Why Elitas Fitness Oaklands is the Best Gym in Chichester Part 3

The single biggest strength of our gym is the quality of our staff.  We currently consist of four extremely well-qualified and experienced strength and conditioning coaches; responsible for everything from one-to-one personal training sessions to gym inductions and chatting with members.

 

Between the four of us we have worked with and learnt from international industry leaders, such as Charles Poliquin and Joe Defranco.  We have experience working with international level sportsmen, from England rugby players to professional NFL players.  We have even won silverware working with professional sports teams – Ben won the LV Cup with Gloucester Rugby in 2011 and Owen won the Italian Rugby Premiership with Mogliano in 2013.  We are also trusted sources of wide-reaching fitness and nutrition advice, having written for publications such as the Huffington Post and the Chichester Observer on such topics.

 

 

Although the gym operates in the conventional commercial gym manner – members turn up when they like and train unsupervised – we are still able to tailor the membership to the individual.  Our members receive as much or as little support as they require.  We have a lot of novice gym members, and spend a lot of time with them teaching the fundamental movement patterns and building confidence.  Likewise, a lot of our members have a huge amount of gym experience, and some are very good athletes and sportsmen and women.  Even these more advanced individuals come to us for training programmes and advice.

 

When inducting inexperienced gym users we are comprehensive in what we cover.  It is not a case of just naming all of the machines and handing them a programme.  Seemingly straightforward things like loading and unloading a barbell on the floor can be very difficult and even intimidating for someone with little to no training experience.  We go through little things like this in detail to ensure they will feel comfortable using the gym alone.  In some cases we even offer a series of one-to-one personal training sessions in our private gym at the other end of Chichester, to get them started.

 

Unlike most chain gyms, our staff are not clock-watching shift workers being paid minimum wage to wipe down the equipment and comply with health and safety.  We are business owners and coaches.  It genuinely matters to us how our members are getting on.  It is very important to us that members are enjoying themselves and getting results, because we care about people, and the success of our business depends upon it.

 

We have also strived to build a friendly and supportive gym community.  Although our membership base covers a wide range of experience and ability, everyone is approachable.  We encourage our members to help each other out: from sharing knowledge and giving feedback on technique to spotting one another and helping move equipment.

 

Another thing we have tried to achieve with this gym is to make it very easy for women to lift weights.  With a small membership base and an abundance of squat racks and dumbbells spread throughout the gym, not just in one small male-dominated corner, our female members do not feel as if they are trespassing on a forbidden and intimidating area of the gym when trying to train properly.  This is why our female members are able to get better results than those training anywhere else in Chichester.  Our membership base is made up of almost 50% women, which is outstanding considering we are primarily a strength training gym with strong links to the rugby club.   We are proud to be playing our small part in changing opinions and providing women with the opportunity to strength train.

 

 

The last thing I will mention is the ability of members to influence the gym.  We make a real point of responding rapidly to feedback in an effort to ensure we are providing exactly what people want from their gym.  When members have asked for specific pieces of gym equipment, we have been able to provide them within weeks.  When multiple gym members expressed an interest in learning Olympic weightlifting, we arranged for a former team GB weightlifter to come down and run a workshop.  We even do our best to cater for music requests, but you can’t please everyone!

 

 

If this sounds like a place you would like to try out then please get in touch and we can arrange a time to meet with you and show you around.  Give us a call on 01243 920536 or an email on [email protected].