Keeping Families Fit Together

Finding a gap that needs filling in a competitive market is one of the key drivers to launching a successful business. Three years ago Victorian, Rory Sercombe, at the request of some exercise hungry mum’s, started running training sessions at his children’s school. Rather than having the kids hanging around, Rory put two and two together and created a unique group training model that incorporates the whole family and creates an environment where families can share the experience and be active together.

Fit Family™, a successful group training business that aims to get whole families involved in regular exercise and living a healthy lifestyle, is Rory and wife Melissa’s joint venture. Rory says that there’s no other business like it and couldn’t find anything similar anywhere else, so he thought they’d take their group training to the next step. A former Anytime Fitness franchisee and qualified personal trainer, Rory shed 35kg through exercise and by changing his diet, and has steered clear of what he says is a long history of overweight family members on his paternal side. ‘A program designed with my family in mind is what happened, as I wanted to make sure it wasn’t the path that my son took and I could see him taking,’ says Rory.

Providing an opportunity for parents to have a guilt-free workout, or a workout at all is Fit Family’s™ vision. ‘What attracts most people is that they finally feel that there is a solution to being able to bring kids along, a lot of parents feel guilty if they go out and look after themselves,’ Rory explains.

‘For me, the most rewarding thing is that we are helping families embrace a new lifestyle.’ He says that it usually starts with mum and the kids then dad gets dragged along. ‘We see them [clients] outside of our sessions – going on runs and bike rides and entering fun runs.’

The biggest sessions can see up to 30 adults taking part in group personal training that can be anything from boxing to cardio, toning or core circuits. Alongside the adults, 30 or 40 children are performing game playing activities designed to improve motor skills and they are taught health tips such as the importance of drinking water etc. Personal trainers are taught by qualified PE teachers about the best activities they can add to their repertoire in planning the kid’s fitness program. With numbers like this, three trainers take care of three groups; adults, kids and ‘kid care’, which is basically a childcare service for toddlers. ‘The PE teachers at the school say the kids in our program advance a lot quicker than the kids that aren’t,’ says Rory.

Rory hopes to grow his business through franchising and already has one franchisee that neighbours his area, and another in Western Australia that has already secured his turf, in the pipeline for next year. Having had 10 years experience as a franchisee, he says he’s comfortable with the model and although he has some aggressive targets, he intends to achieve them in a sustainable and controlled way.

Article by Toni Krasicki