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Making healthy happen … Anytime
As well as being one of only three 24-hour fitness franchises in Ireland (the first was opened by Aura Holohan Group in Dun Laoghaire in September 2013), Anytime Fitness in Clondalkin, Dublin is one of the first in the world to introduce Anytime Fitness’s new Generation 2 global design layout.
The new club is based on a guest-centric approach, with state of the art Precor equipment. What’s more, it is also the first Anytime Fitness in Ireland to have Precor’s new custom AF W475 QueenaxTM unit alongside a full mix and match Precor solution in both strength and cardio, in the Gloss Metallic Silver colourway with graphite upholstery.
The 7,200sq ft gym, which opened in July 2019, is owned by the Aura Holohan Group. The first-floor site, which started out life as an interiors showroom, has undergone some interior demolition and a complete re-fit to create a community-focussed fitness space in the heart of Clondalkin.
Franchise manager Jack Murphy, who has worked for Aura Holohan Group for seven years, says: “I have experienced Precor kit in our other sites and, for me, what stood out and cemented my choice at Clondalkin was the resilience of the equipment. One of our Precor-equipped clubs has been at membership capacity for five years – the kit is still going strong and looks good as new. That durability, along with high quality look and feel, the range of colourways and the overall performance of the equipment played a large part in our decision. But the Precor team’s involvement and experience, along with the overall pricing, secured it for me.”
Murphy continues: “Precor and its Irish distributor McSport put in tremendous amounts of work in terms of layout, helping us to establish what worked where and what equipment we were missing. Together they created an optimal design, guided us through the whole process and saved us a colossal amount of time.”
For Murphy, the QueenaxTM forms a central part of the gym space, allowing instructors to offer HIIT and circuits classes with the Assault AirBike Elite, TRX and a boxing bag.
“As the first club in Ireland to get a QueenaxTM it was a bit of a leap for us, but from the outset we knew it was high quality, finished very well and would give us a unique functional space,” says Murphy. “Anytime Fitness often attracts deconditioned users, so we needed kit that would appeal to them. Functional training on QueenaxTM ticked that box for us.
“A very limited number of operators here in the Republic of Ireland has focussed on functional fitness, so QueenaxTM gave us a stand out USP as well as the ability to organise that space very well. Our functional space opens into our studio so we can create a massive functional / circuits space.”
Officially open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, AF Clondalkin also offers virtual Fitness classes available 24/7, all year via its a free workout app, which has over 100 programs. The site has a membership capacity of 1,400 max, with 975 members signed up so far.
“Clondalkin is a bit different for us; it’s a community within itself in the Dublin area – an urban gym in a suburban environment,” says Murphy. “We plan to open two further Anytime Fitness sites in Cork and Kildare in the next six months. As the only 24-hour franchise operator in the Republic of Ireland at the moment, we’re all about growth.”
