“We want to enable every member of XCELERATE GYMS to feel the positivity”

Standing out from competitors, XCELERATE GYMS is fully focused on helping every member and business owner achieve their X

When XCELERATE GYMS entered the fitness market in 2020, its intention was to positively disrupt the status quo of the traditional gym franchises that had dominated the market for years but offered no real differentiation.

XCELERATE’s mission was to create facilities, products, programming and a brand designed for every member of the family while creating a fresh, new position in the market and standing out from anything that had been before.

Made Different, Made Better, Made for Everyone is the brand’s strapline. And it couldn’t more accurately sum up the path that CEO and founder Mark Chambers, his management team and their growing family of franchisees have been on ever since.

It’s been a busy year for XCELERATE GYMS, and after recently confirming their latest site in East Grinstead, CEO Mark Chambers said: “It’s been a whirlwind 12 months! We have achieved so much already, but this is just the start.

“The feedback from our members at Edgware, Solihull and Forest Hill means we know that our product mix is right and that our focus on young people and families is something that both members and business owners are buying into. It’s this that shows why XCELERATE GYMS is Made Different, Made Better and Made for Everyone.

“The last year has been incredibly rewarding; opening gyms, establishing the brand and winning awards, but our focus is now on launching sites and supporting our existing gyms to provide an amazing member experience.

“We want to enable every member of XCELERATE GYMS to feel positivity when they walk into our gyms and to achieve their full potential. We’ll only complete our mission when we’re in every city and town of the UK, so we can help as many people as we can to feel XCELERATED and achieve their X!”

Getting our owners into business in just 26 weeks

While the start of 2022 has seen the network open gyms in Solihull and Forest Hill (South London), the pace of expansion will increase through 2022 and into 2023.

With the recent announcements of sites in East Grinstead and London Fields and with updates on more new sites imminent, the company aims to have six gyms open by the end of 2022 and 12 by summer 2023.

To deliver the roll-out plans, the target for every new franchisee is to open within six months of signing. The ‘XCELERATE INTO BUSINESS’ 26-week plan is a detailed operational programme to get each gym into business in the shortest time possible.

The plan enables a completely collaborative approach between the business owners, the operational team at XCELERATE and their partners and suppliers to ensure that sites are secured, fit-outs are completed, and gyms are launched within 26 weeks of signing.

Commenting on this commitment, Mark said: “This is another example of positive disruption and our determination to do everything better than has gone before and to show what can be achieved with the right team, experienced suppliers and diligent planning. Once a franchisee signs and we agree on the location, we are fully focused on supporting our business owners to open their gym and be revenue-generating within just 26 weeks.

“The success of our business is based on the success of our franchisees, and this requires gyms opening on time with successful pre-sales, so they are cash positive from the first day of opening. The ‘XCELERATE INTO BUSINESS’ 26-week plan further highlights how we are Made Different and Made Better.”

X-Nation and X-tribe products lead the way

Walk into any XCELERATE GYM and it’s the programming and family-focused membership options that highlight the biggest difference when compared to other traditional gyms. In launching X-TRIBE, XCELERATE GYMS became the first (non-health club) gym brand to actively target families with bespoke facilities, equipment and classes, including combat sports and martial arts for younger members as well as family fitness classes. The X-NATION programming is focused on members aged five to 15 and is all about inspiring younger members. It aims to teach key life skills and a love of fitness through combat sports, martial arts and fun, challenging fitness classes for ages five to seven, eight to 10 and 11 to 15.

The products were designed and led by ex-GB athlete and XCELERATE chief product officer, Ashley-Faye Helsby. Explaining the inspiration around X-NATION, she said: “We want to help every young member to unlock their full potential and to feel XCELERATED in the gym, while guided every step of the way by our awesome X-NATION coaches! The feedback from families makes every new programme we design, every X-NATION Cup event we run and every class so worthwhile.

“We know that through the pandemic families started to exercise together, probably for the first time, and we have used this to inspire us to design our X-NATION programming for our younger members and our X-TRIBE family memberships.

“What has been so amazing is the numbers of X-TRIBES joining our gyms in Edgware, Solihull and Forest Hill and the members’ loyalty to the brand, as they embrace the benefits of being more active together as a family.”

Innovation drives the future for XCELERATE

As you’d expect from someone with the drive of an ex-GB athlete, Ashley-Faye explains some of the innovations that will be launched over the next few months.

She said: “Later this year we’ll confirm the dates for the first X-NATION Games to take place in summer 2023. This will be a major outdoor event, for all X-NATION and X-TRIBE members. We will also be launching X-NATION Games training programmes and classes, as we provide members with a focus on their training, as well as a motivating, challenging, rewarding, fun event. Alongside the X-NATION Games, we’ll also run the first-ever X-NATION Super Cup, a competitive outdoor fitness event for younger members and X-TRIBE families.

“The success of our martial arts classes means we will be extending this provision to include gradings, while we will soon announce our new National Xpert programme, which will see us work with a number of world-leading sports scientists and practitioners to provide members with exclusive content, advice and support to achieve their training goals.

“We are continually evolving every aspect of our programming, events programme and membership support. This is such an exciting time for XCELERATE GYMS, as we remain focused on helping all our members and our business owners to feel XCELERATED and achieve the full value of their X!”

At a glance

Established:

2020

Number of Franchised Outlets:

3 – Edgware (North London) Forest Hill (South London) Solihull (West Midlands)

New gyms opening in 2022:

London Fields, East Grinstead, Preston

ROI:

cash positive from month one

Minimum capital required:

£120,000 + VAT; 80 per cent bank funding

Contact:

sam.yates@xcelerategyms.com