Gymbox: Classes aren’t watered down for female members
From the outset, the club was designed to be
welcoming to women, from the promotional material featuring a friendly female face to the airy studio fl ooded with natural light. Sixty per cent of those registered with the club are
women. Nurses and teachers are among the regulars, attracted by the fi tness skills classes that include the main components of boxing, but without the risk of getting punched. “People love the rope work, the shadow boxing and hitting pads,” says Garcia. “We’ve stripped out the intimidation and ego.”
THE TRAINING SHED: COMMUNITY SPIRIT The Training Shed in Daventry is a functional training club that strays into other areas including boxing, MMA, boxercise, group cycling, circuits, bootcamps and Olympic weightlifting. An ABA coach is used to deliver the group boxing sessions, which ensures the quality and authenticity of the experience; the club’s owner Tom Haynes stresses the importance of providing top-quality instruction when running a combat sports programme. Getting out into the community has proved the best
way of generating interest in the club’s offering, leading to recommendations via word-of-mouth and social media. For example, teenagers at a local academy who have fallen out of the school system come in once a week to do a boxing session, in order to learn how to use their energy in a more positive way. Daventry rugby team has also used boxing to provide
its players with training on how to react in pressure situations. “In our boxing sessions, players had to block punches being thrown at them but weren’t allowed to
May 2013 © Cybertrek 2013
react,” says Haynes. “Knowing how to keep calm under pressure can help a team win a game.” The club is supplied by sister company Indigo23,
with kit including professional heavy punch bags, mitts, pads, skipping ropes, battling ropes, dumbbells for shadow boxing, kick shields, a speedball platform and a fl oor-ceiling ball, as well as tyres and hammers for conditioning drills and circuits.
RUNNING A COMBAT SPORTS PROGRAMME – TOP TIPS
1. Coaches are of paramount importance. To offer an authentic experience, make sure they are well qualifi ed and have experience of either fi ghting or coaching a fi ghter. If you don’t have the expertise in-house, bring in a freelancer and charge for the classes separately. 2. Make it scaleable so people see progression. Offer beginner, intermediate and advanced classes. 3. Offer an open day or taster sessions. 4. Ensure people know they are training like fi ghters, but not being trained to be fi ghters. 5. If you want to appeal to the female market, use them in the promotional material. 6. If the brand images are very different, combat training can be launched as a sub-brand to your existing business. 7. Work the social media channels. 8. Link up with clubs in the community and offer them combat training sessions. 9. Make the combat area visible, so it creates a buzz. 10. Talk to your members, sell them the benefi ts and persuade them to have a go.
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 55
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