YourZone45 was started by Chris Elms in 2003. His aim was to make fitness fun. Chris’ first gym was in a 700 sq ft portacabin, now the studios are between 2,000 and 3,000 sq ft, with the aim of having 300 members per studio. YourZone45 describe themselves as boutique fitness studios where people can experience specially developed boot camp workouts which are geared to heart rate technology. The idea behind the workouts is to rapidly burn calories, increase the metabolism which, in turn, will result in greater fitness.
YZ45’s head office is in Colchester and it now has studios in Bingley, Braintree, Colchester and Colliers Wood. The company launched its franchise operation in 2015 and this year is planning to open another eight studios around the UK. It has already been announced that three of the studios will be in Greenwich, Southampton and Woking.
To support this expansion plan, YZ45 has a new marketing manager and a franchise manager. Marketing manager, Michael Jones, has not only been a competitive swimmer, he’s also worked for Virgin Active and David Lloyd Leisure and had his own swim school. Franchise manager, Davide Ferreira, earned his stripes working in sales and business development in various fitness environments, including Nuffield Health and Virgin Active.