Workers can get healthy with Unique offer from a fitness guru

WITH many of us working longer hours and spending more time sat at our desks, few of us would be deemed as standby replacements for this summer's Olympics.

Add to the lack of exercise a daily diet of vending machine sandwiches, and copious cups of coffee, and you have got a recipe for stressed out staff heading for physical and mental meltdown.

But help is at hand, in the shapely form of Rachel Holmes.

For the past 20 years, the 38-year-old has helped thousands of people get into shape – and passed on the benefit of her knowledge to instructors across the globe.

Now she wants to take her fitness ethos into the workplace, with a new corporate venture called Unique Corporate Fitness, which is aimed at getting Derby's business community fighting fit.

And those who are allergic to exercise will be pleased to know this does not necessarily mean bounding around the office in a lycra catsuit.

“Basically, it aims to provide businesses with health and fitness solutions, whether in the form of a seminar on wellbeing in the workplace, stress relief or a group fitness session for the whole team,” said Rachel, who joined me for lunch at the Cathedral Quarter Hotel, in St Mary's Gate.

“These days we are working longer hours and it is becoming more and more difficult to make time for fitness.

“The wellbeing of the workforce is very important, not only for productivity, but also for health reasons.

“Companies lose millions of pounds because of staff absence.

“There are also a number of other benefits to these sessions.

“From my experience, group exercise is a really good ice-breaker and helps people shed some of their inhibitions.

“It also helps to build up a team spirit.”

Rachel's success with her new venture all depends on whether the business community is ready to open up to such new ideas.

But Rachel is convinced if people approach the concept with an open mind they will see the benefits.

She said: “I think that more businesses these days are aware of the importance of staff welfare.

“And at the end of the day, it is all about having fun.”

Fun is one of the things that has kept Rachel working in the fitness business all of her working life.

As a teenager, she knew that she wanted to make a career out of fitness – but in the 1980s, there just was not the facilities that there are today.

She said: “There were no David Lloyd's or Virgin Active – just the facilities provided by the local authorities.

“Things have changed such a lot over the last 20 years and for the better.

“The alarming thing is that despite all these gyms, as a nation we are getting fatter.

“Obviously, it is connected with diet, but it may also be something to do with the culture of the gym that is putting people off exercise.

“They can be quite intimidating places for some people to go and exercise.

“An important part of my job is to immediately put people at ease.

“It's not about having the perfect body, it's about having fun, enjoying yourself and getting fitter at the same time.”

However, for those who do already go to the gym on a regular basis, sitting on an exercise bike and watching the telly can get pretty boring after a while.

Again, this is where Rachel shows her innovation.

“Doing the same thing week in, week out will drive you mad,” said Rachel.

“Part of my job is to come up with new and innovative exercises which reflect the mood of the time.

“So I keep a close eye on what's in the music charts or television to pick up on the latest things.

“For example, on Britain's Got Talent which was on recently, there was a couple of guys doing Bollywood style dancing. So I devised a routine based around that.”

For those who read the Business Weekly, a few weeks ago, and saw Rachel's contribution to the My Week column, one can deduce that Rachel is something of a workaholic.

She runs two websites, which she updates on a daily basis, and where she also downloads her own routines.

And they are very popular.

One of the sites, Choreography To Go, which is an online learning tool for instructors, has 15,000 members worldwide.

She said: “The internet is increasingly becoming the way to go for the fitness industry.

“More and more people are going online for their fitness, health and nutrition tips.

“Online workouts will become commonplace, with customers downloading videos and training routines to work out at home.

“My aim is to be at the forefront of this new chapter in the development of the fitness industry with cutting-edge websites offering the latest information.”

On top of this, Rachel still runs local classes and travels all over the country leading fitness sessions.

“I love the job more than ever,” she said. “In the future I'd like to do more talks and pass on my knowledge.

“But I'm just grateful that I have been able to make a career out of my passion for fitness.”