FitPro news
Health and fitness industry news, insights and opinion

In a move that could potentially signal the start of the demise for gym instructors in clubs, The Gym Group is trialling 24 hour virtual Pilates and Yoga classes at four sites across the country.

Inspired by the success of virtual classes in various European countries, The Gym Group is trialling the classes in Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester and Southampton. The classes feature a range of male and female instructors, and run every hour, on the hour, seven days a week.

John Treharne, CEO, The Gym Group, said: “Our business concept is all about attracting a whole new market, as we know that 40% of our members have never used a gym, health club or sports centre before. As low cost providers continue to flourish, we need to work hard to find exciting and cost-effective fitness solutions that work for our members, and distinguish us from our competitors.

“Virtual classes constantly utilise gym space, and are relatively cost-effective to set up with a fixed low fee, and no ongoing staffing costs.”

If the virtual classes become successful then the concept will be rolled out across the franchise’s gyms this year.

A survey by Radio 4 has found more than 40% of UK local authorities charge PTs to run exercise sessions in parks. Over 350 local authorities responded to the survey and 150 confirmed PTs had to pay.

REPs registrar Jean-Ann Marnoch said: “One of our members said they wouldn’t be able to justify the £350 cost for the few clients they train in the park… Do we tell clients to forget a healthy lifestyle and go back to sitting in a chair all day? That’s certainly not what we want.” Marnoch also argues that classes in parks often provide a cheaper way to achieve an active lifestyle.

PT Fiona Boston said: “When training clients one-to-one, it’s unfair for parks to charge us. However, with group sessions, I understand how these sessions can dominate parks. We have many overheads (insurance, equipment, rent) and this is another factor making it very difficult to survive as a PT.”

The news comes as Love Parks Week (21-29 July) is granted the London Inspire mark, which recognises outstanding projects and events helping to deliver the Olympic Games’ lasting legacy. Love Parks Week gives event organisers the option to run London 2012-themed community games in local parks and green spaces.

Love Park Weeks’ campaign manager Tess Stackley said: “We envision people who come to these community games will return to their parks…to stay active, take up a new sport and get the proven health benefits from spending time outdoors.”

For more information about Love Parks Week visit www.loveparksweek.org.uk

To read more about Radio 4’s findings visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16656288

Functional training tool ViPR was one of the star attractions at the My2012 event, which featured a wide range of health and fitness products to help people lead a healthier life.

The event promoted healthy living and exercise on 20 January at the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, a stone’s throw away from the Olympic park. Alongside ViPR there were seminars on healthy eating, an adidas stage show and Zumba classes.

Stephen Buckey, FitPro’s communications manager said: “The My 2012 event is all about motivating people to live healthier lives, and it was great to see ViPR and the ViPR team centre stage. Getting Westfield shoppers hands on and using ViPR was a fantastic way of showing them that a ViPR workout can be simple, fun and effective.”

Developed by Olympic coach and human motion expert Michol Dalcourt, ViPR is used in one-to-one PT sessions, circuits and small group training. Its unique whole-body integration programming combines lifting, shifting and twisting motions to replicate and strengthen movement and co-ordination.

Available in seven weights from 4-20kg, and with over 9,000 exercises, ViPR guarantees a dynamic user experience for participants at all levels. Catch ViPR in action next Friday (27 January) at Westfield’s Shepherd’s Bush centre and see for yourself.

For more information about the event click here.

Fitness operators’ performance in answering their phones was rated as the worst in five years, according to a survey by Leisure-net Solutions.

As part of National call-Focus Survey over 70 sites were rung three times a day for a week by mystery callers. All calls were digitally recorded and have been sent to the operators concerned.

The average score – based on criteria such as speed of answering the phone and the receptionist/phone operator asking the potential client their goals – declined by 8% to result in the worst score in the survey’s five-year history.

Although questions about becoming a member were answered ‘confidently and knowledgably’ in 94% of cases, the receptionist/adviser only asked the researchers about their goals or the services they were interested in during 36% of calls. Over half of the operators gave out prices before discussing individual requirements, despite most operators having a policy of not giving membership prices over the phone too easily.

Mike Hill, Leisure-net managing director said, “Learning what we’re doing right and wrong in the telephone element of our service and how we can do it better is crucial to business success.

“This year’s survey results are certainly disappointing, and as sample sizes and mixes were very comparable to previous surveys, it’s reasonable to assume we’ve actually got worse as an industry in answering membership enquiries by phone.”

Leisure-net provided a complete range of customer insight tools for leisure, health and fitness operators. For further information email info@leisure-net.org. For more information on a range of issues such as customer service, marketing and new markets subscribe to FitPro Business magazine.

The British Dietetic Association (BDA) has highlighted the difference between dietitians and nutrition therapists as a glut of new diets saturates the new years’ media.

Siân Burton, chairman of the BDA’s Communication and Marketing Board said: “Members of the public should be aware that anybody, overnight, can set up shop as a nutrition therapist, with no qualifications and no regulatory body to monitor how they work.

“Registered dieitians working in the UK are educated to degree level and must be registered with the Health Professions Council (HPC) to ensure public safety by adhering to standards of professional training, performance and conduct.  In addition, the working title ‘dietitian’ is a legally protected title and cannot be used by anyone else who has not met the education and HPC standards.”

Alongside exercise, a healthy diet is essential for anyone looking to lose weight. However, members of the public often receive bad advice from the media, friends and family members and health and fitness professionals. Nutrition therapists are not required to be registered in order to work in the UK and anyone can call themselves a Nutrition Therapist.

The British Dietetic Association is the professional association for registered dietitians in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is the nation’s largest organisation for food and nutrition professionals. For more information visit http://www.bda.uk.com/

The top 10 health club trends for this year have been revealed by the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA).

According to their industry research (mostly based on the American population), more people working out in clubs, specific training for different demographics (such as baby boomers) and youth programming made the top three trends.

Vicky Mahony, FitPro product development manager said: “As the obesity rate for young people continues to grow globally, it is crucial for us to focus on inspiring the younger generation to get active through fun activities, games and sport.

“Creating habits and routines for children early in life helps them develop skills and hobbies which will assist in carrying a healthy lifestyle into their adolescence and beyond. The key is educating the parents, teachers and coaches on how to instil healthy eating and fun activities into their daily lives from an early age.”

The list was compiled by IHRSA after examining the research and working with its global membership base of over 10,000 club and fitness businesses and monitoring customer fitness behaviours.

The top 10 trends were identified as:

1)      More people working out in clubs

2)      Specific programming and certifications for baby boomers

3)      Youth programming

4)      Social exercise

5)      Small group personal training

6)      Technology

7)      Convenient fitness options

8)      Corporate wellness benefits

9)      Body weight exercise

10)   Physician prescribed exercise

For more information about IHRSA visit www.ihrsa.org. To find out how to get children active and moving visit KidzMove.

This May, national charity Living Streets will urge everyone across the UK to step out of the car and hit the pavement walking. Using an online tool, people across Britain will log the miles they walk, as part of the Great British Walking Challenge.

The aim is to see how many times, as a nation, we can walk the distance between Land’s End and John O’Groats.

The challenge comes as one quarter of people admit they rarely walk for 20 minutes at any one time, while only 11% of commuters walk to work. The number of children walking to school has also dropped, with 43% of children driven to school, despite the majority of primary school children living within a mile of their school.

Chief executive of Living Streets Tony Armstrong said: “We’re hoping to get the whole country walking and rack up enough miles to get from John O’Groats to Land’s End using our online tool … It can be as simple as walking all or part of the journey to school, stepping out of the office for a lunchtime walk, or getting off the bus a few stops earlier on your way home from the office.”

For more information, visit www.livingstreets.org.uk

The Biggest Loser host Davina McCall was thrown in with the ITV contestants for a gruelling ViPR circuit in a surprise twist to the show.

Despite releasing her own fitness DVDs, Davina found working with the ViPR, brought in by trainers Richard Callender (pictured), Charlotte Ord and Rob Edmond, a challenge.

Davina said: “Those ViPRs that Richard has got work every single muscle in your body … your back, your core. My body is just trashed.”

The 44-year-old presenter added: “I pride myself on being quite fit, I train three times a week and I’m telling you, it was tough.” Of the Biggest Loser contestants she commented: “Hats off to them for the amount of effort they put in and the stamina they build up.”

Davina’s latest DVD Ultimate Target reached top of the HMV chart, as her earlier workouts have been voted most effective for getting in shape.

For more information about training with ViPR, visit www.viprfit.com

Shift into Sports, a health and fitness initiative that gives shift workers access to sports, fitness and pay-as-you-play opportunities at low cost and without long-term contracts, has now launched nationwide.

The launch comes as Sky, the UK’s largest entertainment and communications company, becomes the latest organisation to join the scheme – and the first employer to make the programme available to all of its 16,500 employees.

Launched by the Fitness Industry Association (FIA) in 2010 and backed by the Mayor of London, Sport England and London-based mini cab firm Addison Lee, Shift into Sports allows shift workers to take advantage of facilities during off-peak times at a time of the day that best suits them, while also ensuring fitness and leisure facilities no longer lie dormant during the nine-to-five working day.

Ralph Tribe, director of business HR for Sky, commented: “Sky has been instrumental in the national rollout of this fantastic partnership with Shift into Sports as a means of providing flexible and low-cost access to activities for our employees and, in particular, our shift workers.”

Sky employees can now register for offers including those at gyms, swimming pools, organised workouts in nearby parks and team sports such as five-a-side football in their local area.

For more information, visit www.shiftintosports.com

ViPR™ returned to ITV’s The Biggest Loser show on Tuesday 3 January. Lead trainer Richard Callender led a group exercise class as part of the initial training programme for contestants on the fifth series of the weight loss reality show. Richard Callender, who will be using ViPR throughout the series, says: “ViPR fits with my training methodology – freestyle, functional, and it incorporates the whole body.”

Virtually indestructible and incredibly functional, ViPR has already made its mark in gyms, in instructor circles and in the media. With over 9,000 exercises ViPR integrates seamlessly with any fitness programme, with applications for group exercise, sport-specific exercise, reconditioning and individual PT sessions. It is an ideal exercise tool to help de-conditioned populations returning to fitness.

Claire Winter, one of the 2011 contestants and who has since qualified as a personal trainer, comments about the training tool: “I love using ViPR both in my own training and with clients. Its versatility makes it easy to use and adapt for all levels of ability and fitness, and it is really effective at improving strength, flexibility and balance. A great all round tool.”

The Biggest Loser is shown on ITV 1 on Tuesdays at 9pm. For more information about ViPR visit www.viprfit.com