“Why I Left a Commercial Gym for ALT” -Polly Hoops

After a year since she left a commercial gym and moved over to ALT Fitness, I sat down with Polly for a good old cuppa and a chat. We created this interview style blog post reflecting on her journey as a PT and Hula Hooper so far.  

A: So Polly, tell our Members why did you become a PT?

P: Well, really I discovered a lot of joy and empowerment through movement!

I studied theatre at University, went on to do physical theatre, circus and then a full time Hula Hoop performer (which is almost an unheard of career choice!). That’s where I discovered the underground performance scene of burlesque and cabaret and found this amazing, accepting culture there.

While I was performing Hula Hoop full time, I also started my own classes and coached Hula Hoop when I wasn’t on the stage. Being so busy with all of that I got into strength training to avoid injury and increase my stamina for those long days.

It was there that I discovered how empowering strength training can be: You don’t need to be obsessive about the gym, but even a couple of hours per week  can lead to massive improvements across multiple disciplines. It can be a great way to facilitate other goals. 

I 

shared that information with my Hula Hoop clients, but found that because strength training can be a very macho dominated space, I wanted to find a way to help them, and other women gain access to that world.

At the same time, I could feel my love of performing dwindling a bit. Having a one woman act means spending a lot of time alone (not only are you alone on the stage but you also train alone for hours at a time.) Performing can be very transient work and I was getting to the stage that I wanted to feel more settled. One of the big draws to becoming a PT was you get to build important long term relationships with the people you are coaching, whereas in the stage you don’t necessarily build that with an audience. 


A: 
You started in a commercial gym, how did you find that? 


P: My experience was quite hilarious as someone who has always been self-employed in bizarre workplaces like cabaret and street performance. It was my first taste of being in a corporate world which wasn’t a great fit for my values. I found that a commercial gym environment wasn’t right for the more personable service I wanted to deliver, and in terms of being someone who is anti diet culture, unfortunately these are not spaces who are ‘for’ many people and can unfortunately be a harmful experience for some.

One of the really lovely things I got from being a performer and being in the circus world was that they embraced the outsiders and people who think a little bit differently. I wanted to bring that into my PT sessions but of course the environment has to be right for that. 

Irony of being an anti diet culture PT and being contracted to deliver body sculpting classes was not lost on me! 

A: What inspired the move out of a commercial gym? 
P: It felt like a bit of a full circle career move. I had previously worked with Amy when she was running a circus school so we knew each other’s values and had shared experience of the alternative fitness scene in Glasgow.

I really wanted to work with a studio owner who wasn’t the typical muscle guy that you think of when you talk about gym owners. 

I could see that the team at ALT were putting in the work behind just promising a safe space and actually delivering on it, whereas many commercial gyms use empowerment as buzzwords and don’t deliver on it. 

I already felt good going to meet Amy as we had that history, but as soon as I walked into ALT I felt quite emotional as I knew I had arrived in a space which felt safe for me to be myself, and a safe space for my clients. It gave a lot of my clients who had stayed online after the pandemic the confidence to move to in person training sessions. 

She then introduced me to Uplifted and again there was a natural alignment there with my values- and I’ve been privileged to use that space within ALT for my PT sessions as well as coach on their courses and open gym.

Since then, I have gained a lot of new clients at ALT who told me that they had been drawn to PT with me but been put off by the commercial gym space. Hearing this has really cemented for me that it was the right move to make.

A: How do your classes at ALT differ to those in a commercial gym?
P: Well first of all, I’m able to teach what I want! They recognise my performance experience and skills and I’m able to teach Hula Hoop here weekly as well as performance workshops.


There’s a lovely meeting of creative freedom with safety and respect in this space. We’re thinking outside the box, thinking differently about what a gym class should be, whilst combining that with a passion for movement. I love that Amy as the owner joins so many of the classes. It shows that she cares about the experience for all users, unlike commercial gym CEOs who just care about the profit margins!

I have found that the person at the top of an organisation really feeds into the vibe of any space, you can just feel it!

It shouldn’t be a radical thing but it is: setting up a class that feels safe for people and allows them to think intuitively about their bodies and how they move. There’s a great amount of autonomy given to the coach AND the participants to keep themselves safe in their training.


And then there’s Bootcamp! With this class we’re really reclaiming the title of ‘Bootcamp’, because in the fitness industry this has previously been a very punishing style of exercise. When you think about bootcamp, you imagine like an army style Bootcamp with someone forcing you to your physical limits… Not the case at ALT!

What we do instead is include a wider range of movements, for example Hula Hoop as well as more traditional circuit items like Kettlebells.  We work on improving participants’ range of motion, and even include a station where participants can choose to stretch or rest. 

In Body Awakening Bootcamp, we encourage moments of pause to reflect on how we’re all feeling energy wise in the space, and then in the second circuit we let participants tailor their set to how they’re feeling: whether to increase or decrease the intensity based on their energy levels. Sometimes you want to push yourself to your limits but if you’re someone that needs to move slower and more calmly, there is room for that in every session too.

In a commercial gym my experience is it can be a bit all or nothing and people feel so pressured to train to the max in a class, that if they’re not feeling 100% they simply don’t turn up. One of the benefits of training mindfully is that if you’re feeling low on energy and don’t want to leave the house, you can come to class and take it slow with any shame or repercussion.

A: You’ve been at ALT for a year now, what are your plans for the future?
P: 

I think there’s something really lovely about finding your place and just being able to relax and enjoy that.

 When you’ve worked in environments that don’t feel right for you and your clients you get used to using up extra energy just looking over your shoulder every day and not being able to relax.  
Now for the first time there’s a lovely feeling of ‘I can just settle here’. I’m excited to keep adding new ways to introduce people to movement, and keep building what we have here. 

And take pleasure in that process!