GETTING FUNCTIONALLY FIT

Client: Glasgow Life
Supplier: Technogym

In the lead-up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the city of Glasgow invested heavily in rejuvenating existing facilities and building new venues. This included the creation of a new £300,000 supergym at Glasgow Club Gorbals, which at 720sq m is one of the largest gyms in the city.

Officially opened to the public in January this year, and operated by Scotland’s largest health and fitness chain Glasgow Life – a charity that delivers services for Glasgow City Council under the Glasgow Club brand – it’s fitted out with a full selection of Technogym equipment, focusing on functional and strength training.

In addition to 42 Excite+ cardio machines, 14 Element+ fixed resistance machines, free weights and lifting platforms, Glasgow Club Gorbals features a functional training zone with Technogym’s Omnia training rig – a first for a Glasgow Club facility – offering interactive group sessions with members of all abilities. It also features Kinesis One and Kinesis Stations for 360-degree movement, as well as an Arke set for core-centric training.

Sharon Campbell, health and fitness manager at Glasgow Club, says: “Our ultimate aim is to make fitness accessible and get people more active. Functional movement is a great way to engage people who are interested but don’t know how to start moving. It helps to break through perceptions that resistance training is boring, static and suited only for young, strong men.”
Technogym assisted in the design of the functional training space, as well as providing in-depth training for Glasgow Club’s instructors on how to get the most out of the equipment by creating programming to appeal to all genders, ages and ability levels.

The club began to offer Omnia Train and FT Fit (Functional Training Fit) classes and taster sessions, as well as Arke Core classes and Kinesis Fast Classes that rely on group interaction to make sessions fun and fulfilling.

They have been very popular, and are regularly booked out.

The facility has also introduced Glasgow Club’s very own Lift It weightlifting programme to encourage members to enjoy the many functional movement benefits that weightlifting has to offer. So far the programme has been well received and is proving popular with both male and female members.

Membership sales for the new gym grew significantly in June/July, almost doubling compared to the same period last year, to over 150. The gym is getting over 2,500 visits a week – a 165 per cent increase on the same time last year. It offers 20 Omnia group training sessions a week for about 14 people per class on average, and the club hopes this momentum will continue to build.

Campbell concludes: “We want Glasgow to be known as an active city. Our main aim is to create a legacy after the Games by continuing to develop innovative and imaginative ways to train and have fun using our equipment.

“The positive response to the gym so far is exactly as we’d hoped. We’ve seen more women, older members and deconditioned users having a go, and have had to grow the frequency of classes – a fantastic development.”

Details: www.technogym.com/omnia

The gym has seen a 165 per cent increase in visits versus the same time last year

PUTTING TECHNOLOGY FIRST

Client: Newcastle University
Supplier: Precor

With over 20,000 students, more than 10,000 participants at the Centre of Recreation and Sport and 4,000 gym members, fitness is a priority at Newcastle University.

The 400 sq m, 125-station fitness suite at the University’s Centre for Physical Recreation and Sport recently benefited from an upgrade, and now features Precor equipment and Precor’s cloud-based Preva networked fitness solution. The upgrade is in line with the university’s Digital Interactive Strategy, which promotes the use of digital media and interaction with students.

Nick Beall, facility services manager at Newcastle University, comments: “A major benefit we saw in Precor equipment was its RFID technology and compatibility with the university’s Smart Card. This is a student and staff ID card that allows access to all facilities on-site, and now also allows people to log in to the Preva network without having to remember user names or passwords.”

The link with the university’s Smart Card was vital to enhancing the student experience. The cards are used to scan in when attending lectures, and to gain access to computer cluster rooms and university buildings, and are also used as a library card and a sports membership card – and now also to log in to the Precor equipment.

Members at the upgraded sports centre now benefit from a range of Precor equipment including AMTs with Open Stride, elliptical cross-trainers and bikes. Precor’s Discovery Series Selectorised and Plate-Loaded strength machines are also available, alongside Icarian racks and a range of free weights.

The gym has already seen a 28 per cent year-on-year increase in usage, achieving over 6,800 visits each week.

Beall continues: “Our initial intentions with Preva networked fitness were to use it as a vehicle for students to monitor and record their workouts and training sessions. However, we’re now developing things further and are using Preva to create weekly, monthly and termly fitness challenges for members. Personal training staff and sports coaches are also using it extensively.

“We’re investigating future uses, like fun fitness challenges against universities in the UK or worldwide, for coaches to monitor the training programmes and intensities of their team members, and for en masse charity workouts. It’s a fantastic piece of technology and its uses are immeasurable.”

Beall adds: “The next stage will be to use the data generated by Preva to communicate what equipment is being used at any moment in time.” Since the installation of Preva, the university has already developed a mobile app so students can see how busy the fitness suite is via their mobile device.

Details: www.precor.com

Preva’s RFID technology is compatible with the university’s Smart Card

Preva is being used to create weekly, monthly and termly fitness challenges

SCRUBBING UP WELL

Client: Dundee City Council
Supplier: Horne Engineering

The Ardler Complex, a council-run facility in the northern suburbs of Dundee, Scotland, first opened in 1975 and features two squash courts, a games hall with spectator gallery, dance studio, cardiovascular fitness and weights room. Periodic upgrades have improved parts of the facility, but the showering and changing area received its first upgrade since 1975 in early 2014.

The main catalyst for this long overdue improvement was Ardler’s hosting of a new national bodybuilding competition – an open event for competitors from all over the UK. The inaugural event, in April 2013, attracted over 60 male and female competitors and around 500 spectators. Despite the rather embarrassing state of the showering and changing areas, the event was hailed a great success. However, aspirations to establish this event as an annual fixture have driven a significant upgrade to the showering and changing area – an upgrade that benefits not only competitors in the bodybuilding event, but also the local community.

The design brief was to create a facility that would make a strong statement and serve as the council’s flagship community venue. With this in mind, Ardler was a high priority when it came to Horne’s unveiling of its new shower column design, the Dušo (pronounced Doosho, it means ‘shower’ in the language of Esperanto).

The Dušo is a slender and visually striking shower column for group showering applications where a number of columns are supplied with pre-blended water from a single upstream thermostatic mixing valve (TMV). An actuator paddle at the foot of the Dušo column operates a hydraulic timed flow mechanism that gives a generous 60-second duration as standard.

Ron Hutchison, Horne’s sales engineer for Scotland, sent the newly-completed animated Dušo product tour to his contacts at Architectural Services, the company tasked with overseeing the refurbishment. Consensus from the designers and Ardler’s local management group was that the Dušo aesthetics were in keeping with the statement everyone hoped to make at Ardler.

Ardler’s local management group is delighted with the new installation, which features six and four Dušo facing each other in the male wet room, and a single range of Dušo separated by privacy cubicles, including one that’s wheelchair-accessible, for females.

Centre manager Scott Rodgers says: “It’s absolutely brilliant. The showers look really smart and are now in keeping with the rest of the facility.”

The second Ardler Open took place in early April 2014 and, following its success, is set to become a staple in the bodybuilding competition calendar.

For details, visit: www.horne.co.uk/products/duso

The Ardler Complex

The new shower column design is slender and striking