HEALTH & FITNESS
PULSE FITNESS
When Pulse Fitness founders Chris and Dave Johnson developed a business plan to help local authorities convert squash courts into gyms, it was the start of something big. As Pulse Fitness shares its 30th birthday with Leisure Management, we speak to Chris Johnson about the company’s journey
Can you describe the market when you launched Pulse Fitness?
Pulse began trading in 1980 – at this time we worked pre- dominately with specialist private gyms selling free weight equipment. As the company quickly expanded, providing group fi tness equipment to the public sector market, we rec- ognised that not all leisure centres were operating at full capacity and that racquet sports were on the decline. Seeing an opportunity, we developed a business plan enabling public sector facilities to change squash courts into fi tness suites.
How did Pulse Fitness evolve? The company was formed by myself and my brother Dave. We had both qualifi ed as design engineers, and our early endeavours saw us develop a range of fi tness equipment for the rapidly-growing private gym market. We soon began to offer additional services, and it was during the 1990s that Pulse pioneered a local authority partnership business model that has become the bench- mark for joint funded partnerships throughout the UK today. Now, 30 years on, with over 150 employees, 4,000 cus- tomers and represented in 32 countries worldwide, Pulse is the only UK-based company to offer a ‘total leisure solution’.
How has the UK health and fi tness industry changed over the past 30 years? Thirty years ago the health and fi tness industry consisted predominately of male-driven, private body-building gyms. Over the years we’ve seen an emergence of many different clubs from budget chains to women-only clubs and exclusive
Pulse launched its latest range of CV equipment in 2010
spas. The marketplace today sees health and fi tness as a mainstream activity alongside other leisure activities such as going to the cinema or shopping.
The public sector marketplace has driven a signifi cant change to the health and fi tness industry from operating community swimming pools with racquet sport provision and maybe a single multi gym apparatus in the corner of a room, to offering a diverse range of wet and dry sporting activities ranging from fi tness suites to thermal suites. The demand for better public sector facilities was driven by the need for local authorities to compete against the private gyms and by the change in government directives. From an equipment perspective, the health and fi tness
industry has changed from supplying toning equipment such as dumbbells and benches to providing equipment that helps with weight loss and self-confi dence.
What have been the biggest challenges faced by the industry? These include political changes affecting the economy, health and fi tness budgets, sporting provision and health and fi tness objectives and targets. Competition has come both from the emergence of home
fi tness and from the volume of new clubs. The demand for varied sporting provision housed in one location at an affordable price has also been a challenge.
What have been the biggest challenges faced by Pulse? Changing our business portfolio to complement the demands and changes to the health and fi tness indus- try. As a company we have evolved from supplying fi tness equipment to designing, building, funding, equipping and operating a complete leisure facility. Breaking into the global market with our fi tness equip- ment was a challenge. Today we’re proud to be operating in 32 countries, with prestigious global contracts such as the Marriott chain of hotels and Burj Dubai Towers.
What have been the biggest achievements and breakthroughs in the industry? People’s perception of fi tness and health and fi tness clubs has changed greatly. Infl uences from the media and the gov- ernment, along with the quality of facilities at fi tness clubs, encourages people to work towards a healthy lifestyle.
64 Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital ISSUE 1 2011 © cybertrek 2011
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