Imogen Calderwood
THE leap between being an investment banker in London to opening a chain of international gyms hailed as the best personal training business in the world might seem an unlikely one.
But for entrepreneur Nick Mitchell it was the most natural step in the world.
As a competitive body builder while in his twenties, Nick confesses that he has always been at his best when in the gym.
And five years ago, Nick decided to open one of his very own in London.
Now he owns five gyms across the world, in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore – with the most recent opening in nearby Marbella.
Nick is such a big fan of the Costa del Sol that he has recently moved here with his young family, as he believes the environment and weather would be good for them.
And as the author of the number one best-selling fitness book on Amazon UK for the last 18 months running, Nick is the go-to guy for celebrities and members of the public alike.
“But we are in this for real people, who are prepared to do what it takes to actually make a real change,” he explains, adding: “These are the people who will really benefit”.
He proudly shows off photos of his best ‘before and afters’, with his particular favourite being 28-year-old British expat Glenn.
“What he did was really incredible. He worked so hard, training eight or nine times a week for 15 weeks, but that’s not normal. Most people do three or four sessions, and in just six to 12 weeks can make huge changes but not necessarily to Glenn’s crazy level.”
Another client he picks out is Rob, who at 46 years old decided it was time to transform himself.
Here, the Olive Press puts a few quick questions to the gym boss about his business and why he expects to do well in southern Spain.
What is Ultimate Performance Marbella and why is everyone talking about you?
We are widely regarded as the world’s best personal training business and have our own gyms in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Singapore. What makes us different, and why so many people are buzzing about what we do here, is because we are results oriented.
We aren’t interested in clients who just want a spa-like environment or the stereotypical ‘rent-a-friend’ personal trainer. We actually make it very clear to our personal training clients that we don’t care about becoming their friend and if we do, it is a side bonus to the real goal of getting tangible results.
Our facilities are solely for our private personal training clients, but our new gym here on the Spanish coast is bit different. I
t’s a regular members’ gym where people can come to exercise by themselves, as part of our TeamUP group classes, or of course for the personal training that we are famous for.
The team has come all the way from London and Madrid, with the goal of bringing the same level of care and attention here as we do in the bigger cities where we are already based.
Your new gym looks amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. Can you explain it?
We know we are not a gym for everybody. If you want a gym with fluffy towels and handmaidens waiting on your every whim then there are definitely better gyms for you to join.
But if you want serious equipment for serious results then we are one of the best facilities in the world.
One word of warning though. If your definition of a ‘great gym’ is one with ranks of treadmills and stationary bikes then we are not the gym for you.
This is a resistance training gym. Not because it is full of knuckle dragging bodybuilders, that isn’t the case at all. But because resistance training is the optimal and most malleable tool for rapid changes in fat loss and body shape.
And one of our main draws – that blows everyone away – is that we have an outside exercise area to match the quality of our inside area. The indoor gym is 500 metres square of weights, and we have another 500 metres square of astroturfed outdoor ‘functional training’.
Even though we’ve only been open for two months we’ve already had Olympic sportsmen and England rugby players come to visit specifically for the environment, equipment, and the sheer fun of training in the sun!
But a gym like this must be very expensive and only for higher end customers?
While what is inside the gym is certainly not cheap, our membership is very reasonable and can be as little as €59/month depending upon the package.
Our goal isn’t to make the most money. We know that sounds hard to believe but unlike other gyms on the coast we get revenue from many other places. Our goal is to create something special and a community that people love.
We seem to be getting there. We are capping our membership so that the gym is always fun to train and never too busy, and we are already 70% of the way to that goal, and every day we have people visiting who have come on holiday from all over Europe just to experience what it is like to train in such a unique environment.
Visit Ultimate Performance Marbella, at 22 Calle Chipre, San Pedro de Alcantara, 29670. For more information, visitwww.UPFitness.com.es, www.facebook.com/MarbellaGym, email [email protected], or call 951 194 600.
