30 Dec 2018
DLL to spend £15m on rolling out Blaze across portfolio
BY Tom Walker
David Lloyd Leisure (DLL) has revealed details of the roll-out of its boutique-style HIIT concept, Blaze.
Currently available at around a dozen clubs, the operator said it will invest £15m to roll the concept out to a further 49 clubs across the DLL estate.
Blaze is a team-based HIIT class offering training across three distinct areas – combat, cardio and strength – in a specially designed studio.
Blaze is the brainchild of Michelle Dand, DLL’s head of fitness products and programming.
Dand envisaged a group training experience for millennial, career-focused individuals that offered social interaction, an element of friendly competition where appropriate, and results – and would appeal to men and women.
Designed to create a "sense of community", the class is based on heart rate training, which ensures everyone works at the right intensity.
"You work to your own heart rate, challenging yourself, but within your own limits," said DLL Blaze trainer Jack Claxton.
This ensures the workout is suitable for everyone, whatever their fitness level."
Every Blaze participant wears a Myzone activity tracker belt, which monitors heart rates and displays it in easy-to-understand format.
"The signal from the belt is automatically picked up the moment you check in to the studio, with screens in each corner of the room showing your name, the heart rate zone you’re in, calories burned so far and average heart rate," said Michelle Dand.
"Members are challenged to hit different heart rate zones at different points in a workout, and in the three different areas of the studio, but the overall goal is to work in the red zone (90–100 per cent of maximum heart rate) for between nine and 18 minutes of a 55-minute class."
To read more about Blaze and DLL's plans, click here for issue 11/2018 of Health Club Management.
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