Leading Fitness Education Company Study Active has united with other leading leisure industry partners, fibodo and Active IQ to create #DoingOurBit – a free, bespoke online fitness platform for NHS staff.
#DoingOurBit started as a passion project for Julie Davis, Deputy Chief Operating Officer at the Clinical Research Network West Midlands. As the physical and emotional impact of treating Covid-19 patients took its toll on her 190-strong workforce, Julie wanted to pull together some free workouts and relaxation sessions to help her colleagues cope. The initiative caught the eye of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust which wanted to offer the workouts to its 10,000 staff. Julie turned to Study Active and Active IQ – with whom she has done her own training with – and they, in turn, introduced fibodo to host this ambitious idea.
With offices around the Hertfordshire region, Study Active is a leading provider of nationally recognised Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor Courses.
#DoingOurBit invites personal trainers to ‘give back’ to the hard-working NHS workers who could benefit from brief but effective workouts at home and between their shifts. A launch group of 25 instructors pulled together over 30 workouts from relaxation and stretch sessions to low impact and body weight workouts right up to more energetic higher intensity routines to suit the beginner to intermediate target audience.
“I was simply overwhelmed by the quick and positive reaction I had for my idea from Study Active who gave their time and expertise immediately and freely,” says Julie. “The speed at which they worked to take my concept into a fully-fledged and workable idea was really impressive and their attention to detail extraordinary. Within four weeks I had gone from a casual conversation about my idea to a fantastic fitness platform bespoke to my NHS colleagues. I can’t thank them enough for bringing my vision to life.”
The #DoingOurBit site and individual workouts are personalised to the NHS and the content is unique. The PTs worked to exacting criteria set by Active IQ and a rigorous quality control process was implemented to ensure all the workouts are safe and effective.
“When Julie came to us with her idea, we set out to help create something personal and friendly but also of the highest quality and integrity,” says James Luscombe, Managing Director for Study Active. “As one of our own learners, we really wanted to help Julie in any way possible and hope that #DoingOurBit will stand the test of time and prove valuable to NHS staff long after lockdown. We are certainly proud to have played our part.”
#DoingOurBit went live on June 15, 2020 with 27 PTs delivering over 40 workouts – four weeks after the initial conversations started. NHS staff can access the platform by going to https://www.fit4thefight.org/nhs-members-area.
For further information about qualifying a s a Personal Trainer with Study Active please see their website https://studyactive.co.uk