60 Seconds UK Fitness News - 3rd June 2016

In this weeks 60 Second News; today sees the launch of our first ever LeisureDB Social Media Fitness Index. The report covers quarter 1 of 2016 and compares the UK's top 20 private fitness brands and ranks them based on their performance on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. You can download your copy of the report from our website now for £195 + VAT. 

SLM or Everyone Active as they’re better known was announced this week as the new management of Westminster Sports Centre from the 1st July 2016. The 10 year contract will see SLM manage 8 leisure centres. 

Frome Sports and Fitness Centre, which is managed by Fusion, opened its doors on Wednesday following their £2million refurbishment.  The centre boasts new gym equipment, a large soft play area, new classes in their two new studios and a dedicated cycling studio.

Lastly, we would just like to say congratulations to The Gym Group who have been awarded the Investors in People Gold Accreditation, which is currently achieved by just 7% of organisations. 

Thanks for watching!

SIBEC UK - May 2016

SIBEC UK – May 2016

Article from David Minton, Director @ The Leisure Database Company

Innovative Companies Impacting the Fitness Industry

For the first time I’ve compiled a purely personal list of some of the most innovative companies who have already, or will shortly, impact on our industry. It’s not meant to be exhaustive, just fun and maybe a little thought provoking. I’ve given each sector a name and picked one company I admire this week.

Apps: Apple App Store, opened in 2008 and by 2015, 100 billion downloads had been recorded. Apple ignited the app revolution and the iOS ecosystem has created over 627,000 jobs. It is expected that the app economy will exceed $150 billion worldwide by 2020. Yes there really is an app for everything, or soon will be.

BioTech: EnteroMedics, developer of vBloc, a neurometabolic therapy for disrupting the signals between the brain and stomach could fight obesity faster than HIIT. We always thought the magic pill would come first but BioTech seems to have done it.

Data Science: Under Armour have invested heavily in UA Record and UA HealthBox to create your body’s dashboard.

Drones: love them or hate them, DJI is the largest seller of consumer drones which enables race organisers and individuals to track and record activity from the sky, GoPro in the air.

Energy: SolarCity, there’s justifiable obsession with Elon Musk (Tesla Motors and SpaceX) who wants to reduce your energy costs with solar panels and he aims to make mass adoption possible.

Enterprise Software: Slack, it’s free and it’s the creative home of our work lives, its real-time messaging for modern teams, simpler and more productive than email.

Finance: Blockchain, a permissionless distributed database that’s upending traditional banking and the finance world, is now moving into other sectors including health and fitness. One to watch!

Hollywood: Netflix, the first global TV network that’s coming to a screen near your CV equipment and on your phone.

Internet of Things: Cisco, estimate 15 billion items are already connected and by 2020 all fitness equipment (along with our fridges, cars, home, work and pets) will be connected to a sector worth $6.5 billion.

Kick Ass Kit: Sweaty Betty, created in 1998 and a British pioneer in activewear, go join the waiting lists for the free instore classes and outdoor runs.

Livestreaming: Twitter’s Periscope, has had a head start but bigger players from the online video space are moving into livestreaming so it could soon become a duopoly.

Music: Spotify, it found the beat with Running, predict with Taste Rewind, discover with Found Them First, and an amazing 71% of listeners add at least one track from Discover Weekly. Fan Insights gives artists demographic and geographic analysis. Been listening whilst exercising recently, they know. Like they know what the most popular music genre, track, artist is in your city, town or village right now.

New Media: Buzzfeed, for showing how content can go viral and teaching brands to create not sell.

Photos: Instagram, many fitness sites are neglecting this highly engaging and superior indexing platform, why? The LeisureDB Social Media Fitness Index Q1 2016 will show the top 20 private fitness brands collectively have under 50,000 followers. Must try harder!

Retail: Amazon Echo and Prime, I just spoke to the future and it delivered! FOC fitness CDs (and some wine and treats) within the hour* – how do they do that?*One hour delivery only in London at present. 

Social Media: Facebook, the only platform all sites are on, the top 20 private fitness brands have almost 1 million followers (Leisuredb Social Media Fitness Index Q1 2016 coming soon). In 2014 Facebook bought Moves, an app that keeps track of your daily exercise as part of its multi app strategy and now with move-o-scope you can map all your activity which looks pretty cool.

Smartphones: Apple introduced the iPhone early 2007 and late 2008 the first phone to use Android was released. In less than ten years the smartphone has changed human behaviour in ways that few things could. The do-it-all smartphone has elbowed aside MP3 players, CDs, hard drives, calculators, paper maps, diaries, Blackberry, Nokia, cameras to name but a few. At the same time the smartphone has revolutionised the way consumers work, play sleep and wake up.

Style: Everlane, radical transparency about costs, mark up, creative process and details of manufacturing factories with photos. The fitness industry could learn a lot from this openness and consumer engagement in the product.

Video: YouTube, Randi Zuckerberg (Mark’s sister) put this as her number one social media channel, so checkout our ’60 Second UK Fitness News’ each week by subscribing to the ‘Fitness Industry UK’ channel.

VR and AR: Oculus Rift, it’s almost two years to the month when Facebook announced it had purchased the virtual reality start up for around $2 billion. The first fitness applications were at IHRSA and FIBO.

Coming Soon

Coming soon: LeisureDB's Social Media Fitness Index Q1 2016

Which fitness brands are excelling at social media?

For more information and to register your interest, visit this link: 

http://www.leisuredb.com/social-media-reports/

60 Second UK Fitness News - 27th May 2016

In this weeks 60 Second News; yesterday we published our 2016 State of The UK Swimming Industry Report. This year’s report reveals another year of decline with a 1% decrease in the number of swimming sites and a 3% rise in pay and play fees. To get your copy of the report head to website leisuredb.com to download now. 

The Virgin Active Health Club (Milhouses) has announced plans to shut on the 30th June and the site has been sold to Oxygen Freejumping who intend to turn it in to a trampoline park. Although there is another Virgin Active less a mile from the site some customers are not happy about transferring their membership to the Broadfield park site. 

The Energie group has powered past its £500,000 target on crowd cube, according to an article in Health Club Management this week. The chain which has clubs in both the UK and Europe and includes the budget brand Fit4Less. 

Lastly, don't forget to keep an eye out for our brand new LeisureDB Social Media Fitness Index Q1 2016. 

Thanks for watching!

A week at LeisureDB HQ

Article in The i Paper

On Monday 16th we released our 2016 State of the UK Fitness Industry Report and we’re thrilled to say it’s been another year of success…the fitness industry is thriving! Thank you to everyone who’s mentioned or quoted us!

Last Thursday, David visited the Retention Convention in Birmingham and the line-up of speakers was pretty special. Dr Paul Bedford, or Guru Paul as he’s also known, discussed ‘Big Data, AI and its impact on Retention’. With the number of UK Fitness members exceeding 9 million for the first time ever, it’s vital we identify the best strategies for retention.

Tomorrow and Thursday takes Natalie to the Midlands for this year’s SIBEC UK event, another great opportunity to network within the fitness industry. Be sure to say hello!

Back at HQ, Charlotte and Abi are both working hard on LeisureDB’s next publications. Coming soon will be the 2016 State of the UK Swimming Industry Report and we can’t wait to let you know if the industry has changed. We’re also very excited to announce our brand new Social Media Fitness Index (Q1 2016). For the first time ever, we’ve ranked the top 20 private operators according to their best use of social media. Who will be number 1? 

60 Second UK Fitness News - 20th May 2016

In this weeks 60 Second News: our 2016 State of The UK Fitness Industry Report was released this week and we want to say a big thank you to everyone who has mentioned us in the news or on Twitter. Remember to keep an eye on our Director, David Minton’s, LinkedIn page to join in topical discussions about this year’s report.

Coming soon from 1Rebel is their new offering Ride2Rebel. 1Rebel have converted a bus into a mobile spin studio and will be offering customers the chance to spin hard through the streets of London, whilst commuting to work. The bus will pick up from 4 different locations across London and drop off at 1Rebel. You can sign up now to register an interest in a ticket and receive a 10% discount on packages.

It’s been announced this week that the construction contract for the new Fleming Park leisure centre in Eastleigh has gone to Interserve. The new centre will boast a 15 court sports hall, 2 swimming pools and 3 multipurpose studios and is due to open June 2018.

Lastly, Sports Management reported this week that public health experts have called it unethical to sell junk food in leisure centres. I know I think it’s ok to reward all my hard work with a Mars bar post workout, but psychologist have claimed that leisure centres are failing exercise referral patients by not offering healthy food as a primary option and at a cheaper price. Let us know what you think, send us a tweet @TLDC_UK. 

Thanks for watching. 

60 Second UK Fitness News - 13th May 2016

In this weeks 60 second news: it was reported that Pure Gym’s membership figures have risen by over 50% since they took over the LA Fitness clubs last year. From this Monday, 16th May you’ll be able to see how this compares with the rest of the market when we release the 2016 State of The UK Fitness Industry Report.  For more information on what’s covered in this year’s report look out for our press release or head to leisuredb.com.

On Wednesday Sweat Coin was released into the UK Apple App Store. The app converting exercise to a digital currency known as ‘sweatcoins’ which can exchange steps for rewards or even charity donations. Although we haven’t been blown away by the app we do think it has potential.

Lastly, FitGroupUK, a new body consisting of group exercise opinion leaders has been brought together with the ultimate aim of introducing more people to group exercise, given that participation figures plateaued in recent years. Here at LeisureDB we want to know what is your favourite group exercise class and why? Tweet us @TLDC_UK to join the conversation. 

Thanks for watching.

Are you square fit?

David recently attended IHRSA 2016 in Orlando as a roving reporter for the Leisure Review. Here's his article from the event:

Almost two years to the day from when Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook had purchased the virtual reality (VR) start-up Oculus Rift for around $2 billion, the VR units appeared at IHRSA and Mark’s sister, Randi Zuckerberg, was a keynote speaker.

Sponsored by Matrix Fitness, Randi’s Keynote was titled It’s Dot Complicated and was the first IHRSA keynote to use social media channels to broadcast her inspirational session live. For those who missed it (and in advance of the Leisure Database Social Media Index Report), these are the top five social media channels for fitness professionals.

Number one: YouTube. Video is the way to engage with your audience but few in the UK have this as their priority so far. Six of the top ten public sector brands do not have a channel and only five private brands have over 200,000 views. Number two is Facebook; no surprises there. Facebook is the most common social media platform among UK fitness sites. Number three is LinkedIn. As professionals you can target influencers and expand your network. Four is Instagram. I’ve already banged on about how many public and private fitness brands are neglecting this highly engaging and superior indexing platform. Five is Twitter, the second most popular platform in the UK. Lots of trade suppliers, including MyZone and Precor, used Periscope on Twitter to share their IHRSA showcase live.

On the IHRSA show floor it was like CES (Consumer Electronics Show) meets Fitness. MyZone, Polar, Microsoft, Intel, Reebok, NEO and Garmin were among the main companies who made the move from Vegas in January to Orlando in March, while new technology was evident among almost all companies exhibiting. It seemed like there was an app for everything. Seminars, such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Impact on the Fitness Industry, came from Technogym daily. Precor had a separate section on ‘the future’ and were showing real-time configuration in use in the UK at EasyGym, where you can pay reception for screen access. MyZone moved centre stage with the new app, a sports bra (launched CES 2016), a new integrated T-shirt, group display and a host of online platforms.

As a cyclist I liked the Recon Jet smart eyewear from Intel, also launched at CES. The performance eyewear frame and lenses set wakes up using glance detection to provide live metrics such as heart rate, speed, cadence and power. The point-of-view-camera enables you to capture the moment and the GPS maps can be used to show location of other riders, which is useful when doing endurance rides. Microsoft Health is a good example of a tech company looking for a cause and the Band with continuous optical heart rate monitor, GPS, guided workouts and the usual calls and texts, email and calendar looks and feels too much like the now-defunct Nike Fuel Band. 

Wearables and trackers have now been joined by alternate- and mixed-reality technologies that are poised to invade the fitness space. Although the early target market for Oculus Rift are gamers, fitness suppliers such as UK-based Pulse Fitness have introduced gamification for added motivation. Pulse Interactive Fitness combines facial recognition and augmented reality (AR) using Oculus Rift. With a tilt of the head the game starts and the Trixter bike takes you on an AR ride. Linked live to multiplayers worldwide, the results are shown on the bike, in the headset and on a big screen for the local audience. Zumba have developed a 360-degree VR dance class using Oculus Rift. For those who have always dreamed of dancing with Beto Perez, stop dreaming: do it via VR.

Besides Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive is coming, Sony’s PlayStation VR will be with us soon, along with Microsoft HoloLens; and Google is looking to expand Cardboard. The Samsung Gear VR headset, which Oculus also powers, enables you to select the Samsung smartphone to snap into the headset, a combination was used by Zumba. We are at the beginning of a VR and AR journey and, as a result of the billions been spent on this technology, we will all know about this cool, engaging and immersive experience very soon.    

As I walked through the event I was struck how the square photograph has become the norm. Square images fill our Twitter streams, Facebook dashboards and of course Instagram. Many of the suppliers know this and have adopted it as standard. Many consumers swipe the phone so photos are square on, permanently. Square is another example of how social media has changed the way consumers experience and report on the world around them. Are you square-on fit?

60 Second UK Fitness News - 6th May 2016

In this week’s 60 second news; more news from the Fitness First sale as Bannatyne’s has announced an interest in some sites. Bannatyne’s doubled its profits last year after refurbishing half their clubs which helped boost member numbers. The chain has acknowledged that the market is polarising and has focused on being a luxury health club.

When ClassPass first landed in the UK it all appeared too good to be true and unfortunately it is. Class Pass has announced this week that it will be upping its prices from £79 to £110. After disputes with some of the more premium offerings available to ClassPass user, which appeared to have been settled, ClassPass is now having to hit the pockets of its customers. 

Here are LeisureDB we’ve managed to get our hands on a Skulpt Chisel. Available for $99 the Skulpt chisel measures your muscle quality and fat percentage. It’s based around the theory of tracking results not activity. Keep an eye on our blog for a review of the product.  

Lastly, it has been reported by Statista that health and fitness apps are now in the top 10 in the app store beating music, sports and social networking. David, our director has spoken about the rise of brands going from CES to IHRSA this year, and these stats show the ever increasing presence of the digital market in our industry. To read David’s roving report for IHRSA head to theleisurereview.co.uk  

Thanks for watching, please leave your comments below.

A week at LeisureDB

Not only is it FriYAY, it’s also our favourite day of month here at LeisureDB HQ….Pay Day Pie Day Friday!

It’s been a busy week but to celebrate its end, here’s a quick update of the happenings in the past 168 hours.

Natalie and David attended the Active-net event in Loughborough. David was a keynote speaker and presented his talk ‘It’s Dot Complicated’. Following on from Randi Zuckerberg’s talk at IHRSA, David discussed the future of technology within the fitness industry. Thanks for a great event Active-net!

David also spoke at the TIAUK Business of Tennis Forum on Thursday about disruption in sport and the development of aggregators, such as Tennis Trakker Pro, Tennis Math, PlaySport and MoveGB.

Charlotte enjoyed #WorkoutWednesday this week and even won a new hoodie from her personal trainers at The Fitting Rooms, London Bridge!

Jen has been busy producing her 60 Second UK Fitness News video for our YouTube channel ‘Fitness Industry UK’. She discusses recent events within the private and public sectors and you can watch her most recent video here.

Jamie is busy exploring the possibility of expanding our new mobile app building services beyond the health and fitness industry…learn more here.

We're excited to play with our new crowdfunded Skulpt Chisel which arrived this week, its cutting edge wearable tech to measure body fat & muscle quality, with an accompanying mobile app - we’ll be reviewing it on our YouTube channel soon

Everyone in the office has been working hard on the new 2016 State of the UK Fitness and Swimming Industry reports which will be released in May. Excitement is also building for our newest Social Media Index report and services, more news to follow about these!

Have a great bank holiday!

From the LeisureDB team

60 SECOND UK FITNESS NEWS - 29th APRIL 2016

In this weeks 60 second News: It has been announced that Lichfield District Council are exploring the option of outsourcing both Friary Grange and Burntwood leisure centres. The council said they will only outsource if there are real financial savings to be made. 

Elsewhere in the public sector The Castle Leisure Centre will be opening on the 30th April and will be managed by Fusion, however, given that SLM or Everyone Active have won the contract for Southwark council the management will be changing just 2 months after opening. 

Snap Fitness, a 24hour fitness franchise from the US, has announced a major development plan for the UK. Currently they have just 9 sites across England and Wales, with plans to open another 30 sites.

Lastly, we would like to congratulate everyone who has been nominated for a Flame Award this year. The awards are sponsored by Matrix and the winners will be announced at the ceremony in June. Good luck to all nominees! 

Thanks for watching! I’m Jennifer Schooling and that was your news in 60 Seconds.

60 Second UK Fitness News - 22nd April 2016

In this week's 60 Second News: It’s no surprise to us that the according to the European Health & Fitness Market Study 2016, the budget gym sector has again increased its share in the Fitness Market. You’ll be able to find out how this has affected the UK in our fitness report which is now due to be published mid-May. To register an interest in the report click here.

Here at LeisureDB we’re excited to announce this year we will be releasing a new report titled the LeisureDB Social Media Index. We will be comparing how well the top private brands in the industry perform on social media. And if you are wondering what platforms are right for you why not head to Action PR's blog and to find out.

And the world of online dating has arrived in our gyms, 1Rebel has teamed up with popular app Bumble with its latest offering of a combat-themed speed-dating class. 1Rebel is hoping to unite sweaty Betty with her prince charming during their rumble sessions.

Thanks for watching and please do comment below.

Age is just a number

These inspirational individuals prove you can be fit and active at any age.

Jack Cowlishaw, 76

Jack, from Sheffield, is a keen runner and he recently signed up to his eighth 10k race in a row. He also regularly competes in full and half marathons and works out in the gym, 4 times a week.

Eddy Diget, 71

Eddy, from Oxford, has recently been named Britain’s oldest personal trainer. He works at DW Fitness and runs over 35 PT sessions a week. In the past, Eddy was in the Navy and once a champion bodybuilder.

Joahnna Quaas, 90

In 2012, Johanna was recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest gymnast in the world. She recently attended FIBO and is the face of the Deutschland Trainiert (Germany Works Out) campaign.

Svend Stensgaard, 93

Svend, from Denmark, is the world’s oldest licensed powerlifter and in a recent video is seen to impressively lift 130kg. Suffering a heart attack three years ago hasn’t stopped Svend, he is taking part in the upcoming World Championships this year, where he aims to take home the silver award.

Charles Eugster, 96

Charles is an all-round athlete, especially when it comes to bodybuilding and wake boarding. He also holds world records in sprinting and rowing!

Diana Green, 81

This year, Diana will run the London Marathon – for the 13th time – on her 82nd birthday. 

60 SECOND UK FITNESS NEWS - 15th APRIL 2016

This week in the 60 second news; Health Club Management has reported that Pure Gym has put plans for an IPO on hold until after the EU referendum. It was previously thought an IPO would come sooner but a trusted source has called these reports ‘wildly inaccurate’.

Work on East Riding Leisure Bridlington is coming to an end, it has been announced that the new centre will open on the 23rd May. The public leisure centre will have state of the art facilities including a gym and 3 pools. The centre has been built to replace Bridlington Leisure World which closed January 2014.

And from new openings to potential closures, a public petition to save Cinderford Leisure Centre has collected over 1,300 signatures. It was announced the centre may have to close as soon as the 31st May if the council and the local academy cannot come to a funding agreement. If you wish to sign this petition to save the centre click here.

And lastly, Pulse have announced the release of two new products. Versus, is a virtual training machine for a solo work out or group exercise using dumbbells and kettlebells. The machine tracks both form and motion and allows you to compete against others. The second release, Trixster VR is a fitness gaming bike that gives a 360 degree virtual cycling experience. We think it’s great to see Pulse introducing gamification for added motivation.

Thanks for watching and please do comment below!

This Week in the Fitness Industry

Activity Equivalent Calorie Labelling

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) in Britain is arguing for ‘activity equivalent’ calorie labelling in order to reduce the UK’s obesity problem. Packaging could be utilised to not only provide nutritional information but also advise ways to change behaviour. Writing in the British Medical Journal, the chief executive of the RSPH, wants labelling to “prompt people to be mindful of the energy they consume and…to encourage them to be more physically active”.

FIBO 2016, Cologne

FIBO broke world records last week with a total of 153,000 visitors including 83,000 trade visitors from over 100 nations. According to the Deloitte study presented at the exhibition, some 52.4 million people are members of gyms at this time and growth of the European fitness market is at 4.9 per cent. The event gained a lot of media attention with nearly 1,000 accredited journalists attending from over 30 countries. Fitness technology, personalised training, functional training and group fitness remained as some of the hottest trends seen at FIBO this year. 

New public openings

Chard Leisure Centre – The new £500,000 centre, managed by 1610 Trust, officially opened on 4th April and it boasts a state-of-the-art gym and the UK’s largest Prama studio. 

Atherton Leisure Centre – Built on its former site, the new £14.7 million council-run Atherton Leisure Centre also opened on 4th April and is equipped with two swimming pools, a 100 station gym and two dance studios.  

Gym Bacteria

Nobody expects to hear that a toilet is cleaner than their gym equipment but unfortunately it looks to be true. A recent study done by Fit Rated involved swabbing 27 pieces of gym equipment at 3 different gyms and they found some pretty gruesome results. Luckily for us though they made these fun infographics to learn all about the bacteria that lingers on our gym equipment…

60 SECOND UK FITNESS NEWS - APRIL 2016

In this weeks 60 Second News; here at the LeisureDB headquarters we’re busy putting together our annual state of the industry reports. This year’s fitness report includes a new top operator in the private sector and is due to be published late April. Head to the publications section of our website to receive a notification when our reports are published.

After attending IHRSA last month our director, David Minton, will be attending FIBO in Germany this month. With more than 725 exhibitors from 40 countries there is everything from equipment suppliers to studio concepts and IT systems. If you’re one of the 138,000 people attending don’t forget to say hi if you see him.

Fitness First UK’s managing director, Martin Seibold, has reported a significant amount of interest in the chain from both investors and buyers. The number of clubs has gone from 185 to just 65 since Seibold took over in 2012, but membership has grown by 15% since May 2015. Fitness First Owner Oaktree Capital Management has said all possibilities remain on the table for the future of the company.

Lastly, Fit4Less in Derbyshire has come under criticism this month after an anti-bullying charity called its new ad ‘offensive’. The billboard poster showed Aliens abducting a person with the text ‘they’ll take the fat ones first’. Fit4Less said it wanted to create a “light hearted and humorous” ad. This isn’t the first time an industry ad has sparked controversy. Last year Protein World were called offensive and irresponsible with its ‘beach body ready?’ poster. We want to know whether you were offended by these ads? Send us a tweet to @TLDC_UK and use #AdvertWin or #AdvertFail to let us know your views.  

Thanks for watching and please do comment below!

IHRSA 2016 Highlights

Last week David attended IHRSA in Orlando. Here's a few highlights from the show.

UK Pulse Interactive combines facial recognition, Trixter bikes and augmented reality Oculus Rift for a unique workout.  

The Intel Recon Jet offers smart eyewear for your active lifestyle.

The cycling glasses show live metrics, heart rate, speed, power and ride summary, plus built-in glance detection, point of view camera, GPS maps and of course, social connectivity!

Amongst all of the incredible new fitness technology, there continues to be healthy competition amongst the big name heart rate monitoring brands MyZone, Polar and Heart Tech Plus. With the tracking companies offering new and exciting features or products such as sports bras with built-in trackers and group displays of live data streams. 

Last but certainly not least, Zumba have embraced virtual reality by connecting with YouVisit to deliver a new dance experience for customers...and David loved it!

The next trip takes David and Natalie to the FIBO exhibition in Cologne. 

Mother's Day Offers

Sunday is Mother's Day and as a way of thanks a number of leisure centres and gyms are offering deals for the weekend. Here's our favourite 4 offers:

Energie & Fit4Less

Bring your mum along for a free gym session at an Energie or Fit4Less club and share a selfie with the hashtag #workoutwithmum

                                    Halo Leisure                                                        Pure Gym

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