New gym in Inverness opens at former Blackbridge Furnishings furniture shop
A new gym has opened in Inverness and has more than 100 members after the first two weeks.
Centr Fit Inverness has taken over the buildings formerly occupied by furniture store Blackbridge Furnishings, in Thornbush Road, as it received planning consent.
Gym owner and coach Ian Findlay (28) said he is really happy after an investment of around £50,000 in setting up the new facility.
Mr Findlay said: “What we're basically doing is creating a facility that's going to be the centre of all things fitness, so whether this is your first time ever exercising or whether you're super experienced, we're going to have options that will cater for that.
“We had an insight and were told there would be no reason why I wouldn't get the change I used so we went ahead and opened a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s going well, so far everyone's loving it.”
Mr Findlay, who previously was an owner of the Training Club in Inverness - but has since sold his shares - has been coaching for around six years after graduating in sports science
He has been joined by another coach, Daniel Main, to deliver the sessions each week.
“It’s been a hectic few months,” he said, as he is also expecting the birth of the first child in a matter of days.
Centre Fit’s offer focuses on group coaching and HIIT spin classes.
The application was approved without objections - the only concern being the potential level of noise raised by environmental health officers, however Mr Findlay assured that the music used will only be used in the background and after testing being done, no noise could be heard from outside.
Despite several new gyms having opened in Inverness in recent years, Mr Findlay said this project was a “no brainer” to him.
He said: “I don't think it was too much of a gamble, because I've had the experience of running my own facility already, and I'm taking a little bit of a different direction with this: making it more like fun, with dynamic lighting for instance, and just kind of making it a bit more than just exercise.
“We're not just doing exercise - we're doing fitness. We're doing nutrition and accountability as well, so we're covering all different aspects which no one else is actually doing.”
More information can be found at centrfitinverness.com.
