In the Spotlight with Virtual Fitness Coach Will Brereton, SH1FT.
A regular look at the global trend-shapers and experts that help FitnessOnDemand keep our customers on the front edge of what’s happening in fitness. This month, international fitness star Will Brereton, Creative Director, Founder SH1FT.
Q1: SH1FT has become an international, leading fitness brand, but before you founded that, how did you get you start in the fitness world?
Answer: I’ve always worked out. And very quickly got interested in new ideas and ways to help people stay healthy and meet their fitness and their lifestyle goals. That’s as true today as when I started out as a Group Fitness Instructor for Les Mills in New Zealand, when I was 18. I then began to travel internationally for Will, launching new workout releases, and did the same over at BeachBody with major fitness formats including P90X LIVE in the UK among others. That whole experience taught me something really important: people around the world want the same things – smart, cutting edge fitness instruction and content, but unfortunately, it’s not always possible for them to get access to that. That’s where our virtual content and the work we do with FitnessOnDemand really helps.
Q2: Are you saying FitnessOnDemand helps your already international brand scale to even larger audiences?
Answer: Absolutely. And that’s important to us. We want people interested in our fitness philosophy and our approach to be able to connect with us wherever they are – whether it’s a live class at one of our partner club venues or it’s delivered virtually to them in their local gym, hotel or via a mobile device. Fitness today is about the best instruction, about lifestyle convenience and with technology platforms like FOD, being able to access the classes and content packages you need wherever you are in the world.
Q3: What global trends are you predicting or seeing emerge in the international fitness landscape - virtual or otherwise?
Answer: We’re analyzing developments and looking at emerging ideas all the time as we design our classes and content. There’s been a rapid shift towards boutique gyms, small scale classes and more intimate personalized experiences over the past year or two. Cycling continues to be huge and our virtual cycle-instructor classes are in high demand. 30-minute virtual classes are winning over longer formats. When someone taps into digital workout, they’re ready to go – they want the instruction and the benefit, but may not have the 60-90 minutes to get to, and take, a class.
We’re also seeing an aging of the older end of the fitness demographic. Those people who grew up in the fitness boom of the 80s and early 90s are looking for more functional fitness programs that help with strength, joint mobility and overall functional fitness. The kinds of programs that are still engaging but can help them live a healthy daily life too.
Q4: Tell our club partners and their customers what makes SH1FT a unique program.
Answer: SH1FT stands for Smart High Intensity Functional Training. I designed it, and our team has built it, based on what we saw and learned in other fitness programs. Elsewhere there is way too big an emphasis on extreme moves and levels of performance in classes that can lead to injury or at least risk. SH1FT combines high intensity training with the principles of functional fitness, moving the body through six degrees of freedom (6DoF) and allowing people of every fitness level to train smarter and stay fit for life. It’s about moving your body safely and in the way biology intended. Each SH1FT is designed to make us better equipped to do all the things a person needs to do in a fit, healthy and active life, but still burn serious calories and stay engaged in a fun, motivated workout.
Q5: What’s next for SH1FT?
Answer: We're expanding our portfolio of instructors and classes all the time. But through virtual content delivery we’re entering new markets and venues for helping people stay fit, engaged and active. Hospitality and hotels will be huge in the next five years – an area where we know FitnessOnDemand is growing rapidly.
Will Brereton is founder, creative director and fitness visionary for SH1FT, the global fitness brand. He has launched some of the most innovative and popular global fitness programs and worked with the most innovative fitness brands and businesses in his career.
Check out a High Intensity Functional Training Class by SH1FT.
Click below to add the SH1FT channel to your FitnessOnDemand membership to offer 15 HIIT classes lead by expert virtual fitness coach Will Brereton and the rest of the SH1FT master instructors.
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