"It was crazy to me that potentially some of the best fitness pros that the capital could produce were being priced out of the market" Its 2023 and 12 years after the formation of Focus Fitness UK in the spare bedroom of Gavin's parents, he passionately eulogises over the growth and impact that Focus Fitness UK has had on the personal training market in the capital. On what was a unseasonably warm September morning I meet up with Gavin Heeroo, co-founder of Focus Fitness UK in a Vauxhall coffee shop a stones throw from Focus Fitness UK HQ to talk about why FFUK came into being and how they have driven the government funded PT market to new heights, allowing learners from all backgrounds access to the industry, accreditation and opportunities to better their lives. 

"I was Dougie's bootboy at Palace and so he sort of took me under his wing. When I stopped playing professionally, we kept in touch and in 2011 I went to him with idea of Focus Fitness" Dougie, is of course the Crystal Palace legend with nearing 600 professional games and 182 goals spanning a 16 year playing career before stepping into management and now, as the director of football for the Eagles. The Glaswegian was a senior pro as Gavin came through the ranks at Palace with the latter cleaning the formers boots in an age old tradition in the professional game and the two striking up a friendship which has seen them become business partners. Unfortunately Gavin's career in the professional game came to a premature end (after representing pro teams such as Crystal Palace and Cambridge United and on the international Stage for Mauritius) and he found himself retired and in search of a new career. "Thankfully for me, the PFA provides funding for pros as they come out of the game - without it I could not have got my qualification and I would not be where I am today". Here Gavin found himself newly qualified but job and client-less - and it was in his parents spare bedroom where the entrepreneur dreamt up Focus Fitness UK - and the rest, as they say, is history. 

So after receiving funding with Dougie, Gavin began to create the company and build the brand with a team of two others. However it was not until 2016 that the Focus Fitness known today became to be shaped, when they gained government funding through a meeting at Active IQ with Learn Direct. Prior to this as with any new business there were hard times with the company making a financial loss for the first 2 years but after a pivot in direction the company received a £500k government fund which has grown to a £1.5mil injection in the latest funding - this can only happen after receiving 2 'Good' Ofsted reports, just missing out on an Outstanding. The last few years have seen a consistent growth in the company and with this a need for more, top quality tutors. Gavin tells us all about working for Focus Fitness UK below 

What changed for you after receiving funding 

"Firstly we now adhere to Ofsted, it's pretty stringent and we have inspections like you would have at a college, so the quality of our work improved and has stayed to an exemplary level ever since. The most exciting thing was our ability to grow, from forming the company with a staffing team of 3 to where we are now has been amazing and a real sign of the success we've had."

Tell us about the company structure

"There’s a real family feel within the team, we have Dana (head of ops) who has been with us for 9 years and Matt Brown who has been here for 7 and some more recent additions like Ian Murray who has excelled since joining. We foster a real strong team dynamic that when people join us they are here for a long term career. We have a team of incredible tutors, support tutors, sales execs and freelance tutors"

What are the benefits of working for Focus Fitness UK

"The first thing that we can offer is a real sense of stability. We're a growing company that has steadily increased and because of that we can offer a secure job with a clear route of progression, something that is not offered that often within our sector and really sets us apart. We treat our staff like family and coming into work with some of the best tutors in the industry, we really drive excellence. Beyond that we offer a competitive salary, bonus potential, free football tickets, your birthday off and a whole host of added benefits - we recently took the team to Marbella to celebrate their success"

What makes you different to other providers

"Two big things - the government funding, I was so passionate about this as I felt it was crazy that there are some of the best fitness pro's out there could potentially not get their qualifications solely down to monetary reasons. What we have done with this is created a pathway where the course is accessible to everyone and some of our success stories speak for themselves. The second part is that we do a huge amount of face to face teaching. Personal training is exactly that - personal. And because of this we like to have direct face time with our learners, we are not simply sticking them behind a computer and sending them work to do - our tutors are with them day in day out throughout their course to make sure they fully understand what they need to do to be a successful PT upon completing the course "

What courses do you offer to learners 

"We focus of 4 main products - a level 2 Fitness instructor and Level 3 personal Trainer, Sports Massage and Exercise referral - we have also recently added a Pilates qualification. We do not have hundreds of additional qualifications through choice, we know what we do well and we focus on this and our pass rate of 93% reflects this!"

How do learners get onto you course

"All they have to do is sign up to the course on our website - we then take over and deal with everything from there in terms of making sure they are funded, this allows the learners to concentrate on the course and getting the most they can from it"

What can learners expect after they've qualified

"We are a community, and once they've qualified they are still part of this. We help them to get roles with some of the leading names in the fitness industry and have formed strategic partnerships with a number of companies to help continue their growth. Beyond this we run a careers day where we will invite employers, recruiters, specialist speakers and former students to help inspire. We've sent our learners to to any gym you can think of from PureGym to Gymbox to F45 and even successful middle eastern companies and celeb trainers. We've got a huge amount of success stories."

What's next for Focus Fitness UK

"For me, London is the centre of the world so we want to provide the strongest PT qualification company, have best facilities, the best tutors and achieve a consistent Outstanding with Ofsted"

With the growth of the company Focus Fitness UK are now looking for more talented tutors to join the ranks, so if you are interested in working for this forward thinking company please get in contact with us today!