WEIGHT MANAGEMENT SHAPING UP
Avondale staff had to learn to react to each member on an individual basis
Losing weight remains a key reason why people join gyms. Kath Hudson looks at some of the innovative weight loss initiatives that are getting great results
AVONDALE HUB E
ighteen months ago the leisure centre in Avondale, UK – run by leisure trust Life Leisure – was losing
£250,000 a year, but local protest meant it couldn’t be closed down. Pushed to come up with an alternative, Life Leisure MD Malcolm McPhail decided to turn it into a health hub and weight loss centre, investing £400,000 of the trust’s money. “We chose to target non-gym goers by turning the usual
offering on its head: no mirrors, no heavy weights,” says McPhail. “We added many new programmes: using behaviour change techniques, for example, and accelerometers to track activity. We even installed an anti-gravity treadmill, allowing
clients to effectively reduce their body weight down to 20 per cent to lessen the impact on their joints while exercising. “Beginner classes became the core of the offering and
MYZONE was introduced: it rewards the effort people make, helping motivate less fi t people to keep exercising. Members often have overweight families too, so a kids’ activity area with reaction walls was included.” The staff, all qualifi ed to Level 4, had to learn to react to
each person on an individual basis: members needed a wide range of interventions and had different requirements for exercise. Many were too self-conscious to exercise in front of others, so portable barriers were brought in. Some were told they weren’t ready for the gym yet and were given alternative exercise plans, including walks in the neighbourhood and chair-based exercises (many received an accelerometer to track progress). Those with a BMI under 30 were referred to mainstream programmes at other Life Leisure centres. Previously the club had 500 members; now it has 1500, 80
per cent of whom had never been a gym member before. Added to this, the loss was reduced to £70,000 in the fi rst year of operation and the centre is looking to break even this year. Public Health Stockport is interested in the development
Beginner classes form the core of Avondale’s offer 72
and the team has been asked to set up a health hub franchise, making the concept available to other organisations. The centre is also part of ukactive’s Research Institute study into the effectiveness of different physical activity interventions.
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital September 2013 © Cybertrek 2013
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