Blog
News, views and adventures from The Leisure Database Company team.
Tracking and wearable sports technology options on sale in the Apple stores are growing. To name a few; Fuel, UP by Jawbone, FitBit Flex, FitBit One, mio Alpha - the continuous heart rate band, Withings, wahoo, iHealth, plus for the home hue, WeMo, hive and nest!
Another day of sunshine helps make this the friendly games. Tonight it was a walk in the lovely Tollcross Park to the International Swimming Centre. More like a 9 lane sauna for the spectators but that didn't matter as it was a great night in the pool. William, Harry and Kate, who love their sport, were cheering on the swimmers along with 16,000 from all over the Commonwealth. Tickets are still available for many sports if you're planning to go.
Housed in rather splendid Victorian premises just by Dean Bridge in Edinburgh, Drumsheugh must be one of the oldest and finest private swimming clubs in the country. Opened in 1882 it still has the poolside changing. The original idea of taking your shoes off on entry for both hygiene and reducing noise, is still enforced!
FitPro Live which describes itself as the UK's most inspiring educational fitness convention and trade show took place at ExCel London on the 18th / 19th July.
With an office full of fitness fanatics and David speaking on the Friday afternoon about Microgyms we all headed down there to try out some new classes and to listen to David's presentation.
Which classes to try.. much debate in the office but we decided on 2 none of us had done before; Insanity to get the heart rate going and Mossa - Group Centergy® to try and recover! Insanity was as expected, hard, fast, what seemed like a million jumps and very sweaty but a lot of fun. Held in the main FitPro arena with the tunes booming out, over 100 people took part creating a great atmosphere. With most high intensity exercise its hell when you are doing it but the feeling after is awesome!
Clever or just lucky, following this with the Group Centergy® class was just what we needed! A mix of yoga and pilates, you can easily see the benefits of adding this workout to your weekly exercise routine. We all thoroughly enjoyed it, however it highlighted the TLDC team have very little natural balance or flexibility!
Then to finish the day, David's presentation on Microgyms and a much needed sit down. David highlighted the emergence of the microgym sector and their success at expanding the market despite on average charging £15 + per class. He also spoke in detail about the differences in their offerings from the traditional health club that are successfully attracting a growing percentage of the population.
There are not many places in London you can have drinks in a 1950's Airstream Caravan but we found one! The Blues Kitchen in Shoreditch has its very own! With live music every night and a great menu check it out www.theblueskitchen.com.
An early start for David this morning, as he was being interviewed by the BBC Radio 5 Live team on the fitness industry in their early morning Wake up to Money session.
Click on the link above to listen to the interview.
Saturday 9.10am the publicity caravan departs from outside the Town Hall with 180 floats and vehicles that will give out an estimated 16 million items over the next three week! At 10am the teams sign on and at 11.10, 198 riders from 22 teams will start the first 190km of stage one of the Tour de France. The riders are due in Harrogate around 16.20.
More like rock bands the teams are mobbed where ever they go.
Congratulations to Leeds on getting all businesses, shops and local statues in the mood for Saturday's grand depart. Thanks also to the Tour Makers who are everywhere to give advice and directions. #TDFceremony
A pop concert feel in Leeds tonight where the crowds are gathering at the Arena to meet the teams! The biggest cheer of the night for Mark Cavendish.
The Tour de France leaves Leeds on Sat with the third stage finishing in London on Monday.
An early start (and late finish!) for the TLDC team to get to Telford for the ukactive Flame Conference and Ball of Fire today.
Personal highlights from the speakers during the day were the entertaining and enlightening talks from Magnus Lindkvist, the world renowned Futurologist, Sebastien Foucan the founder of Freerunning, Alastair Humphreys, Adventurer and Will Greenwood, ex England Rugby player.
With the talks finished it was then time for the fun filled black tie Ball of Fire and the Flame Awards which the TLDC team thoroughly enjoyed....
200 years after Thomas Lord carried his own turf from his second ground Lord's celebrates today. The first match to be played at Lords was between MCC and Hertfodshire and they are playing again in the sunshine. Lots of black red and gold diagonal stripes walked through these gates today!
The 2014 State of the UK Swimming Industry Report, published by The Leisure Database Company today, reveals the UK swimming industry has experienced another year of slight decline over the twelve month period to the end of March 2014, with a decrease of 0.3% in the number of swimming sites.
Commenting, David Minton, Director of The Leisure Database Company said: “Despite a slight decline in overall swimming pool numbers over the last 12 months, 2014 will be an exciting year for swimming. New technology is changing the way we think about daily events and activities. Some sports like running and cycling were early adopters and although swimming was not, it will catch up in 2014 with a load of new products for in and out of the pool”.
To see the full press release click here.
To order click here.
A seminar as part of the Sports Business Seminar Series tonight at 6pm Lankester Theatre (University College London) Medawar Building, Malet Place WC1.
Our Olympic C2 canoeists show off their skill at the fabulous Lee Valley Park White Water centre today. A great sporting legacy with booking for schools, corporate and public running above previous year.
Then the Reebok/LesMills GFX 2014 at Ally Pally is the training ground! Thousands take part in Grit, CXWORKs, and my favourite RPM.
Great view today of the Olympic Aquatics Centre in the sun. Now managed by GLL and open to the public, if you want to cool off today and go for a swim, check out the live timetables on Speedo Fit.
From the top of the Arcelor Mittal Orbit you can see progress on the stadium which will open March 2015.
The 2014 State of the UK Fitness Industry Report reveals that the UK health and fitness industry has more clubs, more members and a greater market value than ever before. For the first time ever, member numbers have exceeded 8 million, market value is over £4 billion and the penetration rate is at an all time high of 13.2%.
The 2014 report highlights that the industry has experienced another year of growth over the twelve month period to the end of March 2014, with increases of 3.9% in value, 1.5% in the number of fitness facilities and a 4.5% rise in the number of members.
Commenting on the figures, David Minton, Director of The Leisure Database Company said: “On the face of it these are another set of great figures for the industry but the devil, as usual, is in the detail. The figures, while all going in the right direction, are at the same time pedestrian and failing to have the desired impact on the health of the nation. The industry has become an idle industry and is looking to ‘best practice’ and ‘common sense’ to solve a current, insoluble problem. Although we’re coming out of the malaise which started in 2008, the industry is now ripe for disruption”.
To see the full press release click here.
To order click here.
Morphing is a special effect in films that changes (or morphs) one image into another through a seamless transition. Across the world, former fitness agencies are all morphing into something hopefully Active. Ireland and Europe are the latest two (formerly ILAM and EHFA) who are now Ireland Active and Europe Active and the Fitness Industry Association morphed last year into ukactive. Famous corporate morphs include one of the earliest, Brad’s Drink, created by a young pharmacist, Caleb Bradham in 1893, then in 1898 it was renamed Pepsi-Cola. In 1996 two guys in California called their new search business BackRub; two years later it morphed in to Google.
Did Sergey Brin and Larry Page have the foresight to rename their company with a single word (Google) that within eight years would become a daily call to action, an ‘active’ verb that describes phenomena and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in June 2006? The words Cola and Pepsi over the years and with billions spent on advertising have now become figures of speech. So will .... Active enter into daily conversation amongst the many over the next 8 to 116 years?
To see the full article click here.
Latest fitness stats quoted by Patrick McAleenan in his article in the Metro newspaper titled:
It’s not me… it’s me, me and we. Do we really need an entourage of helpers?
Interesting article about what's happened to taking responsibility for our well-being rather than relying on an army of helpers to make us feel better. Wonder how many of you are guilty of relying on a personal assistant, personal trainer, chef, driver, butler, gardener, stylist, life coach or a therapist?!
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