Family, Fitness and Innovation: The GOGO Story

“We try to be the second home for our members. We care genuinely about them and want them to feel welcome” says Vuokko Kronqvist, Fitness Director in GOGO and continues: “It always was and still is a family business. My mom and aunt started it together, my sisters are in it too and we all teach classes as well. Well except my aunt who just retired after many years of teaching.”

Vuokko tells us happily about their clubs, the expansions, the renovations, the investments, the schedules and the events.

A DIFFERENT LAUNCH

The family that loves group fitness try to keep the schedule fresh and with a variety of classes to suit every need. This is one of the reasons they offer all the Les Mills Innovation programs, including Les Mills Functional Strength. It adds to the list of Les Mills Strength Development, a highly popular Les Mills SHAPES and of course signature concepts like BODYPUMP, BODYBALANCE, BODYCOMBAT and many more.

But with the launch of LES MILLS FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH, the GOGO family did something a little different:

“We actually had this big charity event, where we raised €2000 for an anti-bullying group, that go around visiting schools on motorcycles. So they came to our event on more than 50 motorcycle bikes, it was so much fun. So yes, we raised money and then we of course launched the new program for our members, who are excited to try it out during the summer” Vuokko tells passionately.

THE FIRST IN THE WORLD

“We moved almost all our classes in the same big studio upstairs because it’s so nice, 300 square meters and 7 meters up to the ceiling. So then we thought: what are we going to do with the downstairs studio? We went with Conquer because we wanted something with boxing and we wanted Les Mills for the quality of the educations, instructors and programs. It gives the members high quality workouts, which is very important to us” .

Not only did GOGO become the first club in Finland to launch Conquer, they were the first in the world ever to launch it with bikes. Bikes gave more space and flexibility, say should they want to use the same space for CEREMONY. For the same reason, they have racks with weights in there too.

But that wasn’t the only clever thing, Vuokko did in the Conquer space. They opened up the studio for all members to use, when there aren’t any classes, and replaced normal walls with glass walls. Meaning people can get to know the studio and equipment, before signing up to a class, building a bridge between the gym floor and the boutique group fitness space.

IMMERSIVE INCLUSION

Out of 200 weekly classes, one of the most popular in the GOGO schedule is THE TRIP. This Immersive class runs 2-3 times a day and is not just full, it has a wide representation in the dark cycling studio.

“THE TRIP is popular with people of all ages, from Gen Z to seniors. People love it, they get such a good workout and are sweating a lot. You can't see anybody else because it's dark. I think they like it because they can do their own workout and nobody is pushing them too much.”

The inclusivity of the darkness allows all ages to workout without too much pressure, which some enjoy, whereas others enjoy the challenge of Functional Strength or CONQUER. What all of these have in common is the wide age representation, since people of all ages come and workout, and of course the love that the GOGO family shares with its members: The love for group fitness.

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