Member Article

Award winning budget gym chain launches industry first ‘academy’

Award winning budget gym chain, Xercise4Less, is continuing to make waves in the fitness industry with its most recent initiative, the ‘Xercise4Less Academy’. The system, which will initially form 4 Xercise4Less sites in the UK, offers fully accredited personal training courses with guaranteed roles at Xercise4Less, after just 6 weeks of studying.

The initiative is the latest example of the gym chain’s legacy to make fitness accessible to everyone, at a low cost. Now Xercise4Less is looking to develop its recruitment strategies in a direction that encourages and supports local people with new career opportunities, in line with the brand’s commitment to being a truly local, sustainable brand that harnesses home grown talent.

The courses, which cost just £999, are a fraction of the cost of the majority of personal training courses in the UK and will train students to a level 3 personal training standard through Active IQ, the gym’s awarding body. Graduates will then be offered a role in any of Xercise4Less’ current 20 sites in the UK. Recently the courses have been trialed at the Wakefield site, where the gym has already employed 7 of the academies’ graduates.

The six-week courses will run initially from 4 Xercise4Less sites, Leeds, Sunderland, Bolton and Nottingham. Each learner will be taught the basic principles of fitness, alongside specialist tuition on supporting a range of different member types through developing key self-employed business skills. Additional skill sets can also be taught in two day sessions in the following subjects; indoor cycling, suspension training, kettlebell instructing, circuits/Bootcamp and first aid, to further prepare applicants for the workplace. The Xercise4Less Academy also encourages qualified personal trainers to progress and regularly gain new qualifications, making them a higher commended personal trainer.

Kevin Baker, Personal Training Development Manager at Xercise4Less said: “These are commended qualifications that are recommended throughout the fitness industry. At Xercise4Less we make all aspects of fitness as easily accessible as possible, and the low cost of these courses is another example of that. Through strong quality assurance processes with our awarding body Active IQ, we are extremely excited to be able to offer a quality learning experience at a fraction of the price of our competitors”

“We launched the academy as we want Xercise4Less to be an attractive place to work and a gym chain that looks after their staff. We’ve run the courses at our gyms across the UK, to encourage local people to work for their local Xercise4Less gyms and not feel like they have to travel miles to work in a luxury gym.”

Jon Wright, CEO at Xercise4Less said “It is our mission to make fitness as accessible to everyone as possible, and we want to do this by constantly being one step ahead of our competitors. These personal training courses at such a low cost is an industry first, and is another example of us breaking down barriers. Our aim is for Xercise4Less to be a desired career path for anyone with a passion for fitness, but have been held back by the costly price of personal training courses.”

Xercise4Less currently has 23 sites around the UK, offering monthly membership packages for just £9.99. The gym chain continues to make waves in the fitness industry and was recently awarded Budget Gym of the Year for the second year running at the National Fitness Awards.

For more information visit www.xercise4less.co.uk or follow https://www.facebook.com/Xercise4Less or https://twitter.com/Xercise4Less

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Charlotte Booth .