The search for a digital fitness business that sticks It’s impossible to ignore the scaling problem fitness businesses run into. The need to have a great big building full of equipment, located close to where lots of people live or work, is expensive. To build several is even harder. Facing this conundrum, many startups are experimenting with digital fitness. There’s …
How budget gyms are muscling out Fitness First and Virgin Active
The relentless cost-cutters that are clobbering Virgin Active and Fitness First. At first glance, something doesn’t quite add up. More people are taking an interest in fitness than ever, the UK gym market is growing faster than anywhere in Europe and yet, the two most dominant firms, Fitness First and Virgin Active, closed more clubs than they opened in the …
How fitness got hijacked by fashion and lifestyle
Style and social media have become as integral as sweat to startup fitness brands. Blame LA. The health-conscious Californian city has been luring the fashion world to its sunny streets; perhaps as significant a factor as any behind the coming together of fashion, food and fitness. What used to be called ‘exercise’ has, for many, morphed into something far broader and …
Interview with Barry’s Bootcamp CEO
Barry’s Bootcamp is a workout, a brand and a buzz word for the wave of fitness fanaticism that’s sweeping across from the US to Europe. Courier meets CEO Joey Gonzalez. Barry Jay devised an intense workout inside a gym that attracted a small but fast-growing local following. It led to the formation of Barry’s Bootcamp, with outposts opening across the US and more …
Why people are betting big on boutiquey fitness studios
Hot on the heels of SoulCycle’s explosive growth and £90m annual sales, a bunch of UK startups are attempting to build a blockbuster fitness business out of London. Is there substance behind the lifestyle fluff? 26 Sep 2016 Some 15 months after opening his first site in Holland Park, Core Collective founder Jason de Savary was sweating over securing leases on his next two …