Andrew Steele OLY

Fhitting Room has closed 3 clubs, citing “aggressive third-party” booking companies - with ClassPass being the main player in this category Very sad to see this as Fhitting Room was one of my favourite New York brands 😞 Their Flatiron club scored five stars in The Fit Guide's evaluation process and we had some great conversations with the team there Like us, they were enthusiastic and excited about the fitness industry learning from hospitality Their team even recommended Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara which became one of my fav business reads! Conditions have certainly been tough in New York... The city got absolutely battered during closures Landlords were notoriously tough And our friends on the ground have said that some New Yorkers' habits had permanently shifted Fhitting Room keeps its Upper West Side studio, so do check them out if you're in New York! 💪🏼 This presents an important question... As the industry evolves, what role is ClassPass playing in the industry? Is their presence, along with other third-party booking companies such as Wellhub, having a positive or negative effect on the industry and your business? I did a podcast on this a while ago. As the industry evolves and shifts, it's a crucial conversation to keep having. Source: Athletech News #thefitguide #fhittingroom #classpass #fitnessindustry #newyork

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So just how popular is padel? Like many padel clubs around the UK we have had our first Christmas. We wondered how December would play out, especially as we aren't yet under cover and for the leisure sector December is a notoriously tough period. We needn't have worried and on several occasions we have been 100% fully booked including Christmas Eve and #NYE, with average utilisation in the holiday period north of 85%. And yet we are just scratching the surface at Soul Padel, with much more to come in 2025 and beyond. Padel is phenomenally popular and soon we will release the results of a behavioural and demographic survey, providing further insights into who's playing padel right now, how frequently and importantly, why. #samepadelmoresoul #sports #growth #investment #community #leisure #education #thisisdifferent LTA St Helens Council Stockport Council Manchester City Council Wigan Council Bolton School Decathlon Decathlon UK Applied Nutrition plc Renfrewshire Council West Lancashire Borough Council Bolton Council GM Active CIC MCRactive The Schools'​ Enterprise Association Montirex LTD. Macron R3 Sport

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As part of their efforts to improve the health of the Nation, Leisure DB has made their flagship State of the UK Fitness Industry Report available free of charge for the first time in history. Read the full report now, for FREE: https://lnkd.in/em_Ti9DR If you found this helpful, please share it with your own followers! #makingadifference #democratisingdata #leisuredb #fitnessdatainsights 

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With just a month remaining until our VIP EVOLVE Conference 2024, get ready to download your copy of the State of the UK Fitness Industry Report 2024. While the privileged few revel in our VIP experience, fear not! We'll capture every moment on camera for later streaming, PLUS we want you to experience something momentous with us too....... Leisure DB are on a mission to create a real impact in the health and wellness sector across the UK. That's why, backed by our partners, we've committed to providing free access to the report for all. This year's report is a brimming with insightful commentary from thought leaders across the board—operators, suppliers, and consultants—who have graciously shared their stories to breathe life into the data! Why is our Independent sector-wide data so trusted? We've traced and researched the Fitness Industry for over 30 yrs under set definitions and an unchanged methodology, ensuring we produce the most robust market intelligence and analysis across the full scope of an increasingly diverse industry. Did you know? For years, we have used this data to help businesses across the sector achieve their potential – suppliers and operators, independents and multi-sites, public and private, direct and through leisure consultancies. From in-depth site and customer analysis to market insights, competitor audits and consultancy, we harness our unique sector expertise, proprietary modelling and constantly-current database to provide the exact data you need, every time. What a great year ahead! Big shout out to our partners, as without them, a lot of what we do wouldn't be possible.   Alliance Leisure   PSLT Limited Les Mills UK (LMUK) Balanced Body TANITA Europe B.V. - Leading Health Insights Xplor Gym UK   Pulse Fitness  Core Health & Fitness  Hutchison Technologies P81 Active IQ   Love Recruitment Ltd CoverMe App John Owen Independent Gyms  Konsileo   Elevate – the B2B event of physical activity  Power Plate  CAWS Red Bull

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CRM for Fitness Businesses: Obvious Rule 1, Subsection B - Don't threaten your prospects with permanent barring if they unsubscribe from your mailing list. 🤯 This is a genuine email that I received from a London gym. Needless to say I did not join, although I suspect the club may have excellent retention as as members are too scared of what might happen if they try to leave... #CRM #Fitness

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🏙️ Let’s Bring the Soul of Padel to More Communities Across the UK! 🎾 Soul Padel is on a mission to make padel the heart and soul of urban communities. We’re growing fast and looking for new locations to expand our vibrant, inclusive, and community-driven Soul Padel clubs. We’re calling on the property industry to help us find the perfect spots! 🏗️ What We’re Looking For: ✅ Urban Locations: Accessible spaces in towns and cities across the UK. ✅ Flexible Sizes: Opportunities for multi-court facilities with room for social spaces. ✅ Community-Centric: Sites where we can create hubs for people to meet, play, and connect. Why Soul Padel? Our clubs aren’t just sports venues—they’re spaces for competition, connection, and community. From seasoned players to curious newcomers, our courts bring people together, and we’re passionate about embedding ourselves in the heart of the neighbourhoods we serve. Join Us in Growing the Game! We’re already bringing one of the world’s fastest-growing sports to new audiences, and we’d love your help in finding the next big opportunity. If you know of a site—or want to explore a partnership—let’s chat! We offer a £10,000 finder's fee on successful contract exchange and grant of planning. Let’s make it happen together. 💪 SAME PADEL. MORE SOUL.

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📲 Are booking apps a necessary evil or a club's best friend? As we begin to visualise our future, the way customers interact with Soul Padel predominantly begins with a booking platform. There are multiple operators in this space, some of which focus on rackets sports specifically, whereas others are multi-sport technologies. Essentially this is #saas for the #sportsindustry. In some ways, it's similar to the restaurant industry and delivery apps such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat Takeaway.com or DoorDash, if your outlet isn't present on the platform, can it reach it's full potential in the age of immediate gratification and ubiquity or can you afford the margin grab from the platform as you grow a loyal customer base? Soul Padel will be soon be tendering for our booking platform partner and having spent time researching the market there's plenty of choice and varied models to choose from; From the most obvious one right now in the UK PLAYTOMIC to the less well known Clubspark who seem to partner with the LTA, all platforms do similar things but each has unique features and benefits helping to differentiate their offer. Padel Mates, Playbypoint and Padel iQ (PadeliQ) are looking to break the dominant market share of PLAYTOMIC whereas MATCHi seem to be progressing outside of the UK right now, albeit they do have a presence here. Resasports, CourtReserve, and Bookteq also have interesting offers but are less well know in the #padel sector and the UK. Alternatively, as clubs grow the option to develop your own system and integrate it seamlessly with CRM, accounting and operational software is a tempting but costly one. For anyone involved in this space who wishes to share an opinion please drop your comments in the chat below 👇 or DM me. For booking system operators please get in touch with a view to begin a conversation - We have a detailed tender document and specification available upon request.

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Exciting times at FSP who have launched the FSP playbook! This book is like gold dust, if you are lucky enough to have a copy, you are one of the lucky ones⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Thank you HCM Magazine and Kate Cracknell it was great talking with you about Lift Brands and in particular our significant growth plans for Snap Fitness 24/7 across the globe! If you are interested take a read at the following link, PAGE 38 > https://lnkd.in/enzC5YSQ #growth #gym #franchise #business #invest #business

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"Always locate your padel clubs in towns with a Waitrose & Partners" Where to locate a padel club is the most important question posed presently in the emerging UK market. My own early location research and analysis involves constant road trips up and down the UK - I have covered 30,000 miles in the last 12 months, with the odd trip to Spain and Portugal. Conversations tended to centre on affluence, demography and disposable income levels, hence the statement above from someone I met early in my journey. I often draw analogies from food retail as I spent 20+ years in that sector, it gets boring no doubt but there are parallels. Stating the bleeding obvious, location is the number one success factor for any physical business selling to the general public; Can I see it? Can I easily get to it? Demography is an altogether different topic. What's your offer, your price, your service and how do you compare to your competitors? As we've seen with Lidl GB and Aldi UK over the last 30 years, price matters but so too does quality. Their own early location strategies targeted low demography with low price and low quality - it didn't work initially. I remember putting an ALDI store in Knutsford in 2007 - the residents hated me, until on day one they all shopped there. Changing demography and economics have helped these retailers to an extent but they too have evolved enormously. What does this all mean for padel. Like any growing market, segmentation is inevitable. Does this mean all padel clubs need to be towns with Waitrose stores? In short no but location and demography will interrelate with price, quality and service forever. Ultimately, more and more people will want to play padel and there will be choices to make on the price, service and quality. The successful padel clubs will understand these dynamics and make choices of where and where not to do business. #padel #growth #sports #investment #location #strategy #price #service #quality

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Here is a free download for those following along on LinkedIn… just click the link and the usually reserved for our Club 300 clients guide is yours. https://lnkd.in/efDST6Uw I’ve included the highly evidence based supplements along with the key benefits, suggested use and thresholds. You won’t need them all but they can all help supplement a good nutritional understanding. If you restrict yourself from certain food groups or are in a calorie deficit the likelihood is you could benefit from supplements. I’ve also included some advice on how to find out what you might be lacking in your daily intake.

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Every Gym Counts: Let’s Make Sure You’re Represented! To unlock the full potential of our fitness sector, we need your help. Leisure DB’s State of the UK Fitness Industry Report is the go-to resource for understanding the size, value, and trends in our industry – and in 2024, we made it free to read! Our next step? The most comprehensive telephone audit of 7,000+ gyms across the UK, starting 2 December. How can you help? 1. Be ready for our call – brief your team to provide key data on your club/centre. 2. Request an e-version of the audit to update your information at your convenience. 3. Call us directly between 2–20 December, 9am–5pm (Mon–Fri) to ensure your details are complete. Calls take just a few minutes, but your participation ensures accurate representation and meaningful insights in the 2025 report. Check out the free 2024 report now to see why this matters. Together, let’s showcase the true power of our industry! https://lnkd.in/e_SYwnA9 #FitnessIndustry #StateofUKFitnessIndustryreport #EveryGymCounts #Teamwork

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Warrior® drives SEVEN TIMES (7x) its fair share of growth in the UK Protein Bar market. Warrior® outgrew Grenade, Myprotein, Furocity, Glanbia (Optimum Nutrition), and every other brand in the UK in the latest data despite a smaller distribution base. Warrior's rate of sale (how many bars retailers sell on the same shelf space), is so much higher than every other brand in the UK. Are you a retailer looking for category growth? You should be focused on FREQUENCY! You have a ton of shoppers, they just don't purchase from your category very often. It's an occasional treat. Warrior Protein Bars are a daily purchase. We have many, many customers who buy 2 bars a day. Warrior Protein Bars become a daily staple and that frequency of purchase drives highly profitable repeat business for you. If you want profitable category growth, and don't have Warrior on your shelves, you have a leaky bucket. The average sports nutrition consumers spends £45 a month on supplements - how much of that spend do you get? Bugger all right, because you only have treats on your shelf, not staples. Warrior bars are a staple, driving repeat traffic, super high rates of sales, and category loyalty. How come Warrior is growing far more than brands with far bigger budgets owned by £bn companies and private equity firms? Because Warrior connects with the consumer, and drives greater frequency of purchase than anyone else. Want more category data? Email kieran@kbfenterprises.com #Warrior #Protein #proteinbars #fmcg #sports #sportsnutrition #fitness #healthysnacking #healthy #healthylifestyle #convenience #conveniencestore #grocers #groceryretail #groceryshopping #entrepreneur

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This is a fabulous forum for ideas on road safety that work and need to be shared. Solutions that have an overwhelming evidence base for effectiveness should not be ignored. Graduated Driver Licensing fits into that category.

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A thought-provoking insight that could change how boutique businesses operate 👀 RYDE Studios is one of the few gym businesses that uses ClassPass credits to offer pay-as-you-go services. Despite its usefulness, it’s not a decision that was taken lightly, and business owners must remember that the brand is a business of its own, warns Kyle Harris. Offering increased control, choice, and flexibility to members, ClassPass is certainly a worthy alternative to highly priced memberships that users most likely won’t fully use. That said, you’ve got to nail your product to successfully employ a pay-as-you-go model for classes. Every class a member attends needs to convince them to come back, and that’s where RYDE Studios truly excels in my opinion. The full episode of The Samir Kapoor Show ft. Kyle Harris is out now! Hear our entire insight-packed discussion perfect for gym operators and business owners in the U.K - https://lnkd.in/gUjmD7xY 🔗 #businesspodcast #gympodcast #rydestudios #entrepreneurship #entrepreneur #ceotips #classpass #cyclingstudio #g

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Retention Recipe #3 - New Member Challenge Get your new members involved in your club’s core activities with a simple checklist. Download all 12 Retention Recipes ggfit.com/recipes and boost your club's retention in 2025. e.g. the Zero to Hero challenge. Encourage all new members to... > make one visit > make one visit per week > make four visits > book (and attend) a class > have an induction/activation/programme appointment > complete a feedback form > refer a friend, etc. Reward with a water bottle/towel/t-shirt that says they’ve completed the challenge Bonus/twist: You can repeat this with active members (see active challenges) anytime, or it’s a great way to get returning members back into the habit and engaged with all the great activities at your club. #Retention #RetentionRecipes #Education

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Do you know your VO2max? Do you even know what that term means? 🧬💪🏼 If not, then you really do need to this newsletter I wrote last year! It’s a measurement tool that we used to reserve for only high performance athletes - to measure their body’s ability to utilise oxygen - to see how “fit” they are. Now, it’s probably the single most important biomarker we have to predict your longevity. It’s more powerful than knowing your blood pressure, your A1c level, or your cholesterol levels. So I hope I now have your attention. Read the article if if you’d like to know more about how to get your value tested and analysed, reach out to me below. You can also sign up for my free longevity newsletter to receive content like this on a regular basis. https://lnkd.in/dzXfAkay #biomarker #vo2max #longevity #exercise #fitness #docm #healthspan #healthy

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Being endorsed by HABIA (the government-recognised Standard Setting Body for the industry) means that START-NT, my flagship course for aspiring premium nail techs is aligned with the most up-to-date National Occupational Standards (NOS) . NOS specify UK Standards of performance that people are expected to achieve in their work, and the knowledge and skills they need to perform effectively. . My flagship course, Global Meticulous Manicurist Academy-Specialty Toenail and Restoration Nail Technician (STAR NT) is open to: . Licensed US Nail Technicians, Cosmetologists, Nurses, Podiatrists, UK Level 2 Nail Technicians, And ANY other country that doesn’t require licensing. Learn more about it here: https://lnkd.in/gNb3czqd #advancedpedicuretraining #nailtechtraining #pedicuretraining #premiumnailcaregiver #nailcare #beauty #nailtechuk #nailtechusa #losangeles #newyork #arizona #nailtechcanada #nailtechcalifornia #cosmetologist #footcarenurse #pedicuretrainingcourse #nailsalon #spa #dermatologist #salonbusiness #meticulousmanicurist

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