Mr Mark Elliott Buchanan, Managing Director of Fitness First (Thailand) Company Limited, said that in mid-2014, Fitness First underwent a major rebranding effort, introducing a new philosophy "Together, We Can Go Further". The key is to motivate members to exercise regularly in order to achieve their fitness goals and improve their health faster. Every Fitness First club offers various workout programmes and a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere, with all the latest workout tools and added space for "Dynamic Movement Training", which is a fun, small-group exercise that takes only 30 minutes but yields impressive results. These new changes are aimed at providing the best experience to the members and encourage them to come exercise regularly, so that they can achieve their fitness goals faster.
"After rebranding, we have seen a 7% increase in terms of member visits, an average of 16,000 visits per day across all clubs. Fitness First has introduced new options for our members through five new zones and 67% more classes per day, from 2,580 to 4,331 classes per week last year, with the introduction of freestyle classes and signature classes such as Hard Core and Aerial Flow Yoga." said Mr Buchanan.
Recently, Fitness First has built on its success by introducing the first-ever full-scale digital platform in the fitness industry, investing 225 million baht to launch a smart application which can be accessed by everyone free of charge. "CustomFit" has been designed by Fitness First's very own experts around the Theory of Intrinsic Motivation, to help users to develop their intrinsic motivation to get fit in ways that suit the modern lifestyles. There are six highlight features to help maintain a fit lifestyle.
1) Track Your Progress helps you keep record of all your physical activities and assess your workouts.
2) Personalised Dashboard is the first page of the application which shows all of your workout programmes chosen by the user or trainer, so that the user can have an easy access to all programmes.
3) Personalised Workouts all you need to do to get started is to answer four simple questions ranging from your fitness goals to your experience level. CustomFit will then generate a selection of personalised workouts.
4) Planner is a personalised daily workout plan, linked to Fitness First's exercise classes.
5) Exercise Library is a source of workout related information and videos by Fitness First trainers worldwide, more than 800 videos in total.
6) Select Club and Class links the user to Fitness First's class schedule around the world and allows the user to book a class.
Anyone can download the "CustomFit" application today free of charge. The app runs on both iOS and Android.
Additionally, to encourage everyone to get fit and stay healthy, Fitness First has also launched BioScore, a bespoke health and fitness assessment which determines your biological or "fitness age," compared to your real age, focusing on three aspects.
1) Health Test: This element of the test looks at the status of key vital statistics including height to waist ratio, lung function and blood pressure.
2) Fitness Test: This element includes a series of short and simple exercises to assess aerobic fitness, power, strength, flexibility, agility and core endurance.
3) Lifestyle Test: This element looks at lifestyle choices in and out of the gym, such as nutrition, stress levels, sleep and drinking habits to build a bigger picture of one's health.
Once the assessment has taken place, results from all three tests will be analysed to determine one's BioScore – a number which will either be higher or lower than one's actual age. The results can be linked to CustomFit to create a suitable workout programme for each individual.
"The launch of 'CustomFit' and 'BioScore' reflects our constant focus on improvement. We strive to inspire everyone to be healthier. The apps are in line with the digital trend today, and allow everyone to stay fit whenever and wherever, not just at the gym." said Mr Buchanan.
Mr Buchanan also revealed the performance of Fitness First in 2015 that its business in Thailand was worth over 10 billion baht in total, with an average growth of 10% annually. Fitness First is the leader of the industry with constant growth over the years. Last Year, it grew by 12% and now has more than 75,000 members nationwide. The average age of its members is 36 years old.
"For 2016, we will continue to motivate our members and help them become healthier and live full to the fullest. Our aim this year is to encourage our members to visit our clubs regularly, and we expect to see 6.3 million check-ins this year. There will be new workout programmes and classes to serve all members, increasing from 18,871 classes per month to 21,000 classes per month. Meanwhile, we have also planned to spend 550 million baht in renovating our clubs by the end of this year and to train our staff. Our goal is to grow by 12% and increase the number of members to 78,000 by the end of this year, thanks to the launch of new branches at AIA Building on Ratchadapisek Road, Promenade Ramintra which relocates from Fashion Island, and The Crystal Ramintra which has been unveiled recently. At present, we have 28 clubs nationwide." Mr Buchanan concluded.