Putting the Fun Back into Fit with Women’s Fitness Bootcamp

There’s a quiet revolution going on in the world of women’s fitness. Gyms, with their sweating rows of grunting men, and their horrible non-bicycles strapped to their damp rubber floors, are out. The great outdoors, or the comforts of one’s own home, is in. Big time. And all thanks to a little bit of pink power. Some ladies who were fed up of being ogled at in their own gyms, and who’d had enough of exorbitant gym fees, decided to create an alternative way for girls to get fit – all girl, all different, and, now, fantastically popular. Welcome to the world of Fit For a Princess, the pink sensation that puts bootcamp sessions on in public parks across London and the UK, or teaches women’s fitness techniques direct into the homes of members.

The Fit For a Princess site works on a double understanding – one, that gyms can be boring, threatening and actually pretty bad for a person physically; and two, that some women would far prefer to work out at home where no one is watching them. Both fair points. The gym, despite a recent growth in all female clubs, is still an unnatural environment – one where repetitive exercise is designed to replace outdoor activities like running, walking and climbing. Fit For a Princess has recognised that plenty of women feel threatened in gyms, or just plain embarrassed – whilst setting themselves up for RSI as a result of endless pounding on running machines. They’ve come up with a better idea – outdoor “bootcamp” sessions, run in public parks across London. Women simply log on, find out where the next session is being held, pay, and turn up. The benefits are obvious – women instructors, women only classes, fresh air, comradeship, and training routines designed specifically with women’s fitness in mind.

The same routines can be found on the website, where women can subscribe to receive video streams of workout instructors direct to their home PC, iPod or iPhone. That means a personal trainer can instruct a proper workout (again, targeted specifically at women’s fitness) at a convenient time in a private place. With a new online member’s area launching in September, the location and model of the training will continue to ensure total comfort and privacy.

The website is therefore working by capturing the whole womens market in one go. Any woman who dislikes gym based training, for whatever reason, suddenly has a dual avenue to explore instead. Bootcamps, which are ideal for women who want to get fit but need a support network to help them do it; and home training, which works equally well for women who either don’t want to be seen while they work out, or who find private training allows them to work at a suitable pace. Either way, Fit For a Princess is offering genuinely achievable women’s fitness in a variety of really enjoyable and workable formats. It’s better for the body, too, particularly in bootcamp form: what, after all, is more beneficial than a bit of actual fresh air? The revolution, it seems, starts here.