Weekly Workout September 2020

ISSUE 1 May

WEEKLY

Issue 19

25 September 2020

YOUR REGULAR ONLINE UPDATE FOR THE UK FITNESS SCENE

Company agrees deal with Everyone Active page 3

Enter your lockdown hero in our WorkOut 2020 Roll of Honour page 2

Connexus - quarter pg - WOM - PR.pdf

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Scan to see Connexus in action Connexus is the space-saving solution that lets you offer a wide variety of functional training programming and speciality classes in one training space.

Multiple adjustable attachment points offer maximum versatility and easy transitions between exercises.

Choose from wall-mounted and freestanding stations, with optional expansion kits to build exactly what you need for your space, your members, and your budget.

CONNEXUS: It’s the system that really shows your strength

www.matrixfitness.co.uk

WORKOUT WEEKLY

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New report shows value of sport and physical activity

Myzone integrated into fitness qualifications MYZONE is being integrated into fitness qualifications to develop a new breed of industry-ready professionals in the first partnership of its kind in the UK. The wearable technology leader has partnered with innovative new training provider Vector Training, which aims to transform the sports and fitness education sector.

“Our sector has become saturated with online and quick fix crash course programmes, which means too many PTs enter the industry without the skills to build a career,” said Richard Lepori, managing director of Vector Training.

“This has led to turnover rates of 80 per cent.

“Employers have had enough and want to know that new professionals have spent time on the gym floor developing the skills needed for their roles.”

The CIMSPA education partner, which delivers a range of accredited fitness and sports qualifications, is working with Myzone to provide an innovative learning experience.

Course participants will receive a Myzone MZ-3 Belt and will learn how to use the digital platform to engage and develop communities among their clients while delivering accurate and efficient progammes to achieve results.

Group Editor: Judith Halkerston Tel: 01226 734639 jh@scriptmedia. co.uk Group production editor: Dominic Musgrave Tel: 01226 734407 dm@scriptmedia. co.uk

Sales and marketing director: Tony Barry Tel: 01226 734605 tb@scriptmedia. co.uk Sales manager: Louise BristoweHarrison Tel: 01226 734699 workout3@ scriptmedia.co.uk

Studio manager: Stewart Holt sth@scriptmedia. co.uk

www.workout-uk.co.uk

“Wearable technology is an increasingly popular tool for fitness professionals,” added Richard.

“Myzone are industry leaders in their field and embedding Myzone into our programmes will allow our students to learn how to utilise the technology effectively.

“They will graduate as industry-ready professionals with skills that other students won’t possess.

“This will aid their transition into employment, help them build successful careers and reduce the sector’s eyewatering turnover rates.”

Jonathan Monks, director Myzone, EMEA, said: “We are excited about this innovative partnership with Vector Training, which is a first for the UK. “As a young and ambitious training provider, they are determined to raise standards in sport and fitness education with robust and relevant industry-led qualifications that deliver work-ready professionals.

“We are delighted to part of this investment in the future of our sector’s workforce.”

Myzone is being integrated into Vector Training’s Level 3 Diploma in Gym Instructing and Personal Training qualification.

ukactive has welcomed a new report from Sport England and Sheffield Hallam University, which shows that every £1 spent on community sport and physical activity generates nearly £4 for the English economy and society.

The findings reveal that community sport and physical activity brings an annual contribution of £85.5bn to the country (in 2018 prices) through social and economic benefits.

Its social value – including physical and mental health, wellbeing, individual and community development – is more than £72bn, provided by a healthier population, consumer expenditure, greater work productivity, improved education attainment, reduced crime and stronger communities.

The campaign, in partnership with Sport England, the UK Government and the European Commission, will showcase the variety of sports and activities which help people to be active, happy and healthy, while also highlighting their role in reducing health and social inequalities which have been exacerbated by Covid-19.

As excitement for the week grows, the new research also supports calls from ukactive and partners for greater financial and regulatory backing for the physical activity sector, with forced closures and reduced operating capacity threatening thousands of gyms, leisure facilities and sports providers.

Huw Edwards, CEO of ukactive, said: “This research from Sport England shows the unique value of community sport and physical activity in tackling society’s greatest challenges, with a return of £4 for every £1 invested. “ukactive and its partners have a track record of developing programmes of work that support broader societal outcomes, including creating opportunities for children and young people, transforming workplace wellbeing, and ensuring active ageing.

“As we continue to battle Covid-19, public health must be the Government’s top priority for both society and the

economy. By investing in the physical activity sector at this time, we can increase the population’s physical and mental resilience to Covid-19, reduce the burden of underlying health conditions on the NHS, and maximise our contribution to economic recovery.”

The key findings: n Investing in community sport and physical activity generates £3.91 in value for every £1 spent. n £85.5bn total annual contribution of community sport and physical activity (in 2018 prices) through social and economic benefits. n £72bn in social value, provided by a healthier population, consumer expenditure, greater work productivity, improved education attainment, reduced crime and stronger communities. n £13bn in economic value generated through sports-related goods and services. n 285,000 jobs within the community sport and physical activity sector. n £42bn worth of value created from improved life satisfaction for 24 million participants and 3.9 million volunteers through involvement in sport and activity. n £9.5bn from preventing serious physical and mental health conditions (£5.2bn was in healthcare savings, while £1.7bn was in social care savings). n £3.6bn worth of savings generated by the prevention of 900,000 cases of diabetes. n £3.5bn of value generated in avoided dementia cases and related care. n £450m saved by preventing 30 million additional GP visits. n £20bn in value from stronger and safer communities: 10,000 fewer crime incidents; replacement value of work done by sports volunteers (£5.7bn); improved levels of social trust, belonging and community engagement (£14.2bn).

Social impact was determined by using a Social Return on Investment framework, which assessed the value of participating and volunteering in sport but excluded watching sport.

Tell us about your lockdown heroes IT’S BEEN a long hard year so far and many of us have faced unprecedented challenges.

But, as the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going … and that has certainly been the case in the fitness industry.

Following our announcement that, unfortunately, we can’t proceed with this year’s National Fitness Awards, we decided that so many amazing things have been going on during the difficult months of lockdown and beyond, we still needed to recognise these.

Today we launch the WorkOut 2020 Roll of Honour – this will appear in our January 2021 issue and will pay tribute to the lockdown heroes who have gone over and above in these most testing of times.

Do you know someone who has worked tirelessly to help those in need?

Or an individual who has used their energy and innovation to help their members stay strong and fit during the closures?

Maybe they have used the time to innovate and plan for the future so they can bounce back stronger for their members?

Whatever their contribution we want to hear about it.

Please send your nomination to events@scriptmedia.co.uk and we will be featuring some of your stories in WorkOut magazine, and our WorkOut Weekly digital newsletter.

Closing date for entries is Friday December 4.

There will be a place on our Roll of Honour for the most inspiring nominees and they will all receive a certificate to mark their achievements.

Ready, steady, get nominating …

WORKOUT WEEKLY

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Company agrees deal with Everyone Active FitnessOnDemand has signed a deal to make the company’s portfolio of classes and workouts available to Everyone Active’s UK member base of 500,000 users.

The agreement is one of the largest content subscription agreements made by FitnessOnDemand to date and is part of the company’s ongoing growth in overseas markets that include the UK and Australia.

As part of Everyone Active’s Everyone On Demand product, the new agreement makes 1,000 fitness classes, workouts and wellness content available to both Everyone Active existing and new members via mobile app.

All content is entirely free, funded

by Everyone Active and provided via FitnessOnDemand’s streaming FLEX product.

The move comes as part of Everyone Active’s commitment to source the best on-demand content to complement onsite classes at every physical centre location.

In this way no member has to make a choice between the gym, and their favourite on-demand session when returning, post-lockdown.

Classes and workouts include offered content from top fitness gurus and internationally acclaimed brands such as Jillian Michaels, SH1FT, Sweat Factor and Sleek Technique among many others.

Members can gain instant access to specific instructor led classes and workouts that include HIIT workouts, core programs, yoga, stretch, cycling

and many more.

Members can access via mobile app wherever they seek to work out or at any of the 190 locations.

“Everyone Active strives to be at the forefront of the leisure market here in the UK,” said Duncan Jefford, director, Everyone Active.

“We reviewed dozens of on-demand platforms and selected FLEX by

FitnessOnDemand for its sheer diversity of leading global and UK fitness programming, its omnichannel delivery across web and app channels and especially its content management platform.

“This particularly provides incredibly useful usage statistics and other data points that help us manage our member programming and

understand usage trends across our locations.

“That functionality really stood out to us as we considered partners.”

FitnessOnDemand’s FLEX product and portfolio is part of an effort by Everyone Active to bring the right, flexible and convenient fitness content and classes to their vast membership during uncertain times when pandemic-concerns and both changing member usage patterns and needs continue to evolve.

FLEX enables club operators to give all, or just select, members, based on their membership type, access to hundreds of curated classes, specific workouts, stretches, cool downs and wellness content from around the world. FLEX can be instantly and easily added to any existing FitnessOnDemand content management programme.

“We started work on our FLEX product as far back as early 2019 and launched it coincidentally at a time this year when clubs of all sizes really turned up the dial on their member on-demand and digital content offerings,” added Armin Krienke, director business development, FitnessOnDemand.

“This agreement with Everyone Active represents a trend we’re seeing in our business: the continued growth in our international client base but also larger, enterprise-scale introductions of FLEX that bring the product’s benefits to truly massive and geographically diverse member locations.”

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WORKOUT WEEKLY

Scientists discover warm-up exercise that could boost fitness and ward off disease in diabetes patients UK scientists have identified a short warm-up ‘priming exercise’ that could help people with diabetes exercise for longer.

And it’s a simple technique that could ward-off disease and prolong life.

People with type one diabetes are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and are encouraged to take regular exercise.

But that’s not as easy as it sounds – with many patients struggling to tolerate any sort of significant fitness regime.

Now a team led by experts at Liverpool Hope University has discovered for the first time how the ‘VO2 kinetics’ – the time it takes for the body to glean the additional energy needed for exercise – is actually much slower in type one diabetes patients compared with healthy people.

And the sport scientists discovered how a short ‘priming’ warm-up exercise, which involved a six-minute burst of hard pedalling on an exercise bike just before a training session, actually sped up the VO2 kinetics, making it much easier for them to get the energy they needed.

In fact, ‘critical power’ – the highest intensity before the onset of fatigue – was boosted in diabetes patients by around eight per cent.

That, say the academics, could help diabetes sufferers exercise at higher intensities and for longer, potentially warding off heart disease.

The results, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, ‘have important implications for the development of interventions to enhance aerobic fitness

in this patient group’.

Lead author Dr Simon Marwood, Associate Professor in Physiology of Hope’s School of Health Sciences, said: “This is the first evidence in this patient group that a simple warm up exercise can enhance subsequent exercise performance.

“And it could therefore be used as an aid to improve training intensity, or simply to overcome the barriers in the capacity to undertake exercise at all.”

Dr Marwood, along with co-authors Dr Richie Goulding and Associate Professor Associate Denise Roche, performed the study in two phases.

Phase one saw 17 males with type one diabetes, and 17 healthy males without type one diabetes – with an average age in their early to late 30s – put through their paces on a laboratory exercise bike.

Various measurements were taken, including VO2 peak - the point at which

oxygen uptake no longer increases with an increase in workload – and blood glucose levels, while being pushed to exhaustion.

And Dr Marwood found oxygen uptake kinetics – and general aerobic fitness – were significantly compromised in the group with diabetes – equivalent to around 30 years plus of ageing compared with healthy individuals.

He added: “Aerobic fitness is an important determinant of cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular risk is already substantially higher in individuals with type one diabetes compared to individuals without diabetes.

“The findings from part one are therefore clinically relevant to individuals living with type 1 diabetes, suggesting that interventions aimed at mitigating cardiovascular risk and improving life expectancy in type 1 diabetes necessitate a strong focus on

improvement of aerobic fitness.”

Part two of the trial focused on seven participants with diabetes.

During a series of tests they were asked to exercise to failure in order to establish their ‘critical power’.

And these bursts of activity were performed both with and without an initial ‘priming’ exercise.

This priming consisted of three minutes of gentle ‘baseline’ pedalling, before a sharp ramp up for six minutes, followed by a rest of seven minutes before the main test began.

Scientists found that the priming exercise ‘resulted in faster VO2 kinetics and a greater critical power when compared to the control condition’ with an ‘increase in critical power of eight per cent compared to the control condition’.

Dr Marwood added: “Patients with type one diabetes demonstrated slower VO2 kinetics when compared to healthy controls.

“Furthermore, a prior bout of highintensity exercise speeded oxygen uptake kinetics and increased critical power in people with type one diabetes.

“These findings highlight the potential for other interventions, perhaps nutritional or pharmacological, that also speed VO2 kinetics for enhancing exercise tolerance in this condition.”

The team of scientists made another surprising finding.

Contrary to expectations, he found that the issue was not about how oxygen is delivered to the body – but about how muscles are able to utilise it on a cellular level, with diabetes patients compromised in this respect.

Save thousands with new smart payment solutions

Matrix Connected Solutions help Roko deliver digital experience MATRIX Fitness completed an upgrade of the fitness facilities at the premium Roko Health Clubs of Chiswick Bridge and York to ensure the facilities provide a fully connected, wraparound member experience 24/7.

Neil Stanton, operations director at Roko Health Club, said: “A digital offer is now essential. We wanted to take our member experience beyond the four walls of the club and integrate more with their everyday active life.

“We decided to install the top of the range, Matrix 7xi cardio and ultra-strength range as the Matrix connected solutions available with this equipment seamlessly integrates a digital experience for our members, one that we can view via the Roko App, and connects with third-party fitness tracking apps allowing us to program, manage and support our

members entire fitness journey.”

The install includes the Matrix Personal Trainer Portal, which allows access to a complete library of workouts and links to personal trainer expertise to help maximise their workout.

Paul Jones, key account manager for Matrix Fitness, added: “We are pleased to have entered this new partnership with Roko Health Club and to be able to offer them a complete solution that will allow the team to truly attract, engage and retain members.”

Matrix Connected Solutions is more than a collection of hardware, software and connectivity options.

It’s a fully integrated digital ecosystem that enhances the way machines are managed, members are motivated and the club brand is promoted. www.matrixfitness.co.uk

FISIKAL has introduced three new payment management functions to help gym owners and fitness professionals more efficiently manage payment options, potentially shaving thousands off the annual cost line.

This month sees the launch of Wallet.

This function enables clients and members to securely place a sum of money into a holding ‘wallet’ which can then be drawn down to purchase goods and services, at their convenience.

This means there is no need to input payment details every time a payment is required, streamlining the experience and reducing barriers to purchase.

The Wallet can be topped up at any time and alerts can be set to remind clients and members when funds need replenishing.

Fisikal also integrates with Spreedly, a best-in-class payment provider aggregator which connects to more than 100 payment providers.

Fisikal also integrates independently with a number of additional providers including GoCardLess and Stripe to offer clients an unrivalled choice in payment collection partners.

Recently, simply by switching from one provider to another, Fisikal saved a small chain of fitness studios more than £100,000 per annum in payment collection fees.

Xero, the leading online accounting

platform also integrates with Fisikal to offer an intelligent and efficient method for gym owners and individual fitness professionals to streamline workflows.

When a payment is made through a Fisikal designed app or web integration, for example a personal training session, the payment automatically appears in Xero, negating the need for manual input.

This improves efficiencies and makes payments fully traceable from source to bank account.

This integration comes at an especially opportune time, as the government works towards enforcing ‘Making Tax Digital’ policy, whereby VAT-registered businesses had to record their various tax affairs digitally, using online accounting software or an app.

To find out more or to book a no obligation demonstration, contact Fisikal at: https://fisikal.com

Do you have a passion for fitness and a desire to help others achieve their goals? If so, then a rewarding career in fitness as a Personal Trainer is waiting for you, and you can get started today!

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FRIDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2021,

THE ATHENA,LEICESTER

We are so sad to announce that we have taken the difficult decision to cancel this year’s National Fitness Awards.

All nominations for this year’s awards will be carried over to next year – and nominees will have the opportunity to update their nominations should they wish to ahead of the closing date. Nominations will remain open throughout the year closing on August 31 2021.

Thank you for all your nominations and support and we look forward to celebrating your achievements in 2021. Thanks too to our sponsors for your continued loyalty and support.

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