Lauren, who will welcome visitors to her new premises in Hasland this week, said: “A lot of people don’t want to go to the big gyms because they can be quite intimidating when there are a lot of other people around. We have a fully equipped gym with cardio machines and strength testing machines that will be used by personal trainers to lead one to one or one to two fitness sessions for their clients.
“There is a fitness studio for the classes such as box hit which is basically a cardio based workout, a barbell blast class and a legs, bums and tums class.
“There is also a separate room where I do sports massage therapy.”
An open night on Friday, August 4, from 5.30pm will give visitors the opportunity to look around LH Fitness, which is based at 391-395 Hasland Road, above the One Stop shop.
Lauren and an unnamed silent partner have invested £30,000 in transforming a rundown former furniture shop into the gym and fitness suite. She said: “We got the keys at the beginning of April and we’ve spent a lot of time in there cleaning, painting and learning how to plaster. For it now to be finished and as it is, feels like an achievement. It’s very exciting.
“I’ve already had quite a bit of feedback from people around Hasland. One lady came to my classes when I started them last week who said she went to fitness classes years ago that used to be in a social club in Hasland but then they just stopped doing them. She’s not done any exercise since because it’s not been convenient.”
Lauren, 28, who lives in Spital, will continue to run her outdoor boot camp at Eastwood Park in Hasland unless the weather forces it indoors. She said: “Quite a few people prefer outdoors. I’ve been doing it in various places for a couple of years, I was doing it in Darley Dale before.”
During lockdown when people could meet in the open air, Lauren organised workout sessions at Somersall Park in Chesterfield even when there was snow!
She qualified as a personal trainer 10 years ago and as a sports massage practitioner five years ago. “I converted a garage at my old house and had a studio there where I trained clients,” said Lauren. “I have worked at Darwin Forest Country Park for eight years, starting full time and then as I began to get more clients dropped my hours and do just a few hours a week there now.”
