With Rio 2016 Olympics just round the corner brands are finding a number of creative ways to support the competition and get the country, once again, excited about Great Britain winning gold medals. So naturally, with Fitness First being sponsors of Team GB there was the scope to launch something exciting.
Today, Fitness First launched a brand new Sports Profiler Tool at its flagship gym in Bishopsgate, London. The tool has been specifically designed to help people find new sports to try out and receive Olympic-level training advice from Team GB.
The tool matches people to the Olympic sport they’re most suited to, based on their speed, stamina, strength, power and agility.
28 sporting options
Despite the 28 different sports that feature in the summer Olympics, a recent Active People Survey (8Q3-9Q2) revealed that the majority of people in the UK train for just four: cycling, football, swimming and running.
This means there’s a huge amount of untapped potential and some people may be perfectly suited to one of the other 24 without even knowing it. A great example of this is Helen Glover, gold medal winner in the Women’s Coxless Pairs (rowing) at London 2012. Originally a runner and hockey player (both to a very high level), via a talent identification scheme Helen was identified as a potential rower.
Speaking to Fitness First about the Sports Profiler Tool, Helen said: “The tool is a similar concept to the way I first got into rowing having never thought about trying the sport before. It’s great for people who are really interested in trying something new because you never know what it’s going to suggest – it could be a sport that you already know and love, one that you’re good at, or a sport that you have this whole new lifestyle through”
The collaboration between Fitness First and Team GB is designed to encourage people to try out sports they’ve never participated in before. Users can download unique training plans devised by Team GB and Fitness First trainers, as well as a free pass to their local Fitness First gym.
Train like an Olympian
Team GB and Fitness First will also bring the training tools and techniques used by Team GB athletes to the public via a series of in-club workshops, led by experienced Team GB and English Institute of Sport (EIS) coaches. Team GB utilises knowledge and experience from all the Home country Sports Institutes (HCSI’s) of which the EIS is the largest provider of sports science and medicine. The EIS and its 300+ employees deliver more than 4,000 hours of service every week to over 1700 athletes across more than 30 Olympic and Paralympic sports.
The workshops will focus on four key training pillars: strength & conditioning; nutrition, psychology and physiotherapy and will give both Fitness First members and non-members the chance to experience training methods used by Team GB hopefuls. Launching on Tuesday 4 August, the sessions will continue to take place across a number of Fitness First clubs nationwide in the following weeks.
Win your place at a Team GB Masterclass
To supplement the weekly workshops, Fitness First and the EIS will be collaborating on a series of Olympic masterclasses. Taking place at some of the iconic London 2012 venues, the masterclasses will help participants achieve their fitness goals and will be launched via a social media competition where participants can enter to win their place.
