A new Internet website has been launched this week in the U.K. by two West Midlands men. www.virtual-fitness.co.uk is the brainchild of Paul Boden and Stuart Ennis. It aims to provide online personal training and healthy nutritional plans more affordably than conventional gyms.
‘Recent obesity figures state that 46% of men and 32% of women in England are overweight and these are among the people that Virtual Fitness can help’ says Boden.
The two currently work as exercise physiologists in a leading cardiac rehabilitation unit. It was there that they had the idea of offering personal training over the Internet.
“Many people are too self-conscious to go to busy high street gyms, and many of those that do can’t afford personal training,” says Ennis, ” www.virtual-fitness.co.uk allows these people to gain effective personal training in the home, the gym or even the hotel room for a fraction of the price.”
Online personal training has been available in the United States for the past few years with many sophisticated sites generating a program from details typed in by the user. However, virtual-fitness.co.uk aims to be one of the pioneers in the U.K. by doing precisely the opposite,
‘Other websites have expensive program generating software that simply don’t have the capacity to deal with most people’s needs’ says Ennis, ‘for that you have to have regular contact with an actual qualified person which we can provide via email.’
Qualifications are not something these two men lack as both have a Masters degree in sport and exercise science
As to whether online personal training will catch on in the U.K in the same way as in the United States, Boden is optimistic,’ to think that the computer using public can now gain professional fitness advice of the highest caliber at the touch of a button is something that most people can now put on their fitness wish list!
