Fred MacAulay is joined by celebrity guests for light-hearted chat and a wry look at the stories of the day. Interview was based on fitness crazes for 2009. The two guest speakers were Rannoch Donald regarding kettle bells and Beverley Gove regarding The Fit Zone™. Rannoch spoke about the effectiveness of the kettle balls which then led onto a discussion around our product as follows:
Fred |
Lets see how this fits in with Beverley who is going to tell us a bit abut The Fit Zone™. |
| Bev |
Yes |
| Fred |
Do Tell |
| Bev |
Well, I invented the fit zone about 5 years ago. I won a competition that Red Bull ran – “do you have next idea to revolutionalise the fitness industry?”, and I won it. They helped me bring it to life. What it is is a square on the floor. |
| Fred |
How big is the square? |
| Bev |
Its 500mm square and it’s a focus for your feet. Participants move in it, out of it, around it and through it, much the same as you would use hop scotch or the highland swords for highland dancing, you’re using the zone as a focus for your feet. First of all the idea came about for the older adult who don’t have as much mobility as ourselves, the younger adult – although I’m 44 so I’m not that young myself! |
| Fred |
Yes you are! |
| Bev |
Yes I am! So that is how it originally came about, but you can turn a dial and height comes on to the edges of the equipment and therefore different people with different abilities can then use it and get a more intense work out that way. |
| Fred |
So you’re stepping on and off it or jumping on and off it? |
| Bev |
No - in it. It’s a frame. It would be like, imagine a picture frame on the floor and your just moving in it and around it. We also got a science study done by the Robert Gordon University up here in Aberdeen to validate the product. So we had to get 100 volunteers looking at the stresses on the joints and looking at the heart rate activities and calories burned, comparing it to step or just doing it on the floor alone. We got the results of that about a month ago and it shows that yes it does burn more calories than step and just the floor alone, and it is less stressful on the joints. So that’s great news going forward, validating the product. |
| Fred |
I’ve now got your web site up and I can see The Fit Zone™. It looks like an interesting piece of equipment. It’s not just the frame; you’ve got it bowed to increase the height. |
| Bev |
Yes that’s right. It’s a simple piece of equipment that anyone can use. |
| Fred |
Have you developed the programmes for it? Do you step into it, jump into it… |
| Bev |
Yes - definitely. What we have identified is the equipment is good on its own, but you need to know what to do with it. So what we have got is, we have got specific music that is done for the programme that follows the flavour of the programme, follows the speed of the programme and we are also getting a DVD done and that will be updated every quarter, so that people in the gym – the instructors taking this out to people for our group exercise programme - will get updates regularly, and eventually when we get into the home market that will be applied as well. |
| Fred |
And how are things going? |
| Bev |
It’s going really well. Obviously it takes a while to take any new product to market, but I have got it in 5 gyms up here in Aberdeen and we are planning to role it out to Glasgow City Council at the beginning of this year. We have got 30 sets down at the Tollcross Leisure Centre just now waiting for the go ahead. It’s going really well, I am really enjoying teaching it and so are the other instructors who are doing it. |
| Fred |
Now from an entrepreneur’s points of view you want to sell as many as possible. |
| Bev |
That’s right. |
| Fred |
Is there not a danger that people might just make a frame of their own? |
| Bev |
Yes, we have a patent to pretect the equipment, but as I said, the equipment is programme, but it is the programme I feel and the instructor training that is more important than the equipment itself. |
| Fred |
When did Pavel the kettle balls introduced to The States (question to Rannoch Donald). |
| Rannoch |
About 2000. |
| Fred |
Right ok - and was it a dramatic.. |
| Rannoch |
No it was very slow, there was another trainer called Marty Gallighar who is a weight lifting coach and he encouraged Pavel to promote the kettle balls themselves. Its exploded in the States now, but its taken some time to get there. |
| Fred |
Beverley thank you as well. |
| Bev |
Thanks. Happy New Year. |
| Fred |
Beverley’s website is the-fitzone.com and you will notice that I managed to avoid any Aberdonian fit zone gags right until the very end! |
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Laughter... |
