As the COVID-19 lockdown forced the temporary closure of businesses across the country, the future for companies supplying services to corporate partners looked precarious. Among them was Gympass – the world’s largest corporate wellness platform – whose business model moved to zero on the day office and gym doors shut.

Prior to lockdown, the Gympass model gave employee members access to over 2,200 fitness facilities across the UK. When gyms closed, Gympass tackled the challenge head on and swiftly pivoted its business model to deliver physical activity and mental health solutions remotely.

As part of the solution, Gympass also wanted to support personal trainers whose workload had fallen away and – following a successful trial in Brazil and the US – added personal training services to its UK platform.

The new service was specifically introduced to support personal trainers who had been forced to move their businesses online by the COVID-19 pandemic by allowing them to work with Gympass users and access its entire network.

Gympass clients in the UK can enjoy up to eight online PT sessions a month as part of their membership.

“When coronavirus forced the lockdown of gyms, we had to pivot in order to operate effectively,” says Eamon Lloyd, senior director – head of partnerships for UK and IE at Gympass. “We looked closely at our consumer base to understand how we could best support them and, through the provision of PT, we’ve provided a practical solution to meet their changing needs.

Since launching in the UK, more than 1,500 PTs have signed up to Gympass to provide their services and 78 per cent have already received bookings. Globally since launching, over 30,000 PT sessions have been completed.

“Private personal training can be unaffordable and intimidating, so by providing access to this level of support and education, we are enabling an option that many may otherwise not have been able to use,” added Lloyd.

“One-to-one training is a great way to find motivation and encouragement for those who may be worried about joining a group class or going to a gym and so as we focus primarily on getting inactive people started on their fitness journey, it’s very fitting that we should bring personal training within their reach. People want to stay active in different ways and the addition of PT completes our suite of services to help fulfil our mission of defeating inactivity.”