At the end of 2019 we sent an email survey to the GRIPT community to gain their insights, including what training in the studio meant to them. A statement that resonated was ‘At GRIPT it’s not just training, it’s life’. It did so because we consider what we do to be more than booking in, completing a session and then leaving. We see our role to help you to improve your health and quality of living by building long term habits, and do it within a culture that we have carefully curated in the studio. This culture has been built on creating a connection with our clients based on trust and respect, delivering high quality coaching to build knowledge and awareness, and cultivating a community where people can come and feel they belong.
Coming into 2020 no one would have seen what was going to occur. Bushfires raging across the country during January and February, and in March the entire country, economy and studio shut down for three months to face a pandemic like never seen before. With the studio doors closed, our role remained the same, that was to continue to help people, all we needed to do was adjust how we did it. After a week of organising at a frenetic pace, the GRIPT AT HOME Program was delivered into the homes of over 100 GRIPT members, 50 pieces of equipment were hired out along with a training program to follow, and Zoom Dial In Personal Training sessions started to be booked in. Our main intent with the AT HOME PROGRAM was to keep our clients engaged, motivated and connected with one another through a Facebook Group Page. After two months in full lock down, outdoor training was allowed which saw us take our Hyper, Volumize and Energize sessions from the studio out into the Ellis Street Park so that our loyal clients could come back into an environment where they were interacting with one another, and under the guidance of an expert coach. Over the course of the last four weeks we had over 600 visits from our clients, which was an incredible effort from each individual to face the dark, cold and sometimes foggy mornings.
Now we are back in the studio, our focus returns to our mission that we set out to follow in 2014 – that is providing solutions to the problems that we identify in the industry. Then, it was Commercial Gyms’ low level of care towards their members, and Personal Trainers who treated their clients like a transaction. Now it is the saturation of the market with a low cost, low value franchise model, which prioritises the quantity of people in a studio, over the quality of training delivered, and individuals within the industry making a healthy lifestyle seem more complex, confusing and out of reach than it is, by prioritising gaining attention and growing a following, instead of guiding and supporting people with help.
Our priority is providing you with real value by remaining committed to innovation towards your experience with us in and outside of the studio. This includes taking a holistic and realistic approach to improving your health and quality of living by building long-term sustainable habits through training, nutrition and recovery which are all available in the South Yarra studio.
Our ethos BUILT. NOT BORN. will always remain, because we understand to achieve anything worthwhile requires hard work, consistency, and commitment. However, it is no longer just stronger bodies we are building, we work with you to build healthier, happier and better lives for you to enjoy.
For now my team and I are embarking on a rebuild phase over the next 12 weeks. We will be doing everything in our power to ensure your safety and well-being when visiting the studio by following the guidelines provided by Fitness Australia and the Victorian State Government.
We appreciate your support and co-operation during this time.
See you in the studio soon.
Drew Westfield
GRIPT Owner
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