Posted on July 08, 2021 by Jenny Cromack

Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday motive8 North…..Happy Birthday to us!

This month marks 10 years since the motive8 North personal training studio opened it doors at Marshall Court. Wow! 10 years! And what a 10 years that has been!

Prior to opening the motive8 North studio, I had my own personal training company (Jenny Cromack Personal Training…..original, I know!). At that time, I was a mobile personal trainer, either renting space in a gym or mainly travelling to client’s houses with my car bursting at the seams with exercise equipment! Around 2009 I met Nick Sadler, who is the MD of motive8 group and started doing some freelance work for motive8. I had ambitions to open my own studio, and mentioned this to Nick who suggested we went into business together and motive8 North was born!

Many of my clients who trained with me as Jenny Cromack Personal Training continued to train at the studio, and in fact some of them still train with us now. This means that some of their journeys span over 10 years of training, which is just phenomenal and I am forever thankful for their support.

When we first opened the studio, much of the emphasis in the fitness industry was on weight loss….many people (probably due to the media) were very ‘aesthetically driven’ to be a certain weight/certain dress or waist size. Don’t get me wrong, we still get many clients who want to lose weight, but often it’s not to conform to look a certain way but more because they understand that being overweight isn’t good for their health in general. There has definitely been a shift in reasons for people to exercise over the last few years, with more emphasis on exercising to become stronger, fitter and more active. And definitely in the last year or so, we find more and more people wanting to train with a personal trainer, not only for the physical benefits of exercise but for the impact it has on their mental wellbeing too.

I remember the first day we opened the doors to Marshall Court, and still remember the first client (who wasn’t already one of my JCPT clients) to sign up for personal training (Leeds Bird….it was you!). I have many fond memories of the last 10 years and many reasons to be proud of my team and the people who train with us. Many of our clients and members have achieved amazing goals, often they have other things going on their lives, yet they still dedicate time to training and improving their nutrition and lifestyle in order to achieve their goals. Their commitment to their training and working with their personal trainer is amazing. As I write this I have many proud moments I could write about, including both the team and our clients and members but I’m not going to….I don’t feel it is fair to highlight some and not others. Each achievement, no matter what it is, is significant.

Achieving 10 years in a competitive industry like the fitness industry is an amazing milestone. I can’t say it has always been easy, especially the challenges we have faced, like many businesses, in the last year or so due to Covid. However here are the reasons why we’re still going strong after 10 years:

  • The community we create. When we first opened Marshall Court , I wanted to create an ‘exercise community’, somewhere, where regardless of your exercise background, fitness levels, etc you felt comfortable exercising. I harp on about this A LOT but for me it’s really important that people feel happy where they are training….if you’re comfortable in your workout environment then you’re more likely to stick to your training, get those workouts in and achieve your goals.
  • The holistic approach we take with our clients. We’re not just your ‘wham bam thank you ma’am’ PT’s who rock up, beast you for an hour and then say ‘cheerio’ until your next session. We fully support our clients outside of their training, giving nutritional and lifestyle support and words of encouragement at any time of the day so that our clients stay on track, even when they are not training with us.
  • We educate and empower. Working hard during your personal training sessions is great, but you need to know what you are doing outside of your PT sessions too. What should you be eating? What should you be doing in your own training sessions? How much water should you be drinking? How much sleep should you be getting? In the past I’ve worked with personal trainers who are scared to give away too much information for fear of their clients leaving them. For us, we want to share as much as we can with you. Educating and empowering our clients to make the right choices means that they achieve their results. Results are, ultimately, why our clients chose to work with a personal trainer so it’s important we do everything we can to help them achieve their goals.
  • We care. We care about our clients achieving their goals, which is why the personal training team here at motive8 support their clients as mentioned above. It’s also really important for us to get to know our clients and gym members….we know their names, we know what they did at the weekend, no-one is ‘just a member’, we get to know them as a person.
  • The motive8 Team. We honestly couldn’t have achieved what we have without the amazing motive8 team. The team share my ethos on customer service and support and creating a community. The hard work and effort they put into their roles and supporting their clients is second to none. I am extremely grateful to have such an amazing team and I have learned so much from them over the last 10 years, and I hope to continue learning from them too.

Thank you to everyone, both personal training clients and gym members and the motive8 team (present and past) who have shared our journey over the last 10 years. I am looking forwards to what the next 10 years will bring.

Thank you everyone and keep working towards your goals….whatever they may be.

Jenny xx