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How to get fit - and stay fit - in 2019

Meet the young Jewish fitness entrepreneurs hoping to introduce you to a new way to keep fit - and one that will last beyond the January health kick

January 3, 2019 10:19
Jen Landesberg of Blessed Yoga

ByJessica Weinstein, Jessica Weinstein

6 min read

The UK health and fitness industry is in good shape. If it were a person, it’s the sort who joins a gym in January, uses its membership and is now at the point where it is posting pictures on Instagram, wearing “strong not skinny” tshirts. With 7,038 gyms in the UK boasting 9,900,000 members and an estimated total market value of £4.9billion, fitness is big business.

But take a look at those figures. The business model is based on all those people who join a gym and then don’t go. Now, newcomers to the industry are offering something different. Instead of vast factory-type gyms, or pricey personal training, their business plans are based on offering a more personal experience.

“We focus on a full transformation process,” says Adam Murad, 30, of fitness studio SW3AT which opened in September. “It’s not just ‘in, out and bye’”. He describes SW3AT Studio as “group personal training” — a new generation of gym where you get the camaraderie of a group class with the attention and personal focus of a one-on-one training session.

“There are six people maximum to a class and everyone gets the attention they deserve and need to be able to do exercises correctly.” And this attention doesn’t end once the class is over. “We have clients messaging us saying ‘What should I eat for breakfast and dinner?’ and sending me pictures of their food. It’s pretty cool to have that sort of interaction.”