewkesbury ParkHotel, Golf and Country Club.

The company will oversee a periodof substantial long term investmentby the hotel’s new local owners, theMcIntosh family. They plan to revi-talise the property, which includesleisure facilities such as a sauna,indoor pool, gym and squash courts,and re-establish it as one of the area’sfinest.

Focus take over

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UK FITNESS SCENE24

By Christina Eccles

OVER 140 key industry figures gath-ered at the Ricoh Stadium in Coventryto debate, do business and network atthe first active-net event.

Kicking off with a keynote speech,ukactive chair Fred Turok urged theindustry to take charge and make thetough changes needed to deliver theshared goal of increased participa-tion.

He encouraged the sector to workmore closely with local health practi-tioners to promote activity initiativesand stressed the need to persistentlymake the financial case for betterpublic health.

The theme of making substantialand tangible changes continuedthroughout the two-day event, withCIMSPA’s interim chief operating offi-cer, Tara Dillon stressing the urgentneed to invest in staff – the peoplewho will truly drive physical activityforward.

Leisure-net joint director andactive-net organiser Mike Hill said:“Feedback has been exceptionallypositive. Everyone loved the mixtureof educational seminars and work-shops combined with focused one-to-one buyer supplier meetings.

“What has been evident is how pas-sionate everyone is about this indus-

try and how great the force for changeis. We hope delegates left active-net2014 with the tools to make thosechanges happen.”

Joint director at Leisure-net Solutionand event organiser DavidMonkhouse added: “active-net 2014brought together the active leisureand university sectors with ukactive,sporta, CIMSPA and BUCS for greatquality networking, high-level think-ing, meaningful debate and real deci-sion making on how to facilitate thechanges needed to increase participa-tion in physical activity.

“Supplier feedback on the warmthof the leads picked up in their one-to-

one meetings has been outstandingand buyers have said it’s an excep-tionally effective way to do business.”

The active-net networking dinnerfeatured presentations from ex-worldkarate champion and founder ofYouth Charter, Geoff Thompson, andelite athletics international starter,Alan Bell. Delegates at the dinnerraised £800 for Geoff’s charity, whichaims to provide young people with anopportunity through sport, art andculture activity to develop in life andactive-net has matched this sum.

Next year's event will take place onApril 29 and 30 at a venue to beannounced later this year.

First active-net eventgets industry talking

ukactive chair Fred Turok delivered the keynote speech at active-net.

MEETINGS and conference cen-tre Woodland Grange has donatedall of its former gym equipment toa local school.

The venue in Leamington Spa,has given kit including rowingmachines, cross trainers andtreadmills to the gym at NorthLeamington School in Blackdown.

Group operations manager forEEF Venues, the group behindWoodland Grange, John Turpinsaid: “Our recent £1m capitalinvestment in our facilitiesincluded the replacement of gymequipment in our leisure suite atWoodland Grange.

“We could have sold the oldequipment but felt that it wouldbe far better to put it to good usein the local community.

“We are absolutely thrilled thatour equipment has found a goodhome and that it is of benefit tothe school.”

Prior to donating the equipmentto the school, the machines wereserviced by local company,Newbody Fitness, who will servicethe equipment for the school freeof charge for the next 12 months.

Centre givesformer gymequipmentto school

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25 MyZone 29/5/14 15:57 Page 1

UK FITNESS SCENE26

A NEW website has launched whichwill help businesses offering fitness,beauty and spa services to connectwith potential customers.

PamperPad users who are looking tobuild their fitness levels; discover thebest hair and beauty salons in theirarea or pamper themselves with a spatreatment will be able to pick up dealsand offers from local professionalsand review the experience theyreceive via the website.

Working in partnership with indus-try associations including ukactive,PamperPad members will be able topost images, prices and offers onlineto attract new clients; with personaltrainers, class instructors, nutrition-ists and bootcamp owners alreadyshowing an interest in gettinginvolved.

ukactive spokesman Craig Samuelsaid: “PamperPad is a great way forfitness professionals to grow andshine in the industry. It rewards good,hard work and will help build the pro-files of some of the best in the indus-try.”

PamperPad’s dashboard feature willalso offer members useful statistics toboost their businesses such as howmany visitors have viewed their pro-file, the type of content whichengages with them and how manyreferrals they’ve had as a result ofbeing listed on the site.

Creator Haylee Benton added: “Forus, being able to offer the self-employed fitness industry a chance togrow their business is paramount.

“I know how hard it can be to getyour name out there, specificallywhen the industry is so saturated.PamperPad will act as a shared plat-form bringing the public and industrytogether.”

“We’ve had a great response to thewebsite, which fills me with confi-dence that this is going to help a lot ofself-employed professionals.”

Haylee Benton

Online hub will helpbusinesses connectwith customers ...

THE winners of the CYQ/BCS FitnessTrainer competition have beenrevealed, following a final at the homeof the FA, St George’s Park.

15 finalists competed in three cate-gories to lift the coveted trophies inthe competition, a collaboration withBritish Colleges Sport (BCS) andBurton and South Derbyshire College,with sponsorship from Technogym.

The awards celebrate the excellenceof fitness instructors and personaltrainers educated within further edu-cation colleges across the UK and thefinal took place as part of the BCSCollege Sport Week.

Kathryn Ingles from WarwickshireCollege was named winner of theLevel Two Fitness Instructor – Gymcompetition, Deborah Terry fromTruro and Penwith College took theLevel Two Fitness Instructor –Exercise to Music prize and CallumGreen from South Downs College wasawarded first place in the Level ThreePersonal Trainer category.

As well as their trophies, each win-ner received a 12-month membershipto the Register of ExerciseProfessionals and a prize pack fromCentral YMCA, including a selectionof titles from Central YMCA Guides.

UK’s top fitness instructorsrevealed at national final

The winners of the CYQ/BCS Fitness Trainer competition.

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27 Iso2 28/5/14 09:49 Page 1

UK FITNESS SCENE28Advertiser’s Announcement

Boxing for Fitness accreditationdeveloped by Ricky Hatton MBEHistoryTHE Hatton Academy was founded in2012 by four-time World BoxingChampion Ricky ‘The Hitman’ Hattonand fitness professional and long-time boxing for fitness trainer JonEade.

The Hatton Academy is a multi-levelboxing for fitness program designedto give group exercise instructors,personal trainers and fitness instruc-tors the chance to use boxing skills aspart of a training program.

With the boxing experience of Ricky,and the fitness expertise of Jon,together they have managed to usecorrect boxing skills mixed with func-tional exercises to structure a trainingcourse like no other.

The course is specifically designedto give the trainer all the boxingknowledge they need to deliver funand effective boxing for fitness ses-sions without the need for contact.

The boxing course is fully accreditedby the register of exercise profession-als and also Hatton Academy coursesare the only boxing courses in the UKto be accredited by the British BoxingBoard of Control.

Boxing fundamentalsBoxing for Fitness This is the first level in HattonAcademy’s multiple level training sys-tems and is an ideal introduction intothe foundations of boxing for fitnesswith a basic approach to professionalboxing training combined with func-tional fitness training.

Outlined below are just some of thetopics you will cover in the course.You will also be participating in aHatton Academy boxing classdesigned by our master trainers.

At Hatton Academy we believe thatboxing is for everyone so we will beshowing you a variety of differentstyles to cater for all fitness levels andspecific populations.

Why do the courseThe Hatton Academy course will helpexpand your knowledge and imagina-tion when it comes to organising andinstructing boxing and circuit classeswhile giving you the qualificationsand accreditation needed to teachthem both.

Course outline� Safety and injury prevention.� Correct pad holding.� Correct punching technique.� Speed and power drills.� Class structures.� Punching combinations.� How to instruct form and tech-nique.

� Personal training sessions.

Advanced boxingAdvanced boxing for fitness The Hatton Academy advancedcourse has been designed to take per-sonal trainers and group exerciseinstructors to another level of boxingfor fitness.

You will learn new combinations,routines and advanced techniques foryour boxing sessions in this dynamiccourse created by Hatton Academytraining systems.

The Advanced course follows onfrom what you learnt in BoxingFundamentals and is essential for alltrainers wanting to expand on theirknowledge of boxing for fitness.

Course outline� Advanced pad holding.� Advanced boxing combinations.� Advanced boxing punches anddefence.� Advanced exercise drills.� Benefits of advanced boxing train-ing.� Safety and injury prevention.� 30-minute master Hatton Academyclass.

Elite trainerHatton Academy Elite Trainer The Hatton Academy Elite trainercourse is the most advanced boxingcourse of them all. Learn how to usemodern techniques and advancedcombination building like a profes-sional boxing coach.

This course is designed to give yourPT or class sessions the wow factor.

Impress your colleagues with yournew skills, learn how to Block, sway,slip, shoulder roll and out the pocketUppercut.

You must have completed theFundamentals and Advanced coursesto a satisfactory level to take part inthis course.

Hatton Academy Elite course outline � A 30-minute advanced Hatton ABCmasterclass.

� How to hold focus pads foradvanced combinations.� How to instruct and demonstratedefensive techniques.� How to incorporate these move-ments into advanced combinations.� How to identify incorrect tech-niques and correct accordingly.� Super combination building withadvanced technique.

Team HattonGet ‘The Hitman’ in your corner The Team Hatton Instructor Networkis a continuing education and mar-keting support program designed tomake Team Hatton members success-ful in your club.

The Team Hatton InstructorNetwork is comprised of the mostelite Hatton Academy Instructorsfrom around the world.

Team Hatton members are the most

dedicated and prepared of all HattonABC Instructors.

Benefits of joining Team Hatton� New monthly Hatton ABC class for-mats.� Access to Team Hatton online por-tal.� Training via the member-exclusiveonline video portal that provides anarray of training techniques, live classaction and marketing tips to supportand enhance instructors’ skill sets.� Strategic marketing from one of thelargest boxing companies in theworld.� Customisable marketing tools tobring in more business or map out aHatton ABC campaign in your fitnessfacility.� Online community-orientatedforum with round-the-clock support,feedback, tips and leads from fellowTeam Hatton members around theworld.

For further information or to book call 01253 392802or visit www.hattonacademy.com

28 29/5/14 16:03 Page 1

29 Hatton 28/5/14 09:50 Page 1

30 Protocol 28/5/14 09:50 Page 1

TECHNOLOGY 31

By Brian Firth, MIE FitQuest

OVER the years, technology hashelped shape the fitness industry. Foroperators it has enabled them to keepan eye on their members, assess thepopularity of their classes and evenpredict trends.

For the member, technology hasenabled them to understand howtheir body works; how many caloriesthey’ve burned, how many stepsthey’ve taken, even their averageheart rate and perceived exertionrates.

Some operators have even investedin technology that has helped to edu-cate members on the importance ofdiet and nutrition by investing inbody composition monitors, movingaway from the figures on the scalesand helping them understand that it’swhat your body is made of that’simportant.

But now there’s a new wave of tech-nology being developed. Technologythat can help build an overall pictureof a member and their fitness levels,technology that can pick up even theslightest changes in a short period oftime.

FitQuest was launched in the UK atLIW 2013 and has started to make itsmark in a relatively short amount oftime. In under four minutes themachine will measure human per-

formance over eight parameters;upper body strength, upper bodyendurance, cardiovascular strength,leg strength, leg endurance, leg speed,explosive power and balance.

At the end of each test an overall fit-ness assessment is provided for themember and stored securely withinthe machine.

Training staff can also gain access tothe results, enabling them to assessthe effectiveness of the training pro-gramme prescribed and adapt itaccordingly.

The results can even be used toupsell other services, such as dietaryand nutritional advice or a rehabilita-tion programme.

As a measurement device FitQuest ismoving away from monitoringweight, which can be influenced by somany contributing factors and bodycomposition, which can be incrediblyhard to change, especially over a shortperiod of time.

FitQuest measures your fitness lev-els, something that can change in ashort amount of time. It gives real-time feedback and analysis on theprogramme that each member hasbeen following.

Not only does it demonstrate thattheir hard work and effort is payingoff but it keeps them motivated tocontinue to use the gym and pay foradditional personal training services.

For operators to survive and offer apoint of difference to their competi-tors it’s imperative to keep investingin technology that will not only moti-vate but retain clients also.

As consumers, members are becom-ing more and more aware of the ben-efits of using fitness devices that pro-vide them with instant feedback, butit’s important to educate them onhow they can use this data to furtherenhance their health and wellbeingand make positive changes to theirlives.

New technology can help buildan overall picture of a member

Brian Firth

Innovative budget chain, The GymGroup, has invested in a virtual mem-bership adviser at two of its city ven-ues to help answer member questionsand assist with new member applica-tions without affecting staff levels. Theinteractive, life-size hologram has beeninstalled on a trial basis at two clubs inNottinghamshire and Vauxhall, London.If the feedback is positive, virtualmembership advisers will be rolled outat the other 41 Gym venues across theUK. CEO John Traharne said: “The addi-tion of a life-size hologram positionedat the entrance will provide memberswith an innovative means of sourcinginformation which is more interactiveand personal than simply visiting ourFrequently Asked Questions page onthe website.”

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TECHNOLOGY32

Unleash the power of free weightsBy Rory McGown

FREE weights are one of the mostpopular types of gym equipmenttoday.

In our equipment rankings, com-piled from surveys with 20,000+ gymgoers, free weights are men’s mostpopular and are also in the top 10 forwomen. In fact, our studies show thatof all the complaints people have withgyms, the lack of free weights is themost common.

We’ve worked with over 150 gymsand virtually every analysis we doreveals the gym has not enough freeweights capacity to cater for their cus-tomers’ demand.

Operators are reluctant to invest inmore free weights because they’rescared of attracting those stereotypi-cal meatheads who grunt and groanover heavy weights. Understandably,operators want their gyms to appealto both men and women, but thisshouldn’t preclude them expandingtheir free weights offer, especiallywhen this is what their memberswant.

We’ve returned to clients and re-measured equipment usage after arefurbishment, and wherever freeweight areas have been expandeddemand for that equipment hasgrown more than any other type.

For example, demand grew by 75per cent at Angel Leisure Centre, 92per cent at Lagoon Leisure Centre,123 per cent at On – X Linwood andby a massive 253 per cent at Glasgow

Club Scotstoun. This illustrates thehuge pent up demand there is for thisequipment that’s not being adequate-ly catered for.

Here are our tips for expanding freeweights areas successfully and keep-ing members happy:� Don’t place all free weights in onearea. This results in a testosteronefilled area in busy periods packedwith male members, which detersfemales from using the space.Instead, split free weights areas uparound the gym with spaces for lightand medium weights as well as thearea offering a full selection ofweights. � Our research shows that dumbbellsof eight-18kg are the most popular.Shortages of these and benches causemost dissatisfaction among members,

so make sure you have enough.� Limit your heaviest dumbbell to40kg so you don’t attract the really bigguys who can be intimidating to oth-ers.� House heavier weights at the farend of the gym and use resistanceequipment to act as a buffer betweenthis area and the spaces where femalemembers work out. � Don’t locate cardio kit backing ontofree weights areas, or locate mats orworse still, abductor and adductorsfacing the heavy weights section –female users won’t be happy.� Locate the lighter weights area asfar away as possible from the heavyweight section to ensure that womenand those men who prefer lighterweights feel most comfortable. Thiswill also prevent people from movingequipment such as benches anddumbbells between the areas at busyperiods.� Enforce the gym etiquette youexpect. If you don’t want weightsdropped, not put away and shoutingthen give staff the authority to repri-mand members when necessary.Don’t be afraid to ban anyone whocontinues to flout the rules, you maylose one member, but will make oth-ers happier as a result.� Rory McGown is the founder ofGYMetrix, which provides accuratedata on customer demand for gymequipment and customer satisfactionto allow operators to make informedchoices about investment, gymdesign and instructor programming.

Rory McGown

DAVID Lloyd Leisure andUniversal Music have joinedforces to launch a playlist app.

The David Lloyd Playlist, whichis compatible with iPhone, iPodtouch and Android devices,enhances workout efficiency andenjoyment by matching a track’sbeat with workout pace.

The app gives both David LloydLeisure members and non-mem-bers access to thousands ofUniversal Music artists, with fullycustomised playlists updatedweekly to keep fitness routinesfresh and users continually moti-vated.

Other features include storingplaylists offline to listen to any-time and anywhere; creating per-sonal playlists of favourite songs;automatic volume adjustment;and the latest news on fitness andnutrition from David LloydLeisure’s experts.

Chief executive of David LloydLeisure Europe Scott Lloyd said:“We are delighted to announcethe launch of this exclusive app ina joint collaboration withUniversal Music, the marketleader in its field.”

Operatorlaunchesnew app

32 29/5/14 16:04 Page 1

33 Mind body 28/5/14 09:53 Page 1

TECHNOLOGY34

THE fitness suite at NewcastleUniversity has undergone a majorequipment upgrade, installing kitequipped with the latest technology,which has led to a 10 per centincrease in gym usage.

The gym’s cardiovascular andstrength equipment has beenreplaced with high tech Precor equip-ment, and Preva networked fitnesstechnology, which is compatible withthe university’s ‘Smart Card’ andallows students to log in to the Prevanetwork, as well being able to use justone card to access the facilities onsite.

Facilities service manager at

Newcastle University Nick Beall said:”One of the major plus points forusing Precor was the RFID technolo-gy, as we wanted students to be ableto use just one card to access all thefacilities.

“Our initial intentions with Prevanetworked fitness were to use it as avehicle for students to monitor andrecord their workouts and trainingsessions.

“However, we are now developingthings further and are using Preva tocreate weekly, monthly and termly fit-ness challenges for members.Personal training staff and sportscoaches are also using it extensively.’’

Fitness suite’s upgradeleads to usage increase

Kit equipped with the latest technology has been installed at Newcastle University.

ClubManager –creating newmembers foryour club ...ClubManager has recently launched anew add-on to their award winningsoftware solution.

We spoke to founder Wayne Heathto find out more:So what is the new product all about?“During the sales process the newmember can automatically spread theword about your business to all oftheir friends through the power ofsocial media, such as Facebook andTwitter. This simple and easyapproach as part of the joiningprocess within ClubManager nowallows your club to instantly gainreferrals via all forms of social mediaat the most important time: when anew member is the most enthusiasticabout your club.”

Can it work for existing members?“Without doubt it’s a great tool formember retention as well, by allowingthe team to get out on the gym floorand talk with members and spread

the word throughFacebook andTwitter at theclick of a button.”

What about results?“Well if you lookat 100 new refer-rals generatedwith a currentclose rate of 35per cent based on£30 per monthprice member-ship on Direct Debit, that’s anincrease of £1,050 per month. Thatreally speaks for itself for the club'sbottom-line. We pride ourselves onproviding industry-leading, affordablesolutions that allow gym owners togrow their businesses.”

To find out more contact Wayne atClubManager on 01245 807 360, visit

www.clubmanagercentral.com or emailwayne@clubmanagercentral.com

Wayne Heath

34 29/5/14 16:05 Page 1

35 Club manager 28/5/14 09:54 Page 1

TECHNOLOGY36

ADD a ‘join online’ page to your web-site and make this available on a ter-minal in your club.

Ashbourne have upgraded theonline sign-up page available to clubsto use on their websites.

Membership benefits and optionsare shown more clearly and the pagecan be fully personalised with yourclub logos and colours.

The best moment to get someone tojoin is after a tour. Ashbourne offers agreat value iPad stand for use in yourreception area.

Just supply the iPad to create a pro-

fessional touchscreen sign-up experi-ence.

With Ejoin+ you become a paidmember immediately – the firstmonth’s payment is by debit/creditcard, with a Direct Debit set up forsubsequent months.

Ejoin+ is just one part ofAshbourne’s all-inclusive+ suite ofclub software – entry control, manag-er’s dashboard, class booking andepos system are all integrated into itsdirect debit collection service.

Call Ashbourne on 0871 271 2088 for full details.

Ejoin+ makes it easy to join

By Stuart Lindsay

AS a personal trainer, I've never strug-gled to be organised, but using ActiveToolkit means I now have more timeto concentrate on improving myclients’ fitness and not waste timeupdating body weight spreadsheets,calculating body fat and producingreports—this online tool does it auto-matically!

No more wasted time with spreadsheetsand calculatorsThere’s no need to mess around cal-culating anything yourself, I just entermy clients’ character measurements,hit save and this handy tool works outtheir body fat and weight for me. I cansee at a glance what clients’ existingbody fat is, what it was at the start,how much they weigh currently, andhow much they weighed at the begin-ning.

Update clients’ progress with the click of abutton With the click of a button I can addclient sessions, add and track goalsand track body fat, saving me loads ofadmin time. I can pull any informa-tion up quickly and easily whether I’mat home or in the gym.

Automated professional digital reports Active Toolkit lets me instantly sendautomated reports to my clients’inbox—combining all of their pooledinformation and showing how closethey are to achieving their body fatgoals—written in one sentence.Clients can see a graph showing theirbody fat progress, a photo from theirfirst session and their most recentphoto, created using the built in cam-era feature.

Tracking client goals, body fat andweight has never been simpler. Thankyou Active Toolkit.

Manage clients’ progress onyour tablet or Smartphone

Advertiser’s Announcement

36 29/5/14 16:54 Page 1

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TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT38

Sarah Tremble, winner Rebecca Maynard and Aaron Holgate.

REBECCA Maynard, who works forThe Activity Zone – Places forPeople Leisure in Malmesbury,Wiltshire, has received the ActiveLeisure Apprentice of the Year awardas part of the Lifetime LearnerAchievement Awards 2014, hosted ata parliamentary reception at theHouse of Commons.

Single mum Rebecca always want-ed to give her children something toaspire to. As a cleaner at a localleisure centre and someone whostruggled with dyslexia, she feltworthless. Things changed when shemet Sharon Bassindale, a LifetimeTraining regional trainer, whobelieved in her. And Rebecca’s lifehas been turned around after shestarted an apprenticeship.

Rebecca has now completed herFitness Instructor Level Two andPersonal Trainer Level Three andworks as a fitness instructor, classinstructor and personal trainer.

She said: “I now love my life andmy job. My kids have a role modeland I can be proud of my achieve-ments. It has not been easy; I havehad to work hard juggling jobs andkids and courses and meetings, but Ihave gained so much.

“I feel that I am now worth some-thing. Whereas before I felt useless,worthless, low, with zero confidenceand self-belief – now all that haschanged and the more I do, themore confident I grow.”

For more information call 0870 120 1207or visit www.lifetimetraining.co.uk

Rebecca wins award

Bannatyne’s Health Club in Colchester has anew general manager – Nick Schofield.Nick joins the club with over six years’experience in the industry and trained as apersonal trainer while in the army. He said:“I have always been interested in healthand fitness and I am grateful for my oppor-tunity to continue doing what I love. Duringmy time in the army I was able to keepactive and stay fit, I am now looking for-ward to passing on my knowledge andexperience to others.”

Philip Lawlor has joined Physical Company as marketing manager – with a focus onstrengthening brand identity to drive the company forward. Working closely with salesand marketing director John Halls, Philip will play a crucial role in opportunities for re-branding Physical Company as well as assisting with product development and positioning.He said: “As marketing manager I will be looking at how we can develop the PhysicalCompany brand over the next two years, giving them an identity which reflects the highquality range of innovative fitness equipment they sell, the quality of training and educa-tion they provide and their status as group fitness suppliers to major operators. I’m excit-ed by the challenge and look forward to bringing fresh ideas to the company.”

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TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT 39

HEALTH and safety management spe-cialist Right Directions, which alreadydelivers Quest on behalf of SportEngland and ukactive’s Code ofPractice, will now co-ordinate theASA’s Learn To Swim accreditationscheme for facilities offering swimschools.

Right Direction’s agreement with theASA will bring all three industryawards together, allowing operators tosave both time and money by achiev-ing their ASA Learn To Swim accredi-

tation and ukactive Code of Practiceas part of their Quest assessment.

Head of the partnership providerprogramme at the ASA Keith Suttonsaid: “This combined accreditationoption has already had a significantamount of interest from many of ourpartners. It is a really exciting devel-opment and we hope to supportproviders to develop the quality oftheir learn to swim programmes, sothat young people are getting a quali-ty experience across the country.”

Right Directions to deliver ASA’sLearn To Swim accreditation

Right Direction’s agreement with the ASA will bring all three industry awards together.

Groundbreakingscheme boostedby new changesBy Christina Eccles

A GROUNDBREAKING scheme,which aims to get more disabled peo-ple working in the fitness industry,has received a boost from recentchanges to Sport England’s nationalquality scheme, Quest.

InstructAbility was set up in 2010 bythe spinal injuries charity Aspire, inpartnership with training providerYMCAfit, with a view to helpingunemployed disabled people gainqualifications, experience and even-tually employment as fitness instruc-tors.

The programme, which is funded byan £850,000 Sport England grant,includes an 18-day training coursedelivered by YMCAfit over sevenweeks.

The course leads to a CYQ Level TwoCertificate in Gym Instructing as wellas a CYQ Level Three disability andexercise qualification, and is followedby a 12-week work placement in aleisure centre or health club.

As operator of the Aspire NationalTraining Centre – an inclusive fitnessfacility in the grounds of the RoyalNational Orthopaedic Hospital inStanmore – Aspire is ideally placed tooversee the scheme, as not only arearound a third of its members dis-abled, but 60 per cent of its fitnessstaff are too. The charity’s role is toprovide each student with a mentor;deliver community outreach training;and work with other operators to setup work placements.

And InstructAbility has now received

a boost from Quest, the national qual-ity scheme for sport and leisure,which has added a compulsoryCommunity Outcomes module to itsassessment process.

Quest operations director CarolineConstantine said: “If a leisure centrecan show it is supporting disabledpeople and encouraging them to par-ticipate in sport and fitness, this willcertainly help them to achieve in ournew Community Outcomes module.

“One of the module’s key aims is tomake sure Quest-accredited operatorsare reaching out to people of all back-grounds and levels of ability.

“Taking part in an inclusive schemesuch as InstructAbility and/oremploying disabled staff is a greatway for operators to demonstratetheir commitment to this goal.”

Caroline Constantine

THE UK’s largest hearing loss charityhas launched a new deaf aware e-learning module to support peopleworking in the customer service sec-tor.

With as many as one in six cus-tomers affected by some form ofhearing loss and a third of deaf peo-ple saying they actually avoid socialsituations because of communicationdifficulties, charity Action on HearingLoss has partnered with specialistonline learning provider UpskillPeople to develop the course.

The charity’s head of sales and busi-ness development David Sloan said:“Over 70 per cent of hearing aid wear-

ers have told us that deaf aware staffwould be the deciding factor inchoosing one business over another,so it is crucial that organisations inte-grate deaf awareness into their cur-rent staff training and day-to-day cul-ture.

“With hearing loss expected to risein the coming decades, businessesmust change their attitude andreduce the daily obstacles that peoplewho are deaf or hard of hearing face.

“Small simple steps, as outlined inthis effective online module, couldmake all the difference – not only toyour customers, but also staff whohave hearing loss.”

Charity launches new deafaware e-learning module

OLDHAM Community Leisure haslaunched a scheme to give careertraining and job opportunities tounemployed residents living in thetown.

The Fit4Work scheme offers unem-ployed individuals in the local areafree training in careers such as swimteaching and pool lifeguarding, aswell as a dedicated work experience

placement and a guaranteed inter-view for casual work as a minimum.

The first two trainees to undergo thescheme are Shaun Slater, who is nowworking for OCL on a casual basis as aleisure attendant, and JoannaTomlinson who has qualified as aswim teacher and is now regularlyworking with the company, teachingbeginner swimming lessons.

Fit4Work offers training opportunities

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UK FITNESS SCENE 41

Implications to the industryin the era of informationBy Dave Wright

WE are in the information age.Anything and everything that we needto know can be accessed with a clickof the button on a device in the palmof our hands.

Successful training programs, nutri-tional plans, training tips and tech-niques and the type of knowledgethat in less than a decade ago you’dneed to have spent thousands ofpounds on personal training or cours-es to learn is now just a click away.

This rise in easily accessible infor-mation has implications for theindustry as a whole. Some examplesas follows: Serviced health clubs:You need to focus on bringing the‘community’ aspect of running a clubthat cannot be achieved at home or insilo. Leveraging off the third mostimportant need in Maslows hierarchyof Needs pyramid of food and shelteris the need for ‘belonging’. Grouptraining, competitions and gamifica-tion all meet that need.

High volume low price health clubs:Here lies a great opportunity becausethe customer is not needing ‘service’as they have an idea of what theyalready want. However, you need tostay ahead of the trends in the indus-try and accommodate the equipmentand environment that your potentialmembers now thrive for.

Personal trainers:You will need to be on top of the lat-

est studies and reports to try and stayahead of your customers who cannow check the accuracy and validityof what is said. You need to connectwith your customers at a whole newlevel when you are with them makingsure that the face to face encourage-ment and support is providing themotivation that they couldn’t achieveat home in front of a virtual trainer.There is also a massive opportunityfor personal trainers to reach outbeyond the four walls of the club andto use this information technology togain clients through coaching andaccessing their data irrespectivewhere they train in the world.

Membership salespeople:Need to focus more and more ongood testimonies as the educated

consumer knows ‘what’ to do, ‘how’to do it, but you can sell them the‘results’ of those that ‘have’ done it.You also need to learn more yourselfabout the benefits of exercise and thelatest trends so that you can over-come the objections that will be pre-sented to you based on a more savvyconsumer.

So it doesn’t matter whether you sitin the low cost, mid-market, or highend section of the industry, whetheryou are a personal trainer or a gyminstructor, sales person or marketer,customers are now more educatedthan ever before – so rather thanfocussing on the bricks and mortar,you need to focus not only on thespecifics of what a customer wants,but most importantly, why they wantto achieve them.

And when you unlock the ‘why’ –you unlock the critical success factorin making people buy irrespective ofwhat they can achieve on the inter-net. � Dave Wright is the CEO of CFM, aglobal company with offices in theUK, Australia and North America thathas served the international fitnesscommunity for over 24 years; focusingon either getting new membersand/or keeping existing ones. Dave isalso the owner of 11 health clubsacross two continents, a board direc-tor of UK Active, founder of IOU(Independent Operators Unite) andthe creator of the revolutionaryindustry tracking tool MYZONE. Hemay be contacted onDave.Wright@cfm.net

Dave Wright

Sheffield’s biggest health and fitness scheme has launched a new three-in-one exercise class. Fitness Unlimited has recently introducedPiloxing – an energetic fusion of boxing, Pilates and dance – to its class timetable. It has been made available to members at six FitnessUnlimited venues – Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Hillsborough Leisure Centre, the English Institute of Sport Sheffield, ConcordSports Centre, Graves Tennis and Leisure Centre, and Springs Leisure Centre. Corporate health and fitness manager at Fitness UnlimitedPeter Clark said: “We’re always looking for new ways to engage more people in physical activity and bring our members classes weknow they’ll love, so we’re really excited to have launched this fresh, innovative concept. Piloxing incorporates cutting edge research andfitness techniques to burn maximum calories, build lean muscles, and increase stamina. It’s already proving incredibly popular with ourmembers and we can’t wait to show even more people what this class is all about.”

41 29/5/14 16:29 Page 1

CHALLENGE WORKOUT42Personal trainer Kelsey Marshall has set up a new twice-weekly bootcamp following requests from her clients whowanted to do more training outdoors. Dominic Musgrave spoke to her and tried out one of the sessions.

BOOTCAMP on the Beach has onlybeen running for a couple of monthson the main beach, but has alreadyproved to be a massive success.

The hourly sessions take place onthe beach in Abersoch, Gwynedd onWednesday and Saturday mornings,and they regularly attract around 40participants.

Kelsey, who takes the sessions, qual-ified as a level three personal trainerlast August having completed a quali-fication with YMCA Fit, having alwayshad an interest in fitness.

She told Workout it is somethingthat she regrets not doing sooner.

“I’d been a full-time mum andhousewife and decided that now mychildren had grown up that it wastime to concentrate on my career,”Kelsey added. “I’ve always spent a lotof time in the gym – four or five timesa week – and before relocating toPwllheli four years ago I had a per-sonal trainer in Manchester. Therewas nothing like it down here and Iused to go to the council-run gymand get infuriated by what I saw someof the instructors teaching peopleand not correcting techniques.

“So much so that I used to go andoffer people training advice before Iwas even qualified, which led me tothinking that perhaps I could do it asa career.”

Now that she has her qualifications,Kelsey has several regular personaltraining clients and runs numerous

classes such as such as High IntensityTraining, Circuit Training, Strength &Endurance and Body Definition fromher studio, with the bootcamps thelatest addition to her offering.

Kelsey said the classes are open toall levels of fitness, and that workingout on sand provides a host of chal-lenges given that it is an ever-chang-ing surface.

She added: “A lot of my clients askedme about the possibility of trainingoutside, which is something I’vealways really enjoyed doing as a keenrunner.

“The benefits of doing somethinglike this is that you don’t need to be amember of an expensive gym, all theequipment is provided for the ses-sions, and by attending a couple ofclasses a week you are working everysingle part of your body.

“We try to make the training as funas possible, and due to the ever-changing surface of the beach you areshocking your system all of the time,which is good for your body.

“It’s always good to mix up trainingtoo, rather than just go running, andwith the bootcamps you get out of it

what you put in.”Kelsey hopes the Bootcamp on the

Beach sessions will continue through-out the year, and says she is alwaysmaking sure she keeps up to datewith the latest equipment and tech-niques to pass on to her clients.

“My incentive throughout has beenfor all my clients to get the most outof their exercise, by giving them quali-fied instruction, giving correct tech-nique and form, enabling them to getthe maximum benefit from theirworkouts and to reach their own indi-vidual goals.”

I’VE been to Abersoch on holiday acouple of times before my recentvisit, and the weather has alwaysbeen warm and sunny.

It was this time too, apart from theWednesday morning when I had putmy name forward to attendBootcamp on the Beach for this fea-ture.

My wife thought I was mad for say-ing I would do it in the first place,given that I was meant to be on holi-day, and as I looked out of the win-dow an hour before the class wasdue to start and saw the rain pour-ing down I had to agree with her.

I couldn’t bring myself to get out ofthe car 10 minutes before the classwas due to start, but seeing theother people, predominantlywomen, avoiding the puddles asthey trudged through the car parkwith smiles on their faces spurredme on.

And I’m glad they did as within afew minutes of the class starting I’dpretty much forgotten about thewind and driving rain and insteadwas enjoying the breath-takingscenery.

After an intense warm-up the classbroke into pairs and took it in turnsto complete a series of exercisesincluding burpees and press upswhile their partner threw andretrieved a frisbee as fast as theycould, which in the driving windand cold rain was a hard enoughchallenge in itself.

Some stretching exercises and afinal circuit ensured that I wasexhausted by the end of the hourclass.

Kelsey is always offering advice ontechniques and words of encourage-ment, and her knowledge andenthusiasm shone through, even ona dull and dreary morning.

As a keen runner, a class like thiswas something totally different frommy usual routine of pounding thecountry lanes near where I live, andthe wet sand certainly provided itsown challenges.

I ached for days afterwards so itmust have done me some good, andit is something I would definitely doagain when I am next in Abersoch.

Fingers crossed the sun will shineon my next visit though. Kelsey’s Bootcamp on the Beach was fun but exhausting.

A fun-filled hour despite the wet weather

Bootcamp on the Beach regularly attracts around 40 participants.

Twice-weekly bootcampis open to all abilities ...

42 29/5/14 16:08 Page 1

43 Florida Health 28/5/14 09:57 Page 1

UK FITNESS SCENE44

A LADIES only gym in Worcestershireis offering a special mother anddaughter membership package,which includes a reduced member-ship rate and monthly incentives.

Gymophobics Redditch steers clearof loud music and mirrors so thatfemale members who don’t like someof the intimidating aspects of tradi-tional unisex gyms feel more comfort-able.

At the end of the club’s three-monthMother and Daughter SummerChallenge, all those who have takenpart will be fully assessed and the pairwho have made the greatest achieve-ment will win a VIP photo shoot at aprofessional studio with photogra-pher Sharon Trueman.

Gym owner Zoe Cook said: “The risein teenage obesity is often the resultof less healthy diets and a lack ofexercise.

“We support all our members withhealthy eating guidance as well asexercise plans based on our 30-minute circuit. Plus, we always offerplenty of positive encouragement.”

Manager Louise Walker added:“Being overweight impacts not onlyon health but on the person’s emo-tional wellbeing.

“Obese children are often teased,leading to low self-esteem anddepression. I hope more gyms acrossthe country will look at ways toencourage young people to work outand get fitter.”

Gym offers special packageGymophobics Redditch owner Zoe Cook with photographer Sharon Trueman.

44 28/5/14 10:19 Page 1

45 Nutrichem 28/5/14 09:57 Page 1

SUPPLEMENTATION AND NUTRITION46

By Christina Eccles

ENGLAND rugby star James Haskell isalso achieving success off the fieldwith the launch of his latest venture; atraining, nutrition and supplementsbrand designed to help everyone fromelite athletes to general fitness fansachieve their goals.

James’ Bodyfire range includes sup-plements Hades – a male pre-trainerand fat burner – and Hella, which isspecifically designed for female users,as well as online training and nutri-tion programmes, devised by a topteam of experts.

His aim is to pass on the knowledgehe’s learned as a professional sports-man to a wider audience, while alsocreating supplements products he ishappy to use himself alongside ahealthy lifestyle.

James said: “I set the business upwith a desire to dispel some of themyths out there about health, fitness,nutrition and training.

“I’ve played rugby for the past 11years all over the world and haveworked with some of the best coaches

in their fields.“I’ve always led a healthy lifestyle

and this was a logical step backed upby my rugby background.”

The Hades supplement has alsobeen commended by Men’s Health,while that and Hella have bothachieved the Informed-Sport certifi-cation, making them suitable for useby professional athletes who have toundergo rigorous testing.

The range, which is also beingexpanded to include a greens prod-uct, is currently stocked online butJames added in the future he wouldlike to expand the business; both interms of the products available andwhere they can bought, includingsupplying to gyms.

He added: “That would be the idealscenario. As the business builds wewant it to be seen in high street storesand gyms. As the business evolves, weare looking at some of our brandingand how we can separate ourselvesfrom other products on the market,pushing our key messages of confi-dence and clean living – and we wantto see that in good gyms.”

England rugby star James Haskell.

Rugby star achievessuccess off the fieldwith latest venture

BEAST Yourself sports supplementsare without question the most scien-tifically advanced and highly dosedproducts available on the markettoday.

Beast Yourself is very much a hard-core phrase for ‘pushing yourselfhard’ which is exactly what your cus-tomers will be doing when supple-menting with this range.

In this respect Beast Yourself per-fectly encompasses not just the indi-vidual products, but also the nature ofthe person taking them.

For the trade’s most attractive discounts,free samples and additional informationplease contact info@BeastYourself.co.ukVisit www.AffordableSupplements.co.ukfor the full list of active ingredients and

product write ups.

Scientifically advanced productsBodybuilding Warehouse has revealed itsnew breakfast menu of protein sports sup-plements. The products are part of thePremium Protein Range and include ProteinPancakes, Protein Hot Chocolate andProtein Coffee. Managing director ofBodybuilding Warehouse Kieran Fisher said:“With our breakfast range we have takensome of the most popular breakfast itemsand developed the ingredients to makethem into a healthy food and drink options.“All of the products are designed to pro-vide your body with optimum levels of pro-tein to complement your workout to help itrebuild and recover.”

More dishes added toDavid Lloyd’s menuDAVID Lloyd Leisure has launched anew DLicious menu into its cafe bars,featuring a greater choice of healthy,balanced dishes designed to supportmembers’ wellbeing.

The menu, which has been devel-oped by a dedicated team of chefs,nutritionists and health and fitnessexperts, is complemented by abespoke children’s menu and deli-catessen range.

New additions include: Stuffed RedPepper; Grilled Chicken Katsu;Lettuce Wraps (avocado or chickenwrapped in Gem lettuce mixed withcherry tomatoes, red onion, quinoaand coriander); and Smoked MackerelPaté.

David Lloyd Leisure’s group head offood and beverage Kevin Harper said:“We’re continually looking at ways tofurther improve and innovate our

food and beverage offering, whichaims to support our members’ healthand fitness goals and takes intoaccount their very valuable feedback,and I’m delighted that our newDLicious menu offers an even greaterchoice of fresh and tasty dishes forthe whole family to enjoy.”

The new menu includes stuffed red pepper.

A SURREY-based ethical superfoodcompany has been named as a finalistin the search to find the UK's bestsmall business.

Creative Nature, which offers super-foods and raw, cold-pressed super-food snack bars was named BestYoung Entrepreneur in the region inthe 2014 FSB WorldPay UK BusinessAwards.

Owner Julianne Ponan said: “I amthrilled to be chosen as a finalist forYoung Entrepreneur of the Year. Tohave the fruits of all of my hard workand sleepless nights recognised bysuch a prestigious organisation as theFSB feels incredible.

“When I took over at CreativeNature, the company was in lossesand the supplier-distributor-customerchains had been severely damaged bythe previous management team.

“Instead of seeing this as a hin-drance, I saw an opportunity to forgenew, stronger relationships and push

Creative Nature into new markets,broadening the customer reach andbuilding a strong brand from theground up.”

The business will now go onto thenational final to compete for a prizeof almost £10,000 as overall UK win-ner.

Creative Nature a UK finalist

Julianne Ponan

46 28/5/14 09:58 Page 1

47 Prolab 29/5/14 16:10 Page 1

48 Fluid Rower 28/5/14 09:59 Page 1

THE Classic Steel Dumbbell Set fromEscape Fitness has been designed forthose who demand the very best infunctionality, innovation and style.

The dumbbell has integrated rubberinserts around the head to offerimproved grip while also protectingthe floor against damage from drops.

The mild steel construction has theadvantage of being odour-free whilealso looking bright and clean andhelping to bring that touch of style toany facility.

The X-Rack helps to support thesophistication of the dumbbell, mak-ing any free-weight area look cleanand tidy and encouraging members toget involved.

A multitude of different users canuse the Classic Steel Dumbbell thanksto a weight range that spans 2kg to20kg in 2kg increments.

The complete set is ideally suited toclubs who are looking to support theirbrand message of style and elegance

in a functional and effective manner.For more information visit

www.escapefitness.com

PRODUCT NEWS 49

JORDAN Fitness, the functional spe-cialists, have introduced a new rangeof free weights products.

The new Ignite range is available forpre-order now and can be in yourfacility in summer 2014.

Not only are these products madefrom the highest quality materials,which make them durable and tough,but also the popular anti-roll designmeans you can perform a plethora ofexercises… oh and they are extremelypleasing on the eye.

A compact range of products withsolid options of urethane or rubberand a unique anti roll design acrossthe range.

Sales director at Jordan Fitness ZakPitt said: “Our new Ignite range epito-mises our core values in terms ofquality, durability and value formoney, but also gives a glimpse of the

future in terms of innovation.”With this combination of good looks

and functionality, Jordan Fitness havedeveloped a wide range of new andexciting products, igniting a sparkback into the fitness industry andhelping your members to achievetheir goals in 2014… in style.

For more information on the Ignite rangevisit www.jordanfitness.co.uk/collections/

jordan-ignite-range or call +44 (0)1553 763285

The future of freeweightsis finally here …

Give your club the X-Factor

Have you got the bottle?DEHYDRATION is the fitness enthusi-asts’ enemy – one minute you areexercising and sweating, the next youcan be suffering heat exhaustion andloss of strength.

One of the best ways of ensuringplentiful pure water wherever in theworld you may be is to always bring aWater-to-Go bottle with you, as itturns washroom tap water, pond orriver water into healthy pure drinkingwater.

It removes over 99.9 per cent of allcontaminants including bacteria,chlorine and odour, whilst retainingthe beneficial minerals like sodiumand magnesium. There is no catch,just proven NASA technology provid-ing fresh water for under 3p per litre.

The filter system is contained in a75cl re-usable plastic bottle, costing£24.95, that can be dishwashercleaned.

The filter (packs of two for £14.95)will each last around three monthsand individually purify a total of 200lwater. 200l of mineral water bought in50cl bottles would cost £400 – withWater-to-Go it costs only 1.5p per 50clcompared with £1.00.

Water-to-Go bottles are availabledirect or from sports and fitness cen-tres who can have them branded inup to eight colours as a promotionaltool.

Bottles come in an attractive boxmeasuring 9 x 8.5cm – so small that itcan be used as a counter display nextto the till.

For more information email info@watertogo.eu, or call 01582 841412

AN 18-year-old who has worked tire-lessly to help thousands of young vic-tims of bullying is the latest winner ofa new volunteering award.

Luke Lancaster overcame years ofbullying to set up and run his owncharity, Young Pioneers, which hashelped young people combat bullyingboth in the UK and overseas.

He has become the latest recipientof a Point of Light award, whichrecognises outstanding individual vol-unteers.

Jeremy Jenkins MD at SportsArt,which supports the charity, said: “Weare extremely privileged to haveadopted Young Pioneers as our officialcharity partner, and proud of Luke’sachievements in receiving this presti-gious award.

“Through our partnership withYoung Pioneers, where we are the firstfitness equipment supplier to committo a donation being made from every

sale of our equipment, we aim to helptackle the current obesity epidemicand improve the lives of young peopleacross the UK.

“Success can only be achievedthrough such a collaborative partner-ship, and it is something thatSportsArt feels very passionate aboutthrough its affinity to Luke and YoungPioneers.”

Luke Lancaster at The Big Bang show withSportsArt kit.

Luke wins volunteering award

LIFE Fitness is expanding itsElevation Series cardio line-up withtwo new machines: FlexStrider, a vari-able-stride trainer, and PowerMill, amotor-powered climber.

Both products are first-time offer-ings for Life Fitness and provideoptions for exercisers and facilitieslooking to address the trend towardhigh-intensity interval training andtotal-body cardio.

President of Life Fitness ChrisClawson said: “Both FlexStrider andPowerMill answer the industry needfor innovative products that can beused by a wide variety of exercisers –no matter their fitness ability.

“These additions make ourElevation Series the most dynamicline-up in the industry, providingincreased workout possibilities for theexerciser and expansive options forthe facility floor.”

Both the FlexStrider Variable-StrideTrainer and PowerMill Climber areavailable with Discover TabletConsoles, which offer the most cut-ting-edge technology in the fitnessindustry.

For more information visitwww.LifeFitness.com

Machines added to line-up

MAXIMISING space for new equip-ment has been an issue facing manygyms over the years, even more sonow with the boom in new forms offunctional exercises being demandedby members.

The gym at Charlton Park Academyfaced additional issues as it had tocater for exercises for special needsand wheelchair bound children andadults. With limited space with whichto add a functional training zone intheir gym, they have opted for a wallmount Freedom Climber, which offersclimbing as a fun way to achieve agreat total body workout, as well as anexciting programme of non-climbingfunctional exercises like the rotarypull downs, vertical burpees, lateralleg lifts.

The Freedom Climber featuresnewly developed attachment pointsbuilt into the frame, to double up as awall mounted multi exercise stationusing stretch bands and suspensionbands.

Head of P.E. and gym manager at theschool Neil Collard said: “The kidsreally enjoy working out on the

climber rather than using the tradi-tional equipment. They get a greatworkout without knowing it and it’s somuch fun for them. It helps our spe-cial kids with other disciplines like co-ordination, flexibility and hand eyeskills.”

“It’s been a really good use of a cor-ner wall space we were not using andnow is the focal point of the kidsgym.”

School gym installs kids’functional training zone

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EQUIPMENT

EQUIPMENT

LIFE Leisure’s Houldsworth Villagesite at Reddish in Stockport is tobecome the North West regional part-ner for the development of weightlift-ing in Britain.

Following the success of BritishWeightlifting at London 2012 – wherefive British weightlifters made theOlympic grade – the governing bodyhas been awarded funding by SportEngland to continue the developmentof the sport.

As part of this, the gym atHouldsworth Village will more thandouble in size to 740sqm and will behome to an elite Weight LiftingAcademy for talented youngsters, aswell as a programme to encourage thedevelopment of clubs in the widerregion.

As part of the investment, the sitewill also receive Olympic Legacyequipment used at the London 2012Games, once it has finished its latest

international competition at thissummer’s Commonwealth Games inGlasgow. And as part of the partner-ship between a commercial venture, aleisure trust and a national governingbody of sport, The BritishWeightlifting regional developmentofficer post, based at HouldsworthVillage, will be part funded by LifeLeisure.

The postholder, Andreas Michaelaswill focus on increasing participationin Greater Manchester and improvingthe structure of other clubs in theregion.

British Weightlifting’s developmentand education manager StuartCummins said: “This investment inStockport is an major step for us inworking towards the vision of produc-ing talented, national standard,weightlifters who can compete on theworld stage.

“The equipment we are able to

place at Houldsworth Village is of thehighest standard and we’ve beenimpressed with Life Leisure’s driveand determination to make this asuccess both locally and for the widerregion.”

The development will also see therelocation of a specialist club – ArniesWeight Lifting Club – for disabled ath-letes to the site.

The specialist equipment owned byArnies will also be moved toHouldsworth Village.

Life Leisure managing directorMalcolm McPhail added: “We’reproud of having attracted an up andcoming national governing body topartner us in the development atHouldsworth Village.

“Seeking out such national andregional partners is very much part ofour strategy of offering the best possi-ble range of sports and services to allcommunities within our region.”

Houldsworth Village site is chosenas North West development centre

Fitness Systems Ltd has expanded its salesteam with the appointment of Paul Ferreiraas area sales manager (South). Paul willfocus on the public and private sectors bypromoting the Freemotion and True Fitnessbrands and Fitness Systems’ unique abilityto develop clients’ requirements in budget.Paul has over 15 years’ experience withinthe fitness industry working for LA Fitness,De Vere and most recently sales managerfor Escape Fitness. Fitness Systems is still afamily run business situated in Bolton. Theowners have been involved in the manufac-ture and distribution of leading brand fit-ness equipment since 1982. Fitness Systemsexclusively distributes Freemotion and TrueFitness commercial products.

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EQUIPMENT

EQUIPMENT DIRECT DEBIT COLLECTIONS

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MIRRORS

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VENDING

LOCKERS

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AUDIO / VISUAL

UPHOLSTERY

FLOORING

MARKETING

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FOR SALE

WANTED

LOCKS

MANAGEMENT

INSURANCE

SERVICING

FINANCE CLOTHING AND MERCHANDISE

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