workout november 2014

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The UK’s No 1 fitness industry magazine November 2014 No 254 £3 Don’t compete on price urges trainer James New format revealed by LIW organisers ORGANISERS of Leisure Industry Week have revealed plans to evolve the show into a health, wellbeing and fitness focused event for 2015 and beyond. Details of the new format will be announced in the coming weeks following industry con- sultation, which included inde- pendent research in conjunc- tion with ukactive, focus groups with key exhibitors and buyers, and a dedicated 'evolution hub' at this year’s show to gain feed- back from visitors. Event director James Samuel said: “We’re excited to build upon the success of the show and reach out to new audiences with market leading products, high quality educational con- tent and relevant networking opportunities. “We look forward to announc- ing further plans for LIW in the coming weeks and working with ukactive and the wider industry to ensure LIW remains at the heart of the active leisure sector.” For a round up of all the highlights from this year’s Leisure Industry Week, see our review feature starting on Page 43 The UK’s largest dance event is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2015 by announcing a range of new features for both professionals and dance fans. Move It will take place from February 13 to 15 at London’s Olympia with highlights including celebrity performances from the likes of Strictly Come Dancing professionals Robin Windsor and Kristina Rihanoff, over 200 dance classes to try out and exhibitors on show from dance schools to fitness brands. By Christina Eccles UNDERSTANDING quality over quan- tity is important when it comes to your membership; inspiring the com- munity and networking are among the habits of highly successful gym own- ers, according to an independent operator who practices what he preaches. Personal trainer James St Pierre owns Chelmsford-based studio Unique Results and in the face of strong com- petition from Virgin Active, Fitness First and three local authority clubs, has managed to build a thriving busi- ness with 275 members. At this year’s Leisure Industry Week, James spoke to other independent operators; advising them how to make their business stand out in a crowded marketplace and revealing his seven important tips for success. The first being understand your why – the rea- sons behind setting up your business and what you want it to stand for. He explained: “145 health clubs have closed in the last year. As a gym owner, I don’t want to be one of those statis- tics. “You have to have a dream lifestyle, which your job or business is going to facilitate. What do you want to do out- side work that motivates you?” James’ other tips are: Network – he holds regular events such as a quarterly workshop with the local running club. Inspire your community – get behind charity events and community projects. Quality over quantity – when it comes to your membership, don’t ‘stack them high and sell them cheap’. Be unique – never compete on price. Instead focus on promoting the things you do differently. Educate yourself and your team – look at areas such as professional development and improving customer service. Results and review – James has a board on display in his club detailing goals set and goals achieved to inspire members and help them monitor progress. He added: “Your message needs to be strong enough to repel the people you don’t want and attract the people you do. To do that, you have to know who you are. “Ferrari in a recession doesn’t lower its prices. Don’t budge for short term gain. Be firm; if you value what you do, then people will value it as well.” 21 YEARS H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y

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Page 1: Workout November 2014

The UK’s No 1 fitness industry magazineNovember 2014 No 254 £3

Don’t competeon price urgestrainer James

New formatrevealedby LIWorganisersORGANISERS of LeisureIndustry Week have revealedplans to evolve the show into ahealth, wellbeing and fitnessfocused event for 2015 andbeyond.

Details of the new format willbe announced in the comingweeks following industry con-sultation, which included inde-pendent research in conjunc-tion with ukactive, focus groupswith key exhibitors and buyers,and a dedicated 'evolution hub'at this year’s show to gain feed-back from visitors.

Event director James Samuelsaid: “We’re excited to buildupon the success of the showand reach out to new audienceswith market leading products,high quality educational con-tent and relevant networkingopportunities.

“We look forward to announc-ing further plans for LIW in thecoming weeks and workingwith ukactive and the widerindustry to ensure LIW remainsat the heart of the active leisuresector.”

� For a round up of all thehighlights from this year’sLeisure Industry Week, see our review feature starting on Page 43

The UK’s largest dance event is celebrating its 10thanniversary in 2015 by announcing a range of newfeatures for both professionals and dance fans.Move It will take place from February 13 to 15 atLondon’s Olympia with highlights including celebrity performances from the likes of StrictlyCome Dancing professionals Robin Windsor andKristina Rihanoff, over 200 dance classes to try outand exhibitors on show from dance schools to fitness brands.

By Christina Eccles

UNDERSTANDING quality over quan-tity is important when it comes toyour membership; inspiring the com-munity and networking are among thehabits of highly successful gym own-ers, according to an independentoperator who practices what hepreaches.

Personal trainer James St Pierre ownsChelmsford-based studio UniqueResults and in the face of strong com-petition from Virgin Active, FitnessFirst and three local authority clubs,has managed to build a thriving busi-ness with 275 members.

At this year’s Leisure Industry Week,James spoke to other independentoperators; advising them how to maketheir business stand out in a crowdedmarketplace and revealing his sevenimportant tips for success. The firstbeing understand your why – the rea-sons behind setting up your businessand what you want it to stand for. Heexplained: “145 health clubs haveclosed in the last year. As a gym owner,I don’t want to be one of those statis-tics.

“You have to have a dream lifestyle,which your job or business is going tofacilitate. What do you want to do out-

side work that motivates you?”James’ other tips are:

� Network – he holds regular eventssuch as a quarterly workshop with thelocal running club.� Inspire your community – getbehind charity events and communityprojects.� Quality over quantity – when itcomes to your membership, don’t‘stack them high and sell them cheap’.� Be unique – never compete onprice. Instead focus on promoting thethings you do differently.� Educate yourself and your team –look at areas such as professionaldevelopment and improving customerservice.� Results and review – James has aboard on display in his club detailinggoals set and goals achieved to inspiremembers and help them monitorprogress.

He added: “Your message needs tobe strong enough to repel the peopleyou don’t want and attract the peopleyou do. To do that, you have to knowwho you are.

“Ferrari in a recession doesn’t lowerits prices. Don’t budge for short termgain. Be firm; if you value what youdo, then people will value it as well.”

21YEARS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

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UK FITNESS SCENE 3

AdvertisingSales and marketingdirector:Tony Barry

Sales manager:Daniel LloydTel: 01226 [email protected]

Assistant sales manager:Chris HartleyTel: 01226 [email protected]

EditorialGroup Editor:

Judith HalkerstonTel: 01226 [email protected]

Editor:Christina EcclesTel: 01226 [email protected]

Reporter:Olivia [email protected]

Group production editor:Dominic MusgraveTel: 01226 [email protected]

www.workout-uk.co.uk

Official media partner ofukactive

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

Finding a niche and being savvy iskey to success, claims entrepreneurBy Christina Eccles

FITNESS entrepreneur Katie Bulmer-Cooke has revealed how finding aniche for your fitness business – andbeing savvy when it comes to pro-moting your brand – can lead to suc-cess.

Katie, who specialises in women’sfitness, particularly in the pre andpost natal fields, has been achievinggreat results with her venture, The FitMummy Manual, created in partner-ship with fellow fitness professionaland ‘fit mummy’ Kelly Rennie.

The concept includes a book, DVDand online course, designed to helpnew mums increase their fitness –and confidence levels – and copieshave been sold as far afield as theUSA, Mexico and France.

The profile of the Fit MummyManual was further raised when thepair sent a copy of the DVD to TheDuchess of Cambridge when she waspregnant with Prince George and gota letter back from her team thankingthem for their gift, an endorsementwhich they could then shout aboutvia their website and social media.

Katie said: “The Fit Mummy Manualis doing really well. It came fromthinking about mine and Kelly’s cus-tomers’ needs and how we can meetthem.

“We didn’t have time to train anymore people in person, so to be ableto we had to do things differently. Thesolution was to do something online.

“The big highlight was when we sentone to Kate and got a letter back fromthe palace thanking us for sending itto her. It was really good PR and wegot in magazines as far away asAustralia and New Zealand. Straightaway this elevated our profile.”

Katie will also be among the speak-ers at the upcoming LFX conferencewhere she will be sharing some of thesecrets of her success with delegatesat The Metrodome in Barnsley onNovember 27.

She added: “My talk is going to beabout how I started in the industryand made a success of my fitnessbusiness. I want people to go awaywith things which they can thenimplement into their own business-es.”

“The big highlight waswhen we sent one to Kateand got a letter back fromthe palace thanking us forsending it to her.”

Katie Bulmer-Cooke

Council awards firm five-year dealASHFIELD District Council hasawarded Everyone Active a five yearextension to its operating contract,allowing them to continue operatingsix leisure facilities in the district.

The initial contract was awarded in2002 and since Everyone Active tookover management of the facilities par-ticipation levels have increased.

There were more than 1.4m visitsacross the six sites in the last year;double the amount of customers

recorded 12 years ago. The number ofpeople enrolled on swimming lessonshas also grown with approximately3,100 taking part per term.

Area contracts manager for SLMSimon Fearn said: “We have greatlyenjoyed working with the membersand colleagues in Ashfield and arevery pleased to have agreed the fiveyear extension with two years stillremaining on our current partner-ship.”

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NRGym given accreditationfor kit rangeINDEPENDENT Yorkshire club NRGym hasgained industry accreditation – becoming oneof only 17 gyms in the country to be certifiedHammer Strength Training Centres.

The Life Fitness Hammer Strength accredita-tion happened completely by accident when arepresentative from the supplier came to visitthe gym – a renovated mill in Keighley – andwas astounded by the quality of equipment.

Co-owner Rousel Chowdhury, who runs theclub alongside business partner Nick Hindle,said: “Nick and I have always wanted theaccreditation and when the Life Fitness guycame he was so blown away with what we’ddone without his help. It was such a shock, wereally thought there was a catch.

“It’s been very humbling for members to berecognised, as we see it as something thewhole member base has achieved, rather thanus, as an independent gym. They are also veryhappy for myself and Nick as it speaks vol-umes of our promise of continual growth andinvestment. For us it’s just so rewarding andamazing to be recognised by one of the world’sleading equipment producers.”

The gym is the second in Yorkshire to get theaccreditation and will now be used as a show-case site to promote the equipment to otheroperators. The club boasts over 50 pieces of

Hammer Strength kit, ranging from legmachines, to chest machines and squat racks.

Gaining accreditation has been one of thehighlights of a successful year for the pair –who last year were shortlisted for BestNewcomer at the National Fitness Awards.

They are now gearing up to refurbish thegym’s large functional area early next year, aswell as continuing a successful initiativewhere members can vote for new pieces of kitthey want the most – and the club purchasesthe most popular every six weeks.

Rousel added: “Our members pay for a serv-ice and we want to go above and beyond thatservice. We’re always reinvesting into the gym,it’s our ethos.”

NRGym owners Rousel and Nick.DANCING on Ice star DanWhiston recently hosted acharity Zumbathon at theBlackpool Tower Ballroom,raising a grand total of£2,318.87 for Brian HouseChildren’s Hospice

Over 200 people attendedthe four-hour event includ-ing celebrity friends KarenBarber and HayleyTamaddon.

Six other Zumba instruc-tors joined Dan, each taking30-minute sessions.

Dan said: “It was a fantas-

tic night and I am so glad weheld this in the BlackpoolTower Ballroom.

“The setting was perfectand we really had thatsprung ballroom floorbouncing.

“I'm delighted that witheveryone's support we wereable to raise so much moneyfor such a worthwhile cause.Loads of people are askingwhen the next one is so I'msure it's something we willlook to do again because itwas such a great night.”

Charity Zumbathonhelps hospice

Dancing on Ice star Dan Whiston at the charity event at the BlackpoolTower Ballroom.

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UK FITNESS SCENE6An innovative card scheme launched last year is working well for operator Oldham Community Leisure. Workouttakes a closer look at the project – and discovers what other clubs could learn from its success.

THE Oldham Active card, launchedby OCL in July 2013, offers locals upto a 50 per cent discount on Pay-As-You-Go prices. It costs £2 to buy andis free for some concessions.

Since its inception, OCL has regis-tered more than 15,929 customersonto the scheme, as of April 2014,which – combined with pre-paidmemberships – means the trust cur-rently holds participant data on24,000 customers – translating to 9.6per cent of the Oldham population.

As well as discounts on standardprices, cardholders enjoy discountson café products at Oldham SportCentre, access to online fast-trackbookings and exclusive promotionsand benefits.

The card is promoted at point ofsale within facilities, heavily marketedon the web and via social media.However the best marketing methodto date has been staff. Reception

teams, customer contact teams andlifeguards ask a simple question:Would you like to save some moneyon your activity? People rarely say no!The simple setup allows customers toget a card there and then, and startsaving.

Earlier this year, The LeisureDatabase Company analysed theOldham Active Card scheme andfound it has achieved a 5.9 per centpenetration into the Oldham boroughwards, with the highest penetrationrate currently within SaddleworthSouth and Chadderton North.Oldham Active Card users visited over205,603 times between April 2013 andApril 2014.

Chief executive at OCL StuartLockwood said: “For the first time wehave a real insight into our customerbase other than those with pre-paidmemberships. The card enables us toknow who our customers are, so we

can tailor our services accordingly.For example, we know the highestsingle mosaic type to hold an activecard, at 13 per cent, is Asian identi-ties, so we have instigated women-only sessions for the pools atChadderton and Glodwick, and alsoin our gyms.

“As operators of council-ownedfacilities we have an obligation todemonstrate how well we are servingthe community. The fact that we nowhave data on over 85 per cent of allour visits means we can provide ourpartners with valuable data about keytarget groups and how well we areserving them.

“At our biggest site, the majority ofcardholders are from concessionarygroups. It’s reassuring for the councilto know their chosen operators aresucceeding in serving those whowould otherwise be less likely to usenon-subsidised facilities. Data is very

powerful, but without such a highlyrepresentative sample size it wouldlack integrity and that is key for us.”

Head of customer relations PeterHowson added: “Card holders have torenew every 12 months, whichensures we always have fresh details.

“This data will now feed into OCL’smarketing strategy for 2014/15enabling us to target individualgroups and areas within the borough.

“Rather than a blanket marketingcampaign across different mediumswe can segment our customers toensure the correct information is sentto people who may be interested.

“The data collected also provides uswith intelligence on who customersare, their age, ethnic origin and theirpostcode, and allows us to under-stand in detail what they are doingwithin our facilities, so we can formu-late patterns around usage and cus-tomer types.”

Innovative card scheme proving successfulOne of OCL’s clubs which is using the Oldham Active card scheme, Saddleworth Pool and Leisure Centre (left) and chief executive Stuart Lockwood.

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UK FITNESS SCENE8

Gym members andstaff to pose for charity calendarBy Olivia Taylor

A CHARITABLE gym in Burnley hasroped 20 of its male members andstaff into posing for a charity calendarset to be released in December.

The men taking part have beengiven 12 weeks to get themselves inshape and prepare for the photoshoot which will take place thismonth.

The team from Fitness Factory is nostranger to raising money for charity,having also taken part in the ToughMudder challenge back in August,raising about £1,000.

Personal trainer at the clubJacqueline Cougill said: “It’s an ideaI’ve been toying with for a while.

“There’s 20 lads taking part andthey’re all taking it very seriouslyactually.”

The photos of the boys will be takenat the gym, and they’ll be dressed upas firemen, policemen and sailors.

Jacqueline added: “They’ve hadsome really wacky costume ideasthey'll end up dressed as The VillagePeople. They didn’t take much per-suading, they were straight in.”

The men competing range frombody builders to athletes and strongmen competitors aged between 18

and 40.The calendars will be sold at £5 each

and people are already coming in topre-order their copies, with the clubplanning to donate the proceeds toCancer Research.

Jacqueline added: “Cancer Researchis a charity close to everyone's heart,it’s a good charity.”

The gym is also shortlisted for aNational Fitness Award in the BudgetGym of the Year category and will bat-tle it out with other finalists to becrowned the country’s best low costgym at the ceremony in Leicester onNovember 28.� Is your gym doing anything to raisemoney for charity? Get in touch withour editorial team and you couldappear in a future issue of Workout.Email [email protected] or Tweetus @WorkOutUK

“Cancer Research isa charity close toeveryone’s heart,it’s a good charity.”

INDEPENDENT gym DS Fitness isachieving success with its MOSSAgroup exercise classes – becoming theonly health club in the country tooffer the provider’s Group Blast pro-gramme.

The Barrow based club, whichopened in 1999, wanted to differenti-ate itself from chain competitors inthe area, so in 2013 its founder andgroup exercise instructor, DianeSingleton, changed the programmesto MOSSA.

She said: “We had used the samegroup exercise provider since weopened but all the other clubs in thearea were offering the same classes. Irealised that we needed something

fresh and of a higher quality. I trialledMOSSA’s programmes because of thisdesire to differentiate our offering andwhen I experienced them I lovedthem more than our existing ones.”

The single site club took on MOSSA’sGroup Power, Group Kick, Group Rideand the R30 home workout pro-gramme at the end of 2013 and isleading the way by also offeringGroup Blast.

Diane added: “I have never lookedback. MOSSA offers us so much morethan other group exercise providers.

“The high quality resources in themarketing pack sells what the instruc-tors are presenting so I get more formy money.”

Class change reaps rewardsDS Fitness is the only health club in the country to offer MOSSA’s Group Blast programme.

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UK FITNESS SCENE10

By Alison Burkinshaw

MUSCLE man and independent gymowner Robert Taylor has been namedMr Britain after triumph at theUKBFF bodybuilding national cham-pionships.

Rob, owner of the Muscle Unit gymin Carlton near Barnsley, has beentraining as a body builder since leav-ing school.

The 27-year-old came first in thenorth east championships threeweeks ago, going on to win in the

British finals. He said: “These are the first compe-

titions that I've entered so I'm reallypleased with the results, I can'tbelieve it.”

Rob only began training for body-building shows this year after thebirth of his son Cruz.

He suffered a virus only a weekbefore the north east finals and lostmore than 20lbs of muscle mass.

He added: "My eyes were blood shotand I had no energy to do anything. Isaid we've come this far let's get the

job done so I managed to carb upand pull myself to a reasonableweight and win the show."

After that show he took four days offbefore throwing himself into prepara-tion for UKBFF Britain – and it paidoff.

Another member of his gymChelsea Dyson, 20, was placed fourthin the bikini category in the competi-tion.

The marketing manager came sec-ond in the north east championshipsthree weeks ago.

Robert wins Mr Britain titleat national championships

Muscle Unit gym owner Robert Taylor with members Chelsea Dyson and Matt Kavanagh.

THE Kings Centre in EastGrinstead has become the first sitein the UK to take delivery ofPrecor’s latest product, the newNext-Generation ExperienceSeries Treadmill.

The leisure centre, run by Placesfor People, has undergone a majorrefurbishment undertaken byleisure design and build specialistCreateability, including theremoval of the café and atriumareas to create a 65-station, 2,782sq ft fitness suite featuring thenew treadmills.

UK sales director at Precor JezWhitling said: “The Kings Centrehas experienced a complete trans-formation and has gone from pro-viding 20 stations to 65.

“It now showcases state-of-the-art fitness equipment, includingthe new Next-GenerationExperience Series Treadmills, andprovides fantastic facilities for thecommunity.”

Centre takesdelivery oftreadmills

FUSION Lifestyle’s sports andcommunity development team inthe London Borough of Hounslowhas achieved an ‘excellent’ ratingin an assessment from Quest.

In order to achieve Quest Plus,the team went through a toughtwo-day process.

Head of sports and communitydevelopment Dan Reynolds said:“This is a fantastic result for oursports and community develop-ment service and demonstratesthe commitment and hard workfrom the team and our partners.”

Team rated‘excellent’

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Welcome to WorkOut Weigh In – it’s your chance to have your say and share your views on industryissues. You can email us at [email protected] or you can message us on Facebook or Twitter.

IT’S been a hectic few weeks for theWorkout team with Leisure IndustryWeek and visiting our NationalFitness Awards’ finalists seeing uscover thousands of miles around thecountry.

We’ve spent the last month out andabout; looking around every club onthe shortlist, meeting members and staff and seeing first hand someof the great work going on in thesegyms.

Thanks to everyone for the warmwelcome you gave us, for putting somuch effort into your nominations –and for the endless supplies of muchneeded tea and coffee!

As this issue goes to print, all of thereports we’ve written up are in thehands of our judging panel who havethe extremely tough task of pickingour winners.

The standard has been incrediblyhigh this year and we’re all lookingforward to celebrating with everyoneon November 28 when the best of theindustry will be crowned at this year’sawards’ ceremony.

If you haven’t booked your ticketsyet, there are less than 20 tables avail-

able, with over 600 tickets soldalready. So if you want to be there,don’t leave it until the last minute tobook your place!

We’ve also recently enjoyed threedays at the NEC for LIW 2014, whichonce again proved to be a busy showfor the team.

It was great to meet so many of ourreaders, try out the latest kit on suppliers’ stands and sit in on some interesting seminars, some ofwhich you can read about in thisissue.

Next issue, we’ll be including a spe-cial Challenge Christina where Ireveal how I got on trying out fourvery different mini workouts at LIW –some of which I can’t wait to haveanother go at.

Along with many of you, I’ve alsobeen enjoying following fitness entre-preneur Katie Bulmer-Cooke on ourTV screens.

This issue she tells us more aboutwhy finding a niche and focusing onyour marketing can help fitness busi-nesses stand out.

And I’m looking forward to speakingto her again about her latest venture

over the next few weeks.As ever, if you have a story for us, we

always love to hear from our readers.Next month, we’ll be discussingtrends for 2015 – let us know if youhave any predictions on what’s goingto be popular next year or you thinkyou have the next big thing at yourgym.

We’ll look forward to hearing fromyou!

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:

Industry guru Thomas Plummer claims the industry is afraid to change – but needs to do so to survive. Whatdo you think? How are you evolving your business to keep up with the latest trends and stay ahead of thecompetition?

Send your answers to [email protected] or contact us via Twitter or Facebook. We’ll print the best responses next issue.

Over on Facebook, we have been dis-cussing The National Fitness Awards andthe impact which being shortlisted – orwinning an award – can have on gyms.Here’s what some of you had to say...Andreas Michaelas: The team at Life Leisure HouldsworthVillage are delighted to be recognised as acontender for the Strength Training Gym ofthe Year at this year’s National FitnessAwards.

Being shortlisted has already helped usgain a fantastic reputation amongst theweight lifting fraternity in the North Westand has really put the spotlight on theBritish Weight Lifting Weight LiftingAcademy based at the centre. We and ourmembers are incredibly proud to be short-listed for such a prestigious award and tostand alongside some of the best strengthgyms in the UK.

We continue to grow by the day and con-tinue to attract numerous internationalathletes to the centre and our programmes,in addition to attracting new people to thesport of weight lifting. With the expertisefrom British Weight Lifting our membersare really seeing the benefits that specialisttraining can add to their gym programmingand many are changing and improvingtheir goals as a result.Natalie Jane Ellaway Summers: We are a stand alone rural-based functionalvenue, changing peoples lives daily, oneworkout at a time.

To be recognised and shortlisted for this isas rewarding as watching my clientsprogress whether it be regaining move-

ment after stroke related illness or helpingpeople get stronger for their individuallifestyles.The feel good factor of this andthen being recognised nationally within thefitness industry are the same.Jonathan Walker:Winning last year’s Regional Gym of theYear North award gave us a fantastic plat-form for growth. We’ve upped our gameagain and focused on improving every areaof our business. We’ve modernised ourbrand, refurbished the gym – upgraded

flooring, equipment and look and feel, andextended our opening to 24 hours.

We've introduced a unique Gambarufood range, opened up a new ladies sec-tion, and grown our community focusinside and outside – which includes launch-ing an awards programme in local second-ary schools.

Yes we are dead proud to be short-listed again and can’t wait to cele-brate with everyone else on the 28thNovember.

Impact of being a winner

Christina Eccles

www.nationalfitnessawards.co.uk

Lucky Burnley Leisure member Andrew Hill walked away with a car worth £10,000 following aprize draw competition. The promotion was open to all members and was organised as a reten-tion tool and to say thank you to members for staying fit and healthy with the operator in 2014.St Peter’s Leisure Centre manager Scott Bryce said: “We shortlisted 30 members at random whowere all invited to the event. Each of the 30 members also received a free month and gift sowere all winners. The car was drawn by the mayor on the evening and Andrew was delighted.”Andrew is pictured here with head of Leisure Gerard Vinton and the Mayor and Mayoress ofBurnley.

Picture of the month

@HallWhittlebury: OurLeisure Club is proud to befinalists at the@FitnessAwards in the cate-gory Best Hotel Facility ofthe Year!

@ChristinaEccles:@OliviaGTaylor and I enjoyedcatching up with everyoneafter @L_I_W at the@MatrixFitnessUK party inBirmingham :-)

@Burlexercise: Great day@L_I_W meeting so many fit-ness pros! Now reading@WorkOutUK on the trainback to London!

@fitnessgarageuk: A coupleof fantastic memories fromour first 10 months, veryproud to be finalists@FitnessAwards #sheffieldis-super

@KatieFordPT: Great articleby @WorkOutUK mag with@AdamCopleyPT &@Snooch2TheNooch aboutthe three Peaks! Top guys!

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UK FITNESS SCENE 15

INDEPENDENT gym owner AndyPeacock is celebrating his NationalFitness Awards’ shortlisting with aspecial offer for PT clients.

To mark his achievement of beingshortlisted for Best Gym BasedPersonal Trainer at this year’s NFAs,Andy – who owns Warehouse Gym inHonley, West Yorkshire – is offeringlocals a discount of £100 on his per-sonal training packages, as well aswearing a specially branded awards’ Tshirt with pride around the club andout and about in the local area.

He said: “It’s great to be recognisedout of so many other great personaltrainers, so I want to promote it with-

in the club.”Andy will find out on November 28 if

he has scooped the trophy, along withother finalists at the glittering event atThe Athena in Leicester, which will behosted by Ricky Hatton and CarolinePearce.

It will be the third time he has beenshortlisted after the club made thefinals for Regional Gym of the YearNorth in 2011 and 2012 and he toldWorkout that he’s looking forward tobeing a part of this year’s event.

He added: “I’m an experiencedNational Fitness Awards-er. It’s anhonour just to be attending theawards again.”

Warehouse Gym owner Andy Peacock.

Andy celebrates shortlistingwith special offer for clients

An excited gym member is celebrating after winning a brand new car in a member referralcompetition. Horizon Leisure Centres have been running the competition to win a SuzukiAlto SZ at their Havant Club, which was won by 18 year old Connie Llewellyn, who man-aged to refer the most number of friends and family to join the new gym by the closingdate of September 30. Horizon chief executive Howard Broad said: ‘‘Membership sales forthe new gym have exceeded our expectations and referrals from members are a strongendorsement that we have provided a great value for money facility which they are happyto recommend to their friends and family. The competition to win a car was part of ourstrategy to help showcase the fantastic new gym and to provide one of our members witha chance of a lifetime to win a spectacular prize.’’

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WHAT do you get if you com-bine the competitive nature ofpeople working in the fitnessindustry with the latest tech-nology allowing them to meas-ure and quantify their exerciselevels? The answer; a teamchallenge which no-one want-ed to lose ...

The name of the game: forone month, each team of sevenparticipants would record alltheir physical activity wearing aMYZONE belt and upload theireffort points via the hub pro-vided. The team with the mostpoints at the end of the chal-lenge would be crowned thewinners, gaining the glory ofbeing named the country’sfittest company.

UK and Ireland director atCFM – the authorised distribu-tor of MYZONE products –Jonathan Monks explained:“Everything we do at MYZONEis centred around the use ofgame and social based func-tionalities to make exercise funand motivate sustained exer-cise behaviours.

“So the LIW challenge repre-sented a great opportunity forMYZONE stakeholders andleading industry professionalsto practice what we preach, andarrive at LIW in great shape.”

The challenge also provided agreat opportunity for the clubstaking part to put themselves in

their members’ shoes to seehow engagement tools such asMYZONE can be a useful wayof encouraging customers to bemore physically active.

Jonathan added: “The chal-lenge really demonstrated thepower of social accountabilityand highlighted how club oper-ators can leverage suchaccountability to engage mem-bers into regular exercisehabits.

“Operators are forever pro-moting fitness based club chal-lenges that unsurprisingly onlyengage a small percentage offit, lower risk members.MYZONE however provides anaccurate and inclusive effortbased metric (MEPs) thatenables all members regardlessof size, age, gender or fitnessability to compete on a levelplaying field.

“Rewarding effort for all phys-ical activity, regardless of whatfitness equipment is beingused, both inside and outsideof the club, provides a platformto harness the growing wear-able technology space with aflexible solution that has beendesigned with club operatorsand trainers in mind.

“We’d like to thank everyonefor taking part, putting theeffort in, and look forward tohosting further industry chal-lenges in the future.”

Following a month-long battle, BPhysical in Derbyshire were namedthe winners; clocking up a veryimpressive 82,188 points and retain-ing the title they won last year.Team leader Barry Thraves added:“My team gave their all for 30 days.Normal life was put on hold andMepping was given priority overfamily, friends and work.“We started fast out of the blocksand broke the other teams at theearliest point, sounds brutal butvery effective. We had a game planand stuck to it.”

By Christina Eccles

AS part of the challenge,Workout’s ‘super seven’ ofMichael, Tony, Dan, Chris,Olivia, Ben and myself tookpart in everything from aClubbercise class to alunchtime game of tennis,BodyCombat and Zumba ses-sions to five a side football,between us enjoying a hugerange of activities and collat-ing those all-important effortpoints.

Before we started the chal-lenge, finding out we weregoing to be up against somany teams – particularly asmany of them were gymswhose participants would beincredibly physically active aspart of their jobs – was adaunting prospect.

But we all pulled togetherand gave our best efforts, fin-ishing a respectable 30th outof 47 teams and clocking up17,119 points.

Personally, I really enjoyedtaking part in the challengeand found wearing the belt agreat motivational tool. Evenon the days you don’t feel likegoing to the gym, knowingthat I was part of a teamspurred me on to do someactivity, as did the thought ofknowing I would be writingthis the following month anddidn’t want us to finish last!

According to the final fig-ures, a massive 1.1m MEPswere earned during the chal-lenge; equating to 3,928 pointsper person – and highlightinghow much effort every teamput in.

From taking part myself, it’salso easy to see why MYZONEis such a useful engagementtool for clubs and why wear-able technology is becomingso popular within the indus-try. It’s great for motivation,easy to use and most impor-tantly, fun.

A big well done to the win-ners B Physical who totted upa mammoth score of over80,000 points – I have no ideahow they managed that butwould be interested to findout the secrets to their suc-cess!

If the challenge is repeatednext year, the Workout teamwill be back with the aim ofbettering our score. Next timewe may even be eyeing up atop 10 finish!

How team spirit spurred our ‘superseven’ on in month-long match

In the lead up to Leisure Industry Week, almost 50 teams from across theindustry took part in a month long MYZONE challenge to determine thecountry’s fittest workforce – including a team from Workout. Here’s howwe got on ...

Final results

Belting challenge thatno-one wanted to lose

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By Ashley Ball

BARNSLEY bodybuilder Daniel Lukehas triumphed in a top competition.

Daniel has always been a fitnessfanatic but decided to go into body-building after gazing at other bronzedAdonises featured in magazines whilein the gym.

He entered his first competition lastyear but was judged to be too lean toclaim a trophy.

A year of intensive training followedbefore Daniel managed to wow thejudges in London last month to returnhome with a number of titles from theMiami Pro event.

He said: “The feedback I got last

year was that I was too skinny but tocome back and give it another go in12 months.

“I had to look at my training andmake it more intensive and eat morecalories and it has all paid off.

"This year my conditioning was bet-ter and I was a lot fuller.

"Getting jeans to fit is a new chal-lenge for me and at first I struggledwith losing the social life but I've fig-ured that out now."

Daniel also works as a personaltrainer passing on tips to clients.

He now intends to join the WorldBeauty Fitness and Fashion Inc, whohave competitions at the O2 Arena inLondon and also in Las Vegas.

Barnsley bodybuilder Daniel Luke.

Training pays off as Danieltriumphs at competition

SkillsActive launcheslargest ever fitnessworkforce survey EMPLOYEES in the sector have beenurged to share their thoughts as partof the industry’s largest Working inFitness survey.

The survey is open to the fitnessindustry’s entire workforce, covering ahost of key issues including training,career pathways, earning potentialand professional development.

It has been launched by SkillsActive,the Exercise, Movement and DancePartnership and REPs, with supportfrom Sport England, and will remainopen until November 28.

SkillsActive CEO, Ian Taylor said: “Iam delighted that SkillsActive is work-ing in partnership with the Exercise,Music and Dance Partnership on theWIF survey.

“Our shared commitment to estab-lishing a further understanding of theintricate details of this sector willserve us well into ensuring that wecan continue to offer individuals,training providers, awarding organisa-tions and employers within fitness thebest information, advice and guid-ance across major topics.”

CEO of the Exercise, Movement andDance Partnership Daran Bennetadded: “We are pleased to be partner-ing with REPs and Skills Active on thisextensive piece of insight.

“Gathering the thoughts and feel-ings from a vast array of fitness pro-fessionals is going to be extremelyenlightening.

“The WIF survey will aid us inexpanding and growing both capacityand quality in our dynamic, inspiringsector.

“We’re certainly looking forward tothe results and the positive outcomesthat follow. I urge all those who loveworking in fitness to complete thesurvey to help improve your sector.”

Employees can complete the surveyby visiting www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=141293050621

and the full report will be availableearly in 2015. � Will you be taking part in the sur-vey? We’d love to hear your thoughtsabout working in the fitness industry.Send your comments to [email protected] or Tweet us @WorkoutUK

Fit For Sport has joined forces with Saban’s Power Rangers emPOWER programme tolaunch a fun fitness guide for children. Through Power Rangers emPOWER, the Rangerseducate teachers, kids and families on how to put the Power Rangers’ core values of team-work, confidence, health and physical activity into action.

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By Christina Eccles

AN independent gym in Kings Lynnhas relocated to larger facilities –partnering with Life Fitness to offer agreater range of equipment.

The new Heros gym offers an exten-sive range of Life Fitness andHammer Strength equipment featur-ing pieces from the Insignia, Integrityand Elevation ranges.

Members also have access toHammer Strength Motion TechnologySelectorised equipment, HD Elite and

Hammer Strength Plate Loadedequipment.

The gym, opened by local entrepre-neur Ben Tansley, has relocated to thelarger facilities after two years in busi-ness and following major renovationwork, its new site was transformedfrom an old laser quest facility into alarge, open plan downstairs gym withtwo levels overlooking the main floor.

As well as a fully equipped gym, theclub also offers a class studio, spinstudio, a dedicated high level boxingtraining area, supplement shop, café

and sports massage facilities.Ben said: “Heros Gym is well-known

in the local area for its expertise inmixed martial arts and boxing. In ournew location, we can offer a fargreater range of facilities and it hashelped us broaden our appeal to thelocal community.

“Choosing a range of high qualityweight training and cardiovascularequipment from Life Fitness ensureswe cater for both athletes as well asbeginners, giving them a first-classtraining experience to keep them

engaged and coming back for more.” Account manager – private sector at

Life Fitness James Ferguson added:“Working with Heros Gym on itsexciting renovation project has beenextremely rewarding, especially as thegym is located just a short distancefrom the UK office of Life Fitness inEly. Through close consultation, wehave helped Ben and his team designa first-class facility that is inviting,challenging and helps members reachtheir fitness goals and we wish themevery success for the future.”

Kings Lynn gym moves to larger premisesThe new Heros gym opened by Ben Tansley offers members an extensive range of Life Fitness and Hammer Strength equipment.

BRITISH Military Fitness is taking itssuccessful training model indoors toencourage more people nationwide tokeep fit and healthy all year round.

To counteract the limitations ofdarker evenings on a full timetable atits 140 outdoor locations, BMF willrun indoor classes at 14 locationsacross the UK including Manchester,

Edinburgh, London and Birmingham.Managing director Rob Love said:

“We appreciate that exercising out-doors on dark and cold nights canbring a stop to someone’s normal rou-tine.

“The indoor classes will mean peo-ple can maintain their exerciseregimes all year round.”

BMF takes training model indoorsFUSION Lifestyle has been awardedBronze for “Best National Chain” atthe fourth annual Health ClubAwards.

The event took place at theNational Motor Cycle Museum inBirmingham during LeisureIndustry Week.

Regional business manager

Francois Smit said: “It is fantasticthat Fusion Lifestyle has beenrecognised with a national award.

“We are dedicated to providing anexcellent service to our membersand users, so to be given this acco-lade as a result of their votes is ahuge compliment to the hard workand commitment of our staff.”

Bronze award for Fusion Lifestyle

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An evolution on the gym floor? By John Halls

LONG gone are the days where freeweights, benches, racks and CVmachines create the basis of any gymfloor configuration.

Instead, today’s modern fitnessfacilities have experienced an explo-sion of innovation and style.

State-of-the-art materials and tech-nologies have been utilised to create awhole new generation of equipmentthat appeals to all ages and all gen-ders. To top it off, lifestyle trends,social interaction and advances insmart technology have firmly placedfitness as a staple to a growing popu-lation.

Fitness never stands still and thiscouldn’t ring more true than in theever expanding functional trainingsector. Over the last few years therapid expansion of functional traininghas been driven by its key benefits,which quite simply evolve around thetraining of muscles to help us per-form everyday activities safely andefficiently.

Facility owners are waking up to thistrend and as a result, functional play-grounds are popping up across theUK, eating up gym floor space andchallenging the fixed-resistancezone’s square footage. Previously ourcustomers typically devoted up to 80per cent of their gym floor to CV andfree-weights, now they are designingspaces with up to 40 per cent func-tional areas which comes at theexpense of the traditional CV areas.

Agreed, fixed pin-loaded machines

appeal to both experienced and inex-perienced enthusiasts alike. After allthey are easy to use without supervi-sion and are arguably safer in com-parison to the dynamic un-mar-shalled functional playground.

Here it appears movement doesn’thave boundaries, and the benefitsand gains in strength, balance andjoint health can be substantial.

Regardless, in their own right bothsectors continue to adapt, evolve andattract their own crowds.

However, if you look hard enoughyou won’t be surprised to see a firmdivide between the two zones. On oneside you have your fixed resistancegym devotees, on the other, yournew-age functional supporters.

Not many of which are yet preparedto make the jump from fixed resist-ance machines to using functionalequipment.

As much as this may not be a con-cern in many gyms, there are oppor-tunities to blur the line. Up until now,this has been achieved throughinstructor led small group trainingsessions that make use of the varioustypes of functional equipment.

Another is with the use of touchscreens and smart technology to givepro-active members the chance tolearn the right technique before test-ing a new piece of kit.

Commercial giants LA Fitness, forexample, have been working closelywith us by investing in their membersupport technology by creating acomprehensive video archive toempower their members to learn new

functional exercises using the latestkit.

There are, however, bigger changesafoot and this is where it gets reallyinteresting. A third option and a newgeneration of equipment that strikesthe perfect balance between func-tional and fixed weight resistance issomething not yet seen in the UKuntil now.

We’re talking about equipment thatallows members to access a function-al workout but without the need to betaught complicated techniques.Equipment that retains the safety of avariable resistance station but reapsthe benefits associated with function-al resistance training.

A new era of bodyweight resistanceequipment is about to enter the mar-ket. International players Total Gymhave created their aptly namedElevate Line, a range of single-stationmachines that have been designed tobe simple, safe and approachable.

This presents members with theopportunity to jump on without guid-ance and experience the benefits offunctional resistance training usingonly their bodyweight.

Many more big names will undoubt-edly follow – it’s not often that a newmarket opens up right before you.

For the facility owners out there, thisis the time to open your eyes, consid-er your customer’s journey on thegym floor and build bridges to aidprogression from one zone to theother.� John is sales and marketing directorat Physical Company.

Keiser UK has appointed Neil Troutman astheir new master instructor. Neil who hasover 20 years’ experience in the health andfitness industry working as a global mastertrainer, will focus on building a team ofmaster instructors to help deliver Keiser’sM Series and Air training courses. In addi-tion, he will be developing a portfolio oftraining and educational material withKeiser. Commercial director at Keiser UKNick Startin said: “By recruiting a mastertrainer of Neil’s calibre, Keiser UK canenhance the quality of our training andeducation for instructors in the UK. In thisway, we can highlight how Keiser’s relent-less pursuit of engineering excellence canbenefit their class participants and PTclients.”

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By Olivia Taylor

DOUBLE Olympic gold medallistRebecca Adlington OBE led the cheer-ing as hundreds of Hornchurchschoolchildren attended the LegacyGames Day at the Hornchurch SportsCentre – organised by Fit For Sportand Everyone Active.

The Legacy Games aim to give chil-dren the opportunity to engage withnew activities and sports, emphasis-ing fun participation and movementrather than the competitive side ofthe event.

Earlier this year, the Legacy GamesDay won the coveted ‘Inspired by2012 Mark’ from the Cabinet Officeand the ‘Shaping the FutureGeneration’ ukactive FLAME award.

The Hornchurch event was the sev-enth in the Legacy Games Day seriesand the first in the UK to feature newchildren’s programme BORN TOMOVE, devised by Les Mills.

Everyone Active is the first operatorto get behind BORN TO MOVE, whichcomprises a series of activity and fit-ness classes for children and youngpeople aged two to 16 with age-appropriate moves and music.

Les Mills’ master trainer BasHollander said: “Children were bornto move and we need to keep themmoving, the context of the LegacyGames Day was perfect for Les MillsBORN TO MOVE and I’m delightedthat Hornchurch Sports Centre is oneof the first centres in the UK to runour classes.”

Medallist leads cheeringat Legacy Games Day

Rebecca Adlington OBE with youngsters at the event at Hornchurch Sports Centre.

Companies join forcesto launch packages EQUIPMENT providers Matrix Fitnesshave paired up with marketing con-sultants Emerald Frog Marketing tooffer customers a range of marketingoptions and packages as part of itstotal service solution.

Each package, from social mediasupport to the development of strate-gic marketing plans, can be combinedto create a launch package to suit thespecific marketing needs of each indi-vidual fitness facility.

Alternatively the Matrix ‘Loyalty’option has been developed to providea range of packages that assist with

customer engagement; essential forattracting and retaining members.

Head of UK marketing at MatrixFitness, Gemma Bonnett said: “Timeand time again we are approached bycustomers who are in need of supportto drive sales while they focus on theircore activity, but want to avoid thefixed costs associated with an in-house resource.

“Our alliance with Emerald FrogMarketing lets them do exactly that,by enabling customers to access theskills they need to fit their budget andgoals.”

Retail giant Sports Direct has chosen Gladstone Health and Leisure as the software suppli-er for the roll out of its health and fitness clubs sportsdirectfitness.com. The three-yearcontract will see Gladstone assist the company’s roll out of sites, which so far includes 13former LA Fitness clubs, as well as gyms above its stores. Head of leisure at Sports DirectWinston Higham said: “With Gladstone’s experience and their help and support we wereable to move each site over to our systems on the day of the handover, and so from dayone our health clubs were using the Plus2 Membership Management system and memberswere booking classes online via Connect. Gladstone also provided onsite support andtraining for each site on its first day of trading on our new system, which was supportedwith web sessions, specifically recorded to suit our operations.”

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BASILDON Sporting Village has beennamed an official beacon site by theAmateur Swimming Association.

The Everyone Active site has beenawarded £100,000 worth of funding tohelp nurture the next generation ofelite aquatic athletes and to developswimming and increase participationat entry level.

The funding will be given in install-ments over the space of four yearsand will be used to train existing poolstaff to work as elite coaches.

The swimming timetable will also be

extended, with more time allocatedfor elite swimmers and new sessionsadded for disabled athletes.

Professional swimming coach andOlympian Doug Campbell has beenappointed by the centre to deliver thebeacon programme.

Everyone Active general managerTom Fletcher said: “We put in a bidfor the capital grant and Beacon sta-tus in partnership with BasildonCouncil and Basildon and PhoenixSwimming Club and are thrilled wewere successful.”

Village named a beacon siteBasildon Sporting Village has been awarded £100,000 by the Amateur SwimmingAssociation.

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NATIONAL FITNESS DAY28

THE physical activity sector usedNational Fitness Day, organised byukactive, as a unique opportunity tobuild relationships with new customers, while connecting withtheir existing members.

Thousands of people visited gyms,leisure centres and parks nationwideto take part in free Power half-hourexercise sessions.

There were also mass participationlive events in three cities; London,Birmingham and Bristol featuringLes Mills BODYCOMBAT andSH’BAM group exercise classes.

CEO of ukactive and director ofNational Fitness Day David Stalker said: “We could not be happier with how National FitnessDay went.

“This was about removing barriersand making physical activity enjoyable and open to everyone.

“What we saw was engagement andenthusiasm from our industry insomething that can make a genuinedifference.

“Importantly we also saw excitement and energy from themany people that came along to one of our three live events in citycentres or had the chance to takepart in an activity in their localarea.”

Working with National Fitness Daysponsors Sanofi, operators wereinvited to take part in the NationalFitness Day Sanofi Challenge – toput on the most innovative, fun,biggest, creative and most excitingPower Half Hour they could.

They were encouraged to enter fora chance to win a team dinner to thevalue of £500 and Sanofi will alsomake a £500 donation to NationalFitness Day charity beneficiaryTeenage Cancer Trust on theirbehalf.

Basingstoke Sports Trust wascrowned the winner; running fourdemonstration fitness classes inFestival Place Shopping Centre. Theyalso offered five 30-minute classes toshopping centre visitors, as well asfree seven day guest passes to reinforce the message that exerciseis for all.

David added: "Basingstoke SportsTrust went out on a limb, usingNational Fitness Day as an opportu-nity to truly engage the public bytaking over a shopping centre.

“The pictures captured the energyand enthusiasm that is at the core ofthe National Fitness Day ethos.

“Well done to the team!"

Other operators getting involvedincluded Burnley Leisure, where thehighlight of the day was a HighIntensity training session held in thebusy town centre, with a number ofstaff taking part.

Leisure facilities general managerNeil Hutchinson added: “I was keento support National Fitness Day andas it was my idea to hold a session inthe town centre I went along andtook part in what was a toughlunchtime workout.

“I will definitely look at how we canbuild on this and have a bigger eventnext year.”

The industry came together on Friday September 26 to encourage the public to become more active as part ofNational Fitness Day. In a special feature, Workout reveals how it went and takes a look at the event in pictures ...

Thousands back NationalFitness Day by joining events

“We could not be happier with howNational Fitness Day went. This was aboutremoving barriers and making physicalactivity enjoyable and open to everyone”

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Overcoming the fear factorto sell more membershipsBy Dave Wright

THE great thing about the industry isthat whenever members come totheir club to train, they all have thesame intention to achieve their ownindividual goals.

Status and corporate hats are leftoutside, whether they be doctors,bouncers, or solicitors. Membersacclimatise to the environmentaccordingly and find their own com-fort zone.

This feeling of acclimatisation is thefeeling of adapting and gaining famil-iarity to this environment.

Humans are creatures of habit andwhen they do not feel familiar withtheir environment, they become con-fused, irrational and react in differentways.

Have you ever rearranged some ofyour equipment and had to deal withthe ramifications from existing mem-bers who feel ‘disoriented’ to whatthey may have been used to for years?

So if an existing member can feeldisoriented and uncomfortable justfrom you moving a piece of equip-ment around, this may put into per-spective how a new person feels when

they walk into your club for the veryfirst time.

Let’s face it; a fitness centre for anew person, not wearing gym attire,who may be a little overweight, is oneof the most intimidating environ-ments.

This element or fear factor whenpeople enter your club is a big barrierthat will need to be broken down sothat you can encourage them to makea rational comfortable decision as towhy they should join your club.

The best way to overcome this fearfactor is to apply the principle Feel,Felt, Found to reducing barriers andmaking people feel at ease. You areempathising with the prospect as tohow they feel now, telling them thatmany other members felt like thatwhen they started, but what thosemembers found, and what they willfind too, is that it is only normal tofeel that way.

Here is an example. “Mrs Jones,when you first walk into any gym, thefirst thing you will think of is `Wow..what am I supposed to do with allthat!!!’, don’t worry, it is right to feellike that, many of our members feltlike that when they first walked into

the gym, but what they found, andwhat you will find too, is that we havea person who spends over an hourshowing you how to use the equip-ment until you feel comfortable usingit by yourself. Is this personal pro-gramme something you feel will make

you more confident exercisinghere?”…

As you can see, you are reassuringthe prospect the fact that it is onlynatural to feel the way they do.

When they feel that this is normal,and you provide a solution, it willcalm their nerves and they can beginto focus more on what they want toachieve and how your club will helpthem towards this goal.

What this ultimately means to you isthat you will have a better relation-ship with prospects that will result ina higher closing percentage and moregross sales. � 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; focus-ing on 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®.

He may be contacted [email protected]

Dave Wright

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TRAINING AND RECRUITMENT 35

STAFF training and development – if donesuccessfully – can give your club a stronggym team, which can result in happy mem-bers. But what are operators doing to ensurethey get this right?

At the recent LFX conference at LeighSports Village, speakers included chief execu-tive of Trafford Community Leisure TrustBernie Jones, who explained more to dele-gates about an innovative recruitment modelimplemented by the trust.

The bespoke PROfile system focuses onindividuals’ personal qualities and attitudes,rather than skills; getting rid of specific jobroles and offering hardworking employeesperks and rewards.

He explained: “When recruiting we arelooking for people with the right attitude andbehaviours.

“In most cases we can usually teach theskills and knowledge they need to carry outthe tasks required in their job. But teachingsomeone the right attitude is much harder.

“Our staff retention levels have improved,but much more importantly at a time whensignificant competition has come into thearea, we have still managed to increase ourincome by significant margins.”

Lee Watts, owner of National FitnessAwards’ Best Gym Team finalistLFWFitness4All in Colchester, makes sureeach potential employee has the right atti-tude to help members on their fitness jour-neys.

He added: “I choose people very carefully tojoin the team. They need to have the rightethos, the right work ethic, and be driven bythe need to help clients achieve their owngoals.

“There are no egos in this gym, and this isimportant to getting the teamwork right. Ifwe are all serving the clients and doing what’sbest for them, which after all is why we arehere, then decisions are easy to make.”

St Peter’s Leisure Centre in Burnley – alsoshortlisted in the Best Gym Team category –believe some of a club’s best staff can be peo-ple who started off as customers and have atleast seven of their existing instructors whowere members at the gym.

Manager Scott Bryce explained: “Membershave the passion, commitment, drive andinterest and upon being mentored andencouraged these members can become verysuccessful employees of the fitness team.”

Leisure facilities manager at Burnley LeisureNeil Hutchinson added: “Having a good teamin most cases is the difference between thesuccess and failure of a project or business.Having a mixed team is important as differ-ent strengths and qualities are required indifferent areas of the business and on differ-ent projects. Whilst empathy might be need-ed to deal with a staff welfare issue sortingout an emergency will require someone whois quick and decisive.

“For Burnley Leisure having a great gymteam means that retention of clients is excel-lent. Members trust our team which meansmaking any changes to our programme iseasy and painless.

“Our team is so strong that whenever wehave open days or master class events theyare sold out within days.

“It’s worth remembering having a greatteam isn’t just luck they need to be trained,nurtured and supported to get the best out ofthem.”

Recruiting and training the right people in your gym can be animportant factor in its success. Olivia Taylor found out more –and spoke to clubs leading the way in this field.

‘Having a greatteam isn’t just luck’

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LSFPT and Xercise4Less are just twoof the biggest names recruiting on theUK’s newest job website for the fit-ness industry.

Viamia.co.uk abolishes old-school‘classifieds’ by revolutionising theway companies advertise their jobvacancies online.

Director Mark Robinson said: “Wegive businesses a platform in whichthey can create their very own digitaljob posts.

“These can be individually tailoredto promote a brand and reflect acompany’s ethos.”

By attaching photos, videos, staffsuccess stories and links to websitesand social media, Viamia allowsemployers to attract a new talent poolyet to be accessed by the use of tradi-tional methods.

Mark added: “Businesses are nowa-days finding themselves having to putas much effort into recruiting staff asthey do in finding customers.

“Companies are often criticised fornot having a ‘face’, but by adopting amore personal approach, and byengaging with job-seekers directly,our clients can charm the most sort-after individuals to work for theminstead of their competitors.”

Viamia is not necessarily just for jobseekers, but for any professionalwanting to create opportunities forthemselves.

Ditch outdated paper résumés tobuild an electronic version that caninclude a video CV interview, testi-monials, personality tests, and searchthrough hundreds of jobs and train-ing courses, for free.

Mark added: “Not only does it allowcandidates to showcase a wide rangeof their achievements, but the extrainformation allows employers tomake far better informed decisionswhen it comes to inviting candidatesfor an interview – saving them timeand money.

“We also invite training providers to join us to promote their qualifications to professionals seeking CPD, employers wanting todevelop their team, or individualswith a desire to train to work in thefitness industry.”

Viamia aims to become the defini-tive fitness training course directoryby offering training providers thesame digital benefits as their otherclients, increasing their exposure onthe internet and attracting new stu-dents.

Finding Mr orMrs Right?

LES Mills UK has appointed four newmembers of staff.

Justine Williams joins as productmanager to head up the new LesMills’ BORN TO MOVE programme;Dave Alstead has been recruited ascustomer experience manager forthe North West; Natalie Prescott joinsas head of product sales and SteveTansey has come on board to fill the

newly-created role of tribe trainee,based at the HQ in London.

CEO Keith Burnet said: “It’s greatto see the Tribe growing and like-minded people coming together towork towards the same goal – tomake the world a fitter planet.

“We are building a strong team inthe UK and it’s a seriously excitingtime.”

The Tribe’s growingat Les Mills UK

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Lifetime: Creatingopportunitiesfor growthBy Nigel Wallace, client services director, Lifetime Training

THE sector has hit a plateau and is strug-gling to take that all-important next stepthat will dramatically increase the num-bers of those taking part in regular physi-cal activity. Despite the clear need forpeople to be active the industry, whilstproviding good support to many, is fail-ing to grow.

The active leisure industry will nodoubt – and in fact needs to – morph andre-invent itself but first there are threeclear challenges that businesses need toensure they overcome.

Firstly, the sector needs to provide moresupport to inactive people to encouragethem to become and stay more active.

Secondly, the breadth and depth ofskills across both employed and self-employed personal trainers need a realboost to optimise their potential andimpact.

Thirdly, we need to ensure operatingfacilities are guided by skilled and trainedmanagers. It is an accepted fact that thebest facilities have the best managers.Sounds easy. But where to start?

Together with Lifetime Training, you

could deliver on all three and lead theindustry in its transformation.

We have recently launched our newCertificate in Physical Activity Coaching,specially designed to equip health andfitness professionals and others with theskills they need to engage less active peo-ple in conversations about becomingand staying more active.

The latest collaboration with FitPro’sPTA Global programme sees LifetimeTraining deliver its bridging andadvanced courses here in the UK. Thisprogramme accelerates PTs to a new levelin their business acumen, their technicalunderstanding and their ability to man-age the client experience.

Lifetime Training has also been triallingseveral management training pro-grammes and now launches a condensedLevel Three Award in Leadership andManagement. This course is built aroundsector need, aligned to industry practiceand very accessible; offering a pathway todeveloping a more professional and prof-itable sector.

For more information visitLifetimeTraining.co.uk or call 0870 1201207.

MAPS and charts have been inexistence for centuries and thehuman body in all its shapesand sizes has also been thesource of inspiration for manyartists and medical illustrators.

As with any educationalchart, the reliability and accu-racy of the information por-trayed is of paramount impor-tance in order for it to be a use-ful reference source.

Chartex, one of the UK’s lead-ing chart designers for anatom-ical, health and fitness instruc-tion charts, consults with high-ly knowledgeable specialists inthe fields of medicine, physio-therapy, fitness and sports sci-ence when designing theirrange of charts. This ensuresthe quality of information andthe way it is portrayed is suit-able for use by professionals,lay people and students alike.

How to use charts in a gymenvironment is fundamental totheir inclusion in that facility. A

good instructor will be able torelate to the information on thecharts and use it to reinforce anexercise movement and explainin easy to understand languagewhy a particular muscle orgroup of muscles is beingtrained. The client will appreci-ate the time spent and theknowledge the instructor isshowing when using visualisa-tion to educate.

Charts that contain soundinstructional information givethe trainer the opportunity tointeract professionally as theyguide their client through theirtraining programme.

Give your gym that profes-sional look and back up thespoken word with charts thateducate and help retain yourcustomers’ interest in keepingfit and healthy.

For more information visitwww.chartexltd.co.uk or call01793 530880.

The Value of Visualisation

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Industrymeets forannualsummitOVER 400 key industry figures areexpected to gather in London nextmonth for the annual ukactiveSummit, which will this year focus onsteps to solving inactivity.

Among the speakers will be shadowsecretary of state for health AndyBurnham and Public HealthEngland’s director of health and well-being professor Kevin Fenton, withthe event on November 13 chaired byThe Guardian and Observer’s healthcorrespondent, Denis Campbell.

ukactive CEO David Stalker said:“This Summit is the pinnacle of 12months’ work moving the conversa-tion on physical activity to the top ofthe government’s health agenda.

“In a year of unprecedented cross-sector engagement, the presence ofthis incredible line up of speakers isan indication that leaders areacknowledging the impact physicalinactivity has on lives as well as thenation's purse strings.

“The Summit is a unique opportu-nity for delegates to capitalise on thecurrent momentum as we move intothe next phase of delivering on ourcollective mission to improve thenation's health through physicalactivity."

Kettlercise revamps itsfitness system and ‘shifts it up a gear’!

KETTLERCISE, the kettlebell groupfitness program, has just launchedwhat the company claims is ‘itsbiggest change to its training system’since its initial launch in 2009 with itsnew Kettlercise program, Genesis.

Managing director of KettlebellSeminars Ltd and co-founder of theKettlercise system Adrian Burtonsaid: “When we started to put thenew Kettlercise Genesis Programtogether we had to look at three vitalelements.

The clients had to be able toachieve results from the new systemand that was no easy task to furtherimprove on what the initialKettlercise program did in the area ofbody composition changes. The gymsand fitness professionals needed to

deliver a class that’s fresh, fun andexciting in a safe effective environ-ment to both new members as well askeeping its excellent retention ratesto existing members and class atten-dees.

“Thirdly, the fitness market haschanged a lot in the last five yearswith its competitiveness for group fitness and we felt that withKettlercise being market leader in thekettlebell training sector that therewas an even bigger opportunity todeliver greater class options givingthe gyms and fitness professionalseven more choice with class timeta-bles.”

The program has been developedspecifically to give new and existinginstructors even greater flexibility to

now deliver both 50 minute and 30minute express class options. Thenew system has also been brokendown into eight modules whichmeans that as an instructor providingclasses you can now remove certainmodules to fit your time constraints.

The full 50-minute class can still bethe main program but Adrianbelieves ”the new system givesinstructors even greater flexibilitywhilst still retaining the originalKettlercise core values”.

The program begins to be rolled outacross the instructor network laterthis month and is now included inthe Kettlercise Instructor CourseTraining system.

To book see Pages 32 and 33 or call01282 698698.

Jo Monkhouse, pictured left, hasjoined the Leisure Net team as a datainsight manager, supporting clients tomaximise the outcomes of the datathey generate.Jo will be advising Leisure-net’s exist-ing and new clients on collecting,managing and cleansing data, plussegmenting data for marketing cam-paigns.Joint director of Leisure-net SolutionsMike Hill said: “We are extremelypleased to welcome Jo to the Leisure-net team.“Her vast experience in the industrywill ensure our clients get the verybest of out of the data we collect andthis is an excellent opportunity for usto improve the offer we make to thesector.”

Courses rolled out for 2015THE Institute of Health Sciences isnow enrolling for our UK CertificateTraining Courses in DietaryCounselling and Health WellnessCoaching which are starting inJanuary 2015 in London andManchester.

This is an industry recognisedqualification ideal for personaltrainers and other fitness profes-sionals wanting to ensure the nutri-tion advice they are giving is scien-tifically accurate in order to adviseclients in formulating healthy eat-ing programmes with a focus on,weight loss, maximizing physicalperformance and optimisinghealth.

At IHS, we believe that a healthy,nutritious diet and health promot-ing lifestyle is the key to long-last-ing health and vitality, and thatevery individual should aim for

optimum, not average, health.There is a distinct and very realneed for nutrition and healthexperts who have been trainedusing the functional medicine andhealth and wellness coaching mod-els.

Flexible study and paymentoptions available, contact us formore details. UK open days: Manchester:November 10: 7pm- 9pmManchester Conference Centre,Sackville St, Manchester M1 3BBLondon:November 11: 7pm - 9pmUniversity College HospitalEducation Centre, 1st Floor West,250 Euston Rd, London NW1 2PG.

Sign up through our website:[email protected] or call: 0845 5687000

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BACK in April 2014 just after theylaunched to the industryClubbercise had less than 10instructors in the UK … fast-for-ward six months and they’ve nowtrained over 100 instructors andare already expanding into Europe.

Clubbercise is an easy-to-followdance fitness class taught in adarkened room with glow sticksand disco lights to a backdrop ofbanging club anthems from 90’sclassics to the latest chart hits.

The Clubbercise team is dedicat-ed to maintaining training andquality standards so that no matter

where in the world participantsattend their classes they get a verysimilar experience. In order tobook onto the course instructorsmust either have an ETM certifi-cate or pass their pre-courseassessment process to ensure theycan teach safely and competently.

The course is a one-day intensiveworkshop but like their classes ithas an element of fun and enter-tainment running through it. Thewhole ethos of Clubbercise is tobring a nightclub experience intothe fitness world, so it’s all aboutshowing participants a great time

in a safe environment. After completing the training

licensed Clubbercise instructorsget ongoing support to help themcontinually improve and grow theirclasses, plus they are regularlyasked for feedback which helpsdrive the programme forward.

There’s also a charity element tothe training, Clubbercise donate toOxfam every time an instructorcompletes the course to help pro-vide safe drinking water for 10 peo-ple in need.

For the latest training dates checkout clubbercise.com

‘Healthy clubbing’revolution grows

Positivefeedbackin QuestsurveyLEADING sports and leisure industryquality scheme Quest has revealed itreceived positive feedback and highsatisfaction rates from a recent annualclient survey.

According to the survey, 98 per centof sports development teams andleisure operators are satisfied with the value Quest assessments hasbrought to their business and 99 percent were satisfied with the assess-ment process.

Other findings included:

� 96 per cent were satisfied with thecommunication of the administrationteam.

� All customer satisfaction levelsacross all areas of the Quest experi-ence were 86 per cent or higher.

� 73 per cent of respondents said the compulsory Health and SafetyDeclaration had improved health and safety compliance across theindustry – up four per cent since 2012.

Quest operations director CarolineConstantine said: “We are delightedwith the results of the survey.

“The Quest team in the office, theassessors and the mystery visitors allwork extremely hard to deliver a goodservice and these great results reflectthat effort.”

FREEDOM Leisure hasappointed Phil Edwards asarea manager for WokingLeisure Centre, Pool in thePark and 13 Woking BoroughCouncil pavilions.

Phil has joined fromEveryone Active where hewas general manager forthree years, most recently atHarrow Leisure Centre,Weymouth Swimming Pooland Fitness Centre,Brickfields Sports Centreand Plympton SwimmingPool in Plymouth respec-tively.

He said: “It’s an exciting

time to join FreedomLeisure as the business isgrowing quickly and it willbe very rewarding to be partof its development.

“The Woking contract isparticularly enviable as ithas two excellent siteswhich have undergonemodernisation work and areattracting industry awardsfor their high standards.

“The council is pro-activeand keen to see furtherprogress and I’m pleased tobe invited to be part of thecontinued developmentacross the borough.”

Exciting time for Phil

Fit For Sport has strengthened its management team with twonew appointments. The organisation, which currently works with250 schools and engages with 75,000 children on average eachweek, has appointed Anita De Villiers as head of children’s experience to ensure Fit For Sport’s programmes and activitiesboth in and out of schools remain innovative, progressive andfun. Also joining Fit For Sport is Jack Shakespeare taking on therole of head of training and development.Jack will be driving fit for sport’s children’s activity programming,ensuring quality across national delivery.He also leads the Fit For Sport training academy, responsible for the quality of delivery of its vocational training and CPD programmes.

Finalists arenamed intraining awards

THE finalists have been announced forthe Active Training Awards, which cele-brated performance and commitment invocational training and developmentwithin the physical activity sector.

The awards are run by ukactive inpartnership with CIMSPA, and spon-sored by Active IQ, with trophies handedout at a ceremony on November 27 atthe Crowne Plaza in Marlow, followingan afternoon training workshop.Finalists include: Supplier Learning and DevelopmentProvider of the Year:� Life Fitness� Technogym� SchwinnApprenticeships and TraineeshipsProvider of the Year:� Babcock International� ICON TRAINING� Lifetime TrainingLarge Training Provider of the Year:� Future Fit Training Ltd� Lifetime Training� Babcock International� ICON TRAINING� Premier Training� Les Mills UK� The Training RoomInterim COO at CIMSPA Tara Dillonsaid: "I have been really impressed withboth the calibre and enthusiasm of theentrants.”

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UK FITNESS SCENE 41

By Mark Laws, Jordan Fitness

I WAS fully aware that the lifespanof a personal trainer was short –the number in my head has alwaysbeen that the average lifespan isaround 18 months. This number isfrom a document I read severalyears back so I am fully aware thatit is a rough ballpark figure.Recently I saw another statisticfrom an education provider esti-mating that 90 per cent of newlyqualified PTs leave the industry inbetween six and 12 months.

Having made it to almost 10years in the industry I would liketo think that I am doing ok,although I know I have a long wayto go. This leads me onto one ofthe fundamental errors a lot ofpersonal trainers seem to be com-mitting – complacency.

During my 10-year journey I havegone through three distinct phasesin this exact order;

1) I knew I had a lot to learn2) I thought I knew everything3) I realised I would never know

everything but endeavoured todevelop myself as much as possi-ble.

Only when I entered phase threedid good things start happeningfor me. You see, the key to success,I believe, is continuously expand-ing your knowledge and learning

from your mistakes.The world has changed a lot in 10

years and whether we like it or notthe internet (in particular socialmedia) have given us all a platformfrom which to preach our viewsand a captive audience waiting to‘like’, ‘share’ or ‘comment’ withtheir own opinion. Some peopleuse this for good, some people usethis for evil. But the major crime isthat too many PTs appear to begetting stuck in phase two of mytimeline – never have we hadaccess to so many self-proclaimed‘experts’ and ‘specialists’.

As a child I had a board gamecalled ‘Othello’ (if you don’tremember it, Google it). On theoutside of the box the slogan read“A minute to learn. A lifetime tomaster”.

What this means is that you canbe playing the game immediately –almost within a click of your fin-gers. There is no need to know allof the deeper strategy to start hav-ing fun and you can even get someearly wins under your belt. But, themore you play, the more you’llrealise that thinking deeply aboutthe game will help your perform-ances. Eventually, you’ll be desper-ate to master the strategies thatwill help you succeed … consistently.

Investing time and money into

your educationdoesn’t guaran-tee success, butNOT investingin educa-tion willguaranteea lack ofsuccess.

Before weknow itChristmaswill beupon us. Ifyou know aPT whoalreadyknowseverythingand youare strug-gling toget themsomethinguseful…maybeyou couldsend themour way tofind a littlegift to enhance their knowledgeand help them to become moresuccessful.

[email protected] forinformation on any of our work-shops/certifications.

What to buy for the PTwho has everything?

BUILDING on the success of the pop-ular Multirig system, Indigofitnesshave designed two new rig series tocater for the varying needs of everyuser and facility.

The Infinity Series is constructedusing connectable ‘cells’, giving youthe option of having as few or asmany cells as you wish and thereforecreating any sized rig you desire.

The cells can be connected usingany combination of pull up bars,wings and monkey bars – allowingyou to get creative and design a rigthat really does meet your exactneeds.

The Spider Series attempts to max-imise your available floor space bylifting the whole thing in the air. With

just eight legs the spider covers anarea of 7sqm with a suspended inter-connected monkey bar bridge struc-ture, giving you a fully function rigand allowing you to use the free spaceunderneath. Smaller ‘spiders’ areavailable and there is also a ‘half spi-der’ variety that can be bolted to awall.

Both series feature the ‘slot-drop’system designed to take a wide rangeof accessories and attachments. Ourrigs are manufactured to order in ourown factory right here in the UK.Custom colours and finishes areavailable including a galvanisedoption for outdoor use.

Call 01455 890 100 or visit indigofit-ness.com for more details.

Indigo launches two new rigs

New health club offering ‘a different approach to what most gyms do ...’By Olivia Taylor

A NEW health club has recentlyopened in the centre of Christchurchwhich equally combines health, fitness and well-being all under oneroof.

The Urban Health Club boasts a chiropractor, a massage therapist, aphysio therapist, two studios and afully equipped gym, complete withfunctional training facilities.

Owner Manoj Patel said: “I wantedto merge both health and fitnesstogether. The club has been a coupleof years in the making.

“My background as a physiothera-pist has been the reason for combining the two together as a joint package of care for our members.”

The club has an urban feel to it withan exposed ceiling and brandedequipment and a busy class timetableboasting 165 classes a month, withplans in the pipeline to include con-dition specific classes such as cancerrehabilitation sessions.

Manoj added: “We’re constantlydeveloping new classes, meaningwe’re giving a really good quality serv-ice. Members aren’t just a number tous.”

The club officially opened lastmonth and has got off to a good start,thanks to its accessible high streetlocation and the range of services onoffer.

Manoj added: “We think health,well-being and fitness should be all inone. It’s a different approach to whatmost gyms do.”

Businesses urgedto act nowon pensionsSMALL businesses in the health andfitness industry have been urged toact now in order to meet pensionauto-enrolment deadlines.

28,000 businesses have been auto-matically enrolled in workplace pen-sions since the scheme began twoyears ago, but with the deadlines forbusinesses employing fewer than 50people on the horizon, millions moremust prepare now, according tonational financial adviser LighthouseGroup.

Businesses with 49-30 employeesmust be ready for their automaticenrolment staging dates of betweenAugust-October 2015, while thosewith fewer than 30 employees willbegin staging as early as June 2015 ifselected by the regulator for the earlystaging trial run, or otherwise fromNovember 2015 through to 2017.

However, The Pensions Regulatorestimates that as many as 20 per centof small employers are unaware oftheir staging dates.

CEO of Lighthouse Group MalcomStreatfield said: “Although a stagingdeadline of next year may seem likeplenty of time to prepare, the fact isthat pensions enrolment takes a greatdeal of work. Employers must ensureall personnel data is correct and thattheir payroll system is capable, as wellas choosing their pensions provider.

“While The Pensions Regulator hassent letters to all businesses withdates coming up in the next 18months, many business owners willhave filed them away and maybe for-gotten about them. We urge allemployers to check their pensionsobligations immediately and beginpreparations as soon possible.”

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By Matthew Januszek, Escape Fitness

I AM always interested in whatsuccessful businesses do different-ly from the mediocre ones, so anarticle in Inc. Magazine caught myeye recently.

It included a list of successfulbusinesses and, as I worked downthe list, I noticed that none ofthese companies were successfulbecause they invented the thingthey are best known for.

Google didn’t invent the searchengine. Facebook didn’t inventsocial networking. Amazon didn’tinvent e-commerce. Coca Coladidn’t invent cola drinks. Appledidn’t invent the personal comput-er, MP3 player, smartphone ortablet. And McDonald’s didn’tinvent the hamburger.

These businesses didn’t come upwith entirely new ways of doingthings. Instead, they looked atwhat was already there and tookan innovative approach to it, great-ly improving things for the cus-tomer in one way or another.

Companies often take an existingidea that works and try it for them-selves. But too often, they roll out apoorly executed version of thatidea. They are simply imitators,and not very good ones.

So innovation lies betweeninvention (which is actually quiterare in business) and imitation(which is all too common).

Apple are great innovatorsbecause they look at existing tech-nology, watch how others struggleto get it to work, and then step into create their own version. Theyalways greatly improve things inboth design and the user experi-ence.

The McDonald brothers changedthe way that hamburgers weremade and served in the 1950s.They came up with new processesto create a model of efficiency and

consistency that has lastedbecause it works.

Choosing your focus for innovation

Usually, innovation is done withan overall theme or strategy inmind. In ‘The Discipline of MarketLeaders’ by Michael Treacy andFred Wiersema, it is suggested thatthere are three strategies for inno-vation from which businesses canchoose.

The first is operational excel-lence, which is about being incred-ibly efficient so that you can deliv-er what people want at a competi-tive price. This is what McDonald’sand Wall-Mart have done so well.

I can imagine scope here forgyms to come up with streamlinedprocesses where competing onprice is essential.

Next we have product leadership,where the business focuses on cre-ating great products. It’s essentialthat time is set aside for this, likethe way that 3M give everyemployee ’15 per cent time’ wherepeople are encouraged to come upwith new ideas.

Most coaches and trainers arenaturally creative and so there like-ly won’t be a shortage of ideas ifthey have time to work on them.

Finally, there is the customer inti-macy approach, where the busi-ness is obsessed with getting closeto a niche group of customers anddelivering for them.

This is clearly something withinreach of gyms, because our marketis diverse and has many categorieson which to base a targetedapproach. An investment in staff isalso needed to make sure thateveryone is capable and empow-ered to deliver satisfaction to thatcustomer niche.

Many businesses don’t take thebold decision to create a focusedstrategy. Yes, it is possible to havean element of all three, but choos-ing a clear strategy often opens thedoor to better results.

Getting inspiration for innovation

Whatever strategy a gym opts for,the process of making it happenstarts with looking closely at whatis happening now. Walk aroundyour gym and look at every aspectof it from the perspective of opera-tions, product or customer. Whenyou put your business under closescrutiny, there won’t be a shortageof inspiration.

You will also be inspired by whatother fitness establishments aredoing. If you are an independentwhat can you learn from the bigplayers? If you are a chain whatcan you learn from the independ-ents? (This is why no gym managershould only ever work out at his orher own gym.)

Of course, inspiration has to bebacked up with hard work to putsomething concrete in place. Butwith a tight strategic focus as thefoundation, every business canachieve greater competitive advan-tage and sustainable success.

Innovation: the never-ending keyto a successful fitness facility

AWARD-WINNING budget gym chain,Xercise4Less has rewarded one of itsmost passionate customers, havinghanded over the keys to a brand new14 plate Volkswagen Polo to thank himfor getting into gear encouraging oth-ers across the city to get fit.

The prize was awarded to the gym-goer who achieved the most member-ship referrals across the summer. Thecompetition was open to members ofall 23 sites and was won by JonathanPomey, a member of Xercise4Less inBristol.

During the completion, which ranfrom May 1 to August 22, participantswere able to track their progress onthe Xercise4Less Facebook page andreceived weekly leader board updatesvia email.

Xercise4Less’ chief operating officerStuart Perrin said: “At Xercise4Less weare all about rewarding our members,and this competition was an excellentway for us do this whilst raisingawareness of our gym chains.

“Our Bristol site is proud to boastthe winner and this goes a long way toshow the loyalty and dedication of ourlocal members. Jonathan did a fabu-lous job and gained an array of newmembership referrals and we’repleased to see him drive off with thisprize.”

Competition winner Jonathan Pomey withXercise4Less COO Stuart Perrin.

Gym chainrewardsdedicatedJonathan

MatthewJanuszek

Advertiser’s announcement

MY name is Grant Davison, I have apersonal training studio and recentlyhad a HIT machine installed. Havingworked in the fitness industry 12years I have seen many weird andwonderful pieces of fitness equip-ment from power plates to VIPRtubes, but never have seen a machinewith such versatility as the HITmachine.

I have a plethora of clients all withunique goals, fitness levels andinjuries.

I have a 71-year-old male client whois riddled with arthritis in his joints,he has very limited range of move-ment especially with his shoulders.

Since installing the HIT machineJames can perform exercises whichwere impossible to him before, be itan isolation exercise such as a shoul-

der press and even compound move-ments like clean and jerk.

I have female clients who love theidea of HIIT sessions but have triedclasses such as insanity and haveenjoyed the intensity of the workoutsbut have found the wear and tear ithas taken on their bodies has putthem off going back.

Due to the HIT machine’s concentri-cally biased movements I have foundit to be a great tool to perform HIIT ina safe, controlled way and in con-junction with the polar H7 heartmonitor they can get a detailed analy-sis of their workouts sent straight totheir phone.

I can't recommend it highly enoughto personal trainers and clients, thereis something for everyone with theHIT machine.

For more information visit www.hitmachine.co.uk

Machine proves a HIT with Grant

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LEISURE INDUSTRY WEEK REVIEW 43

THIS year’s LIW welcomed over 80new exhibitors and unveiled 150new products from across the sec-tor, with many exhibitors drawinglarge crowds to their stands.

Event director James Samuelexplained: “Once again we had agreat show with some very positivefeedback from across the industry,both exhibitors and visitors, whichis always fantastic to hear.

“Wednesday was, as ever a hugelypopular day from start to finishwith so much activity going onacross the hall; from early morning workouts, the VIPProgramme, networking sessionsand a constant stream of demonstrations.”

Activity was at an all-time highthis year with over 120 live demon-strations and the introduction ofLIW Early Morning Workouts onexhibitor stands, from the likes ofTRX, Power Plate, Cybex, Star Trac,Life Fitness, Fitpro, Octane Fitness,Wattbike and Matrix.

The Outdoor Area of LIW alsoproved popular, with highlights

including displays from ParkourGenerations, who were at the showto launch MOV’, their new range ofgroup exercise programmes basedon parkour styles.

Education was, as ever, high onthe agenda at the show. Over 250sessions were on offer to visitors,as well as a new ‘silent disco’implemented this year, with head-phones provided to delegates toensure talks were uninterrupted byactivity on the show floor.

James added: “With so muchhappening it’s hard to pick myhighlights but I enjoyed the LukeLancaster, Young Pioneers educa-tion session where Luke discussedthe important role sport has toplay in combating bullying in chil-dren.

“The Women’s Sport Trust sessionon the LIW Live Stage with SallyGunnell and Dani King was greatto see and as always the live per-formances and demonstrationsmade for a constantly active showfloor.

“Ahead of this year’s show we

jointly commissioned some inde-pendent research with ukactivewhich gave some great insight intowhat the industry wants fromfuture industry events.

“It was clear that as an event, LIWhas health, activity and wellbeingat its heart and this must be afocus moving forwards. It’s an

exciting time for the industry tohelp shape the show so that we cancontinue to grow on what was areally successful 2014 event andreach out to new audiences withmarket leading products, highquality educational content andrelevant networking opportuni-ties.”

Show highlights included an interview with Olympians Sally Gunnell and Dani King onthe LIW Live stage.

Leisure Industry Week 2014 returned to the Birmingham NEC from September 30 to October 2, providingthree days of networking, live demonstrations, education seminars and new product launches. Here Workoutrounds up some of the show’s highlights.

LIW activity at an all-time high

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LEISURE INDUSTRY WEEK REVIEW44

LAUNCHED at LIW,Ashbourne’s freeebook, “100 Ways ToAttract MoreMembers … andKeep Them forLonger” has alreadybeen downloadedhundreds of timesby gym owners keento pick up someuseful recruitmentand retention tips.

Grant Harrison,Ashbourne UK andIreland accountsmanager andauthor of the ebooksaid: “People wereleafing throughprinted copies we had on our stand at LIW and findingtips they could put into action straight away.

“This was great endorsement that these really areproven practical ways to gain more members withoutneeding to spend a great deal on marketing and adver-tising.”

Grant has been part of the fitness industry for 15years with roles such as personal trainer, membershipsales expert and has even owned and run his own club.With Ashbourne, he now assists over 1000 clubs withtheir membership management and club software.

With pressure from national chain clubs increasing itis essential for independent club owners to be onestep ahead in their marketing. So to obtain your owncopy of ‘100 Ways to Attract More Members...’ go to theebook page on the Ashbourne website www.ash-bourne-memberships.co.uk

LIW-launched ebookdownloaded byhundreds of owners

‘Disabled people workout and work in gyms’By Olivia Taylor

OVER 80 disabled fitness pro-fessionals from the SportEngland InstructAbility pro-gramme attended this year’sLIW, sending out a clear mes-sage that ‘disabled people workout and work in gyms.’

The programme, created byAspire spinal injury charity andYMCAfit has enabled over 100disabled people to qualify asgym instructors.

National InstructAbility proj-ect manager, Hilary Farmiloe,attended LIW in 2013 andrealised that more needed to bedone to promote inclusion.

She explained: “I am con-stantly working in partnershipwith leisure operators who pro-vide placements and employ-ment for disabled gym instruc-tors. I see first hand how theyare working to make facilitiesinclusive, so it came as a shockto see very little of this repre-sented at LIW last year.”

This year, however, was a dif-ferent story.

Gym instructors with a wide

range of impairments talked toexhibitors and other visitors;people with visual impairmentsspent time discussing theimportance of audio technolo-gy with equipment manufac-turers and TRX Training took agroup of wheelchair usersthrough a range of exercises ontheir suspension and rip train-ing equipment.

The highlight of the day was aunique ‘Wheelchair Pull-upChallenge’ where crowds gath-ered to watch the event, stagedby Matrix Fitness, as part oftheir ‘Magnum Mayhem’ show-case.

Dan Edwards, a personaltrainer, who was working onthe Matrix Fitness stand alsotook part in the wheelchair pullups and raised the challengefurther when he competed witha 20kg weighted chain aroundhis shoulders.

Dan added: “It was great forpeople to see that a wheelchairis no barrier to being in thegym or being an instructor.

“LIW was fun, informativeand exciting and now we are

planning how we can make aneven bigger impact next yearand what other industry eventswe can support.”

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LEISURE INDUSTRY WEEK REVIEW 45

Successfulshow forFitQuestAS THE show that launched MIEMedical Research’s new measurementtool in 2013, LIW 2014 proved to bejust as successful for FitQuest.

During the show, 122 attendeesexperienced FitQuest for themselves,with over 62 per cent achieving aFitness Quotient of over 100, thebenchmark figure for average fitnesslevels.

Data taken at the show demonstrat-ed that women performed betterwhen it came to core balance andlower body endurance, whereas menproved that they dominated upperbody endurance, upper body strength,explosive power, lower body strengthand speed ability.

Using this information within a gymenvironment, personal trainers will beable to create a training regimen thatfocuses more on strength training forwomen to improve upper and lowerbody strength, or suggest specialistclasses such as indoor group cycle orabdominal focused exercises for mento improve core strength and lowerbody endurance.

For more information on FitQuestvisit www.mie-uk.com

Visitors to LIW were alsoable to enjoy demonstra-tions and workouts from arange of brands taking tothe show floor.Among the most popularwas the Tabata GroupExercise Arena, which intro-duced the new Tabata Bodyand Tabata Cycle workouts,powered by ICG, while theLIW Live Stage played hostto demonstrations fromPiloxing, Clubbercise,CobraFit, UniKurve, WildTraining Systems and D2FBattle Ropes.The STA Swim Zone wasalso a central feature. Thisincluded a synchronisedswimming display from ZoeCooper, former Britishchampion and star ofBritain’s Got Talent andITV’s Splash.

The Workout team also enjoyed a busythree days at LIW; attending seminars, net-working with visitors and exhibitors andspreading the word about the magazineand National Fitness Awards. EditorChristina also took part in a specialchallenge feature where she tried out someof the latest kit on offer at the show. Lookout for the full story coming next issue.

� The Matrix Fitness stand hosted MarcoSorenson and Alex Albon of the Lotus F1Junior Team along with an impressive dis-play from Doug Edwards, acrobat personaltrainer� Life Fitness impressed with the launch ofSYNRGY BlueSky, its first small group train-ing system designed for outdoor use.Throughout the show, the Life Fitness teamshowcased the versatility of the functionaltraining rig with high energy demonstra-tions across the 12 body weight trainingstations.� Cybex launched the all new Eagle NX, a12 piece strength range which impressedon stand alongside Cybex's Big Iron rackand lifting platform, Bravo functionaltrainer and 790T treadmill with enhancedspeed and incline features, bikes and theArc Trainer.� Physical Company unveiled the TotalGym Elevate Line, a range of body weightresistance, single-station machines, as wellas the SandRope from Hyperwear, whichacts like a battlerope but features sandinside that moves freely to challenge theuser further.� Precor explained the three-year researchproject behind the development of thebrand’s latest treadmill, the new Next-Generation Experience Series Treadmill.The product was designed based on feed-back from an extensive study of operators,exercises and service technicians. The lat-est treadmill incorporates a new motordrive system and a 'Active Status Light' toalert facility staff of its operating condition.

Show highlights

Foundation firstACTIVE Tameside has been named as thefirst recipient of the Refer-all Foundation – itwas announced at LIW – receiving a three-year exercise referral software licence worth£6,000.

The leisure trust, which manages nine cen-tres in the Tameside area, will also receiveset up, support, training and regular soft-ware updates, access to a dedicated accountmanager and the Refer-all team of experts,who will assist them to guide their pro-gramme.

Chief executive of Active Tameside MarkTweedie said: “The Refer-all Foundation isan amazing opportunity for us to bring abrand new programme on board at ActiveTameside. The new exercise on referral pro-gramme will be the first of its kind in GreaterManchester. By using the technology sup-plied by Refer-all we can develop communi-cation with GPs and clinicians and track thedata properly to ensure that the programmeworks effectively and efficiently.”

Life Fitness stand, above, and the Matrix stand is pictured top.

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INDOOR CYCLING AND ROWING46

HAVING successfully bedded-in withVirgin Active and Fitness First,WaterRower are continuing theirstrident charge in commercial fit-ness with the inclusion in the Best-in-Class project with David LloydLeisure.

Not only that, but they continue tofeature in David Lloyd’s OrangeTheory Fitness sites with the secondand third clubs in Aldgate andEnfield opening soon.

The circuit-based group fitnessphenomenon from the USA uses theWaterRower M1 HiRise rowers as anintegral aspect of the training pro-gramme.

UK commercial sales manager BenRymer, believes that the hugeincrease in the popularity of rowingas a category has really helped theircause.

He added: “Clubs who would previ-ously view rowing machines as a

purchasing after-thought now seethe WaterRower as a high-valueaddition to the cardio floor.

“Gym owners are increasinglymore savvy to the different needsand tastes of their members.

“You only need look to the varietyof bike options on your average gymfloor.

“It’s impossible to cater to all con-sumers with one type of rowing

machine.

“The WaterRowers unique styling,and smooth, realistic simulationattract the very same members that are using cross trainers andtreadmills, not just the membersdoing a 500m warm-up before lifting weights, or competitive rowers.”

For more information visitwww.waterrower.com

Operator upgrades at five sitesamid indoor cycling boomINDOOR cycling is booming foroperator New Forest Health andLeisure, which is improving its classoffering and upgrading equipmentacross each of its five sites to caterto demand.

Totton Health and Leisure nowhas a designated studio offeringindoor cycling and is equippedwith 37 Schwinn AC Sport and ACperformance +bikes.

Applemore Health and Leisurehas also benefited from a new stu-dio, equipped with 25 AC Sportbikes and over the next 18 months,the three remaining centres, NewMilton, Ringwood and Lymingtonwill also be replacing their old fleetof Schwinn bikes with the newmodels.

Health and fitness manager atTotton Health and Leisure Toby

White said: “The customer feed-back has been excellent and theyare really appreciating the invest-ment in the new bikes.

“We are averaging about 400indoor cycling class visits per weekat Totton and this is similar acrossall our venues, therefore, indoorcycling represents an integral partof our group exercise programme.

“It's not just down to having greatstudios and bikes but also to a verytalented team of indoor cyclinginstructors and keeping the classesas authentic to road cycling as pos-sible.”

The operator is also gearing up fora busy start to 2015, with otherplans on the horizon includinglaunching Les Mills programmesinto all the leisure venues.

WaterRower continues its charge ...

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INDOOR CYCLING AND ROWING48

WATTBIKE has installeda Performance Zone atNuffield Health’s flagship London Citygym; bringing elite per-formance training to thegym floor.

Featuring a suite ofWattbikes and a largescreen display to trackmembers’ key fitnessmetrics, gym memberswill benefit from a raftof new features recentlyintroduced to theWattbike including livetraining zones and newPower Cycling StudioEdition software.

General manager atNuffield Health CityGym Adam Hanoversaid: “We spoke to ourmembers to understandwhat they wanted fromtheir gym and theWattbike was universallypopular.

“Our WattbikePerformance Zonecaters for the competi-tive nature of City work-ers who love the dataand interaction on thelarge screen.”

Bringing elite to the gym floor

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INDOOR CYCLING AND ROWING 49Visitors to LeisureIndustry Week gotthe chance to tryout the latest prod-ucts from Star Trac,including theSpinner NXT BlackBelt.The company alsoparticipated in theLIW Early MorningWorkouts, whereearly birds throughthe show doorscould kickstart theirday by joining inwith an exerciseclass.

FAREHAM Leisure Centre hasunveiled the results of a £1.5m refur-bishment project, which includedinstalling the latest indoor cyclingand rowing equipment into the gym.

Products featured in the upgradedclub include WattBikes, TrixterXdreamV2 bikes and Concept 2 row-ers, with other improvements includ-ing the addition of two new strength

zones, refurbishing two swimmingpools and the changing village andan extension to the health suite andrelaxation area.

The centre, operated by EveryoneActive on behalf of Fareham BoroughCouncil, celebrated its new look byhosting a free open day for the localcommunity, which included guestappearances from double Olympic

gold champion Rebecca Adlingtonand Olympic diver and BBC Sportscommentator Leon Taylor.

Everyone Active contract managerIan Cook said: “Re-investment is oneof our core principles and we arethrilled with the modernisation andimprovements made.

“Fareham Leisure Centre is a muchloved facility. However, some aspects,

including the changing and poolareas, had not been modernisedsince 1998 so the upgrade was muchneeded. The renovation has greatlyimproved the quality of leisure andrelaxation facilities in the boroughand we hope it will encourage evenmore members of the community tocome, get active and enjoy downtime.”

Centre’s £2m refurbishment completed

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INDOOR CYCLING AND ROWING50

The future of indoor cycling?THE Tour De France bike re-invents outdoor cycling on the gymfloor, whether your members arebeginners or seasoned cyclists

The engaging, interactive consoleand the ability to experience a trulyrealistic outdoor cycling experienceare the TDF bikes’ unique features

Choose rides that you have eithercompleted yourself outside usingthe i fit app from FreemotionFitness, or you can select pre stagesof the Tour De France or other

maps’ videos with google mapsviews on the console.

As well as being able to see thestreet views, this bike also comesequipped with a motorised terrainreplicating feature which seamless-ly inclines 20 per cent and declines10 per cent as the ride topographychanges to simulate gradient.

With 'drop handle' bars, com-bined with a 5:1 gear ratio and thecarbon drive system delivers thequiet, smooth ride of a belt drive

but with the strength and efficiencyof a chain drive to get as close as possible to an actual cycling feel.

The TDF bike has been designedby Freemotion Fitness who collab-orated with 'Giant' to get the bestindoor bike feel yet.

The TDF bike is distributed in theUK by Fitness Systems based inBolton and is available to test intheir showroom now.For more information call 01204 541710.

Partnership extendedTRIXTER has extended its partner-ship with two-time World championand 16-time British champion BMXerScott Beamount for an additional twoyears.

Scott – who is also ranked third inthe world for mountain biking – hasbeen working with the brand andusing Trixter bikes to train for over 10years.

He rides the new XdreamV2 anduses the kit most days for intervaltraining, sprint drills and recoverywork.

Scott said: “Trixter bikes are just soversatile. I have no doubt training onthe kit has helped me get where I amtoday and I’m extremely hopeful thatI will continue my good form in 2014with the support of Trixter and PulseFitness.”

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INDOOR CYCLING AND ROWING52

OLYMPIC cyclist and TeamMatrix ambassador, Dani KingMBE, has officially launched the power-based Matrix IC7 Indoor Cycleand Coach by Color PowerProgram to the UK market.

The athlete, who launched the

product at Leisure Industry Week,has described the IC7 as the‘most relevant, smoothest, staticbike’ she has ever trained on.

Head of marketing at MatrixFitness Gemma Bonnett said:“The launch of the IC7 marks asignificant leap forward in fitness

technology, and we are delightedthat it has received Dani King’sseal of approval – her cycling cre-dentials, including Olympic goldmedalist, World champion, andWorld record holder, make herthe ideal candidate to commenton our latest innovation.”

Product wins Dani’s seal of approval

Pulse Fitness has been named exclusive distributor ofKeiser products to the education, MoD and local authority sectors.The company, which acquired Trixter in 2013, will alsohave exclusive distribution of the M3x Indoor Cycle,which is a result of a product merger between Keiser’saward winning M3 Indoor Fitness Cycle with patented magnetic resistance and Trixter’s popularpatented X-bars.Commercial director for Keiser UK Nick Startin said:“This partnership made complete sense for Keiser. Thesectors that Pulse Fitness operates in complements ourportfolio.“Education and the MoD are sectors we had identified astargets for Keiser and Pulse Fitness have a very strongpresence in these areas. What’s more, Pulse Fitness have made big advancements with their technology inrecent months and looking forward we see lots of synergy with Keiser equipment.”

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SUPPLEMENTATION AND NUTRITION56

USN has relaunched its brand with a refreshed newlook to build a consistent global identity across allmarkets.

The major investment in brand evolution will bene-fit consumers, as well as gyms, supplements storesand nutrition websites that stock the USN range.

With a wide variety of nutritional supplements,USN’s re-launch will see a new logo and simpleand clean design on packaging.

This will not only strengthen the brand, but alsoenhance the shopping experience and enable newand existing consumers to easily identify the prod-uct that suits their own individual workoutrequirements.

Managing director of USN UK Jason Oakley said:“USN aims to reposition itself towards inspiringconsumers to challenge themselves, to go further,push harder and reach their personal performancegoals, whatever they might be. We want to beinvolved in the positive impact our productshave on their journey.”For more information visit ww.usn.co.uk

USN announces majorrelaunch of its brand

£500 equipment forone lucky stockistAS a thank you to their stockists, Gold StandardNutrition are working in part-nership with Yorkshire FitnessHire to give a stockist thechance to win £500 worth offree equipment.

For a limited time only, GoldStandard Nutrition's SteamCooked Chicken Fillets will besent out in limited-editionwhite bags. They will still con-

tain the nutritious chickenfillets that you know and love,but for every 20 bags that aresold the stockist will earn a ballin the draw. After 100 balls havebeen entered, one will bepicked at random to receive theequipment.

It’s simple as that, the morelimited edition bags you buy,the more likely it is that yourgym will win the free gym

equipment provided byYorkshire Fitness, a premiergym equipment company whosupply everything fromcross-trainers to rowing-machines.

Keep an eye out for these lim-ited edition bags and good luckfrom #TeamGSN.For more information call 01757 211740 or visit www.goldstandardnutri-tion.co.uk

ARE you looking for that perfect highprotein snack, pre or post workout?

Look no further as NXT Nutritionhave released their Protein Flapjacks,the next generation of proteinsnacks.

NXT Nutrition’s Protein Flapjacks area new take on the traditional proteinflapjack. NXT's flapjacks are half coat-ed in a layer of chocolate, contain realchocolate chips and are oven bakedjust like a homemade flapjack. Theend result is a softer, great tasting,

high protein, energy sustaining snack. With over 18g of protein and a

healthy serving of low GI carbs, theymake an excellent pre and post work-out snack. Available in two tasty vari-eties: Chocolate Orange andChocolate Chip.

NXT Nutrition’s convenience rangeoffers a great, grab and go, option foryour gym or shop counter.To become a stockist of NXT Nutritiontoday, email [email protected] orcall 01733 232 994 (opt.2).

Next generation of protein snacks

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PRODUCT NEWS58

THE continual growth of CrossFit inthe UK reached new heights lastmonth when 100 top European ath-letes took part in series of punishingWOD’s to find the fittest of them all.

The event is regarded as one of thebest on the UK scene, achievable onlyby using the best equipment, built tolast when taken to extremes.

Wolverson Fitness provided over£35k worth of equipment for theevent. A formidable 26 man rig andan array of Olympic bars andbumpers allowed these athletes toleave nothing behind. Proving onceagain our products are at the fore-front of functionality and durability.

A spokesman said: “We couldn’thave delivered this year’s finals with-out them. So thank you once again

for an extremely professional andhelpful service.”

CrossFit Oswestry calls our Bisonbar the “personal record bar”, becauseevery time it’s used a record falls.

Wolverson powers fitness battle

ORGANO Gold produces a number of gourmet coffee and teas that all contain the active ingredientGanoderma.

Known in Chinese medicine as the“King of Herbs” it contains a numberof active ingredients. Ganoderma is anitrate donor which means it con-tains a lot of the chemicals which thebody uses to make Nitric Oxide.

As the Organo Gold products allcontain 100 per cent certified organicGanoderma, it makes it the perfect

pre-workout drink.Nitric Oxide is one of the most

important molecules in the humanbody because it’s what signals thewalls of blood vessels to relax. Theresult?

Better circulation, better blood flow– meaning better oxygenation of thetissues, better recovery and less ener-gy needed for the same result.To find out more contact [email protected] call 07535-284888 or visitwww.andygill.myorganogold.com

Introducing Organo Gold ...

TGS have recently completed anew 4,000 sqft independent gym,Ripped Fitness, in Wednesbury,Walsall.

The gym showcases the fullrange of FFITTECH equipmentincluding their signature Plateloaded machines, CV machines,Full Power Strength circuit and fullrange of free weights and acces-sories.

TGS also supplied a full range ofre-conditioned Precor Strengthand CV kit to create a 2000sqft

ladies only gym on the first floor.This project is a great example ofhow a combination of new and re-conditioned equipment can beused to ensure that a budget doesnot spiral out of control whilst stillachieving that professional finishthat will have customers queuingto sign up. TGS did not only sup-ply some great kit, the projectincluded gym design, planningand layout as well as full brandingincluding gym logo, signage andmerchandising.

TGS have recently partnered withAction Indoor Sports Group, sup-plying a full CYBEX equipmentpackage to their latest site inBirmingham.

This was a huge project as theformer council leisure centreundertook a full overhaul. Thegym was the last part of the proj-ect and TGS were able to deliveron a tight deadline and provide acost effective solution.For more information visit www.ffit-tech.co.uk

TGS: Making an Impact in the West Midlands

SYNRGY BlueSky is the first small group train-ing system from Life Fitness which is designedspecifically for outdoor use.

It offers 12 body weight training stations tocreate a fun, supportive and inviting workoutenvironment for exercisers of all abilities.

SYNRGY BlueSky combines the benefits ofoutdoor exercise – which is proven to enhancemood and energy – with one of the industry’stop trends, small group training.

Ranked as a top 10 fitness trend by theAmerican College of Sports Medicine for thepast two years, small group training continuesto gain popularity among fitness professionalsand exercisers as a workout that encouragescamaraderie, accountability and intensity,while still allowing trainers to offer individual-ized attention for continuous learning andprogression.

With SYNRGY BlueSky, gyms can now bringtraining programs outdoors with a productthat is engineered to meet outdoor safetystandards, withstand harsh weather condi-tions and provide a wide range of customis-able configurations to fit a variety of spaces

and exercisers. Outdoor training is in hugedemand, and the stations and connectors onSYNRGY BlueSky empower trainers to createfun, energetic classes that can incorporate cir-cuits and interval training. Thanks to numer-ous customizable options including 12 sta-tions and connectors, this small group train-ing unit offers the versatility to keeps usersengaged and allows for easy modifications tofit varying abilities.

For more information visit www.lifefitness.co.uk

Blue Sky thinking from Life FitnessLUXURY health and spa oper-ator, the Reynolds Grouphave just opened their fourthsite at the Reynolds Retreat atBorough Green.

As well as the latest CVequipment from Matrix, withfull TV and entertainmentsystems, the gym features thelatest functional trainingequipment, created in a dedi-cated studio to allow ‘bootstyle’ classes and specialisedpersonal training sessions.

The functional studio offersa diverse training environ-ment from rebounder trainer,Kineses personal training sta-tion, punch bags and aFreedom Climber functionalclimbing trainer wall.

Fitness manager NatalieLane said: “We have expertpersonal trainers includingsome highly qualified master

trainers that will guide themthrough their journeys to abetter lifestyle utilising all thegreat facilities include theFreedom Climber, functionaltraining room, outside assaultcourse and spa facilities.”

The innovative approachmeans the gym can deliverand adapt to a wide range oftraining needs to create theultimate private members’experience.

For more information visitwww.revolutionaryproducts.co.uk

Latest kit for luxury spa

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CLASSIFIED 59EQUIPMENT

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CLASSIFIED 61

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