- Before joining X-Fit, you worked at Kinomax for more than ten years and left it, being in a fairly high position. How did you decide to change your life so dramatically?
- Let's just say: I was made an offer that was impossible to refuse (smiles). In addition, it seems to me important not to stand still, but to constantly move forward, develop, learn something new. I confess - it was not easy at first. At first, I worked on Saturdays and Sundays, left for the office early, returned late.
Now, six years later, I feel like a fish in the industry in this industry and can afford a legitimate weekend. True, one of the days I often spend in the X-Fit fitness club on Chistye Prudy, but already as a visitor. There I combine business with pleasure: I go to the pool with my child, and at the same time I check how things are going. Of course, I am not a "mystery shopper" - the staff has known me by sight for a long time, but it helps to look at the club through the eyes of a client, to assess the general situation and always keep their finger on the pulse.
Irina Tumanova, Deputy General Director for Operations of the federal network of fitness clubs X-Fit © Stefania Pipchenko
- I dare to suggest that, judging by the chiseled figure, the matter is not limited to one pool. What workouts do you still go to?
- Yes, I'm a shoemaker with a huge collection of boots. I regularly try something new: very interesting and unusual programs are constantly appearing on our network. But most often I prefer functional training - I train with an instructor two or three times a week. For me, fitness is a very important part of life. I have always had a positive attitude towards sports, realizing its usefulness, but after coming to X-Fit, I became a real fan. I am absolutely convinced that it is impossible to be successful in a business that you do not “burn” in an amicable way.
- How do you manage to fit such frequent workouts into the schedule?
- It seems to me that it is thanks to them that I have time to do everything: going in for sports "gathers" you, fill you with energy and set you in the right mood. It is also very important to learn how to plan your life and master time management.
- Why did you choose functional training for yourself?
- In this case, I joined the mainstream: functional training became, perhaps, the most popular fitness area a few years ago and is still not losing ground. Its success lies mainly in efficiency: you can achieve maximum results in the shortest possible time. In addition, you are guaranteed not to be bored: such training involves a wide variety of programs and the possibility of their combination.
© Stefania Pipchenko
- What about “entertaining” training? Recently, there are more and more programs in clubs that, together with physical activity, also give a surge of positive emotions. And X-Fit is also at the forefront here: take at least yoga in hammocks X-Gravity Yoga, which turns you into a trapeze artist or Aqua Fit Boxe (a mixture of water aerobics and boxing), which makes you feel like Neo from the Matrix during strikes with reversals.
- Quite right - this is another current trend. Only by offering something unusual can you stay afloat: keep your visitors and bring in new ones. In the recently expanded fitness market, there is an unprecedented battle for customers. And just these "fun" workouts allow you to bring to the club an audience that has not been previously covered. As for the martial arts, and Aqua Fit Boxe training is also directly related to them, they are also at their peak now. In a serious economic crisis, not to mention the emotional stress to which life in a metropolis puts us, it is martial arts that becomes the best cure for stress. You have a chance to throw out all the negative energy after a hard day at work without the risk of coming to the office with a black eye.
In general, it is better to approach this issue in a comprehensive manner. Coming to our club, you will receive everything you need for complete relaxation: a swimming pool with sea water, which relieves stress well, a thermal area with a sauna, hammam and jacuzzi, a spa where you can sign up for a massage or body wrap.
Functional training has become the most popular fitness area a few years ago and is not losing ground yet. Its success lies in efficiency: you can achieve maximum results in the shortest possible time.
- Last year, X-Fit celebrated its 25th anniversary. How has the fitness industry changed over the past quarter century?
- Beyond recognition! Although I started working in this area relatively recently, I, of course, saw how everything is changing through the eyes of the client. If earlier there were stuffy "rocking chairs" stuffed with iron everywhere, now there are spacious halls constructed according to the latest technology and design. If we talk about the history of X-Fit, it began with private tennis courts in Lianozovo, near which the first fitness club appeared five years later. In 2005, there were already five of them, and by the time I joined the company - about two dozen. In the last six years that I have been working, the number of fitness clubs across the country has more than tripled, and this number continues to grow exponentially. But we focused not only on quantity, but also on quality - we changed the corporate identity, added gloss and premium quality everywhere.
Now in every X-Fit you can find not only the best trainers in their industry, but also get advice from a nutritionist, an individual diet and even delivery of healthy food to your home. And our spas provide a variety of services, from massages and body wraps to manicure and professional facial treatments. The attitude of people to fitness has also changed: now people come to the gym not only for steel biceps and cubes on their stomach, but also simply for health, good shape and mood.>
