Ultimate Performance (UP) – the private gym chain and PT business – has opened a new 4,700sq ft club in Canary Wharf’s new Wood Wharf neighbourhood.

The club is the company’s 21st launch, just ahead of another new property opening in the heart of Washington DC.

Like every gym in the network, the Canary Wharf site provides every member with customised one-on-one personal training as well as additional wellbeing guidance, including nutrition programmes, 24/7 support on diet adherence, stress management and sleep strategies.

Customers buy blocks of time rather than monthly access to the premises.

“Canary Wharf is one of Europe’s leading centres for finance, business and tech – I used to work in the City, so understand the stresses and pain points of working there,” says UP founder and global CEO, Nick Mitchell. “We know time is money. Our proven methods are honed to deliver world-class results, with just 2.7 hours per week of gym time for clients.”

Mitchell, a barrister turned city banker turned personal trainer – which he describes as his “life’s passion” – founded UP in London in 2009. Since then, his personal training enterprise has grown into a 300-strong network of personal trainers that work all from UP's network of private gyms over the world, including Los Angeles, London, Washington DC, Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, Sydney, Amsterdam, Marbella and Mumbai.

Other UK locations include Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and Cheshire.

While UP owns its entire estate of gyms, Mitchell revealed to HCM that the company is currently finalising plans to develop a franchising model. “We hope to be able to announce further details about opening up to franchisees imminently,” he said.

UP’s training programme matches one personal trainer to each client who will work almost exclusively with them throughout their training block.

“This includes 24/7 advice, outside their time working in the gym, on all aspects of their lifestyle,” said Mitchell. “All our clients, across the world, have access to all the holistic services UP offers. One example of that would be our tech team of 24 people. They see everything – every piece of data logged by a trainer relating to their client’s progress, weight, inflammation levels, hormone markers and so on – and that gives clients and trainers a level of accountability unmatched by anyone else.”

In terms of the standard of fitness tuition customers should expect, Mitchell says that only one applicant in every hundred makes the cut as a personal trainer and then a year’s training follows before they can become an official trainer on the gym floor.

“Our methods are built on science and proven, as we’ve helped more than 25,000 people achieve their fitness goals,” he said. “We build personalised, goal-focused programmes created with over 150+ data points – no-one else can match that. The eco-system at UP creates a culture and accountability that sets us apart from all other gyms.”