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Virtual classes: At home with the celebs
Streamed virtual fitness classes are the new celebrity trend – and one health clubs should monitor, as they reach new audiences who don’t want to go to a gym. Amanda Ellison reports
The home fitness workout is no new phenomenon. In the 80s, self-improvement books and fitness videos were the new craze: Rosemary Conley had a strong hold on British women trying to lose weight and shape-up, while over in the United States The Jane Fonda Workout was the highest-selling home video of the decade, selling more than a million copies. Indeed, the video’s release led many people to buy the then new VCR in order to watch and perform the workout at home. Fonda subsequently released 23 workout videos, with the series selling a total of 17 million copies combined – more than any other exercise series.
The 90s saw the continued rise of the home fitness workout and introduction of regular TV fitness slots, with the likes of Mr Motivator becoming a household name. Still now, you’ll find top-selling DVDs by the likes of Davina McCall and Gillian Michaels. But with the evolution of technology comes a new form of Fitspo (that’s ‘fitness inspiration’ for those not using twitter and Instagram): celebrity online streamed workouts.
Justin James, co-founder of InstructorLive – which has recently teamed up with former Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt – says: “We’re living in a celeb-obsessed culture, and thanks to social media, people are able to get a real insight into how these aspirational people live, eat and train. Online workout platforms allow celebrities to share their workouts and they can be updated instantly, meaning varied content at a click of a button.”
So should your health club operation be tapping into this trend and creating its own streamed class platform?
We took a look at three of the UK’s top celebrity workout websites. Jane Fonda, eat your heart out…
BEST FOR TONING UP
Results with Lucy
www.resultswithlucy.com
Results with Lucy is an online nutrition and fitness site founded by Lucy Mecklenburgh – made famous by TV show The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE) – and her personal trainer Cecilia Harris. When Mecklenburgh began training with Harris she noticed a surge in her social media following, with many asking how Mecklenburgh had transformed her body to become strong and toned. Results with Lucy (RWL) was born.
Mecklenburgh and Harris set out to educate everyday women about the importance of nutrition and share fitness workouts for results that last.
Subscribers pay a monthly membership fee from as little as £2.25 a week to access over 280 effective and fun workouts. The programme requires little or no equipment and Mecklenburgh is integral to it. It’s designed so there’s something for everyone, from HIIT to dance to yoga. The website is also packed with plenty of Eat Well recipes from Mecklenburgh’s nutritionist Emma Whitnall, showing users how they can make some of Mecklenburgh’s favourite meals as well as delicious snacks and treats.
Launched in the summer of June 2013, over 100,000 people have since walked through RWL’s virtual doors to join a community of women who have lost weight, toned up, learnt about nutrition and fitness, and most of all enhanced their lifestyles by doing so.
The online community of girls who follow Mecklenburgh is one of the key successes of this platform: they share their success stories but also motivate each other to keep it up and continue their journey. Subscribers are also able to request a call back from the nutritionists for extra support, with Mecklenburgh and Harris also surprising subscribers with calls to congratulate them on their journey.
Before RWL was born, Mecklenburgh was not fond of crash diets or going to the gym, but once she started training with Harris she learnt how fun exercising could be – as well as how rewarding the results were. This, coupled with a new outlook on food and healthy eating thanks to Whitnall, meant Mecklenburgh had a fresh outlook on working out and she’s never looked back: she genuinely does practise what she preaches. @lucy_meck
BEST FOR WEIGHT LOSS
InstructorLive #MumonaMission
InstructorLive, which was founded in 2012, claims to have been the first platform to live stream workouts direct to people in their homes. It had found that the majority of users wanted to pick and choose when they worked out, and so created a broad range of programmes and on-demand content that users can access as and when they like.
InstructorLive offers a wide variety of classes hosted by a diverse line-up of qualified personal trainers; this includes programmes designed to appeal to males. It now has close to 10,000 users and over 30,000 app downloads to date, and at just £5.99 a month it’s both accessible and affordable.
InstructorLive found its most popular courses were Drop a Jeans Size, DanceFit and Body Blast, so it recently teamed up with professional dancer, DJ and former Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt to create her #mumonamission programme – a dance-inspired HIIT workout with mums in mind.
Designed with her trainer Glen Ball, Wyatt’s 247 programme (24 minutes, seven days a week) is an eight-week programme that aims to help mums increase their fitness, lose unwanted weight and improve their strength.
The site also contains free nutrition advice and meal plans, with Wyatt and Ball hosting regular twitter chats and sending out motivational e-shots and advice. The InstructorLive online social community of mums and mummy bloggers is also very active, with the users themselves providing each other with useful tips, advice and encouragement to keep up the good work.
“Fitness and dance are true passions of mine. But like any mum, I found it hard to get back into it – the ‘mummy juggle’ is no joke,” says Wyatt. “My trainer and I designed a workout that’s just 24 minutes a day and can be done anywhere: all you need is wifi and one metre of space and you can do this.
“I’m looking forward to creating more workouts and adding new programmes – being an online platform means I get to keep it fresh.” @KimberlyKWyatt
www.kimberlywyatt.com/mumonamission.php
BEST FOR FITNESS
The Podium Effect by Louise Hazel
www.thepodiumeffect.com
The Podium Effect is the brainchild of Olympian Louise Hazel and is an online home workout offering fitness and dietary guidance for beginners. The site was launched in September 2013, and has celebrity followers such as JB and Chloe Gill, and Fleur East.
Users can subscribe to one of the six online challenges to undergo a 60-day physical transformation, where they will be provided with daily workouts to stream direct to their laptops or portable device for £39.99 per stage.
It comes with downloadable diet guidelines and meal ideas to support weight loss, build muscle or maintain muscle mass. New to the plan from January 2015 is the Detox Plan – a 60-day plan with a juice cleanse.
Stages one and two require no equipment; stages three and four use resistance band exercises to help add definition to your physique; and stages five and six introduce dumbbells for those wanting to tone and strengthen.
Its founder Louise Hazel is a fully certified PT and holds regular #AskLouise sessions on twitter for those who need extra motivation, encouragement and recipe ideas. She also tweets success stories via twitter and Instagram #ThePodiumEffect.
“As the founder of The Podium Effect, celebrity personal trainer and spokesperson for exercise professionals across the UK, I’m 100 per cent committed to motivating a new generation to get active,” she says.
“I created The Podium Effect for all those who make excuses for not going to the gym. Now there are no excuses! You can #GoHardAtHome – I’m bringing exercise to you. If you’re not a fan of the gym, this is for you. If you’re intimidated by the gym, this is for you. This is my way of making exercise and weight loss fun, without having to share your sweat patches with the world. This is my way of giving back after years at the top of my sport – let me take you where you’ve never been before.” @louisehazel
A few more fitness-focused celebs
www.getfitwithDavina.com
Fitness mogul Davina McCall has created a five-week programme with an easy to follow nutrition programme, daily personalised workouts and delicious recipes. It’s effectively a warm-up to, or extension of, her successful DVD workouts and aims to cater for everyone, no matter what their fitness experience or confidence level.
www.celebritytraining.co.uk
Sam Faiers (TOWIE), whose mantra, ‘if it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you’, has created a programme that includes streamed workouts and healthy eating plans. It also comes with a calendar – so you can plan your workouts and receive reminders of what you should be doing, when – and a personalised dashboard where you can track and measure your progress.
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