Workout january 2014

The UK’s No 1 fitness industry magazineJanuary 2014 No 244 £3

Aberdeen thebig winners atbest event yet

Anniversaryto featureevent withSir GeoffTHE organisers behindSIBEC UK have revealedtheir plans for 2014, whenthe event will celebrate its10th anniversary.

To complement the tradi-tional two days of face toface meetings, attendees willalso be able to enjoy anevening with Sir Geoff Hurstand an optional round ofgolf. ukactive has also agreeda partnership with organis-ers, Questex-McLean Events,which will see the twoorganisations workingtogether to deliver the event.

Event director David ZarbJenkins said: “Delegates willhear how it felt to win thatWorld Cup and will have achance to pose questions toone of England’s football leg-ends.”

ukactive CEO David Stalkeradded: “SIBEC UK provides avital platform for operatorsand suppliers to discuss col-laborative opportunities in aprofessional yet relaxedenvironment. The formulahas been successful for 10years and I am looking for-ward to a more formal rela-tionship with what hasbecome one of our sector’smost beneficial events.”

The event takes place onMay 20-21 at The Belfry.

Managing director of Health and Leisure SolutionsLLP, Ian Kendall, scooped the LifetimeAchievement Award at the National FitnessAwards 2013, in recognition of a career in theindustry spanning almost 40 years. Ian’s wealth ofexperience includes working for local govern-ment, charitable trusts and the private sector andhe has had strategic involvement as a boardmember or director of organisations including theFIA, Skills Active, Sporta and the Oldham AthleticCommunity Trust, as well as being a past presi-dent of ILAM. He received his award from hostCaroline Pearce and category sponsor Kevin Scottfrom Harlands Group.

By Christina Eccles

OVER 700 people enjoyed Workout’sfourth National Fitness Awards at ThePalace Hotel in Manchester, which cel-ebrated its best year yet.

Organised by Script Events, in part-nership with Workout and with supportfrom headline sponsor Servicesport,the event celebrates achievement andexcellence throughout the fitnessindustry.

The big winners on the night includedAberdeen Sports Village who cameaway with three trophies – includingthe coveted National Gym of the Year –a delighted Rigs Fitness who werecrowned Best Newcomer and ChokdeeAcademy in York who after being short-listed for the award every year, pickedup the trophy for Combat Zone Gym ofthe Year.

Winners 2000 Fitness in NewtonAbbot also had two reasons to celebrateon the night...

The club retained its title of RegionalGym of the Year South, while staffmember Adam Stansbury was namedGym Based Personal Trainer of the Year.

After the awards, the Winners 2000Fitness team said: “Incredible eveningguys! Each year gets better and better!Looking forward to reaching new

heights and seeing you all next year!”The glittering awards’ evening was

hosted by top TV presenter CarolinePearce and radio presenter Guy Harris,with guests – who included well knownfaces such as Coronation Street starKym Marsh – enjoying a festive themeddrinks reception, three-course dinner,the presentation of the awards anddisco.

National Fitness Awards’ directorJudith Halkerston said: “Thank you toeveryone who helped make the nightso special – it was great to see howdelighted our winners were at theirsuccess and thanks for the continuedsupport from our sponsors – some newones and some who have supportedthe National Fitness Awards from dayone.

“Congratulations though should go toeveryone who was short-listed as thestandard of entries keeps improvingyear on year. The awards celebrate allthat is good about our industry and, Ithink, the awards’ night showed notonly that we all have much to be proudof but that fitness professionals cer-tainly know how to party! Hope to seeyou all next year.”� Details of the 2014 National FitnessAwards will be announced early nextyear.

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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:Dominic MusgraveTel: 01226 [email protected]

www.workout-uk.co.uk

Official media partner ofukactive

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

Entrepreneur Ross reveals gymaim for his low carb noodles By Christina Eccles

AN entrepreneur who successfullysecured investment for his businesson TV’s Dragons’ Den has revealedambitions to launch his low carb noo-dle products into gyms.

Ross Mendham came up with theidea of Bare Naked Foods after spot-ting a gap in the market for low carbpasta products.

After spending time developing hisidea and building up a following sell-ing them online, he pitched the ideato the Dragons’ Den panel andsecured investment from ‘Dragon’Peter Jones – enabling him to take thebusiness to the next level.

Ross explained: “I began a low-carbdiet a few years back to try and losesome weight but the problem was, Ihad a real craving for pasta and noo-dles.

“I did some research to try and findsome low-carb pasta but came upwith nothing. That's when I had my“Eureka” moment – why not createmy own low-calorie, low-carb noodleproduct?

“I spent 18 months on developing a

suitable product and visited China tofind a manufacturer who could help.

“I had tried standard shirataki noo-dles before but wasn't keen on thetexture so I looked into creating akonjac-based pasta which was morepalatable but was still low in carbsand calories.”

The products are currently availablevia the Bare Naked Foods website andin Holland and Barratt and GNC UKstores.

From next April, they will also beavailable in Boots and in the future,potentially stocked in supermarketsand gyms.

Ross added: “It would be wonderfulif our products could be available forpeople to pick up on their way home– our Bare Naked noodles make anexcellent post-workout meal.

“Bodybuilding athletes OllieMatthews and Claire Bird swear byour noodles, but they are great for alltypes of people looking to managetheir weight and nutrition.

“Some gyms may also be able tooffer our noodles cooked and servedas tasty meals in their cafe or restau-rant.”

Ross Mendham with his Bare Naked Foods’ products.

Ross Mendham secured investment from ‘Dragon’ Peter Jones.

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PT combines exerciseand performance artsfor her new company PERSONAL trainer Laura Daglish hasset up a fitness company, which spe-cialises in combining exercise withperformance arts techniques to createfeel good workouts.

Laura, who has a Masters degree inContemporary Arts Practice fromLancaster University, has receivedguidance and financial support in set-ting up her business from the univer-sity’s Faculty of Arts and SocialSciences Enterprise Centre andResearch Enterprise Services.

She explained: “I am different frommany personal trainers as I work onthe mind and body to increase peo-ple’s confidence and self-esteem aswell their fitness and well-being.

“All my classes, workshops andtraining sessions have a fusion of fit-ness and drama practices.

For example, Pilates classes withdrama visualisations and personaltraining sessions with fitness, nutri-tion and confidence boosting dramatechniques to enable the client to feelgood about themselves and helpthem achieve their goals.”

Laura’s workshops can includeunique elements, such as filming herclients’ exercise techniques, body lan-guage and speech at the beginning of

the sessions then again at the end toshow improvements.

She added: “I provide people with atoolkit of techniques and skills whichpromote confidence and healthy liv-ing for them to use not only duringtraining sessions but also to take awayto use in their day to day lives. I trulybelieve it is possible for people toachieve their goals, and that I canhelp them to make these changeswith my positive and enthusiasticattitude, by being tuned in to individ-uals’ needs and by working with thewhole person, body and mind.”

Once a month, Laura will also belaunching an online, week-longVitality Week, which will include aseven day online Pilates and vitalityboosting programme.

Laura Daglish

GROUP training concept Speedflexhas marked the opening of its firstLondon studio with a 24-hour celebri-ty Speedflexathon.

With a start time of 8am, trainers ledback-to-back hourly sessions until8am the following day, burning acombined calorie count of 126,172over the 24-hour period.

The three high-profile Speedflexambassadors – Alan Shearer, Rob Lee

and Ben Shepherd – were also inattendance and burnt a combined9,962 calories during their sessions.

Managing director of SpeedflexEurope Paul Ferris said: “TheSpeedflexathon was a great way toopen our London centre whichattracted over 150 people throughoutthe 24 hour period.

“Having Alan, Rob and Ben thereonly added to the excitement.”

24-hour event marks openingSpeedflex opened with a 24-hour celebrity Speedflexathon.

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Expert Chris aims toget city into shapeA SOUTH Yorkshire fitness expert hasrevealed plans to get people in shapeafter setting up his own business.

Sports and exercise science graduateChris Mason has created Chris MasonPerformance, based in Sheffield, spe-cialising in helping clients to improvetheir health and change their bodyshapes.

Chris said: “When people thinkabout their weight or fitness they tendto want a quick fix.

“We are definitely not about that.Our philosophy is to train smarter,not harder or longer with the focusbeing on building health which inturn allows us to achieve fat lossmuch quicker and with longevity. Itdoesn’t matter where someone isstarting from – we work with sportingpeople to complete beginners. As longas the client is committed and pre-pared to give their all, they’ll see theresults, as many of our clients have.”

Chris set up his privately run,appointment only facility as henoticed a lack of emphasis on clientresults in the gyms he has previouslyworked from as a freelance trainer.

He added: “For us, it is not aboutgym memberships or having thou-sands of members in our facility, itmatters that we train the right peoplewith the right amount of focus anddesire to see real tangible results.

“This is a real passion of mine and

I’ve sought out the best people in theindustry investing significant money,time and effort into learning andtraining from them to ensure we areoffering our clients the best possibleexperiences and results whilst work-ing with our coaches at CMP.

“Chris Mason Performance is allabout taking training to a more pro-fessional arena and improving peo-ple's understanding of how to eathealthy, how to train correctly butmore importantly to give our clientsthe tools on how to stay in shape oncethey are there.

“We have seen some fantastic resultsand our website shows the visuals ofclients before and after working withus are really remarkable. Anyone whois prepared to ditch the fad diets andlack of results will be the perfectclient for us.”

Chris Mason

Barno Bootcamp founders Victoria Hudson and Stephanie Guest.

THE founders of an outdoor boot-camp have raised hundreds ofpounds for Macmillan CancerSupport by organising a charity event.

Creators of Barno Bootcamp,Stephanie Guest and Victoria Hudson,held a special bootcamp in Barnsley’sLocke Park, which included a work-out, raffle with prizes donated by localbusinesses, and a cake sale.

So far, the pair have raised £850,with money still coming in.

Stephanie said: “We chose to do a

charity event because we have had somuch support and encouragementsince starting bootcamp and wewanted to give something back.

“There were over 30 participants inbootcamp ranging from three yearsold to 60. The day was a huge success,enjoyed by everyone who attended.

“We would like to say a massivethank you to everyone that donatedor helped in any way at all, as the daywouldn't have been possible withoutthem.”

Charity event raises £850

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ACTRESS and fitness fan GemmaAtkinson has joined female fitnessbrand USA Pro’s Pro Team.

As well as modelling the new range,Gemma will have an active role with-in the team, providing expertise on allmatters of health and fitness, includ-ing training, nutrition and toning.

She will be joining personal trainerLucy Wyndham Read and brandambassador Kirsty Gallacher in thestable of experts associated with the

brand. USA Pro brand manager Alicia

Adcock said: “We are delighted tohave Gemma on board as a Pro Teamambassador.

“Her healthy lifestyle combined withher approach to exercise and fitnessreflects the core values of the USA Probrand, and is an inspiration to ourcustomers.

“We are all really excited aboutworking with Gemma.”

Actress Gemma joins USA ProGemma Atkinson

LEISURE trusts around the countryhave been invited to bid for a share of£2m, thanks to a partnership betweenSport England and Sporta.

The National Lottery funding fromSport England will be distributedthrough Sporta’s Make Your Movecampaign, which will assist in gettingfunding into sports trusts.

Trusts can apply for up to £50,000 offunding to deliver projects that willhelp more people play sport.

Sport England’s property directorCharles Johnston said: “Leisure trustsplay a central role in delivering highquality sports projects in towns andcities across the country.

“I am delighted to work with Sportaensuring that trusts get the supportthey need and continue to engagepeople with sport for the first timewhilst also helping them to overcomebarriers they may encounter.”

Sites already benefiting from thescheme include Fusion Lifestyle,which operates 45 sport and leisuresites across the country, and has beenawarded £43,000 for its Friday NightProject. In an attempt to reduce anti-social behaviour in Camberwell,Croydon and Lewisham, the trust willask young people the type of sportsessions and fitness activities they

want to do and make them happen atfour sites throughout the capital everyFriday evening.

In Stockport, Life Leisure has beenawarded £17,000 towards ActiSPORTwhich aims to get sedentary andobese people in the most deprivedareas of the city more active.

The first phase will see each persontake part in six weeks of gentle activi-ty, such as walking and running,before moving on to 20 weeks ofcoaching in a sport of their choice.

Sporta CEO Brian Leonard added:“Make Your Move will support Sportamembers in delivering innovativelocal community sports programmesfor people aged 14 and above. We aimto increase the number of peopleplaying sport every week and to dothis we need to understand whatworks and what doesn’t. This pro-gramme will give us invaluable feed-back so we can continue to increaseparticipation in years to come.”

As one of the largest leisure trustmembership associations in England,Sporta’s members operate 30 per centof public facilities across the country,attracting more than 230m customervisits each year. Applications for fund-ing are now being accepted and willclose on January 6.

Trusts invited tobid for a share ofpartnership’s £2m

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Fitness instructor Matty Ward with gym owner Graham Barlow. Photo: Marek Jarosi

By Christina Eccles

THE owner of a newly opened gym onthe Isle of Wight has told how organis-ing member challenges, which createa strong sense of community spirit,have helped the club to quickly builda loyal following.

Evolution in Ryde opened in Augustafter owner Graham Barlow spotted agap in the market for a new club onthe island.

Graham, who is running the clubwith his wife, said: “After seeing gymson the island segregate bodybuildersfrom casual gymgoers, we wanted todo the opposite and eradicate the “usand them” feel so many gyms have.

“So far we have done this by intro-ducing members to each other whoperhaps had or have similar goals,and by running competitions that cre-ate a community spirit.”

Recent member challenges include aweek long deadlift, squat and benchpress challenge, which Graham said

he was pleased to see had gone downwell with both male and female mem-bers.

He added: “About half the peoplewho entered were women and theyhave now incorporated this kind ofexercises into their routine when theyhad never used free weights before.

“We are currently running a fitnesstest at the moment organised inteams.

“Again this is proving very popularand motivational for both staff andcustomers, with all progress over sixweeks being logged and a cash prizeat the end.”

The club has already attracted sever-al hundred members and word ofmouth and social networking haveboth been helpful in spreading theword.

Graham added: “We also communi-cate several times a day with ourmembers via Facebook, again rein-forcing that familiarity with membersand them with each other.”

Member challengeshelp new gym tobuild a following

Mayor of Kirklees Coun. Martyn Bolt and his wife are pursuing a healthier lifestyle by tak-ing out Kirklees Active Leisure fitness membership. The pair now join nearly 20,000 otherKAL members, who can benefit from multi centre usage while out and about in Kirklees.The mayor said: “During their term of office a mayor is often asked to be an ambassadorfor events and organisations. Knowing the benefit and value of keeping fit and healthy Iam pleased to encourage Kirklees residents. I hope that the busy Civic diary will allow meto occasionally sample the high quality, excellent value facilities which KAL offers.”

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PERFORMANCE Health Systems hasappointed Fitness Superstore as anauthorised retailer of its Power Platewhole body vibration devices.

Fitness Superstore will serve the UKmarket and sell from its showroomsand website.

Staff have been fully trained byPerformance Health Systems on thePower Plate range.

Fitness Superstoreappointed retailer

David Lloyd launchesnew payroll schemeDAVID Lloyd Leisure has introducedDL Flex – a discounted health clubmembership scheme offering compa-nies a way to give their employeesaccess to exercise through a payrollscheme.

DL Flex can be run as an HMRCapproved salary sacrifice schemeeither within a flexible benefits pro-gramme or as a separate salary sacri-fice benefit.

Alternatively, companies can chooseto run DL Flex as a simple net paygym loan deduction.

Corporate marketing manager Claire

Bettles said: “David Lloyd Leisure isdelighted to support companies whowant to look after their employees’wellbeing and help them keep fit andhealthy.

“It is well known that encouragingyour teams to be physically active canhelp lower sickness, boost productivi-ty and improve morale.

“With its unrivalled facilities andservices and leading expertise, DavidLloyd Leisure membership is a greatway to encourage employees toimprove their work-life balance andlifestyle through exercise and fitness.”

Players from Barnsley FC have officially launched The Metrodome Leisure Complex’s newMyride+ indoor cycling studio. The studio is the latest development at The Metrodome inthe last two years, following upgrades to its Fitness Flex suite and, most recently, the cre-ation of a luxurious Relaxation Suite adjacent to the members’ changing areas. Head ofbusiness development at Barnsley Premier Leisure Steve Roberts said: “The first team play-ers from Barnsley FC were treated to a Myride+ fitness session and thoroughly enjoyedthemselves.”

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Contract or agreement – is ithelping your retention figures?By Dr Paul Bedford

WHILE contracts may not be the sexi-est topic around increasing memberretention, it is the one I get asked themost questions about.

However, the real question shouldnot be whether or not you shouldhave contracts but, what do youmean when you say contracts?

Do you mean a binding legal agree-ment that you will enforce in order torecover your lost income should themember fail to pay?

Or do you mean an agreement,where you encourage them to make12 payments over a year and if theydon’t you will have some interactionto try to recover some of the money,but eventually let them go, becauseyou are uncomfortable with the pos-sible negative publicity if this endedup in court or the local papers?

My recent White Report of 342,759members illustrates that memberswho take out contracts stay longerthan members who buy membershipson a month-by-month basis.

But what’s noticeable between thelast national retention report in 2002and my latest study in 2008 is themuch wider range of contract lengths.

In 2002 we had one month, threemonth, six-month, 12-month, 12-month plus extra month/s, 18-monthand 24-month contracts.

In the table, we can now see thatalmost half of memberships sold areon a month-by-month basis, with nofixed length of agreement and a thirdas 12-month contracts/agreements.

Private operators appear muchmore confident at selling longer con-tracts than the public sector.

They also appear more willing toenforce contracts, where the publicsector is more likely to treat them as

agreements. I’m not suggesting one isright and the other wrong, I just thinkthe public and private sectors havedifferent approaches to selling mem-berships and that impacts on howlong members stay.

So why do members who buy intocontracted periods stay for longer?From a psychological point of view it’sto do with consistency.

Once we publicly make a decision todo something our brain looks forways to make that consistent. So if wemake a comment about behaviour; “Ialways think like that”, then our brainlooks for ways to make that the truth.

When members commit to a con-tracted period, the brain seeks waysto commit to that.

As the member has to do little forthat to stay true, just keep paying, ithas a big enough effect on the pay-ment process that members will con-tinue to pay, even if they don’t attend.

This may also be supported by theindividual’s belief that they willbecome a committed exerciser atsome point.

Much in the same way you commit

to a mobile phone contract. You com-mit to pay for an agreed length oftime and only look to change phonesif your phone doesn’t work or you areat the end of the contracted period.

So, when you choose to introduce acontracted period make sure that, ifyou discount it, you don’t end upreceiving less money than you wouldif they had no contract.

This can be calculated by identifyingthe median length of stay for non-contracted members, identifyingwhat the revenue total from themwould be, and calculating how muchyou need to charge to make at leastthe same amount.

For further help, check out my tuto-rial on how to measure memberretention atwww.retentionguru.com/videos� Dr Paul Bedford is the fitnessindustry’s leading authority on reten-tion, attrition and customer experi-ence management and the author ofThe National Retention Report.

You can find out more atwww.retentionguru.co.uk or by fol-lowing @guru_paul on Twitter.

Agreement lengthOne month 2-5 months6-11 months12 months> 12 months

No.163,12336,0525,933115,07322,578

Percentage47.610.51.733.56.6

Dr Paul Bedford

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Experts join forces to launchspecialist group qualification By Christina Eccles

TWO fitness training experts haveteamed up to launch a specialistgroup exercise qualification.

The FitEx qualification combinesthe Level Two Fitness Instructor qual-ification with Les Mills InternationalInstructor certification and has beendeveloped by Les Mills UK andLifetime Training.

Instructor experience director at LesMills UK Jean-Ann Marnoch said:“The Global popularity of Les MillsProgrammes demonstrates the valueand opportunities available to LesMills instructors.

“Les Mills UK is pleased to be work-ing with Lifetime Training to ensurethat Les Mills instructors continue toprovide quality driven exercise expe-riences for the public and employers.”

The new qualification comprisesLevel Two Anatomy and Physiology,the five key elements of training, aswell as trainer soft skills, plus one ortwo Les Mills programmes.

Courses can be completed withintwo to three months through a varietyof learning methods and tools, suchas home study, online learning, fourdays split across classroom and gym,10 hours Les Mills pre-course chore-ography learning, plus live training.

Those interested in taking the newFitEx qualification have the option tochoose from one of seven Les Mills

programmes, including Body Balance,Body Combat and Sh’Bam.

The course includes entry onto theRegister of Exercise Professionals atLevel Two and 20 CPD points. EachLes Mills programme earns instruc-tors an additional 16 REPs points.

Client services director at LifetimeTraining Nigel Wallace added: “Fitnessinstructors and PTs need more thantechnical skills and this will become

increasingly clear as their roleschange and become more demandingin the future.

“Whilst we build key practical, com-munication and commercial skillsinto our certificate and diplomacourses, having the FitEx Awardincluding one or two Les MillsProgrammes, really enhances aninstructor's employment opportuni-ties and value.”

FitEx qualification combines the Level Two Fitness Instructor qualification with Les MillsInternational Instructor certification.

PREMIER Training International’sglobal marketing director, VictoriaBranch, has been shortlisted in themarketer of the year category at the2014 Chartered Institute ofMarketing’s Marketing ExcellenceAwards.

Responsible for implementing mar-keting operational efficiency meas-ures, leading to company savings of£250,000, Victoria has successfullydiversified the company’s marketingmix to include digital initiatives inaddition to more traditional market-ing, advertising and PR methods

She said: “I am delighted to havebeen recognised for this award andvery proud of the work the marketingteam has done.

“The nomination goes to show thatwe are working in the right directionto take Premier Training Internationalinto a new digital era, whilst embrac-ing new technologies and ideas tograb the attention of our target demo-graphic.”

Winners will be announced at a cer-emony in London on February 12.

Victoria up fortop accolade

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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.

WHAT a great night we had...!The fourth National Fitness Awards

went off with a bang in Manchester,attracting the biggest crowd ever seenat the event and providing a great wayfor the industry to celebrate anothersuccessful year.

Our winners came from all cornersof the UK – from Aberdeen rightdown to Cornwall – showcasing theexcellent work that is being done ingyms around the country.

It was great to see so many of youthere on the night and we hope youenjoyed the event. A big thank you toour presenters Caroline Pearce andGuy Harris for their hard work and toall our sponsors for your continuoussupport.

For those of you who couldn’t makeit, we’ve included a round up of allthe action from the evening anddetails of our winners in a special fea-ture this issue. Turn to page 47 formore.

Even though we’ve only just got overthe excitement of the 2013 NFAs,already our attention is now focusedon how we can make the awards evenbigger and better for 2014. Butalthough we are thrilled they keep ongrowing year on year, one of ourbiggest challenges is finding the rightvenue.

So, if you have any suggestions ofsomewhere we could take the awardsto in 2014 or want to comment onwhat you would like to see at theevent, we would love to hear fromyou.

In other news this issue, we take alook at why the appetite for function-al training is showing no sign of slow-ing down, reveal the latest technologyand software helping operatorsstreamline their businesses and I takepart in one of my favourite challengesyet – Fitsteps.

I’ve been going to weekly Fitsteps’classes for over a month now andalthough I’m nowhere near up to thestandard of founders Natalie Loweand Ian Waite, I’m loving getting togrips with dancing and can definitelysee improvements week on week, sowatch this space!

As we begin 2014, as always, wewould love to hear from our readersand find out more about the workyou are doing in your gyms. Contactus via email at [email protected] on Facebook and Twitter.

Best wishes for the new year from allof the Workout team and we look for-ward to working with you in the yearahead.

Christina Eccles

Editor’s Comment

NFAs a hot topic for clubs, PTs and sponsors

The Workout office got into the Christmas spirit by wearing our festive winter woollies for Christmas Jumper Day – and we weren’tthe only ones. The Brentwood Centre also contacted us on Twitter to say they were joining in the fun. Here’s a picture of the team intheir best Christmas jumpers.

AS the owner of a private gym I feelreally isolated and without any formof help whatsoever.

I have the real misfortune to have acouncil run charitable trust within amile of my gym which spendsmoney like a drunken sailor and aminvolved in a constant losing battledue to massive overheads everymonth which the other facility doesnot face at all.

As I don’t seem to meet any bank’scriteria I have no money to invest inmy business and due to VAT billsevery quarter the money I do makegoes straight to HMRC.

This plus my huge council ratesbill each month means I have gonedown to one member of staff andam working 55 hours a week foraround £3.00 an hour.

I love my gym, we have 600 localcommunity members who I knowwould be crushed if I had to closedown. Although I’d love a level play-ing field, I’m old and wise enough to

realise that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

All in it together yeah right.Derek Ireland

Lifestyle Fitness Centre,Greenfield

WITH reference to your front cover,November 2013.

As the owners of Ufford ParkWoodbridge, Hotel Golf and Spa,your feature strikes a raw nerve.

VAT application is grossly distortedwith both of our membership clubs,health and golf, however golf is themost blatant to ourselves.

Members’ owned golf clubs enjoyVAT free membership subscriptions,whereas proprietors can provide anidentical facility/product and theirmembership fees have to include 20per cent VAT.

Colin and Shirley Aldous

WE totally agree with Andy Peacockregarding VAT on memberships.

We have been running our club inKirkcaldy for the past 15 years nowand are finding it increasingly moredifficult making the 20 per cent VATpayments as the local council hasopened up a new leisure centre onour doorstep and are running it asFife Sports and Leisure Trust.

Luckily for us there is no parkingso we have lost approximately 20members so far, mainly councilworkers and students who are pay-ing only £15 per month.

If we were to compete with thisprice we would be as well closingdown after VAT, tax and overheadsare deducted!

We would very much like to hearhow Andy gets on with his localcouncil as we already have a trainingscheme in place for school leaversand would love to offer more sup-port to the local community.

Margaret McLean Priory Park Health Club,

Kirkcaldy

Fighting a losing battle ...

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

THE hot topic among our Facebookand Twitter followers this monthwas the National Fitness Awards,with many clubs, personal trainersand sponsors contacting us to saywhat a great night they had inManchester.

Here’s what else we’ve been dis-cussing over the last few weeks:

Christina Eccles: Lovely to speak to@realnatalielowe earlier about thesuccess of @Fit_Steps. Look out forthe feature in the next issue of@WorkOutUK.

CB's Gym: We have just opened a newgym in Brighouse. Love readingWorkout Magazine, lots of inspira-tion and useful tips!

Tyke Racing: Looking forward to wel-coming @WorkOutUK and guests tothe track ... Anyone got their eye onthe lap record guys?

Zoe Cooke: I have just been inter-

viewed about GymophobicsRedditch winning Ladies Gym ofThe Year for Radio Hereford andWorcestershire. Two local papersrunning the story too.

The Workout sales team plus guests enjoyed a day out at Tyke Racing in Barnsley.

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Last year, Workout reported on hot new class Fitsteps, created by Strictly Come Dancing professionals Natalie Loweand Ian Waite and champion swimmer Mark Foster. For this month’s challenge, Christina Eccles caught up withNatalie to find out how things are going – and got bitten by the Fitsteps bug.

Ballroom inspired class setto take industry by stormWHEN Workout last spoke to Ian andNatalie, the idea of Fitsteps was justtaking off and they were preparing forthe first wave of instructor courses...

... fast forward a few months and theclasses have taken off massively, with1200 instructors now in place, deliver-ing sessions in gyms and communitycentres up and down the country.

Since the launch of Fitsteps, peopleof every age have been swept up inthe excitement of the ballroom – andwith endless possibilities for progres-sion and the development of newchoreography, Fitsteps is set to be oneof the industry’s hottest classes in2014.

Natalie explained: “I’m really excit-ed. It’s been really successful and weare getting amazing feedback frominstructors who have been saying it’sthe most intense, professional coursethey have been on.

“Things have been moving surpris-ingly fast – we’re making lots ofprogress. And people are loving it –both the teachers and those takingpart. “

A typical Fitsteps class combinesmoves from some of the most popular

Latin and ballroom dances – many ofwhich can be seen on Strictly ComeDancing – into a continuous, seam-less workout.

The classes are suitable for any ageand no previous dance experience ora partner is necessary – meaningeveryone with a love of dance cangive it a go.

For the coming months, the Fitstepsteam will be working hard to get theword out there even further, withmore instructor dates lined up forJanuary and February and the releaseof a DVD, which will enable people topractice the moves between classes.

Natalie – who will also be appearingon the Strictly Come Dancing live tourin the new year – also told Workoutshe would like to see more men getinvolved in the classes and spin offsessions are also in the pipeline,designed especially for older adultsand kids.

She added: “I’m so proud to have myname to this and just want to keepworking hard.

“I want everyone to feel the love forballroom dancing and what it can dofor you.”

I’VE been attending a weeklyFitsteps class at my local communitycentre for about a month now and Ican honestly say it’s one of the mostfun classes I have ever tried.

During the 45 minute sessions, Ihave been put through my paceswith a number of dance stylesincluding the jive, quickstep, paso

doble, waltz, rhumba and samba,with the moves blended into a con-tinuous workout where participantsmove from one dance step to anoth-er and one style to another.

The class I attend has been attract-ing people of all ages and as well asbeing great fun, I also like the fact it’ssomething which appeals to every-

one – my mum comes to the classeswith me – and you don’t need a part-ner to get involved.

Although, I haven’t picked up all ofthe steps straightaway – the waltzdefinitely takes lots of practice – I’venoticed an improvement week onweek, which has encouraged me tokeep going.

As well as perfecting the dancesI’ve already tried, as the classesprogress, I’m also looking forward totrying other dances we haven’tlooked at yet and will definitely con-tinue going to Fitsteps in the newyear. And with a bit more practice,maybe you’ll see me on a futureseries of Strictly Come Dancing...!

challengechristina

Fitsteps founders IanWaite, Natalie Loweand Mark Foster.

A fun class which appeals to people of all agesA Fitsteps class in action.

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The music mattersBy Rachel Holmes

IN all my years of teaching fitnessclasses of every discipline, from Stepsessions to HiiT classes, there's onefactor that's consistent to a successfulsession; high quality, motivationalmusic that will fire up your partici-pants.

Being part of the Pure Energy musicproduction team, I see first hand whatgoes into creating each and everyalbum that we release, whether it's achilled out Mind Body mix or a fastpaced, blood pumping Hi-Impactrelease.

Our team of skilled producers haveyears of experience in creating musicfor fitness, ensuring each link isseamless, each mix is 32 count

phrased and that the BPM follows anaerobic curve suited to the discipline.

Because every mix is hand crafted(nothing is auto-mixed in the PureEnergy studios!) it means we cancover all genres and music styles,from 60s to current chart hits, souland motown to deep house.

I personally road-test every albumthat comes out of the Pure Energystudios before it's sent to the pressingplant, to ensure that the mix works ina class environment.

Pure Energy produce album rangesusing both original artist music andhigh quality cover versions, meaningyour music needs are met no matterwhat your licensing requirements are.

For more information visit www.pureenergymusic.com

The services of a personal trainer and chef form part of a special new year package at avenue in Cumbria. Beech House Holidays’ 18th Century Threshing Barn can be hired exclu-sively for up to eight people for three nights throughout January and February for thosewho want to take part in its New Year’s Resolution Retreat and get back on track withhealthy living. The package includes a personal chef throughout the stay to provide nutri-tious breakfasts, lunches and dinners; a personal trainer on hand for a full day to provide amorning boot camp, afternoon Pilates session and bespoke fitness advice for each guest;full day’s cycle hire, plus a beauty therapist on hand to provide a relaxing facial and ahamper of Bath House treats for guests to use throughout their stay.

A LONDON based indoor cycling stu-dio has held its first City Bike Battleevent to raise money for charity.

The event saw teams from all overthe City of London riding against eachother to find out who had thestrongest cyclists.

Teams from companies such asKeddie Scott Associates, PriceWaterhouseCooper, KPMG, theFinancial Times and Vantage CapitalMarkets entered teams of five ridersinto the 35-minute ride session,which took place in Cyclebeat’s stu-dio. The studio’s cutting edgeBeatboard technology displayed eachteam’s cycling power and averageenergy in front of the class, which

provided motivation and competitionbetween all teams, with talent agents

Keddie Scott Associates werecrowned the overall winners.

Co-founder of Cyclebeat Greg Allonsaid: “This event was a first forLondon – our unique technology letteams ride against each other in anindoor environment for the first time.

“It was fantastic to watch the com-petitive nature of individuals in theCity coming alive in the Cyclebeatstudio and raising £1,800 for HOPE-HIV was a great accomplishment forall involved.

“We plan to organise more of theseevents in the future to raise moremoney for charity.”

Studio raises cash for charityThe first City Bike Battle took place at Cyclebeat’s studio in London.

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A LUXURY spa hotel has revealedplans for a £10m investment, whichwill include a new leisure wing com-plete with swimming pool and gym.

Galgorm Resort and Spa, which hasinvested more than £25m in the last10 years to create one of the mostsuccessful, luxurious spa hotels in theUK and Ireland, is extending theleisure facilities – and adding 48 newbedrooms – to the property inBallymena, County Antrim, with workdue for completion in 2015.

Operations director Paul Smyth said:“We’re delighted that the Departmentof Environment’s planning depart-ment and environment minister MarkH Durkan have given us the formal

go-ahead to proceed with our plans toprovide additional new bedrooms andleisure facilities, which will ensurethat we will continue to meet thedemands of our quality-focused localand international customer base.

“These plans have been carefullybased on our commitment to not onlygrow the business further but also onour commitment to deliver a topquality offering that continuallyexceeds the expectations of ourguests. When combined with the sig-nificant investment made to date, weare confident that the extra facilitieswill underpin future growth andensure our guests return time andtime again.”

Galgorm Resort and Spa

£10m leisure wing to includegym and swimming pool

AWARDS and qualifications bodyCYQ has joined ukactive’s VanguardGroup.

ukactive will now be supportingCYQ to undertake a detailed surveyinto what knowledge and skills pro-fessionals from the sector require.

The survey will focus in particularon establishing the skills needed toattract inactive populations withincommunities to get active.

Head of CYQ Jenny Patrickson said:

“I am delighted that CYQ has joinedukactive as a new Vanguard member.

“It is absolutely essential that as anawarding organisation we engageeffectively with the sector in whichwe operate to ensure that we developqualifications that are robust, fit forpurpose and of real value to employ-ers.”

The outcomes of the survey will beshared in a number of free to attendseminars later this year.

Awards body joins group

By Christina Eccles

WITH a possible influx of new faces inthe New Year, gyms should think seri-ously about installing defibrillatorsinto their clubs, according to anexpert.

Mark Roberts, director at emergencyspecialists Evac+Chair Internationalhas warned that failure to have anAutomated External Defibrillator onthe premises could make the differ-ence between life and death, shouldan emergency arise.

He explained: “To put the impor-tance of an AED into perspective, youneed to look at the vital role it canplay.

“Sudden Cardiac Arrest is one of theUK’s biggest killers causing 100,000deaths every year, and can affect any-one regardless of age, lifestyle or gen-der.

“Undiagnosed heart arrhythmiascan mean that there are individualsacross the UK that are susceptible tocardiac arrests without their knowl-edge.

“We’re aware of high profile caseswhere healthy individuals, such as

footballer Fabrice Muamba, havebeen struck by SCA without an indi-cation of ever suffering from a heartcondition, so whether a person is afitness fanatic or stepping into a gymfor the first time the risk of SCA stillexists.”

According to experts, the window totreat a person who has gone into SCAis extremely limited, with shockingthe heart back into normal rhythm asquickly as possible being a crucialaction for saving the life.

Using an AED increases the chancesof survival from nine per cent to 50per cent if used within those funda-mental four minutes of SCA occur-ring.

Mark added “Our CardiAid AED pro-vides comprehensive assistance to theuser, guiding them with clear verbaland visible instructions throughoutthe whole process.

“Furthermore the AED remainscompletely safe for the patient anduser.

“The device accurately analyses theheart rhythm of the patient and onlyallows an electric shock to be given ifthat action is required.”

New Year resolutionsbring calls to installdefibs at more clubs

Oldham Community Leisure has a new teamsports leader – Rachel Hosker. Rachel (pic-tured left) will be tasked with helping toboost activity levels through team sports inthe local community and will be responsiblefor ensuring the effective management andprofitability of the existing sports leagueswithin OCL. She said: “I’m hoping to bringsome fresh ideas to the table that willencourage higher participation rates. I’velearned that it’s vital to really get to knowyour customers, so you truly understandtheir requirements, both when buildingexisting leagues and creating new ones. Thetrust’s mission is “A Community MoreActive, More Often”, and I plan to play akey role in helping OCL to achieve this.”

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NEW FOR 201424

Actress Roxy Shahidi has launched a new yoga DVD, following the success of her first DVDrelease. For Yoga Conditioning, Roxy has created three unique 45-minute workouts,designed to fit around participants’ daily routine, while being long enough to provide abalanced and challenging workout. The first workout focuses on full body; the secondhelps develop and strengthen the core; and the third is for the lower body.

ACTIVE IQ has launched four newhealth and wellbeing qualificationsfor 2014.

The new qualifications are theLevel Two Award in SmokingAwareness and Cessation, the LevelTwo Award in UnderstandingNutrition, Performance and Healthy

Eating, the Level Two Award inAlcohol Awareness and the LevelThree Award in FacilitatingBehaviour Change for Health andWellbeing. All of these are availableto centres who want to becomeapproved for them as part of theirdelivery offer to learners.

Active IQ unveils qualifications

A REVOLUTIONARY portablemachine that enables clinicians andtherapists to deliver cryotherapy attemperatures as low as -180C is nowavailable in the UK for the first time.

ICE Health Cryotherapy has beenappointed the exclusive UK distribu-tor of the Cryo T Portable machine

and is already talking to businesseswho are interested in adding theequipment to their offering. The CryoT Portable is the only machine in thecountry that reaches such low tem-peratures in salon and clinic environ-ments, delivering targeted and effec-tive treatments for clients.

Portable machine now availableClinical director of ICE Health Cryotherapy Alla Pashynska.

MANAGING director of Your Radioand yoga fan Tracey McNellan islaunching a luxury retreat for theNew Year at the five-star CameronHouse Hotel.

Yoga devotees will be able to joinTracey in the surroundings of LochLomond from January 26 to 28 topractice their skills and rechargetheir batteries after the festive sea-son.

She said: “I am so excited to belaunching yoga retreats at CameronHouse – I mean, you really cannotget a more perfect setting.

“This is yoga for everyone; it does-n’t mean that someone who hasnever tried it isn’t going to be ableto do it. You can do all sorts of yogaand I can teach all kinds.

“The yoga retreats however are allabout regaining balance and asense of calm and the yoga I willteach on the retreat will be a gener-al hatha yoga mixed in with a yogaflow, but it will not be fast-paced.

“This retreat is all about peoplerelaxing and enjoying the sur-roundings of Cameron House. It’s acomplete switch off.”

Tracey launches luxuryyoga retreat at hotel

Tracey McNellan at Cameron House Hotel.

Four time UK fitness champion Joey Bull has released two new workout DVDs. CircuitTraining Fat Burning Workout and Ballet Steps Inch Loss Workout are the latest collabora-tions between Joey and fitness and lifestyle specialists IMC Vision.

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Gym helps Phil ‘ski’ hisway into record booksBy Christina Eccles

A 74-year-old member hasachieved a world record – with alittle help from his gym.

Phil Wood has recorded thequickest time of four minutes andtwo seconds to ‘ski’ 1,000m andone minute and 55 seconds to ‘ski’500m in the men’s 70-79 age cate-gory, using the Skierg fitnessmachine.

Phil has been a member ofLifestyle Health and Fitness Suitelocated in the Riviera InternationalCentre, Torquay for 14 years andworks out about three times aweek.

His preferred machines includethe Concept Two Rower and Skiergmachine and he’s regularly beenentering his completion timesonline for different set distances.

The online record system allowsanyone who has used the ConceptTwo machines to enter their com-pletion times and it wasn’t untilPhil recently checked the worldrecord leader’s board that he dis-covered his name appeared.

Lifestyle Health and Fitness Suitemanager Colin Pemberton said:“Skierg makes the sport of Nordicskiing available to everyone.

“It builds strength and enduranceby working the entire body with the

poling motion integral to all tech-niques of Nordic skiing.

“Each pull engages the arms,shoulders, core and legs in a down-ward “crunch”, using body weightto help accelerate the handles.

“There are two Skierg machinesat Lifestyle Health and FitnessSuite which are amongst 57 differ-ent fitness stations.”

Colin Pemberton, Lifestyle Health &Fitness suite manager (foreground) andPhil Wood, Lifestyle member.

A NEW studio has opened inBuckinghamshire offering a range ofGRAVITY programmes from HIIT toPilates.

With over 22 years’ experience in thefitness industry and seven years as amaster trainer for GRAVITY UK, JulieBurfoot has opened Fitness Function,which she has kitted out with six TotalGym GTS.

Julie plans to offer over 50, 45minute sessions per week in the400sqft studio, with group sessionsholding a maximum of six people.

She said: “I have been using TotalGym equipment since becoming a

GRAVITY master trainer in 2005 and Ilove it.

“It’s the most diverse piece of equip-ment I’ve come across which is whatyou need when you’ve only got asmall space.

“Having six Total Gym units atFitness Function will allow us to offera variety of different cardio, strengthand mind and body based classeswhich are much more exciting thanmany traditional workouts. GRAVITYprogramming makes each workouttime efficient whilst providing excel-lent results. I’m confident the classeswill quickly get members hooked.”

New studio offers GRAVITYFitness Function features six Total Gym GTS

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UK FITNESS SCENE 31

EXIGO is proud to announce thecompletion of a new state-of-the-artfunctional training site atWolverhampton University, whichwas officially opened by Denise LewisOBE.

The university is home to the centreof excellence for British Judo and willfocus on delivering a centralisedtraining program to the association’sjunior and transition athletes.

Managing director of Exigo DarrenGolden said: “We were very excited tobe given the opportunity to work withthe university on this project andbetween us we have been able to cre-ate a very unique strength and condi-tioning site.

“Over the last couple of years func-tional training rigs have been increas-ing in popularity. They are hugely ver-satile and provide strength and condi-tioning sites with countless functionaltraining exercises.

“All of the equipment was designedand manufactured in our UK factory,the fitness suite boasts the very latestExigo MFS functional freestandingand wall mounted rigs, plate loadedstrength equipment, functional floor-ing – including two sprint lanes andintegrated lifting platforms.”

Strength and conditioning coach

Nico Kolokythas added: "It has been agreat pleasure to work with Exigo andwe are very pleased to have chosenthem for the design and creation ofour brand new performance gymwhere British Judo is going to bebased.

“Together we have managed to usethe space we had in the most efficientand functional way in order to coverthe needs of elite performance sportand judo in particular.

“Exigo has shown professionalismand reliability in the delivery of thisproject and they have managed tocreate a strong working relationshipwith the University ofWolverhampton.”

For more information contact Exigo on 0870 8501822 or visitwww.exigostrength.com

Gold medallist Denise opensnew functional training area

A naming and topping out ceremony has taken place for the £11m West Bromwich LeisureCentre, which will open to the public next summer. Representatives from Sandwell Council,DC Leisure, Sport England and Pellikaan Construction joined the Mayor of Sandwell andlocal school children for the ceremony. The centre, which will be managed by DC Leisure,includes a 25m swimming pool, learner pool, sauna and steam room, four-court sports hall,100-station fitness suite, two dance studios, indoor cycling studio, indoor children’s adven-ture play centre and cafe.

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UK FITNESS SCENE32

The ultimate way to get newmembers into your club ...By Dave Wright

I HAVE to admit…I’m lazy. And myattention span is terrible. So much sothat I don’t spend time reading papersor journals as much as I’d like(Workout Magazine excluded).

Instead I would sooner watch avideo that can give me the informa-tion that I want in less than a fewminutes.

I even get the news from the BBCand Sky News Apps on my smartphone. It’s quick, it’s efficient and Ican watch it with ease. And I’m notalone.

You see times have changed… timeis short and information is a plenty. Ibelieve the days have gone whereclubs should get really excited abouttheir new websites, with the abun-dance of information about theirclub’s mission statement and classtimetables etc.

People want that information asquickly and as relevant as possible…and ideally in a format that is ‘easy’for them to digest.

Why spend 10 minutes readingabout you when they can pick it up ina simple two-minute video? Andthat’s where the power of video comesinto play.

I wonder how many clubs have theirown youtube channel? Or a simple

video that describes their club? Youdon’t need to spend a lot of money onproduction teams… this is somethingthat you can easily run from yoursmartphone and then post to youtubein a matter of minutes.

Have you got members that likeyour facilities? Have you got membersthat love your programming? Haveyou got members that love your staff?

If so, have you got members that arewilling to tell anyone about why theylike your club? If so, then whip outyour smartphone and then record theanswer and put that on your site. Thatwill be far more effective than long‘blog’ posts any day.

Testimonies are nothing new. Thepower of video testimonies with realpeople take recommendations to awhole new level.

You don’t have to give away yourpricing structure… but you can giveaway the atmosphere of the club.

Nor does it matter if you haven’t gotthe nicest equipment in town – but ifyou can portray that you are the typeof club that a person could spendtheir time at – then that’s half the bat-tle.

And remember that half the chal-lenge is getting them through thedoor in the first place. However, foryou to do it in the first place… youmustn’t be lazy… leave that up to me!

� Dave Wright is the CEO of CFM andcreator of MYZONE®, a global com-pany with over 300 staff that haveserved the international fitness com-munity for over 23 years; focusing oneither getting new members and/orkeeping existing ones. Dave is also theowner of 11 health clubs across twocontinents, a board director of ukac-tive and founder of IOU (IndependentOperators Unite). He may be contact-ed on [email protected]

Dave Wright

THE team behind multi awardwinning independent club,Ripped Gym, are celebrating afterreceiving planning permission fora second site in Basildon.

A joint venture with sales expertAlper Kani, the new club will buildon the success of the first RippedGym in Harlow and will includethe latest in Hammer Strengthequipment.

Gym owner Michelle Meadeexplained: “We have taken theapproach ‘if it’s not broke, don'tfix it’.

“We have people travelling fromall over the UK to train at Harlowso the lessons are minor forBasildon.

“We are looking at new entry sys-tems, bigger changing rooms andthings that, from experience, aregoing to decrease the amount ofmaintenance with regards to theactual gym.

“We are also going to put morefocus on functional training with aspecific area related to that andintroduce a ‘posing room’ forcompetitive bodybuilders.”

Once the gym is up and running,members will be able to train ateither site.

Gym getsplanningapproval

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UK FITNESS SCENE36

MEMBERS and staff from a ladiesonly gym have stripped off for a 2014charity calendar to raise money forCancer Research UK.

Nearly 40 ladies from Gymophobicsin Redditch took part in the calendarphoto shoot, with local photographerHeidi Robinson donating her servicesand artwork produced by local news-paper designer Jane Maries – who isalso a member of staff at the gym.

The calendar will be on sale in thegym and at the Redditch Standardoffice – priced at a minimum dona-tion of £6 – and the team hopes to sell

1,000 copies.Gym owner Zoë Cooke said: “We

decided to produce the calendarbecause it involved our members in afun activity with a serious fundraisinggoal. Cancer seems to be affecting anever growing number of people. Wewant to help fund the importantresearch which will hopefully ensuremore cancers are curable in thefuture.”

Gymophobics has raised more than£70,000 for Cancer Research UK dur-ing the past three years by hosting avariety of fundraising events.

Ladies bare all for charityGymophobics staff Jo Waldron, Louise Hyde, Zoë Cooke and Jane Maries.

THE Rugby Football League haslaunched a new, fast-paced, mini-mal-contact version of the game –and is now seeking licensed part-ners to deliver the programme atsports and leisure venues acrossthe UK.

Play Touch Rugby League hasbeen piloted with huge success inthe past two years, delivering all thethrill, excitement and camaraderieof the traditional game without thehigh impact tackling.

Director of participation DavidGent said: “The professional gameis attracting incredibly positiveattention right now thanks to thehuge home crowds attending WorldCup games and the millions ofviewers enjoying the internationalaction on their television screens.

“We hope to use this nationalinterest in the sport as a spring-board to launch Play Touch RugbyLeague. We’ve had incredible feed-back on the new format which willenable a much broader range ofpeople to enjoy our sport and thephysical benefits of playing regular-ly. We are hoping to attract delivery

partners from outside of our imme-diate Rugby League community.The game can be played bothindoors and outdoors in an areaabout the same size as a five-a-sidefootball pitch. Leisure centres withsports halls or astroturf are idealvenues.

“The pilot programmes have beenextremely successful, with venuesregularly attracting 150 players on aweekly basis.

“Play Touch Rugby League pro-vides leisure centre operators witha significant opportunity to gener-ate income.”

Operators interested in exploringthe opportunity to offer Play TouchRugby League sessions and leaguesare urged to register their interestas soon as possible.

David added: “The RFL is invest-ing significant resource in thenational promotion of Play TouchRugby League. Licensees signing upnow, and in the run up to the offi-cial launch in March 2014, will ben-efit from this as we work togetherto direct players to venues acrossthe UK.”

Rugby Leagueseeks partnersfor new game

England rugby league player and supporter of Play Touch Rugby League ThomasBurgess.

LIFETIME Training, in partnershipwith DC Leisure, has been namedApprenticeship Provider of the Year atthe 2013 Active Leisure Awards.

With more than 350 DC Leisureapprentices achieving qualificationseach year, Lifetime Training has nowhelped more than 1,800 of their teammembers achieve success.

Operations director at Lifetime

Training Michelle Hyatt said: “This isa very significant award for us.

“It’s great to be recognised for ourquality of delivery and our ongoingdedication and commitment to bothcustomers and learners. Our aim is tocontinue to invest in robust trainingand development programmes thatdeliver tangible business impact whilecreating career opportunities.”

Lifetime Training wins award

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Technology helps Nealclimb squash rankingsBy Christina Eccles

A LONDON based personal trainerhas helped to push a professionalsquash player 100 places up the worldrankings with help from innovativeMYZONE technology.

David Kingsbury – owner of DKPT inLondon’s Mayfair – started trainingNeal Brooker after he joined theProfessional Squash AssociationWorld Tour in September 2012.

As a professional squash player,Neal’s fitness regime needs to encom-pass a variety of elements includingspeed, power, agility, flexibility andendurance.

David explained: “When we firststarted working together, Neal’s fit-ness regime was mental. He was veryfit, but was too tired when it came toplaying matches.

“We initially looked at his nutrition,but found no problems there. So, westarted using MYZONE to monitor histraining programme. We soon identi-fied that Neal was overtraining and

not allowing adequate time for restand recovery.”

Using MYZONE, David was able tosee exactly how hard Neal was train-ing during the week and, therefore,the level of fatigue to expect. Thisgave him the resources to plan a per-sonal programme of training andrecovery organised around Neal’scompetition calendar. With MYZONEtracking the intensity of all workoutsand squash games, David can modifyNeal’s training sessions as requiredand also build in vital strategies forrecovery.

And since working with David andMYZONE, Neal’s athletic performancehas improved dramatically and he hasjumped 100 places in the rankings.

He added: “Together we agreedsome key goals and then usingMYZONE we set challenges for Neal’spre-season conditioning. MYZONEhas also been really useful for identi-fying when to reduce the intensity ofNeal’s workouts in accordance withhis training and games schedule.” Personal trainer David Kingsbury.

SOFTWARE provider Exerp hassecured a contract to help affordablegym chain Pure Gym with its majorexpansion programme.

The Copenhagen-based company,which specialises in providing soft-ware solutions for large health clubchains, is to implement its centralisedmanagement system across the PureGym group.

The chain has ambitious expansionplans, and supported by the new sys-tem from Exerp, expects to have 150clubs in operation by 2016.

IT manager at Pure Gym AndrewForsyth said: “With the Exerp platformwe are now able to expand our busi-ness without IT constraints.”

The company has also recentlysigned an agreement with HolmesPlace Europe to implement its Exerpplatform in its clubs across CentralEurope.

The rollout of the new system willallow Holmes Place to manage andmonitor all of its central Europeanbusiness in one system from its head-quarters in Berlin.

Head of sales Jacob Nathan added:“By focusing strictly on the needs oflarge enterprises where streamlining,control and scalability are essential,we are able to meet the increasingdemands of large chains such as PureGym and Holmes Place Europe.”

Exerp securesPure contract

LEISURE trust 1610 is to launch anew mobile app, enabling the oper-ator to better connect to customersand boost online transactions.

The trust will be an early adopterof Gladstone Health and Leisure'sMobilePro, a smartphone app thathooks directly into the company’sPlus2 Leisure Management System.

Head of marketing and communi-cations Rebecca Sawtell explained:“We’ve chosen to be early adoptersfor Gladstone’s new MobilePro appbecause with 60 per cent of our webusers now viewing our site throughtheir mobile or tablet device – andthis figure growing month onmonth – it has become clear that weneed our own mobile app if we’regoing to keep up with our cus-tomers’ needs.

“What’s great about MobilePro isthat the app is fully integrated intothe Gladstone system, enabling cus-tomers to access real-time informa-tion when booking and paying forclasses online. It’s so quick and easyto navigate that we hope it willencourage more people to book andpay in this way, easing the pressureon our front-of-house team.

“As the app can interface withsocial media sites such as Facebookand Twitter, we’re also hopeful thatit will encourage more people toshare content about us, as well asinteracting with us on our ownsocial media sites.”

1610 will be trialling the product atfive of its larger sites, with the even-tual aim of rolling it out across itsportfolio of 19 leisure centres.

App helps gyms toboost online sales

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AS well as providing leisure manage-ment systems to local authorities anduniversities, SportSoft also deals withmany small gyms and fitness centres.

A new product has been recentlycreated with these customers in mind.

Limited to 1,000 membershiprecords, the new system includes thestandard SportSoft CRM systemincluding features such as emailmerge and text messaging, plus achoice of swipe card or fingerprintrecognition system.

SportSoft manging director PaulDuncalf said: “The idea is to provide asystem to smaller clubs on a limitedbudget – a system which takes care oftheir primary area of revenue – mem-berships.

“Not all clubs require online book-ings, touch-screen tills and projectmanagement.”

The system runs in the Cloud, sovery little computer knowledge orresource is required – just a PC and abroadband connection.

Paul added: “So far take-up for thenew package has been keen withthree new clients installed in October.

“Down the line, “if clients do wish toexpand the system to encompassbookings and tills, it is an easy job asit is all the same system underneath.”

SportSoft have been supplyingleisure management systems in theUK and Europe for over 20 years.

For more information visitwww.sportsoft.co.uk

SportSoft’s small clubsystem a big success

By Christina Eccles

OPERATORS will now find it easier togather feedback from customers,thanks to the launch of two new soft-ware solutions from Leisure-netSolutions.

The first is an online comments andcomplaints system – feedback-Focus– which enables operators to easilykeep on top of all forms of customerfeedback, whether it comes in via theweb, email, phone or face-to-face.

By logging all comments in oneplace, managers can now trackactions, customer comments and anyresolution.

Leisure-net Solutions managingdirector Mike Hill said “feedback-Focus will allow operators to keeptrack of every customer commentthey receive in one place for the firsttime.

“The software allows users toanalyse all customer comments, aswell as track their responses andwhether the complaint/comment isresolved and in what time period.”

Alongside this, Leisure-net Solutionshas redeveloped its complete

Customer Insight online platform, toallow Net Promoter Score customersto ‘close the loop’ and track theirengagement with people after they’vecompleted the survey.

The NPS asks customers just onequestion on a 0 to 10 rating scale:“How likely is it that you would rec-ommend our company to a friend orcolleague?”

Based on their responses, customerscan be categorised as Promoters(nine-10 rating), Passives (seven-eightrating) and Detractors (zero-six rat-ing). The percentage of Detractors issubtracted from the percentage ofPromoters to obtain a Net PromoterScore.

Mike added: “Closing the loop willallow more dynamic recording andincrease the functionality around ourNPS surveys.

“The new system will ensure com-panies can track how they’ve interact-ed with people after they’ve complet-ed the NPS survey and so see ifthey’ve moved them up from detrac-tors to passives or promoters.”

A series of webinars is planned todemonstrate the new products.

Software solutionsmake it easier togather feedback

NOT for profit leisure operatorFreedom Leisure is piloting aninnovative software system in orderto streamline its GP referral servic-es.

Refer-all has been installed at itsWealden sites in Hailsham,Heathfield, Uckfield andCrowborough as a trial, with a viewto extending it across the FreedomLeisure group over the next fewmonths.

Refer-all is a secure online systemthat submits referrals electronicallyto the leisure centre’s GP referralcoordinator.

Each patient’s progress can belogged on the system to give an at-a-glance view of how they aredoing.

This is looped back to the refer-ring GP who can keep an eye ontheir progress by viewing the ‘dash-board’ summary online.

By storing the information elec-tronically, it can also be easilycross-referenced with other med-ical, health and fitness data to pro-vide a complete and detailed pic-ture of the patient’s health.

Group sports development man-ager at Freedom Leisure RichardBagwell said: “We expect Refer-allto both streamline and clarify ourGP referral process.

“The previous system relied onreferred patients contacting us tostart the process and inevitablysome fell by the wayside.

“The new automated Refer-all sys-tem sends us details of the referredpatients electronically and we canthen contact them directly makingthe referral route more effective byengaging their interest and motivat-ing them if necessary to make theirfirst appointment.

“As demand increases for GPreferrals, more work is created foreveryone involved.

“With Refer-all, once the initialform-filling has been done and sub-mitted, the system kicks in and wetake it from there and update as weprogress.

“It really is very straight forwardand gives a precise and clear pic-ture for all interested parties andallows us to provide detailed feed-back to our referring partners.”

Leisure operator pilotsnew software system

AN ANYTIME Fitness franchise iskeeping members happy by offeringthem the latest in interactive technol-ogy.

The club in Edgbaston is kitted outwith a range from Precor, with thecardiovascular equipment includingthe supplier’s Preva networked fitnesssoftware – a cloud based systemwhich offers a suite of tools designedto help attract, engage, motivate andsupport members.

Franchisee Diane Vesey said: “Aseveryone lives on the web nowadays,Preva plays well to that strength,offering support to our memberswhether or not the club is staffed.

“Preva Net offers access to a widevariety of internet content and Preva

Personal Accounts helps our mem-bers to keep motivated, as they canset weekly goals, track their progress,and if they miss a session it automati-cally recalculates remaining workoutsso members can still reach their goal.It allows them to select an individuallong-term focus, like losing weight ortoning up. I also really like the mobileapp as members can upload activitiesoutside of the gym too, that all counttowards their weekly goal.

“The area around my club inEdgbaston is very competitive, sopeople have lots of options.

“But our members really like thePrecor equipment and see Preva as anadded bonus that allows them tointeract with the machine as well.”

New technology keepsgym’s members happy

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FUNCTIONAL FITNESS42

A BURNLEY gym has been rewardedfor its decision to invest in the latestfunctional training kit, thanks to arecent award win.

St Peter’s Leisure Centre was namedFunctional Training Gym of the Yearat Workout’s National Fitness Awards,beating off strong competition fromclubs in Liverpool, Berkshire,Leicester, Coventry and Croydon.

As part of the judging process, theclub was commended for its innova-tive functional training offering,which includes the Synrgy 360x fromLife Fitness.

Guests on the night includedCoronation Street actress Kym Marsh,who is pictured here congratulating St

Peter’s facilities manager NeilHutchinson on the club’s award.

Kym said: "Congratulations BurnleyLeisure on winning your welldeserved award. I work out two tothree times per week with a profes-sional personal trainer, Matt Baker,and I have achieved great results.

“I believe it's important to exerciseand being a working mum means thatit isn't easy to fit in but I make time.

“I encourage everyone to exercise,the benefits that you see and feel out-weigh the time it takes.

“I understand what a great jobBurnley Leisure does in helping peo-ple to start and stick to an exerciseprogramme."

Neil and awards’ guest Kym Marsh from Coronation Street.

Investment is rewardedas gym wins accolade

Award winning budget club Xercise4Less in Leeds has installed a new rig to expand itsfunctional training offering. The rig is 15ft x 15ft and includes a range of features such ascrossover monkey bars and TRX straps. The club said it believes this type of kit will be thefuture of functional training – and it has already had some great feedback from members.

FUNCTIONAL training will form akey part of the offering at a newlyopened club in Towcester,Northamptonshire.

The brainchild of owner NeilClark, the Kinetics Club, which hasopened with the help of EscapeFitness, has been built from scratchand equipped with the best and lat-est equipment the industry has tooffer.

Neil said: “Functional training isat the core of what we do, we loveto kick things, throw things and

punch things, we love body weightexercise and we love to lift appro-priate weights – our members havehad a whole new way of trainingintroduced to them and they loveit. The flooring was a significantinvestment and was probably thesingle most challenging part to getright – there were so many factorsinvolved but the support from theEscape team and their incredibleprofessionalism and dedicationensured we have what we havetoday.”

Functional training haskey role at new club

The Kinetics Club in Towcester, Northamptonshire.

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FUNCTIONAL FITNESS44

Group training rigX-Lab arrives in UKX-LAB is the new modular functionaltraining rig system from TorqueFitness.

X-Lab outperforms the competitionin terms of practicality, scalability andvalue. Thanks to some very cleverdesign features and its unique modu-lar concept, X-Lab can turn almostany space into a functional trainingpowerhouse.

X-Lab has 15 standard configura-tions, starting with a footprint of lessthan 30 sqft, allowing any facility toconfigure its own unique trainingplatform.

Arrange the base sections and thenadd the training stations, whichinclude Ground Rotational Trainer,Plyo Step, Dip Bars, Ball Target, BagAnchor, Plyo Rebounder, Weight StackAdjustable Pulley System, AccessoryTrays and High Bars.

Up to six people can train on the1.3S configuration at one time, givingone trainer the ability to guide smallgroups through a variety of workoutsin a space equivalent to four tread-mills.

Physical Company also providesCyclone Training programming, freeof charge with purchase of XLab 1.3Sand above.

This provides instructors with agroup training concept to follow,while allowing them to adjust theclass with different stations and vary-ing class numbers. Exercisers movearound to the left after performing adrill at each station, creating a spin-ning cyclone of fun fitness activity.

X-Lab is distributed exclusively inthe UK by Physical Company.

For more information visit www.physicalcompany.co.uk

A dedicated functional training area is among the improvements at the newly refurbishedDearne Valley Leisure Club. The club has installed Life Fitness’ Synrgy360XS system, whichprovides four distinctive training spaces for users to work out in. The fitness village willalso be the first leisure facility in South Yorkshire to provide members with access to inno-vative tablet console, Discover. Head of leisure at Doncaster Culture and Leisure TrustKraig Kelly said: “We are thrilled to be housing the latest Life Fitness equipment at therevamped Dearne Valley Leisure Centre.”

EXTENSIVE redevelopment workhas now been completed atFreedom Leisure operatedHailsham Leisure Centre, withimprovements including the addi-tion of a large functional trainingarea.

A £3.1m investment from WealdenDistrict Council and eight monthsof work has resulted in a totallyremodelled facility, with more dedi-cated workout space, top-specchanging facilities and state-of-the-art fitness equipment.

The functional training areaincludes Pavigym flooring, JordonSoft Plyometric Boxes, battlingropes, ViPRs and Kettlebells.

The centre piece of the new func-tional zone is a Queenax Training

System, a multifunctional trainingframe that can be used to perform arange of exercises including suspen-sion training, climbing, swinging,hanging, jumping and stretching.

Freedom Leisure centre managerat Hailsham Leisure CentreDominic Horner said: “Hailshamhas a population of just 20,000 sowe consider ourselves extremelyfortunate to have such high calibrefacilities. It’s no surprise that thecentre has a great communityatmosphere and the new facilitieswill only serve to strengthen this.

“The additional studios will allowus to run a more varied programmeof classes while the bigger gym willallow us to comfortably accommo-date all our members.”

Functional training areaincluded in £3.1m refurb

The functional training area at Hailsham Leisure Centre.

ESCAPE Fitness has developed itsown range of cleaning solutions toenhance its flooring aftercare service.

Escape Sprint is a daily or weeklycleaning product that is a non-acidic,low alkaline to remove general dirt orspills while being kind to the floorsurfaces and non-damaging to mate-rials.

Escape Power is a periodic cleanerand heavy duty solution for a deepclean and use on heavily soiled areasin the gym.

International flooring project man-ager Paul Lipscombe said: “The

launch of our own brand cleaningsolution is another step forward forEscape Fitness and clearly illustratesthe complete service we provide toour customers.

“We recognise that investment inflooring is a major commitment formany facilities.

“However, caring for this investmentwill provide years of quality and reli-able performance.

“This range of cleaning solutions isdesigned to ensure the appearanceand durability of any floor will bemaintained over a long life cycle.”

Escape launches cleaning range

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FUNCTIONAL FITNESS 45

JORDAN Fitness training academymanager Mark Laws attended inde-pendent club Sole Fitness in Leicesterto hold a series of functional trainingworkshops, created in partnershipwith Cybex.

After a recent installation of a wallrig from Cybex, which is equippedwith a large range of Jordan Fitnessfunctional equipment, Mark wasinvited to demonstrate how to get thebest from this space.

The workshops included Kettlebells,Jungle Gym XT suspension systems,Medicine Balls, Core Plate and PowerBands.

Mark said: “I was really pleased tobe invited by Rob Thurston fromCybex to come along and teach theseworkshops.

“It’s great to see a gym with a hugebodybuilding background adoptingsome functional training methods toadd to the service they can provide totheir customers.

“This is a really well run gym thathas a great deal to offer, they thor-oughly deserved their shortlistednomination in the Newcomer of theYear category at this year’s National

Fitness Awards.”Cybex UK commercial director Rob

Thurston added: “We’ve workedclosely with Jordan Fitness for a num-ber of years, delivering REPs accredit-ed courses and training workshops toCybex customers across the UK.

“As one of our UK showcase sites,Sole Fitness was the perfect location

for the recent functional fitness work-shops, which were very well receivedby all who attended.

“It’s a great facility with a fantasticrange of equipment catering to alltraining interests and abilities and theworkshops ensure staff and membersare able to make best use of theequipment available.”

Mark Laws leading a workshop at Sole Fitness in Leicester.

Mark holds workshops at Sole Fitness

LIFE Fitness is making its multi-pur-pose training system Synrgy360 moreaccessible with three new customis-able, modular configurations.

New smaller configurations includethe Synrgy360XM, which gives facili-ties a bold option including six avail-able training spaces that can accom-modate multiple users per space.

The Synrgy360XS features four dis-tinct training spaces and theSynrgy360T configuration is thesmallest and allows for placementagainst a wall. All the Synrgy360 mod-els have the ability to be connected toeach other with the new cable cross-over boom, which gives facilities new

flexibility in product layout and cre-ates additional training optionsbetween units with an overhead barthat supports suspension training.

Vice president of global marketingand product development Dan Willesaid: “The Life Fitness Synrgy360 andsynergy training model that we intro-duced drew interest from facilities ofall types around the world.

“To accommodate the demand forequipment that would suit both largeand small facilities, we’ve continuedto develop new configurations thatwill support ranging training needs.”

For more information visit www.lifefitness.com

Life Fitness launchesthree configurations

CYBEX’S Bravo FunctionalTraining System combines the bestaspects of selectorised and cable-based strength training equipmentto offer facilities and their userssimple, safe operation, expandedfunctionality and better results.

The series comprises the BravoPress, Pull and Lift, Bravo All-In-One and the new Bravo Pro andoffers hundreds of movements in asingle space-efficient machine.

Its unique ProgressiveStabilisation system allows users toincrementally modify the stabilisa-tion provided and the Cable WidthAdjustment results in a wide rangeof height and width configurations.

Popular with individuals of alltraining interests and abilities,from regular gymgoers to elite ath-letes, the Bravo was recentlyinstalled at the onsite gym for theBarclays ATP World Tour Finals atthe O2.

ATP World Tour medical directorClay Sniteman said: “Cable basedtraining is perfect for tennis play-ers as it accounts for the multi-directional motion required for thesport.

“By using the CYBEX Bravo, play-ers benefit hugely from the rangeof motion, angles and also stabilitywork, being able to isolate parts ofthe body during their workoutsand target the weaker areas fromabdominals to core, back to shoul-ders and even lower body.”

For more information visit www.cybexintl.com

ATP WorldTour Finalsuse Cybexsystems

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NATIONAL FITNESS AWARD WINNERS48

Judge’s Comments:“Everything about Gambaru Fitnessreflects the ethos of independent gyms. Itis a real inspiring story of a club that sets

examples for others to follow.“The spirit of leadership is in evidence – itis clean, interactive, inspirational and anexample for all – most definitely a winner.”

Regional Gym of the Year: North:Gambaru Fitness, Harrogate

Judge’s Comments:“My decision for this is based on how themanager has embraced the team effort andturned the business around during a 16

month period.“The club looks clean, orderly and vibrant. Italso demonstrates leadership, innovationand pride.”

Regional Gym of the Year: Midlands and Wales:Velocity Health and Fitness, Coventry

Judge’s Comments:

“The sheer energy of their submission isoverpowering.

“The club won last year and it’s easy to seeit winning again this year.The driving forceof the owners is without doubt the reasonfor their success.”

Regional Gym of the Year: South:Winners 2000 Fitness Ltd, Newton Abbot Judge’s Comments:

“A very impressive club, successfully man-aging to break down one of the biggestbarriers to exercise – cost.“The wide range of facilities cater to allcross sections of the community from stu-

dents, to strength and combat enthusiastsand women who prefer to work out in thededicated ladies only section.“It would be hard to find another clubwhich offers so much for such a smallprice.”

Budget Gym of the Year: Xercise4Less, Leeds

Judge’s Comments:“As well as being a holiday village, RibbyHall focuses massively on its members andkeeping them happy, with a stunning newgym and members’ only swimming pool –complete with sauna and steam room –

alongside the main leisure pools.“The owners are constantly heavily invest-ing in the site and the bar has also under-gone a major £250,000 development tocreate the perfect social hub for that afterclass drink or meal.”

Health Club of the Year: Health and Leisure Club at Ribby Hall Village, Preston

Judge’s Comments:

“An innovative club which is focused onensuring current members are reallyhappy, as well as doing their bit for thelocal community through charity events,

school events and work with the localmental health team.“Much more than just a gym. It was veryclear they make a huge impact on mem-bers’ happiness, not just their fitness lev-els.”

Ladies Only Gym of the Year: Gymophobics Redditch

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NATIONAL FITNESS AWARD WINNERS 49

Judge’s Comments:

“It’s clear to me that this gym wins hands

down.

“It has cut no corners in ensuring its mem-bers are provided with expert knowledgeand the passion from the owner clearlyshines through.”

Strength Training Gym of the Year: Physique Warehouse, West Molesey

Judge’s Comments:“This facility, although small in comparisonto others in this category, offers everythingthey have and more.

“The testimonials speak for themselves and

it’s clear this club doesn't only make a dif-

ference to people’s fitness but also to their

lives and wellbeing.”

Combat Zone Gym of the Year: Chokdee Academy, York

Judge’s Comments:“A unique facility whose main purpose is torehabilitate those with a range of longstanding, limiting illnesses to better man-age their health.“The gym has no mirrors apart from in asmall free weights area and even has a sep-

arate closed area for those who feeluncomfortable exercising in a normal gymenvironment.“The facility also owns the Alter G anti-grav-ity treadmill which reduces body weight,enabling clients to literally 'train withoutthe pain'.”

Best Rehabilitation Facility of the Year: The Health Hub, Stockport

Judge’s Comments:“I love the value they place on their brandand not pricing their services to competewith the competition, but believing you get

what you pay for.“Their belief in offering something differentand extra, people are obviously buyinginto.”

Newcomer of the Year: Rigs Fitness, Kings Heath

Judge’s Comments:“The majority of members pay their feesmonthly by cash or cheque.“Owner Ian accepts it is not the most effi-cient system but it makes it more personaland means every member has regular

contact with staff.“What this gym lacks in the latest, greatestkit, it more than makes up for with itsrelaxed, helpful environment. Stringers iscarving out a niche that sets it apart fromthe rest.”

Customer Service Award: Stringer's Gym, Truro

Judge’s Comments:“Manager David Gordon and his team haveput together a gym – using the latestTechnogym equipment – that you wouldexpect to see in a David Lloyd or Nuffield,but on a much smaller scale to suit theirsize of members.“He’s also introduced extras, such as

monthly challenges for members to getinvolved in, and has turned the studiowhere classes are held into a functionaltraining zone for when it is not in use.“The facility itself offers everything youwould expect from a top end spa. Clearlywhat David is doing is working becausethe membership has risen since he tookover.”

Best Hotel Facility: Norton House Health Club and Spa, Edinburgh

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NATIONAL FITNESS AWARD WINNERS50

Judge’s Comments:“It’s very difficult to think of anything moreInverclyde Leisure could actually do for thelocal community.The dedicated andenthusiastic team must work all hoursbecause there is so much going on.“A nice touch is that for every event, the

team has special T-shirts printed for thosemembers who enter to give them that feel-ing of belonging to something.The centreis truly at the hub of the local community,as its partnerships with local businesses,sports teams, the NHS and charities shows.The effort put in by staff is incredible.”

Community Involvement: Inverclyde Leisure, Greenock

Judge’s Comments:“Joining a gym and getting fit when youhaven't trained in a while is hard enough,

but Jaina has had to overcome more obsta-cles than most, being 90 per cent blind andhaving health problems.”

Member Achievement: Jaina Mistry, The Engine Room Fitness Centre, Leicester

Judge’s Comments:“Nothing tests a team’s cohesion and loyal-ty like a crisis and the Core team certainlyfaced that.“Moving premises is a stressful process any-way so when their relocation plans fellthrough days before they were due to

move and the captain of the ship waswheelchair bound following surgery, theywere faced with a very challenging situa-tion.“The team clearly have a strong purposebehind them and worked together bril-liantly to ensure the gym could continue tooperate in (owner) Helen’s absence.”

Gym Team of the Year: The Core Fitness and Wellbeing Centre, Falmouth

Judge’s Comments:“Adam’s attention to detail in his applica-tion felt genuinely reflective of his dedica-tion and passion for his role as a trainer.“He has clearly invested in his own educa-tion, led from the front, passed his knowl-

edge on to others to help raise standardswithin the industry and seeminglyremained humble with it.“He has provided proof of impressiveresults and is clearly an integral part of theteam in which he works.”

Gym Based Personal Trainer of the Year: Adam Stansbury, Winners 2000 Fitness Ltd

Judge’s Comments:

"Ian has devoted many years to our indus-try and is a hugely-respected figure – I

think the rousing reception he receivedwhen he came up on stage is testament tothe fact that he is a very worthy and popu-lar winner."

Lifetime Achievement: Ian Kendall, MD, Health and Leisure Solutions LLP

Judge’s Comments:“The management team are reaping therewards from making a brave decision tomake the Synrgy 360x the centrepiece oftheir gym.

“The kit brings the place to life, but tomake it work, management needed sup-port from the staff. Involving them in everypart of the process has ensured they are onboard and interaction between staff andmembers has increased massively.”

Functional Training Gym of the Year: St Peter’s Leisure Centre, Burnley

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UK FITNESS SCENE 53Advertiser’s announcement

Award winners chooseAshbourne softwareCONGRATULATIONS to all at the2013 National Fitness Awards and tothese three in particular – RigsFitness, winner of Newcomer of theYear; Gambaru Fitness, winner ofRegional Gym of the Year North; andCrayford Weights and Fitness, short-listed for Strength Training Gym of theYear.

These clubs use Ashbourne and allhave been able to focus on deliveringtheir award-winning package of facili-ties by outsourcing membership pay-ment collection to us, knowing it’s inthe hands of a reliable and efficientprovider.

Sam Smith from Rigs Fitness said:“In order to run a successful gym youneed to have the right systems inplace – Ashbourne has been excellentin looking after all my direct debits,and it’s one less thing that I have toworry about while running the gym.

“We have also made great use oftheir free membership software,

online sign-ups and entry control sys-tems: all of which help things runsmoothly.”

For more information contact 0871 271 2088.

Rigs Fitness’ owner Sam Smith

KEISER UK has moved to new officesin Tetbury, Gloucestershire, nearlydoubling the company’s amount ofwarehouse space to approximately16,000sqft.

The new headquarters includesoffice space for the administrative

and logistics hub of the company, aswell as plans for a showroom.

The move will allow the company tohold stock for distributors and cus-tomers throughout Europe, reducinglead times and ensuring speedy tran-sit to all sites.

Keiser UK expands with office move

THE Gym Group has been recognisedfor the second year running as one ofthe fastest growing companies in theUK in the Sunday Times Virgin FastTrack 100.

The company was ranked No. 25 inthis year’s list, with an annual salesgrowth of 104 per cent over the lastthree years.

Chief executive John Treharne said:“We’re very proud to be ranked for asuccessive year in this prestigiousleague table.

“Thanks to the hard work and dedi-

cation of the team, it has been anexciting year for the company withnumerous award wins and nomina-tions.

“The sustained popularity of budgetalternatives across a number of sec-tors reflects the wider consumerdemand for value.

“Continued investment and strongfinancial backing has allowed us totake the business forward and in 2014we will build on our success to deliverour award-winning service to evenmore of the UK population.”

Operator 25th in Fast Track 100 The Gym Group chief executive John Treharne.

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UK FITNESS SCENE54

I’M a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!winner and former X-Factor starStacey Solomon has joined forceswith Impulse Leisure to support thetrust and its leisure centres.

Stacey, who was crowned Queen ofthe jungle in 2010, got her relation-ship off to a flying start by launchingthe Les Mills GRIT SERIES at ImpulseLeisure – Blackshots.

Group health and fitness managerGarry Tapsell said: “We’re proud tohave Stacey on board, supportingImpulse and our leisure centres, and

helping us encourage the local com-munity to get active.

“Our new GRIT sessions are perfectfor anybody who doesn't have a lot oftime to exercise but wants to get fit,and stay fit. Because the sessions areonly small, everyone gets the instruc-tor’s attention and there’s no hiding atthe back.

“The sessions are packed full ofenergy, support and encouragement,with the instructor and membersmotivating each other to achieve thebest results possible.”

Former jungle queenlaunches new classes

Stacey Solomon takes place in a class at Impulse Leisure – Blackshots.

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UK FITNESS SCENE56

LEISURE management companyParkwood Leisure has joined forceswith Triathlon England with the aimof increasing participation in thesport.

Parkwood is launching a series oftraining pilots at four centres, as partof the GO TRI pilot programme,which aims to offer improved andaffordable access to triathlon trainingand events.

The triathlon-focused swimmingand Spinning training sessions will

run at Parkwood’s sites at Bexley,Dartford, Southend and Portsmouth.

Parkwood Leisure’s assistant region-al director for the South East RegionJason Stanton said: “The success ofthe Brownlee brothers has reallyraised the profile of the sport oftriathlon.

“It’s a fantastic sport and we’repleased to be playing our part in itsdevelopment and perhaps even sup-porting an Olympic medallist of thefuture.”

Parkwood teams with TriathlonEngland for pilot programme

The Mountbatten Leisure Centre in Portsmouth is one of four Parkwood Leisure-operatedcentres running triathlon training in early 2014.

THREE DC Leisure centres haveachieved an outstanding ratingthrough the QUEST StretchAssessment.

Managed by DC Leisure, on behalfof Amber Valley Borough Council,Alfreton, Ripley and William GreggVC leisure centres have been namedas some of the country’s leadingfacilities following their assess-ments.

DC Leisure Amber Valley contractmanager Jackie Goacher said: “Thisis the first time that Alfreton, Ripley

and William Gregg have beenentered for the new QUEST Stretchaward.

“The fact that all three sites haveachieved ‘outstanding’ status is afabulous achievement in itself, butto have been ranked as the topthree leisure centres nationally istestament to the team’s hard workand dedication.

“I believe it is our passion andgenuine desire to continuallyimprove what we do that is the cor-nerstone of our achievement.”

Gyms rated ‘outstanding’

Pictured from left: Peter Sharkey (Manager Alfreton Leisure Centre); Jenny Hedgecock(Manager – Ripley Leisure Centre); Coun Steven Hayes, Cabinet Member for HealthierPlaces to Live; Jackie Goacher (Contract Manager).

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Traditional foods such as berries can offer the same benefits as so called ‘superfoods’.

By Christina Eccles

EXPERTS from the British DieteticAssociation are aiming to dispel someof the myths surrounding so-called‘superfoods’.

According to the BDA – the nation’slargest organisation of food and nutri-tion professionals – it is important tonote there isn’t an official definition of‘superfood’ and what it contains ordoes, once consumed.

Spokesman Sioned Quirkeexplained: “The main thing to keep inmind is that, despite its common use,the term ‘superfood’ has no regulato-ry approval and is not a legally recog-nised term.

“Superfood’ is simply a marketingterm that has become trendy over thelast few years. Companies and mar-keting teams will often put whateverthey can on a label to hook you into apurchase.

Marketing is a multi-billion poundindustry and health products are a

major player in this. “Many claims can give us false

expectations of the benefits or theyaren’t fully substantiated.

“Anyone worth their degree in nutri-tion will tell you that no one food pro-vides everything the body needs,therefore, the so called ‘superfoods’are by no means the magic wandcompanies market them as. We needto dispel the myths.”

She added: “A ‘superfood’, in isola-tion, will never be the key to optimumhealth. Companies love to bring usexotic foods, such as goji berries but,look closer to home, as more tradi-tional foods such as salmon, eggs,berries, nuts and veg are just as superbut simply aren’t marketed that way.

“The bottom line is, many foods are‘superfoods’ in their own way, but let’sditch that phrase. No so-called ‘super-foods’ are going to guide you to thepromised land, so aim to have ahealthy balanced diet with everythingin moderation.”

Experts aim to dispel‘superfood’ myths

Leading sports nutritionbrand USN has combineda range of botanicalingredients to create itslatest product. Xédra-CutUltra XT includes ingredi-ents such as Green Tea,Raspberry Ketones, greencoffee beans and blackpepper, all designed toboost metabolism.

A NEW business offering gyms a ‘norisk’ way to boost their secondaryspend income, is set to change theway members buy supplements.

Clubs which sign up to the AskGymservice can benefit from an online,personalised supplements store filledwith a range of top brands, with theproducts housed in the company’swarehouse in Solihull.

Gym owners can also use the site toadd more information about theirgym and link to social mediaaccounts and will also benefit fromemail and marketing support.

AskGym also has the products deliv-ered to customers’ doors, making it ahassle free way for clubs to sell sup-plements to their members.

The service is free for fitness profes-sionals, with the business working ona profit share basis – meaning if theclub doesn’t sell any products, it does-n’t cost them anything.

Director Stuart Findlay said: “Ourmission is to provide the front line fit-ness professionals with an additionalsource of revenue that they wouldnormally not receive as they cannotafford the escalating costs of this typeof service. We want to put the moneyback into the pockets of the peoplethat make a difference.”

The business launched about twomonths ago and already has about 60sites live, with plans to spread theword even further over the next fewmonths.

Business offers a ‘no risk’ boost

FITNESS professionals can nowearn REPs points by reading a rangeof Central YMCA guides, whichcover important facts about exer-cise and nutrition.

The guides have been written byexperts who have a no-nonsenseapproach to health, fitness andwellbeing.

Three REPs CPD points can be

earned by reading titles includingThe Need to Know Guide toNutrition and Healthy Eating: Howto eat the right foods, stay in shapeand stick to a healthy diet and

The Need to Know Guide toNutrition for Exercise: How yourfood and drink can help you toachieve your workout goals – bothwritten by Tim Shaw.

Earn points with guides

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PRODUCT NEWS60

Don’t get yourSuspenders ina twist…By Mark Laws, Jordan Fitness

IN 2001 Apple created their first MP3player. Some of you may have heardof the iPod – it went on to be a prettysuccessful product. So much so thatany MP3 player is casually referred toas an iPod – no matter who it is madeby.

While Steve Jobs spent the 1990sdominating the global gadget/tech-nology market something similar wasbrewing in the functional fitnessworld – before we even knew such athing existed!

From 1988 an innovative youngNavy Seal embarked upon a quest formaintaining/developing an elite levelof athleticism, with a catch. It neededto be easily transported all over theworld.

Needed to be used in any environ-ment. It had to be lightweight andportable. Combined with his excep-tional sewing skills the solution grad-ually came to the fore. In 2001 he leftthe Seals to enroll at the StanfordSchool of Business. All of the piecescame together and thanks to RandyHetrick suspension training was born.

For the fitness geeks among us weknow that this was not a new ideabecause it is well documented thatthe grandfathers of fitness had usedsuspension training hundreds of yearsago.

But the industry moved away fromfunctional training methods for themajority of the 20th century, and see-ing as all of us were either born, start-ed to exercise or became qualifiedduring that same period it is under-standable for us to be unfamiliar withanything other than the ‘norm’.

Functional training is well and trulyback, and thanks to the vision of peo-ple like Randy the industry is finallyfun and exciting and effective again.

But, and it is a big but, just becauseTRX was the first suspension trainingsystem – does not mean it is the onlysystem to use – in the same way thatthe iPod is not the only MP3 playeryou can purchase.

The TRX is a brilliant tool. I boughtone on a trip to California in 2008 andwas one of the first trainers in the UKto have one.

However the fact that it is a singlestrap system means there are somehuge limitations. In recent years therehave been some double strap systemsintroduced into the market, and inmy opinion these are a much moreversatile piece of equipment.

With the double strap system youcan have the straps as close togetheror as far apart as you like.

This means you can constantlyadapt the exercises and keep yourbody on its toes, which gives a goodtrainer an unlimited number of varia-tions.

The two-strap system does every-thing that the single strap system cando. But the single strap system cannotdo everything the double strap systemcan do.

In a lot of areas of life less is seen tobe more. However when it comes tosuspension training systems twostraps is definitely better than one.

I know which I prefer, it’s up to youwhether you choose the original orthe most versatile, just please don'tconfuse them or refer to every form ofsuspension training by the name ofthe original product.

THE Asset Management solution fromMatrix Fitness takes the power, per-formance and possibilities of cardioasset management to a new level.

Utilising the WiFi module standardon all 5x and 7xe cardio consoles, thesystem communicates a comprehen-sive view of performance statisticsdirectly to you, Matrix, and your serv-ice provider.

This information – which can beaccessed anytime, anywhere you haveInternet access – will help you to bet-ter manage your inventory throughcomprehensive, yet easy-to-use pro-grams for preventative, predictive,routine and unplanned maintenance.

In addition to reducing costs and

increasing product uptime, Matrix’Asset Management system offers fur-ther benefits including quick accessto product manuals or service docu-mentation, automatic softwareupdates to ensure you’re always run-ning the latest software on your con-soles, and the option to customisecalendar apps on 7xi series productsto show general facilityschedules/information.

For more information email [email protected]

or call 0800 389 6078

Looking after your products

Mark Laws

BodyPower Pro toinclude IFBB prowheelchair classTHE official IFBB sanctionedBodyPower Pro will include a ProWheelchair class for the first time everin the UK and Europe.

BodyPower Pro is set to be the soli-tary pro show taking place in the UKin 2014 and spectators can expect tosee a fantastic line-up of renownedcompetitors and wheelchair profes-sionals from all over the world.

As well as growing awareness andinterest in disability sport, BodyPoweris aiming to provide a springboard forwheelchair bodybuilding, hoping toexpand the division and inspire morepeople to participate.

Gaspari sponsored athlete DanielSmith, who placed third in the inau-gural 2011 IFBB Pro WheelchairChampionships said: “I really thinkthe show will break down barriers.

This will be a great chance to get outthere in front of a British crowd andhopefully inspire others to participatein the future.

“I cannot wait for the BodyPowerPro, I’ve been pushing for years to geta pro show in the UK, and I’m just soexcited to get on stage in front of myfamily and friends.”

As well as Daniel, spectators canexpect to see IFBB and WBFF proNick Scott, founder and president ofthe Ottawa-based WheelchairBodybuilding Inc.; the largest onlinewheelchair bodybuilding community.

Prejudging will take place during theday of Friday May 16 and will beaccessible to all expo visitors. Thefinals will take place on the Saturdayevening; an event that will be ticketedseparately from the day’s expo.

JEREMY Jenkins has been appointedas the new UK managing director ofSportsArt Fitness.

Jeremy will spearhead the develop-ment of the UK market for the inter-national manufacturer with signifi-cant growth targeted in the comingthree years.

SportsArt Fitness’ commitment toinnovation of new technologies,including the revolutionary GreenSystem which reduces operator’senergy bills, will be one of the main-stays of the drive to increase the sup-plier’s share of the UK market, alongwith over 90 new pieces of cardiovas-cular and strength equipment comingto market in 2014.

Alongside the appointment ofJeremy in the managing director posi-tion are a number of other strongappointments of experienced fitnessindustry personnel.

TheseincludeDanielBillington, asregionalsales manag-er South andRick Fowleras regionalsales manag-er North.

In 2014,SportsArtFitness willbe bringing a number of significantnew products to the UK market.

Jeremy said: “Following the appoint-ments of a highly skilled and experi-enced team, I’m excited and confi-dent that 2014 will be a strong year forSportsArt as we bring a number ofexcellent new products to the UKmarket.”

Jeremy appointed toMD role at SportsArt

Jeremy Jenkins

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PRODUCT NEWS 61

Business as usual as Debitsuccessacquires DFCAUSTRALASIA’S leading provider of e-commerce services for subscription-based businesses, Debitsuccess, hasacquired direct debit billing providerDFC, in a move that will significantlyexpand the company’s internationaloperations.

Debitsuccess, headquartered inAuckland, has been operating fornearly 20 years and today processesover 20m transactions annually formore than 3,000 businesses acrossAustralasia.

CEO Craig Marshall said: “With a 38-year history in the UK, DFC is aprominent DD service provider thatenjoys an exemplary reputation with-in the industry. It is an extremely goodfit both culturally and operationally.”

With DFC now under theDebitsuccess banner, they have afoothold in a region of the worldwhere there is an increasing demandfor subscription services.

DFC provides billing services to

more than 250,000 customers in theleisure sector in the UK, as well asutilities, publishers and telecommu-nications providers. The company’shead office and call centre are cen-trally located in the city of MiltonKeynes.

Managing director of DFC LynnYoung added: “This new associationwith Debitsuccess will add furthervalue to our operations – firstlythrough sales and contact centrestrategy and, secondly, through sup-port at a governance and executivelevel.”

Post acquisition, the aim is to con-tinue to deliver the highest quality ofservice to clients and customers asthe company evolves and expands.The ongoing senior staff will continueto run the company under the newownership structure, ensuring it’s allbusiness as usual.

For more information visit www.debitsuccess.co.nz

Cybex International UK was chosen to equip the onsite gym at the recent Barclays ATPWorld Tour Finals, strengthening a partnership with the ATP that started in 2009.The tournament has been played at The O2 in London for the last five seasons, whenCYBEX first provided equipment for players competing in the season finale. ATP World Tourmedical director Clay Sniteman said: “Having a gym onsite opens up a lot of opportunities.Players can run their own functional warm up sessions, cool down after matches or evenrehabilitate injuries they pick up during the tournament.” Functional training equipmentwas also provided by Jordan Fitness including dumbbells, kettlebells, medicine balls andplyometric boxes.The Bryan brothers are pictured using the CYBEX Arc Trainer and bike.

CLUBMANAGER has recentlylaunched a brand new add-on to theiraward winning software solution, wespoke to founder Wayne Heath to findout more...

He said: “We pride ourselves on pro-viding industry-leading, affordablesolutions that allow gym owners togrow their businesses.”

So what is the new product allabout?

“During the sales process the newmember can automatically spread theword about your business to all oftheir friends through the power ofsocial media, such as Facebook andTwitter.

“This simple and easy approach aspart of the joining process withinClubManager now allows your club toinstantly gain referrals via all forms ofsocial media at the most important

time: when a new member is the mostenthusiastic about your club.”

Can it work for existing members?“Without doubt it’s a great tool for

member retention as well, by allowingthe team to get out on the gym floorand talk with members and spreadthe word through Facebook andTwitter at the click of a button.”

What about results?“Well if you look at 100 new referrals

generated with a current close rate of35 per cent based on £30 per monthprice membership on Direct Debit,that’s an increase of £1,050 permonth.

“That really speaks for itself for theclub's bottom-line.”

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

www.clubmanagercentral.com or [email protected]

ClubManager – ‘creatingmembers at your club’

INDEPENDENT operator CrowWood Leisure in Burnley is uppingits green credentials after signingan agreement with EuroSite Powerto install a system which will pro-vide immediate energy savings toits leisure club, spa and restaurant,with zero capital outlay.

Under the terms of the agree-ment, EuroSite Power will installand operate a combined heat andpower (CHP) system at the club,saving up to 450 tonnes of CO2annually – equivalent to taking 93

cars off the road each year.Owner and director at Crow Wood

Leisure Andrew Brown said:“EuroSite Power’s offer was com-pelling – no upfront investmentfrom us and the club only pays forthe energy used.

“We also avoid the operating andmaintenance costs of the CHP sys-tem and, best of all the energy pro-duced is priced lower than existingand future utility costs providingimmediate and ongoing cost sav-ings to the operation.”

Club ups its green credentials

THE company which created theBBC’s Children In Need cycling jer-seys has launched its own women’sgym clothing range.

Cycling and triathlon clothing spe-cialists VO2 Sportswear have broad-ened their product range by addingwomen’s three-quarter length capripants, training shorts and trainingvest.

Their cycling jerseys were worn byThe One Show presenters during aChildren in Need challenge, with thecompany then donating £15 fromevery sale of the product to the chari-ty – helping the team raise £1.4m intotal.

Managing Director Matt Tomkinsaid: “We were immensely proud ofwhat the Children In Need jerseyachieved in terms of raising funds forthe charity and it was an honour tocreate it for the BBC.

“However, we have now branchedout into women’s gym clothing andwe are really excited about these topof the range items.

“We have had relative success in ourspecialist markets – triathlon andcycling, so it we decided to take on anew challenge.

“The quality that we at VO2 expectfrom our products is still very muchpresent in this new range.”

VO2 Sportswear launchwomen’s gym range

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CLASSIFIED62

EQUIPMENT

Star Trac bolsters itssales team with trioSTAR Trac has appointed three newmembers to its sales team.

Sue Pearson joins as regionalaccount manager and is managingthe Central territory. Having previous-ly worked with companies includingMaudesport, New Level, AnytimeFitness and Johnson Health Tech(Matrix), Sue brings industry, accountmanagement and sales experience.

Aimee Stokes also joins as regionalaccount manager and is covering theSouth East territory. Aimee has sevenyears’ industry experience workingwith Fitness First, the InclusiveFitness Initiative and the AmateurSwimming Association and has aSports Management and Leadershipdegree.

Laura Phillips joins as an insidesales coordinator based in the HighWycombe office.

She is an avid fan of Star Trac equip-ment having previously been a seniorfitness instructor at HertsmereLeisure.

Managing director of Star TracEMEA John Gamble said: “We arepleased to welcome Sue, Aimee andLaura to the Star Trac team.

“Each brings outstanding experi-ence, knowledge and a proven recordof success that will help us reach newcustomers and partners as we contin-ue to grow.”

Simon Overing has also re-joinedStar Trac as regional account managerfor the North West territory.

Laura Phillips

Super slimmer Jane’s a newwoman with Michael’s helpTOP personal trainer Michael Lee iscelebrating his latest success story –a client who has lost more than athird of her body weight throughexercise.

Jane Rhodes was nearly 16 stoneand did virtually no physical activitywhen she decided it was time tomake a change.

To overhaul her lifestyle, Jane visit-ed MiTo Therapy at Virgin Active inSheffield and started a structuredfitness programme, devised byMichael. Over the last three years,she has taken part in training ses-sions at least once a week with him,completing cardio, core andstrength work.

And after losing five-and-a-halfstone, Jane now runs 10k races andis starting to train for a halfmarathon.

Michael, who was shortlisted forGym Based Personal Trainer at the2013 National Fitness Awards said:

“Jane is fantastic example of dedica-tion and diligence to better herselfthrough exercise. It’s amazing howexercise and diet can transform notonly someone’s body shape, but alsotheir perspective on self image andmentality on life.

“It’s an absolute pleasure to workwith Jane, and she deserves everylast bit of praise for what she hasachieved.”

Jane Rhodes

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CLASSIFIED 63EQUIPMENT

EQUIPMENT

SERVICING LOCKERS

MARKETING

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64LOCKERS

FLOORING

CLASSIFIED

CLOTHING AND MERCHANDISE

VENDING

62-66 CLASSI 19/12/13 17:01 Page 3

CLASSIFIED 65HYGIENEDIRECT DEBIT COLLECTIONS

FINANCE

MIRRORS

AUDIO / VISUAL

UPHOLSTERY

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66 CLASSIFIED

SOFTWARE

FOR SALE

WANTED

LOCKS

LIGHTSMANAGEMENT

INSURANCE

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