In indoor cycling, we talk a lot about innovation. About the next piece of technology, the next evolution of programming, the next level of choreography. And of course, there’s a place for all of this. Progress keeps our sector moving forward.
But amid the excitement of what’s new and what’s next, it’s worth pausing to remind ourselves of something far more fundamental: that none of this means anything without our riders.
As an industry, we’re passionate people, many of us fitness enthusiasts who love training, love the burn, love pushing our limits. But this isn’t about preaching to the choir. When we look inwards and build workouts we would enjoy, we risk alienating those who simply want to feel welcome, uplifted, capable – not fearful of the class – and above all, who want to feel part of a community.
This is what indoor cycling can do so well if we get back to basics, remembering that first and foremost, ours is a people business.
“You don’t have to be the biggest brand or even the hottest trend if you get your grassroots marketing right, building a local community for your studio,” confirms Katy Richardson of Extraordinary Brands (see interview).
Meanwhile, in our Fit Guide podcast, Steph Sklar-Mulcahy – owner of five-star-rated CycleBar Culver City – shares a beautifully grounding habit. Whenever she’s in the studio, she makes a point of thanking her riders. Not out of routine, but out of genuine appreciation. Because without them, she says, her studio wouldn’t exist. It’s a small gesture that speaks volumes – a reminder that our riders aren’t a given. They’re a gift.
Even for instructors building their personal brands – a topic we explore in our feature “What’s your personal brand” – the message is consistent. Authenticity matters, but so does purpose. As a coach, who do you want to be for people? How do you want to make them feel? As Alicia Portelli puts it: “Focus on the people who keep showing up to your class. They are the ones your work is meant for.”
So yes, we should absolutely innovate, refine and experiment – but we must always remember why. Indoor cycling should lift people up, not lock them out. Keep your riders at the heart of every choice you make and the whole chain becomes stronger.
When we remember who we do this for, success follows – one grateful rider at a time.
CHAIN (Cycling against Hip pAIN) is a programme of exercise and education first launched in 2013 to promote the self-management of osteoarthritic symptoms through lifestyle change.
Based on NICE guidelines – the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – the programme drove strong results from the outset, improving pain, function and quality of life for patients as well as enhancing confidence and motivation to exercise.
Osteoarthritis is one of over 20 chronic diseases where increasing physical activity is the first-line treatment
Fast-forward to 2025 and CHAIN hit the headlines again, this time courtesy of a study – published in The Lancet – which compared CHAIN with standard physiotherapy for hip osteoarthritis. It found CHAIN achieved the greater improvements in pain and function.
We dive into the details with Professor Tom Wainwright, who co-created CHAIN alongside Professor Rob Middleton, both of the Orthopaedic Research Institute (ORI) at Bournemouth University (see Leading their field box out at the end of the feature).
Professor Tom Wainwright is co-creator of CHAIN
Why the focus on osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis isn’t life-threatening, but it is very much life-limiting in terms of quality of life. It’s also something most of us will have to a greater or lesser extent as we get older: by the time we get into our fifth and sixth decades of life, a large proportion of us will have osteoarthritis of the hip or knee.
Over 100,000 hip replacements are done every year in England and they’re very successful – but they’re costly. So there’s a real societal need to look at how we best manage osteoarthritis, exploring ways we can support people to manage it themselves.
You need to exercise in the right way for specific osteoarthritic joints. For hips, cycling seems to work really well.
How beneficial is exercise?
Historically, osteoarthritis was always seen as a biomechanical condition: wear and tear of the joints. We’re now understanding that it’s much more of a biological, systemic condition – one that probably develops over a long period of time, alongside other factors such as inflammation. Additionally, there’s a strong association between patients who have osteoarthritis and who also have a background of cardiovascular or metabolic disease.
And so we’re recognising that treating osteoarthritis could be similar to treating cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. These are all hypotheses at the moment, but we certainly know osteoarthritis to be one of over 20 chronic diseases where increasing physical activity is the first-line treatment.
Why cycling specifically?
You need to exercise in the right way for specific osteoarthritic joints – and for hips, cycling seems to work really well.
Our story goes back over 10 years. My colleague Rob [Middleton] was part of the NICE committee and on a body reviewing the evidence around treating osteoarthritis. For the hip and knee specifically, three frontline treatments emerged. First, exercise – both local muscle strengthening and cardiovascular. Second, education on osteoarthritis as a condition and on the benefits of exercise and other lifestyle modifications. And third, where relevant, weight loss.
Exercise works for osteoarthritis only for as long as you keep exercising
But what sort of exercise? I was asked what we were doing in the physiotherapy department, but I felt we were selling patients short, massively under-dosing them by giving them outdated exercise sheets with a few mobilisation exercises for 10 reps, three times a day. They weren’t getting any intervention I felt would really make a difference.
In the initial pilot, CHAIN led to improved function and less pain in 80 per cent of patients
Meanwhile, Rob and I were keen cyclists and had just completed a Land’s End to John o’Groats ride with 400–500 others – many of whom shared their aches and pains once they found out I was a physio and he an orthopaedic surgeon. Over the week, it became clear people had moved to cycling from team sports and running because cycling didn’t hurt their hips as much.
We then remembered the story of Floyd Landis, the 2006 Tour de France winner. He was subsequently stripped of his medal for using performance-enhancing drugs – but the point is, he had a hip replacement just three months after the race. Every evening of the Tour, his hip pain was so bad he was carried to his bedroom. Yet when he got on the bike, he could still cycle.
How did this inspire CHAIN?
We started experimenting with our patients, using indoor cycling as one of the most inclusive forms of group exercise; everyone can do it at their own level.
We embraced learnings from cardiac rehab, where education sessions are used to explain the need to exercise
We also embraced learnings from my time as a junior physio running cardiac rehab sessions, where everyone was scared stiff of raising their heart rate for fear of another heart attack. Education sessions were used explain the need to exercise, raise heart rates and get fitter to avoid another heart attack.
There’s a similar need for education on osteoarthritis. When something hurts, our instinct is to stop doing it – but not moving osteoarthritic joints causes them to stiffen and become more painful. Moving the joint mobilises it and has an analgesic effect, as well as recruiting the muscles around it so they become stronger.
CHAIN cycle sessions are led by a BH Live instructor to de-medicalise the experience
And of course, if we exercise in a way that promotes an aerobic response, we also train the cardiovascular system and release endorphins, further regulating pain.
This model of education plus exercise – specifically indoor cycling for our audience – inspired CHAIN. We secured funding for a pilot from our local GP practice and took 96 patients through what was then a six-week programme; in response to patient feedback, it’s now eight weeks.
Tell us about CHAIN.
Designed specifically for those with hip pain and hip osteoarthritis, CHAIN is a weekly group programme of 30 minutes’ education on self-managing the condition, followed by 30 minutes of modified indoor cycling. The group aspect – ideally 12–15 people – enables a sense of camaraderie and mutual encouragement.
Our education sessions consist of a five-minute video on a different topic each week, followed by a group discussion. We’re very open and fluid around what the participants want to know and will signpost them towards any specific advice they want.
We cover topics such as the benefits of exercise; planning for continued physical activity after the programme; lifestyle modifications such as smoking cessation and diet – there’s good evidence linking high levels of processed foods with arthritis; and assistive devices such as walking poles. We even discuss gadgets and supplements, from copper bracelets to turmeric, taking a neutral stance by simply presenting the scientific evidence as it exists.
The delivery of CHAIN focuses on building a sense of camaraderie and mutual encouragement in the group
For the cycling, we’ve designed our own interval-based programme. The first couple of weeks are relatively sedate and, as we build up, it’s initially with a focus on cadence rather than resistance. We don’t want to put people off with muscle soreness in the early weeks, preferring to shift the work to the heart and lungs.
By the end of the eight weeks, it’s similar to a light, entry-level indoor cycling class at the local leisure centre.
We keep it pretty simple and we aren’t precious about it. The important thing is they’re pedalling.
We encourage participants to stay in the saddle, we make sure they’re comfortable on the bike and we talk to them about technique – about recruiting muscles on the up- as well as the down-stroke. But to be honest, we keep it pretty simple and we aren’t precious about it. The important thing is they’re pedalling.
As they get into it, some really get a sweat on. Others just turn their legs for half an hour, but that may be far more than they’ve done for a very long time. Even just turning their legs at an RPM of 60 or 70, they’ll do thousands of hip mobilisations in the space of half an hour, all in a range they might normally struggle to do.
From the outset, CHAIN has been delivered in partnership with local leisure trust BH Live, which operates the Littledown Leisure Centre opposite Bournemouth Hospital.
This is critical, because exercise works for osteoarthritis only for as long as you keep exercising. By conducting our sessions in a leisure centre, we open the door to all the other activities on offer and show our patients they belong there. They might carry on cycling after the eight weeks – there’s a Nice & Easy Spin class timetabled right after CHAIN – or they might choose something else. The point is, they’re in the right place to stay active.
Even just turning legs at an RPM of 60 or 70 means thousands of hip mobilisations in half an hour
The education session is always facilitated by a senior physiotherapist from the hospital, but the cycling class is delivered by a BH Live instructor. That’s important. We give the instructor the workout profile, but we limit the clinical knowledge we share – we don’t want to negatively impact their belief in anyone’s abilities – and they bring their own personality and music to class, de-medicalising the experience and making it fun.
The physiotherapist takes part in the cycling, too. They can jump off and help if anyone’s struggling, but riding alongside the patients helps normalise the experience.
This integrated, supportive group approach – bringing together the hospital’s and the leisure centre’s respective expertise – is key. It simply doesn’t work as well if patients are blindly referred to an indoor cycling class where no-one else has the same problem as them. It takes a certain type of patient and personality to brave that out.
In our initial pilot, over 80 per cent of patients had improved function, less pain and improved strength after the programme, with 100 per cent saying they would recommend CHAIN to a friend.
We followed up five years later and found that 45 per cent had not returned to their GP for further treatment of their hip pain; 57 per cent had avoided surgical intervention; 96 per cent felt CHAIN had increased their ability to self-manage their hip pain; and 100 per cent were engaged in physical activity at least once a week.
There wasn’t a control group in our study and there isn’t any national data to benchmark against, but we believe these to be strong findings.
Over 80 per cent of patients had improved function, less pain and improved strength after the programme
We then did a second study among patients referred to a surgeon, this time with funding from the hospital. Where surgery was deemed not presently necessary, patients were referred to CHAIN rather than to physiotherapy.
Between February 2018 and September 2019, 167 patients completed the CHAIN programme and demonstrated similar improvements to the original cohort in terms of pain, function, quality of life and motivation to exercise. There were slightly more patients who didn’t benefit – likely because their osteoarthritis had progressed to the point of surgical referral – but the results were still positive.
Our success allowed us to apply to the National Institute for Health Research to do a randomised controlled trial – since published in The Lancet – to evaluate the CHAIN intervention versus standard NHS one-to-one physiotherapy.
From a total of 221 participants, 111 were randomly allocated to physiotherapy and 110 to CHAIN. Our primary outcome measure was the ADL (Activities of Daily Living) score, looking at patients’ reported pain and hip function before intervention and at 10 weeks post-treatment.
With physiotherapy, the average ADL score increased by 6.1 points. With CHAIN, it increased by 12.7 points – 6.6 points more than with physiotherapy.
Economic analysis showed CHAIN to be economically far more effective than standard physiotherapy
Note that we had been looking for a minimum 7.4 point difference between the groups. However, subsequent published studies have found any difference over 6.0 points to be clinically significant.
Alongside this, economic analysis showed CHAIN to be economically far more effective than standard physiotherapy. NICE has a cost-effectiveness threshold of £20,000–30,000 per Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) to decide whether a treatment is an acceptable use of NHS resources. CHAIN cost just £3,000–4,000 per QALY.
Should the physio model change?
Some patients need one-to-one care, but for high-volume conditions, it’s worth looking for commonalities that might allow for group-based treatment. One physiotherapist seeing 15 patients at a time is an effective way to manage NHS waiting lists.
Additionally, the NHS isn’t going to have the money to support everyone being treated for every condition moving forward. Self-management will be key.
Of course, just because it works in hips, doesn’t mean it will work exactly the same for other specialities; we’ve responsibly researched CHAIN and evaluated it against standard care, so we know we’re doing the right thing. However, there probably are lots of other groups of patients we could treat in a similar way. We should certainly be looking at this.
For high-volume conditions, it’s worth looking for commonalities that might allow for group-based treatment
Some conditions will still require one-to-one physiotherapy, says Wainwright (pictured here)
The key point, though, is that it has to be choreographed. You can’t just hand a patient off to a leisure centre. You have to invest in the relationship, as we have with BH Live, working closely together, understanding each other’s needs, respecting each other’s strengths and appreciating the value we each bring.
Is CHAIN an ongoing programme?
CHAIN takes place at Littledown Leisure Centre every Tuesday, funded as part of normal NHS practice: patients are referred to the hospital’s physio department; suitable patients are referred on to CHAIN; and the hospital pays the leisure centre to host the sessions and run the cycling classes. A new cohort starts every eight weeks; we have 18 in the current group.
We’re rolling CHAIN out, making all our content available for free. We’ve also created a toolkit for other hospitals.
We’re also rolling CHAIN out, making all our content available for free. The cycling sessions can be found on YouTube, while our free ORI Education app – available on Apple and Android – shares all the educational videos, educational material and cycling videos, so people can do the programme from home if they don’t live close enough for an in-person referral.
We’ve also created a toolkit for other hospitals: launching in early 2026, it will be accessible via our web page. And we’ve already trained the team at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham, which is now [October 2025] on its second cohort, partnering with Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre.
Increasingly, this is the way we’re going to have to work. We don’t have the capacity in the NHS to see everyone as much as we’d like, so we have to promote self-management. We have to step outside of the NHS, recognise the expertise and willingness that exists in the health and fitness industry and embed these partnerships within our standard practice.
A Land’s End to John o’Groats ride inspired Wainwright and Middleton to develop CHAIN
Leading their field
Tom Wainwright is a professor of orthopaedics at Bournemouth University, deputy head of the university’s Orthopaedic Research Institute and a physiotherapist at University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. He has worked in the field of hip osteoarthritis for over 20 years, is recognised as an international expert in Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols in orthopaedics and was lead author of the first ERAS Society guidelines for hip and knee replacement.
Rob Middleton is a professor of orthopaedics at Bournemouth University and a consultant orthopaedic surgeon specialising in robotic hip replacement procedures. He was previously national clinical lead in hip and knee replacement at the NHS Institute of Innovation and Improvement, specialising in the development of enhanced techniques for faster recovery and better outcomes from surgery.
The Lancet-published study was a collaboration between the team at Bournemouth University’s Orthopaedic Research Institute, the University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust physiotherapy department and BH Live.
If we were to write a school report for the indoor cycling sector right now, it might read something along the lines of ‘good, but could do better’. Certainly The Fit Guide’s rigorous global benchmarking suggests there’s room to raise the bar.
Yet there are studios truly excelling, delivering exceptional experiences and earning five stars across the board. Their achievements are celebrated in the Five Star Fitnessby The Fit Guide podcast, which delves into the stories behind the successes.
In partnership with this fantastic podcast, RIDE HIGH is showcasing some of these five-star performers, sharing their insights to inspire the wider sector.
In this, the third part of our series, we visit CycleBar Culver City in Los Angeles – a cycle studio that really does raise the bar, whose owner has generously shared her secrets to five-star success.
For the full story, check out the podcast – available on YouTube now!
Listen to the podcast now to discover…
How clients and instructors are matched to ensure best-fit experiences
How multi-sites can unwittingly make staff feel they aren’t on the ‘A’ team
The early-days sales tactic Sklar-Mulcahy now wishes she’d avoided
Her unexpected source of ‘if it isn’t perfect, throw it away’ inspiration
The value of an owner showing genuine gratitude to teams and clients
How a franchise network enables her to offer a home away from home
Why she believes instructors have stayed with her for nine years – and counting
… and far more besides
Sklar-Mulcahy (far left) with her team of CycleBar instructors “We want to be the best part of our clients’ and our instructors’ days”
A former consumer services franchise founder, Lori Klein also had boutique fitness experience prior to joining Extraordinary Brands, working for Flywheel and consulting for CycleBar. When CycleBar was acquired by Extraordinary Brands, she joined the company full-time as CycleBar brand president.
Katy Richardson – now COO of Extraordinary Brands – came into the business as VP when it acquired the 23 sites of her business, Neighborhood Barre. Her promotion to COO in February 2025 pre-empted the July 2025 acquisition of CycleBar and Rumble, taking the Extraordinary Brands portfolio to four brands.
Tell us about your portfolio.
KR: Rather than creating brands internally, Extraordinary Brands is building its portfolio through acquisition.
Our initial partnerships were smaller, but Rumble and CycleBar have proved we can integrate brands with a lot more scale and/or the ability to grow quickly and nationwide. As a start-up, it makes sense that this is where we focus our time and resources.
The way CycleBar classes make you feel will become a key marketing message
So, while Neighborhood Barre and Row House are still in the portfolio alongside new acquisitions CycleBar and Rumble, we’re divesting the other brands [Pūrvelo Cycle and Eat the Frog Fitness – see An Extraordinary journey timeline at the end of the feature].
Neighborhood Barre is already in growth mode: it came into the portfolio in 2024 prepped and ready to grow. The other three are great brands, but we took them on in a distressed state. They will need to contract and stabilise before growing again in a way that fits the boutique market at that time.
Even though we don’t have all the answers yet, we’re sensing a return of cautious optimism
In fact, Row House is almost there – we’re looking at Q1 2026 to restart growth – but for CycleBar and Rumble, we first need to audit and stabilise. It would make no sense to throw these two brands into franchise development right now.
The good news is, so many of the problems are fixable. By giving these brands the attention they deserve, we have a chance to revitalise them and build franchisee success.
Beyond these four brands, we’re also interested in further acquisitions where it makes sense for the portfolio – not only in boutique fitness, but also in wellness.
CycleBar currently operates 130+ studios, the majority in North America
What’s the current status at CycleBar?
LK: We’ve been identifying the core issues at the heart of the business, both collectively and at a local level. Our goal is to understand what’s broken and fix it quickly but also as strategically as possible.
Our immediate focus has been on rebuilding franchisee trust, opening up channels of communication, speaking one-to-one with them, listening and offering some transparency around what’s going on behind the scenes.
We’re diagnosing the health of each individual location, working with our franchisees to build roadmaps to success and profitability wherever possible. Even though we don’t have all the answers yet, we’re sensing a return of cautious optimism.
A recurring theme among under-performing sites is an overly large footprint. Many sites need to shrink by 30–50 per cent.
Neighborhood Barre, now owned by Extraordinary Brands, was founded by Katy Richardson in 2011
KR: We do have some franchisees who decided to exit before we came onboard. Some have now changed their minds and chosen to stay with us, but where there are problems we can’t solve – where sites simply weren’t set up for success – we’ll help them exit in a way that works for them.
LK: A recurring theme among under-performing sites is an overly large footprint, with high start-up and running costs making ROI very hard to achieve. Many sites need to shrink by 30–50 per cent.
KR: That will certainly be the model for new locations: it’s better to have waiting lists than half-empty studios and high utility costs. We could reduce overall footprint by 40 per cent and only lose around 10 bikes.
For existing studios, closure may be an option, but we’ll aim for re-sale where possible. For overly large sites, relocation may be an alternative. And although we aren’t actively looking at this yet, in the future we might also consider dividing larger sites to offer multiple modalities under one roof.
How big is CycleBar now?
KR: There are currently 130+ CycleBar sites [seeExtraordinary Brands in numbers below], but we expect around a 20–30 per cent contraction in the estate before it begins to grow again. We need to slow down to speed up.
Every product needs to evolve to keep up with changing trends, but CycleBar hasn’t moved forward enough over recent years
CycleBar programming may diversify further once the brand is stable
The majority of CycleBar studios are in North America – the US and Canada – but we also partner with an amazing group in Australia that runs its own franchise operation for CycleBar and Rumble, supported at a high level by Extraordinary Brands. CycleBar is also operational in Japan.
Once we start to grow the brand again, our focus will be on North America. We will continue to work with existing international master franchisees – including offering them our other brands – but there’s so much white space in the US and Canada that for now, these will be our key growth markets across all four brands.
There’s so much white space in the US and Canada that for now, these will be our key growth markets across all four brands
Why not merge Pūrvelo Cycle and CycleBar?
LK: Even though they’re both indoor cycling and both based around music and rhythm, the brands are very different. Pūrvelo Cycle is a dark room with no mirrors or metrics. CycleBar is almost the opposite customer experience: very metrics-driven.
CycleBar does offer a variety of programmes, including one – CycleBar Connect – that’s more introspective and soulful. We may diversify the programming further once the brand is stabilised and the franchisees profitable. But in the meantime, Pūrvelo and CycleBar are almost different modalities – it would be really hard to pitch them as the same brand – and our view is that CycleBar’s programming is more in line with what consumers are looking for today.
Rumble was acquired from Xponential Fitness in 2025
KR: All that said, our Pūrvelo franchisee runs a very successful business. She’s a capable self-starter who does the grassroots work and activates at a local level, which is exactly what’s needed to be successful in this business. She’s embraced everything we’ve taught her; she still has access to our assets, playbooks and so on; and she runs a great shop. We gave her the option to bring her two sites into the CycleBar brand, but we were never going to force that on her and she’s chosen to stay as Pūrvelo Cycle.
The third Pūrvelo site is corporately-owned. We’re currently making a plan for that studio.
The majority of sites are located in North America
Will the CycleBar product change?
LK: Every product needs to evolve to keep up with changing trends, but CycleBar hasn’t moved forward enough over recent years. That’s something we’re now addressing.
New programming is currently in development, so I can’t say too much, but we will certainly be looking at new and better ways of incorporating strength, giving people the cardio they need and the strength they want all in one class.
We also need to recognise our ageing population – for whom cycling is an accessible option – and consider the growing focus on longevity, healthspan and functional wellness.
Extraordinary Brands’ portfolio now spans four brands: CycleBar, Row House, Neighborhood Barre and Rumble
And we need to understand that consumers now want something more meaningful than a party on a bike. They want to see and measure the impact of their workouts on their lives.
Our product team is looking at all of this, diving into the research, the science and consumer demand to understand how we best evolve our product.
We want to create unique, results-based, scalable programmes that support people’s holistic health journeys. We’re also identifying the wellness metrics that really matter to people and looking at the technology we need to measure these, so we can demonstrate the value of all our modalities.
CycleBar is the world’s largest cycle franchise, but we need to put it in front of the right audience with the right voice and right message
The strategic brand repositioning we’re currently undertaking ties in with all of this. CycleBar remains the largest cycle franchise in the world, but we need to make sure we’re putting it in front of the right audience with the right voice and right message. We’re still working on this project, but the way our classes make people feel –the community, the dopamine hit, the release – will be key. A more distilled audience is also likely to be part of the solution. You can make everyone welcome without saying you’re ‘for everyone’, because in practice that means you’re not really ‘for’ anyone.
We’re also expecting the repositioning to support a better balance between push and pull, not relying so heavily on gimmicky sales offers to get people through the doors.
CycleBar is currently going through a ‘strategic brand repositioning’, says Klein
What support do you give franchisees?
LK: Our focus is on franchisee profitability. You can’t build a portfolio of brands if you don’t put franchisees first.
This is what attracted me to Extraordinary Brands. I understand from personal experience the challenges of being a franchise owner and entrepreneur and I know that CycleBar owners in particular have had a tough time. Having the chance to step in and be part of the solution was very appealing.
Our dedicated business coaching for franchisees is something we pride ourselves on. This is extensive, tactical coaching that’s designed to support the holistic health of franchisees’ businesses, not just sales.
You don’t have to be the biggest brand or even the hottest trend if you get your grassroots marketing right, building a local community
It’s delivered by a team of coaches with a wealth of boutique fitness experience, who are able to get very granular with the franchise owners and their GMs. They look at the experience within the four walls, the touchpoints that keep customers coming back, the ways of using data to reach out and personalise the experience, the KPIs that help franchisees run a better business from the top. It’s extremely effective.
KR: We also provide assets and playbooks, all of which support a hyper-localised approach. We talk about ‘four walls, four blocks, four miles’: create your experience, know who you are for those closest to you and go out from there.
Extraordinary Brands is looking at Q1 2026 to restart growth at Row House
This hyper-localised approach is critical in boutique fitness. You don’t have to be the biggest brand or even the hottest trend if you get your grassroots marketing right, building a local community for your studio.
I can speak as the founder of Neighborhood Barre, where revenue has consistently risen 20 per cent year-on-year since joining Extraordinary Brands. That’s great success for a brand that didn’t come into the portfolio distressed.
You do have to be the right person, though, so we’re looking closely at the prototype for our franchisees. For all new agreements, we will be discerning about who we partner with, looking for those who are passionate about the industry and making sure we pair the right people with the right brand.
And there’s more…
Hear from the CycleBar owner who’s setting the standard for five-star indoor cycling. Catch the podcast here.
From teaching her first rhythm cycling classes in Sydney to launching and running her own studio, guest coaching internationally and being headhunted by Absolute Cycle, Alicia Portelli has built a reputation based on a strong personal brand. She tells RIDE HIGH why a personal brand is so important for fitness coaches and instructors – and how to create one.
Why is a personal brand important?
Your personal brand is what makes you unique. It tells people why they should come to your classes and helps you stand out from your peers.
It’s also key to your happiness and sense of fulfilment. So often, we try to mould ourselves into what we think others want us to be, or we try to emulate another successful coach. But this isn’t just disingenuous. It also makes connection harder. Constantly trying to live up to someone else’s idea of who you should be is draining.
The more I embraced who I was, the more real my connection with riders became
Portelli is currently at Absolute Cycle: “I have worked hard to carve out my space in south-east Asia”
I experienced this first-hand in my early career. The more I embraced who I was and allowed that to come through in my classes, the more real my connection with riders became. For me, that meant leaning into my identity as an athlete, doing things that pushed people beyond what they believed they could do.
When you look across the industry, the coaches who have built big global brands are the ones who have created an identity that’s true to them and grounded in their values. The authenticity is what builds trust and community.
How do you create a personal brand?
A personal brand is something you have to identify for yourself. Nobody else can tell you who you are. Certainly trying to build your brand around someone else’s image, emulating another coach, will mean you’re constantly compared to them – and you will always be second-best.
When I’m mentoring people, I have them answer a few key questions. What is your ‘why’? Who do you want to be for people? How do you want to make them feel?
Portelli (middle of the top row) with her class while guest coaching in Guatemala
I also ask them to make a list of the people who inspire them; this can really help identify the qualities that matter most to them.
For me, my sources of inspiration are my former dance teacher, who was tough, as well as Michael Jackson and Akin Akman. Both are (or were, in MJ’s case) exceptional at what they do and don’t let themselves be affected by the views of those who don’t align with their brands.
A great coach can authentically show up anywhere and still attract people who connect with them
Throughout my career, people who don’t connect with my approach have told me my classes are unachievable. But staying true to your brand and finding the people it resonates with also means coming across people it doesn’t resonate with – and that’s OK.
My personal mantra is: Touch, Move, Inspire. I want to leave people better than I found them. I’m motivated by showing them they can push themselves further than they thought possible. I’ve always learnt through hard lessons and I teach in the same way. Life is tough, but if you can do hard things in a cycle class, you can take that same grit into everyday life.
Portelli’s coaching style and personal brand lean into her identity as an athlete
Can your brand limit where you work?
A strong personal brand will influence the studios you want to work at and the riders who come to your classes. However, unless you’re in a city with a high studio density, you can’t be too focused on typecasting yourself or finding the perfect studio. A great coach can authentically show up anywhere and still attract people who connect with them.
I am currently at Absolute Cycle and have worked hard to carve out my space in south-east Asia, attracting people who align with my brand. Whether I’m focusing on endurance, resistance, pace or technique, whether it’s an advanced or more entry-level class, I stay true to my personal brand, pushing people through hard lessons and motivating them to grow in different ways.
Focus on the people who keep showing up to your class. They are the ones your work is meant for.
No coach should stay static,” says Portelli. “You need to constantly develop your brand.”
Can everyone form a strong brand?
Not everyone will become a global name, but if your brand is authentic, there will be people who are drawn to you. Every personal brand will have its audience.
For me, successful personal branding isn’t about attracting roaring crowds. It’s about scaling authentically through genuine connection.
Importantly, identifying your ‘why’ is only the beginning. You also need the work ethic to constantly develop your brand. No coach should stay static. I’m forever taking classes with other instructors to be inspired by them and to work out what I can make my own in areas such as technique, conversation and drills. There’s so much learning you can do while staying true to your brand.
My personal brand is also about hard work and self-improvement. To embody that and help others grow, I need to keep growing myself.
As you learn about yourself and grow outside of fitness, your personal brand will evolve.
What’s your best piece of advice for other instructors?
If you have people who love you, you will also have people who dislike you; this is equally true for many of the globally recognised coaches.
Focus on the people who keep showing up to your class. They are the ones your work is meant for.
“We’re talking more about neurodiversity nowadays, but there’s still so much we don’t understand. It means labels aren’t always that helpful,” says Angela Reed-Fox, course director at the UK’s Indoor Cycling Institute (ICI).
“The way I see it, there’s a spectrum and everyone’s on it somewhere, from a formal diagnosis through to simply finding some things more difficult. For example, a fear of public speaking makes people uncomfortable about talking in a group or performing in front of others, but it isn’t a diagnosis. It’s just a hugely common obstacle.
We should focus on inclusivity, not labels, say the experts
“It’s why we always look at people, not at labels, aiming to remove any obstacles that stand in the way of a student being the best they can be.”
It has been a progressive journey, she says, constantly trying new things to make learning more inclusive and accessible. But the biggest learning of all? “Our adaptations haven’t only benefited neurodivergent individuals. They’ve made learning more effective and enjoyable for all students.”
A widespread need
Natasha Schofield, associate director for education and career development at CIMSPA – the UK’s professional development body – agrees: “An estimated 15–20 per cent of the general population are neurodiverse, whether diagnosed or undiagnosed. Rather than singling people out, our advice is therefore to make all training inclusive and accessible for everybody. It’s highly unlikely you’ll ever run a course where no-one needs extra support, and what benefits one person will very likely benefit others.”
People with ADHD bring great energy as instructors, says Marshall Bean
In fact, the neurodiverse percentage often skews even higher among those attracted to the creative, movement-based, less traditionally academic fitness sector. “We’ve been working on a pilot project with the Department for Work and Pensions, bringing individuals from job centres into training and then on to an employer with vacancies. In this cohort, around 30 per cent have presented requiring some level of additional support,” confirms Schofield.
Our adaptations don’t only benefit neurodivergent individuals. They make learning more effective and enjoyable for all students.
It’s compelling evidence to support an inclusive approach not just to initial training, but also to recruitment, CPD and career development. “Education providers and employers have a duty of care to support the individual in front of them,” says Schofield. “It’s inexcusable in this day and age to simply say ‘we can’t cater for you’.”
The devil will be in the detail as our understanding of neurodiversity grows, but crucially, says Schofield, it won’t be a tick-box process. Open, empathetic conversations will be key to understanding individual needs, all rooted in a genuine commitment to doing the right thing. Don’t expect set protocols to work for everyone.
With this in mind, she notes, “we need to support education providers to in turn support the individual” – which is why CIMSPA is working to signpost operators and training providers towards best practice and helpful resources. It is also encouraging those who hit the mark in its quality assurance to clearly market their inclusivity.
“People with additional learning needs don’t always want to actively ask for help,” Schofield explains, “so it helps if they can go into a training course confident they’ll have a great experience”.
We now teach only in small groups, allowing the focus to shift towards a more relaxed conversation among the students
Removing obstacles
Education providers such as the ICI and Canada-based Authentic Instructor Training would certainly feel justified in putting their hands up here, achieving strong results through their inclusive training experiences – not least the qualifying of numerous students who previously failed on other, less adaptive courses.
It’s a constant process of trial and error, says Reed-Fox, phasing in new ideas and “trying to identify anything we’re doing that’s making it harder for people”.
Putting students on bikes helps them “remember what good and bad feels like”
She explains: “We accommodate different learning styles and preferences, with most of our pre-course learning available as videos as well as in written format. Everyone gets a copy of our indoor cycling handbook to refer back to as well, plus you can call or email us at any point and join our Facebook community. There’s lots of aftercare.”
She continues: “We boil important skills such as bike set-up and session planning down to simple formulae that can be repeated every time. We have students do guided doodles – diagrams relating to safe and effective cadences, for example – because we’ve found learnings embed better when we connect brain and hand. And we use kinaesthetic learning, putting students on bikes so they remember what good and bad feels like.
We’ve found our neurodiverse students really only have a heightened level of the needs many other students have
“But the biggest change we’ve made so far has been in the size of our courses, which we now teach only in small groups. It’s more expensive to run them this way, but it’s had a hugely positive impact, allowing the focus to shift away from a PowerPoint presentation and towards a more relaxed conversation among the students. We stick to a structure so they know what’s coming, but there are opportunities to ask questions and check understanding as we go.
“The whole approach allows us to address the different mindsets, challenges and receptiveness within each group and helps prevent sensory overload – great for anyone who hasn’t been in training or education for a while. We’ve had a lot of neurotypical people, especially older learners, tell us how much they like being able to ask questions as they think of them, for example.
“We’ve also radically changed our approach to assessment in a way that benefits neurodiverse people, but that’s been transformational for everyone. Assessments are no longer the last thing you do – a pressured 15 minutes that you’re dreading all day. Instead, we do things in bite-sized chunks and if at any point in the day you demonstrate the competence we’re looking for, you get a tick in the box.
“As I say, this is how we now deliver all training for everyone, because it isn’t only neurodiverse people who benefit. It makes for better learning, better outcomes and ultimately better, more rounded instructors across the board.”
Writing things down can help embed important learnings in students’ memories
Building confidence
Put another way, says Reed-Fox: “When it comes to learning, we’ve found our neurodiverse students really only have a heightened level of the needs many other students have. It’s why we encourage everyone not to fixate on labels, because they can undermine your confidence. You start to believe your diagnosis limits what you can do, but everyone has potential.”
Tash Marshall Bean, founder of Authentic Instructor Training, agrees: “I have ADHD and for years was made to believe there were things I couldn’t achieve. It’s why my default now is: ‘You can and I’ll help you.’
We teach using every learning style – visual, audio, kinaesthetic – and we adjust as we go because every group is different
“In fact, I believe people with ADHD make incredible indoor cycling instructors, with high energy and creativity, brilliant attention to detail and a natural ability to read and quickly adapt to the room.
“However, that same attention to detail can be your Achilles heel, driving a perfectionism that will see you slave over a playlist for hours or be so hard on yourself for a tiny slip in class that no-one else even noticed. The inner critic gets loud, replaying moments, over-analysing and convincing you that great isn’t good enough – but the truth is our riders feel our energy, not our mistakes.
“It’s why, in our training, we focus on building the confidence that quiets the self-criticism. Our courses go far beyond the bike. They’re about self-development.”
She continues: “We teach using every learning style – visual, audio and kinaesthetic – and we adjust as we go because every group is different. Each client also leaves with playlists they can use right away – as well as the tools to create their own – so they can focus on connection, not perfection.”
She concludes: “Our programme is designed for everyone, but I’m especially passionate about supporting those with ADHD because I know how powerful our brains can be when they’re understood, not judged. You just need a training environment that gets you.”
Flexible assessment
There’s a long way to go before inclusivity is embedded at the heart of every qualification and CPD course, confirms Schofield, but this must be our roadmap and something we accelerate towards.
It is worth the investment, says Laura Davis, CEO of the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) in a fascinating webinar for CIMSPA.
“Only 4.8 per cent of adults known to social care as having a learning disability and/or autism have access to any kind of employment, but teams that are more diverse tend to be more productive and innovative,” she explains. “Plus, why would you not want to be thinking about a hidden talent pool of people who are motivated and desperate to work?”
The chances are you have more neurodiverse people on your team than you know. Many will have never disclosed it.
Of course, it’s likely your existing workforce also includes neurodiverse people – even if they haven’t told you.
“The chances are you have more neurodiverse people on your team than you know,” confirms indoor cycling instructor Odile Philipson, who is herself dyslexic. “Many will have never disclosed it.”
She adds: “I instruct Cyclone for David Lloyd Clubs [DLC] and have to do compulsory training every quarter. Each time, I feel my anxiety levels rise. I have never failed, but I know I’m slower at learning and reading than the average person. With some typefaces, it becomes harder still.
By embedding inclusivity, we can make ours an appealing sector to young people
“A few years ago, I decided to tell the DLC product team and they were really good about it. They gave me the option to have someone sit with me during exams; they told me the exams wouldn’t be timed – that was a key one for me; and they told me if I did fail, I could re-sit. Just knowing all that allowed me to relax.”
I want to own the fact I’m dyslexic, so I’m open with my classes about it. It would be great if every club had an ambassador in this space.
When training and assessment are carried out in-person, there’s scope for even greater adaptation, says Philipson: “On one occasion, having disclosed my dyslexia on arrival, the master trainer asked me to stay behind after the exam to talk through my response to a question. He knew my standards of instructing and he knew I knew the right answer, but I hadn’t managed to put it in writing within the time allocated. My verbal explanation was totally different from what I had written; his taking the time to adapt to my neurodiversity meant I passed.”
Every club should have an ambassador members can speak to, says Philipson
Embedding inclusivity
Crucially, supporting neurodiverse individuals in your team means supporting members too.
Says Philipson: “I want to own the fact I’m dyslexic, so I’m open with my classes about it. There should be no shame in it. As a result, members sometimes come to me to discuss where they’re struggling as a participant – if they have dyscalculia and find it hard to see the numbers in the Cyclone app, for example.
AIT has successfully qualified many students who failed on less adaptive courses
“It would be great if every health and fitness club had an ambassador in this space – someone members, and for that matter other instructors, know they can talk to. We should be out and proud and helping each other.”
Schofield concludes: “Quite aside from the existing instructors we can support better, there are almost 1 million NEET [Not in Education, Employment or Training] young people in the UK alone. Learning disabilities are likely a factor for many.
“As a sector, we have an opportunity to embed inclusivity – mental as well as physical – into our professional standards, showcasing ours as a wonderful industry for these young people to step into.”
There are three of us: Jari Karlsson, Wemppa Koivumäki and me. Jari and I were introduced when I first became interested in TRIB3, with Wemppa joining us a year later. As the former managing director of Sony Music Finland, he brings valuable experience from the entertainment field.
“When your offering is so completely different, you can create your own pricing structure”
Meanwhile, Jari is also CEO of a plant-based food company and I’ve been in fitness since 1999. I previously owned my own gym and had no intention of owning another – then came across TRIB3. Initial chats were followed by a visit to the UK; this was in 2017, when TRIB3 was only operational in Sheffield. I liked the leadership team, liked how similar we were in our thinking and thought the TRIB3 concept was great. And so I partnered with Jari to take on the franchise for Finland.
TRIB3 Sture has a heart rate system, adding another data point for coaching variety
How many studios do you have?
We have two, with our first having opened in the Adlon area of Helsinki in 2019. Similar to other TRIB3 locations around the world, this is a HIIT studio with three zones: treads, power and intensity. It’s a really big studio with 45 spaces in every class.
I was always keen to bring cycling into the mix, though, as I’ve been an indoor cycling coach since 2001. So our second location – which opened in Sture, Helsinki, in April of this year – offers an indoor cycling studio alongside a reformer pilates studio; franchise company Tribute Brands, which owns TRIB3, also owns the PILAT3S brand.
Our pilates studio has 15 reformers, while our large cycle studio has 51 BODY BIKE Phantoms on the studio floor. A further 10 Phantoms are located on a VIP balcony that overlooks the main floor. This area will open this summer, complete with sofas and post-workout drinks.
Sture is TRIB3 Finland’s first reformer pilates studio – but not its last
Is there a boutique scene in Helsinki?
There are other reformer pilates studios in Helsinki, although ours is the largest, but as we speak now, outside of our studio, indoor cycling still only takes place in big box clubs. Meanwhile, six years on, we’re still the only HIIT boutique in Helsinki – and in Finland, for that matter!
“When we do something, we do it so well that if we see anyone doing it better, we’ll salute them”
Our mentality has always been that when we do something, we do it so well that if we see anyone else doing it better, we’ll salute them. In the meantime, we have no direct competition.
We’ve had to educate consumers a bit on boutique, but it hasn’t been as hard as you might think. When you’re offering something so completely different, nobody tries to compare you with anyone else and you can create your own pricing structure.
Soundproofed glass walls at TRIB3 Sture allow for great sight lines without any noise interference during classes
Of course, when you’re charging €29 for a one-off HIIT or cycle class and €55 for reformer pilates, you have to deliver something really special. Not that most people pay that: most of our members are on class packs or memberships, so the average price paid for HIIT, for example, is €14.50.
But still, you have to be better than good, all the time, every day. I’ve written a book on this and it’s what we pride ourselves on. We don’t see ourselves as being in the fitness business. We’re in the entertainment business, with a high level of customer service.
“One of my favourite things is to watch first-timers’ faces as they come in and the wow factor hits them”
There are so many rules, exceptions and penalties in gym memberships. At TRIB3, we have none. We make everything easy and fun and we say ‘yes’ rather than ‘no’. We put ourselves in our customers’ shoes and do things as we’d want them to be done if we were members. We don’t tie you into a contract. If you want to leave or freeze your membership at any time, that’s fine – we’ll see you whenever you want to come back and have some fun with us.
A 9m x 3m LED screen dominates the TRIB3 cycle studio
What’s the vibe at your studios?
Adlon is an old movie theatre, with high ceilings and a big screen at the front where everyone’s heart rate is projected. You go down the stairs and at first you can’t work out where you are… is it a bar, a coffee shop, a clothing retailer? Then you go into the studio, black like a nightclub with blue lighting.
One of my favourite things to do is watch first-timers’ faces as they come in and the wow factor hits them. We even have members who tell us they used to go clubbing, but now come to TRIB3 instead.
The HIIT studio at TRIB3 Adlon offers 45 spaces in every class
We set out to create something equally powerful for cycling. All three founders love going to concerts, so this was our brief to the sound and lighting company: we wanted it to feel like you were listening to Avicii, with the stage set of Rammstein and the show of Coldplay. We’ve created a space with a 9m x 3m LED screen at the front and a stage where the instructor feels like a star.
Then in our reformer pilates studio, tucked away in a wing of the building, we’ve used burnt wood on the walls and we’ve opened up the ceiling. It feels like a separate zen world, far apart from the vibe of the other two studios.
“In cycling, you’re on stage with everyone watching. You have to want to be a star. We know how to make you into one.”
Tell us about your cycle programming.
As with most things in TRIB3, we have three CYCL3 programmes: Power, Speed and Endurance. Power works on resistance, Speed features sprints and Endurance is more steady state. In fact, each class has a bit of everything, but with an emphasis in one direction depending on which class you’re in.
TRIB3 Sture has 51 BODY BIKE Phantoms on the ground floor and 10 on the balcony
The structure is similar to our HIIT programmes, with one to four rounds of six or seven minutes’ work separated by 40 seconds’ rest. Playlists are designed to support this class structure, but beyond that our instructors have freedom in their choreography.
Our workouts are all about having fun, but we do use data as well; most of our members download the BODY BIKE app to see all their data as they cycle. With our BODY BIKE Phantoms, we can coach using gears as well as RPM; our classes are set to music, but not everyone is good at feeling the beat, so referring to RPM can help. We also have a heart rate system, meaning we can coach using heart rate zones too.
“We’ve removed unlimited packages. We have enough demand that these don’t work for us.”
How do you find great instructors?
I like to train my own rather than recruiting them from elsewhere. What we do is so different that I don’t want anyone bringing old habits into our studios.
It’s important to find people who will do your thing, not their thing, while at the same time being a star. That’s particularly the case in cycling, where the instructor is on stage with everyone watching. You have to want to be a star. You have to want the attention of the class. You have to embody Robbie Williams as you tell the crowd: “For the next 45 minutes, your ass is mine!”
And if you do want to be a star, we know how to make you into one. At the moment, we have a few cycle instructors who aren’t quite there yet, but they soon will be.
Members can track real-time data on the BODY BIKE app
What has been your biggest learning?
When you’ve sold gym memberships for 20+ years and worked hard to encourage regular visits, it’s a big shift in mindset to move to a boutique world where your ideal customer comes once a week or less. I’ve learned to rethink everything.
In a boutique, you’re only as strong as today’s performance. You have a finite number of spots to fill, but you can only sell them today: you can’t balance out a bad day today by selling extra spots tomorrow. So, you must fill all your spots for the highest price possible.
For us, this has meant removing unlimited packages; we have enough demand that these don’t work for us. Half of our members are on weekly memberships and half on class credit packs – and among those on memberships, around 90 per cent are on a ‘one class a week’ deal. Only a very few have opted for two or three classes a week.
TRIB3 Adlon’s HIIT studio has three zones: treads, power and intensity
This might change as Sture really gets going and both studios feed each other. They’re close by, so we’re already offering Adlon members the chance to experience a free cycle and/or pilates class, while new members at Sture are crossing into HIIT too.
Our timetables are also getting busier as we’ve realised people will do group exercise in the middle of the day. At Adlon, we now run a HIIT class every hour from 7.00am to 8.00pm on Tuesdays and Fridays and will soon do that on Thursdays too. Even on the other days, we have multiple classes throughout the day.
“The people who like us, love us – once a week or less!”
But generally, we know our members will do other activities – gym, golf and so on – and we actively encourage this. In fact, that’s the whole point of our approach. If you go clubbing every night, it takes the fun out of it. The same goes for TRIB3.
We continue to fill our HIIT classes with once-a-week members and are confident we can do the same with cycling and reformer – and still have to keep an eye on supply and demand.
The HIIT studio is “black like a nightclub, with blue lighting”
We want to ensure people can get in whenever they want; that’s the whole point of huge studios with hourly classes. To achieve the perfect balance of supply vs demand, we know we need a roughly 50/50 split of weekly members vs those on class packs. To this end, we sometimes heavily promote a class credit pack when we need people to choose this option over a once-a-week membership.
Who is your target market?
We exist for the people who want to have fun working out, but we have our own way of doing things that isn’t for everyone. And that’s OK. Not everyone needs to like us and not everyone will. We enjoy doing things differently. If someone says something can’t be done, I’ll say: “OK, watch me!”
We don’t worry about negative online reviews, but if someone is negative or problematic in the club itself, we act quickly. We’re creating a space of entertainment where people choose to spend their free time and we won’t have anyone undermining that. I have no problem removing such individuals and barring them from our studios.
All that said, we have 27,000 people on our database just from Adlon and an email open rate of 60 per cent. The people who like us, love us – once a week or less!
A smoothie bar offers post-workout refreshments
What comes next for TRIB3 Finland?
We probably won’t open another cycle studio in Helsinki – it’s why we wanted to make the Sture studio so big – but we are looking to open a HIIT + reformer location next year. We’re looking at a few other options in Helsinki, too, all in unique places with the potential to do something amazing.
We’re also interested in incorporating our own take on the 432 social wellness club concept. Saunas are deeply rooted in the Finnish culture and I think we can do something pretty cool here.
Above all, we want to create studios we can feel proud of: cool spaces that light up first-timers’ faces with a wow factor. And whatever happens, we don’t want it to start feeling like work. We never want to lose the fun in what we do.
A brand is the perception that your audience, your competitors and the market have of your business.
You can have an influence over your brand. You can shape its visual identity and verbal expression. You can direct the way it is represented in your marketing, studio design, programming style and so on. But you can’t own it, because your brand is what other people say, think and feel about you.
Put simply, a brand is not for the owner. It is for the audience.
“You can have an influence over your brand, but you can’t own it. Your brand is what others say, think and feel about you.”
How strong are fitness brands?
If you stretch the definition to include sport, then some of the world’s best brands live in this sector. Nike, for example, is arguably the greatest brand ever created. What it’s selling isn’t shoes. It’s pure brand. Simple, bold and all about feeling – perseverance, hard work and achievement. It’s beautiful.
In the fitness sector, I’d pick out SoulCycle. It brought soul and fitness together in a new way, creating a brand that essentially sold a lifestyle. The problem came when everyone else started trying to be SoulCycle too. Instead of being unique with their own brands, they copied SoulCycle – and that was a major mistake.
Invest in branding early to build curiosity
A brand has to talk to its own clearly defined audience. SoulCycle is a New York brand that addresses a very specific New York niche. It has successfully taken its brand elsewhere, but if you’re an independent studio in Vancouver, say – which is where we’re based – there’s no point copying SoulCycle. Create something that’s directly relevant to your own audience.
Is this the secret of a strong brand?
The strongest brands are always those with a very clear definition of who they’re talking to. Once you know your audience, you can tailor your whole brand around them – not only your branding but everything you offer, every element of your experience, your pricing, how you speak to people and so on.
This is simpler for a boutique studio than for a big box club, because boutiques can be very specific in their focus. For example: ‘I want to talk to mums who are just getting back to an active lifestyle.’ Boom, that’s it. You don’t go on adding other audiences. Others may come to you, but these mums are your first-class passengers and you craft everything around them. You understand the transformation they’re looking to buy from you, build all your packages and services around this and stay laser-focused.
SoulCycle blazed a branding trail. “The problem came when everyone else tried to copy it.” – PHOTO: SOULCYCLE
“If you try and connect people to a business, it won’t happen. You have to connect them to your purpose.”
Strong brands also understand why they exist and are able to connect their core audience to this brand story. In the world of boutiques, this is often linked to the founder’s personal story.
That’s the great thing about fitness: it’s all about lifestyle and the stories are very real. In more corporate sectors, you might have to make up a purpose and brand story, but in fitness the stories are alive, sitting at the heart of the businesses we work with.
If you try and connect people to a business, it won’t happen. You have to connect them to your purpose, your story and the transformation you’re selling – and all of that can be done through a strong brand personality.
“The great thing about fitness is the stories are very real, often linked to the founder’s story”
What is Creative Fit’s approach?
Our three-step Brand Bootcamp Method starts with a brand strategy workshop. We define what makes the business special, as well as its purpose and mission: why was the business started, why does it exist, why should it be front-of-mind for people?
We then define their ideal client, including through consumer interviews where we ask about their lives, challenges, current habits and how they think working out might help. This allows us to create a persona that we can build everything else around.
The next bit is really fun: What would your brand look like if it were a person? If you want people to connect with your brand, it needs human-like features, so how would it look, talk and behave? What would be its tone of voice and its values?
Finally we move on to positioning, mapping the brand in the market – noting its USPs vs the competition – as well as mapping what it’s doing for people and why they should care.
Want to service mums just getting back to activity? “That’s it. Don’t go on adding audiences”
By the end of this process, we have a pretty strong roadmap for the next few years, as well as an understanding of what’s needed to create the desired brand perceptions.
The resulting brand guidelines can be shared with anyone involved in bringing the brand to life, from interior designers to lighting engineers to photographers.
“Don’t copy other brands. You’ll simply be talking to their audience, not your own.”
Step two is brand design, creating the visual and verbal expressions of the brand. Logo, look and feel, website, studio signage, messaging, apparel design… anything that’s part of the experience, both in and away from the studio.
Step three is about growth, using predominantly online channels to reach even more individuals who match the studio’s now well-defined audience.
Whether they’re start-ups or existing businesses looking to refresh their brand and realign with their purpose, the vast majority of our clients go through the full three-step process. This is certainly where we see the best results.
Tell us about your indoor cycling clients.
We’ve worked with a lot of boutique cycle studios over the years, including Spin Society, Ignite Cycle, Tru Ride, Soar and Define.
Tru Ride was fun, with a very colourful personality. It was bold for its time – this was 2017 – with mantra walls stating ‘We make you look good naked’ and apparel with slogans such as ‘I spin for wine’. We worked together for a number of years until it was acquired.
Know your audience and build every touchpoint around them
Define was a franchise business offering indoor cycling, barre and strength classes. It was very clear on who it was speaking to, with a strong brand and a consistent experience across all disciplines that meant it attracted those who wanted to do all three. Our relationship began in 2016 and we’re still working with the founder today, as he now brings boutique fitness into residential rental developments.
Spin Society is another great one: we’ve worked with them consistently since 2016. These are friendly, energetic, fun studios that are perfect for beginners. The latest iteration of the brand really reflects this, with lots of colour, smiles and laughter in the imagery – a stark contrast to all the monochrome colour schemes and serious photos we see in this sector.
“It is the idea of boutique fitness that people buy into. Invest in your story.”
As a small Vancouver-based operation, there was a moment of concern a few years back when Spin Society realised SoulCycle was coming to its city. It’s a story we’ve heard a lot, as you can imagine, but we worked together to map out how Spin Society’s brand could be ‘more Vancouver’ than SoulCycle, giving it a local resonance that would set it apart from the competition.
SoulCycle came and went. Spin Society has another studio opening soon. That’s the power of knowing your story and speaking to your own audience.
What are your branding dos and don’ts?
Number one is probably the most important: Don’t copy other brands. You’ll simply be talking to their audience, not your own. Your messaging will be relevant to their audience, not your own.
Number two: Don’t wait for your business to generate results or income before you invest in branding. Similar to the Nike example, it is the idea of boutique fitness that people are buying into. Investing early is foundational for this type of business, establishing a story and purpose that people want to be part of.
Finally, if yours is a new business, market it as early as possible. Understand what makes your brand special and build curiosity around that. Don’t wait until the doors have opened and your classes are half empty. Get out there early.
I was watching the weather forecast on Danish TV the other day and was struck with a realisation. Not so many years ago, the maps used just two colours: blue for cold or red for hot. Today, there’s a full spectrum of colour, from yellow to blue, red, purple and burgundy.
With increasingly extreme weather conditions and a consumer expectation of accuracy, two colours no longer suffice. Fortunately, the forecasting tech and its colour palette are keeping up with these expectations.
My reflections turned to fitness and how it has diversified over recent years, gathering momentum in both directions: the likes of Hyrox at one extreme, recovery at the other; super-premium clubs at one, HVLP at the other.
Crucially though, as with the weather colour palette, our sector delivers at all points of the spectrum, offering unprecedented choice in how and where to be active.
But has indoor cycling achieved the same? The boutique consultant Lise Kuecker highlights the polarisation between rhythm and performance cycling. “We’re seeing a huge divide and it’s only getting bigger,” she notes.
So, what’s in the middle and how are we filling it with colour, innovating to ensure something for everyone within this fundamentally accessible discipline? Kuecker has a number of suggestions, from meditative cycling to the latest iterations of fusion programming. “Those who are doing exceptional things are still crushing it,” she says.
Of course, not every studio has to cover off every colour on the spectrum. You can – and arguably should – be unapologetic in your story and purpose. (See our branding feature ‘More than a logo’.)
Let’s take TRIB3 Helsinki as an example, an exceptional space that’s unlike anything else in that market. Targeting a very specific audience with a product I envisage as a bright shade of red, it has built its business model accordingly. “The people who like us, love us – once a week or less,” explains co-founder Sami Hurme. “If you go clubbing every night, it takes the fun out of it. The same goes for TRIB3. We know you will do other things.”
In other words, each cycle studio can successfully own its chosen shade on the colour spectrum – provided the numbers add up, of course. As a sector, however, we must find new ways to paint indoor cycling in every colour, or risk losing out to the disciplines that fill the gaps we leave.
What does it take to lift a boutique studio experience from good to great? This is the question that lies at the heart of a fantastic new podcast: Five-Star FitnessbyThe Fit Guide.
Launched this year by the founders of The Fit Guide, the podcast sets out to help the fitness industry thrive by sharing learnings from the world’s leading hospitality brands, as well as from award-winning clubs and studios.
“From day one, it was about hitting as many senses as we could, from visuals to music to scent”
In the last issue of RIDE HIGH, we heard from Storm Cycling founder Ivana Bruic. This time, the mic is handed to Bridge Hudson, founding instructor and now GM at Hong Kong’s XYZ.
Launched 12 years ago as a cycle specialist, XYZ has since grown to span three rooms and multiple disciplines: rhythm cycling, yoga, infrared heated movement and recovery classes that focus on mobilisation.
In this excellent podcast, Hudson shines a spotlight on the intricate thinking behind the customer journey, as well as some of the learnings he has brought across from adjacent industries and his own life experiences.
For the full story, check out the podcast on YouTube now – just click to play!
Listen to the podcast now to discover…
How first-timer feedback shapes the XYZ experience
Why a signature scent was top of the brand’s must-have list
How each room has a different purpose, but all serve the same mission
The #1 quality Hudson looks for when recruiting any team member
The power of treating everyone as if already part of the community
Why taking it personally is not a failing at XYZ – it’s the culture
The one thing Hudson wishes all studio operators realised
… and far more besides
XYZ launched as a specialist cycle studio, but has since diversifiedXYZ’s design creates a visual wow factor and contributes to the sensory experienceExplore more episodes now!
Conceived, powered and funded by BODY BIKE®, RIDE HIGH has a simple mission: to celebrate and champion the very best of indoor cycling, sharing ideas, stories and experiences from around the world to inspire the sector on to even bigger and better things. Subscribe for free by leaving your details below and we'll send indoor cycling's hottest news direct to your inbox three times a year.
