Greetings everyone,
I am approaching 100 days in the job as manager here at Energy Gym. It has been a fantastic and very hectic 3 months! The weeks have flown by. It feels like I have been here with you all for a lot longer than my short tenure so far (in a good way). The career change from the corporate sector to the Health, Fitness and Wellbeing industry has been smooth and most enjoyable. I am very happy and proud of our achievements in a short space of time. Outside of work, I still managed to climb many Munros and Corbetts, including the 5 summits in a 29k route taking in Lochnagar and the 4 other surrounding Munros.
Since the beginning of April it has been a pleasure to get to know you all, and welcome our new members. I would like to thank you for your constructive feedback, and words of encouragement. It is much appreciated.
The gym is looking incredible after our facelift in May. The fresh paint, lights and brilliant new signs with our new logo, are a great augmentation to our brilliant new front of house team – thanks to Jamie & Team at First Display signage. Drummond, James, Allan and Natalia are doing a very effective and professional job. Terrific work team! I am happy to see them develop their careers and have enjoyed mentoring them.
I always strive to continue my own development. This includes my technical competence on: bio-mechanics, nutrition, anatomy and new exercises. Mark Flannigan has been a great support to me in this area. He is a fountain of knowledge. I am enjoying collaborating with all the PTs and I am benefiting from sharing knowledge, and learning. Gavin and Siobhan have been wonderful to work with, and have supported my new initiatives.
As a drive to understand our products and services, I attended several of our fitness classes, with my willing team (or at first not so willing!). During a 2 week spell in April we participated in: Spin, Circuits, Legs, Bums & Tums, CrossFit, Kettlebells, Core Conditioning and Zumba! It was great fun and I was especially relieved to survive Zumba class. As the 40 or so class participants moved left, I was still facing right. In the end I danced my heart out to Footloose. It has to be said, I am to Zumba as King Herod was to babysitting. I enjoyed all of the classes, and the team and I sweated buckets as we were pushed out of our respective comfort zones. A massive thanks to Nadia for making me feel welcome to the class (despite my 2 left feet) and to all the other instructors for having us along. We can now promote their excellent classes to our members and prospective new members.
There have been some key events in the last business quarter. We had a visit from Body Type Nutrition in May which was a big hit. Over 60 people attended the seminar. Impressive considering it was 7am in the morning. On our first Energy Gym away day in the Highlands, I lead a team of 12 up the slopes of our debut team Munro hike. We conquered Buachaille Etive Mor, one of the finest mountains in the magnificent Glencoe. Now we have another 281 Munros to climb as a team!
You may have seen the serious business of chess games being played live in the gym. Several people have commented on how unusual it is to see chess in a gym. Chess skills tap into several key areas: discipline, concentration, analytical ability, tactics, imagination, and mental reflexes. I was fortunate as a child to receive a high level of coaching as a Scottish Junior international chess player. This helped shape my path on life, and I am a firm believer in exercising the brain as much as we do our bodies. Take my word for it, playing chess will help you improve your physical fitness performance, as well as your organisation skills, and self control. I have enjoyed playing games with colleagues and members I welcome new challengers if you want to flex your cerebral muscles. To date I maintain my 100% record on wins.
I am delighted to see an increase in our membership in June. There are many new faces in the gym. I have the pleasure of welcoming them and delivering gym inductions. Feedback on the inductions has been very positive. I take pride in designing an exercise plan specific to our member’s needs and objectives. Our population of students and junior members has increased significantly. One of my favourite tasks has been coaching several youth groups with their training, including the Boroughmuir U14 rugby boys. This gives me enormous satisfaction as they are working very hard and enjoying the group exercise. I am a passionate believer in education, and we have a duty in the Health and Fitness Industry to develop and nurture the young ones, in the start of their own journeys in life.
We are collaborating with the Boroughmuir ladies hockey team to help with their pre-season training. Our objective is to improve their 4rth place league finish last season. I have been working on the conditioning training on a Thursday, putting them through their paces in Boot Camp style circuit training. Good fun and lots of hard work.
My work background is in Operations Management. One of my tasks in the first month was to create structure around our management reporting, regular staff appraisals and gym maintenance. I have implemented a weekly maintenance check of our equipment and a new cleaning schedule which will help improve our standards further, and lift the bar (no pun intended). I need your help with keeping the gym in good working order, and would appreciate your help with tidying away your equipment after use, and to give the machines a spray and wipe after your exerts. It’s a team effort.
CrossFit Skirmish is also creating fun and energy within the gym with Sasha, Tobi and Craig delivering fantastic WODs and of course, the Olympic Lifting Club which is now fully booked every week. We are also delighted for newly qualified coaches Leffi, Barney & Harriet – congratulations to all of you, we are very proud of you all. We are also proud of our members’ progress, with more blogs coming from members who are loving the training – with over 60 members now attending 2-3 times a week we are seriously impressed.
It has also been very pleasing to observe the atmosphere lift in the last few months. The place is buzzing with energy and enthusiasm which is excellent. The new look websites are also fantastic, showcasing not only how good the gym looks but the fact that what we offer is pretty unique – a fitness family. I look forward to talking with you at my first manager’s forum on Wednesday 8th July (5pm at the cafe upstairs) and hearing about your goals, objectives and achievements. Plus any feedback you have on how I can continue to improve the services we provide.
On a closing note, I was delighted to hear some very positive feedback from one of our new members in June. On my way to my car I happened to bump into her at the gym entrance where she told me a nice story. After less than 2 months with us here at Energy Gym, she is fitting back into clothes she has been unable to fit into for years. Her initial impression of the gym from the outside was that it was a heavy weights gym and she felt a little intimidated about joining. After her gym induction, and participating in some of our fantastic classes, she said she is really enjoying exercising here. She is having fun and feels more confident. I love hearing about these success stories and it sums up exactly what we are all about here at Energy Gym. This story underpins our values and ethos. We are one big family, and we can collectively achieve our health, fitness and wellbeing goals, whilst having lots of fun along the way.
Ciao for now, and keep working hard.
Healthy regards
Callum