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Fitness

Endurance: Dublin's 24-hour gyms growing in strength

The ‘no frills, new equipment’ model has allowed FLYEfit roll out four non-stop gyms around the city.

IF YOU TIME your run just right, you might find the South Dublin suburb of Ranelagh quiet and deserted.

The clink and laughter from restaurants and bars, the queue of taxis and the clicking of heels that characterise the street from early evening to late will have died away.

The shutters will be pulled down, all the doors locked… well, almost all. The heavy doors under the FLYEfit sign have only closed twice since the gym chain went to 24-hour opening in September.

Upstairs, you’ll find the dedicated souls who have forsaken sleep and regular circadian rhythms to target deltoids, trapezius, triceps, biceps. quads, calves and everything in between.

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Credit: FLYEfit

Indeed, one of the first things you notice about a midnight trip to the gym is that, once you pass through the protective turnstiles, there are few taking in a cardio workout. The gym members on the lower level of the Ranelagh facility could be counted on one hand. Upstairs is a different story. It may be past closing time in the nearby pubs and the ground floor supermarket, but two floors above, there is a healthy group making use of the free weights area.

“You meet the most interesting people at two o’clock in the morning, I’ll tell you that,” says FLYEfit marketing director Jackie Skelly.

“I can’t imagine doing business now in this arena without being open 24 hours, I never would have thought that possible 10 years ago, but 10 years ago there was no market for it in Ireland, but with FLYEfit the model has changed how gyms are perceived.”

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Credit: FLYEfit

Skelly, whose name was previously attached to a chain of gyms that ended in examinership, helped devise a low cost model for FLYEfit. Self-service registration and access (granted by the swipe of the bank card you pay with) makes for a greatly reduced need for staff on site.

And it's that model, Skelly says, which made the decision to roll out 24-hour opening a relatively easy one, though she admits it was not part of the original plan, more a reaction to customer needs.

"It was something that was tried in this country and never worked, but we felt that the times had moved on, no-contract [membership] was working very well and 24 hours would have just been part of that."

"And member demands were onerous: we were already opening from 6.30 am and that wasn't early enough. We were closing at 10 pm, and that wasn't late enough. So, I mean, how do you please everybody? The only way is to stay open.

Since starting up the Dublin 6 gym and flinging their doors open for every night bar Christmas and New Year's, the chain lengthened to four in Dublin. The locations in Swords, Macken Street and Baggot Street have followed suit in opening non-stop.

The gym walls are coated with Americanised urban themes of graffiti and sweeping skylines, the speakers boom out a soundtrack that suits a high heart-rate;  all part of a deliberate 'edge' designed into the premises as the chain targets a younger demographic of fitness freaks.

"Gym member ship isn't an exclusive [luxury] any more. FLYEfit makes it very accessible for everybody - €29 a month, no contract that means you appeal to a very broad base of people. It's not elitist and then you have the membership base to be able to do something like 24-hour gym... it works.

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Credit: FLYEfit

"It seems to be, in my opinion, a shift towards more young people working out which means our membership is basically around 18 -35.

"It used to mostly women, but we would be predominantly 50-50, which it never used to be. There seems to be an emphasis on staying fit and guys too are under pressure to have the six pack and look fit and trim. There's a [gender] equality there that didn't exist before and all the education around lifestyle and fitness. So, it's kind of a rite of passage: if you're 18, you join a gym and that never used to be the case."

Aside from the 'no-contract' (although a registration fee will still apply) membership, what Skelly appears most proud of in the gym is the equipment, describing the model as a whole as 'no frills, but with the best equipment'.

A major part of that is the Macken Street location's 'functional area', with a section of artificial turf put down to allow a greater expanse of exercises - including pulling sleds and sledgehammer training - to be performed indoors.

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Credit: FLYEfit

Irish weather being what it is means more people are looking to gyms as an outlet. And with an increasing number of people working outside of the traditional nine to five window, fitness is something that has to be fitted in wherever possible.

Time your run another way and the FLYEfit gyms may still be dead quiet at 4am and at their busiest after 6pm, but there are no shortage of people who will gleefully lace up their runners while the rest of the world is collapsing into bed.

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