Saturday 8 January 2011

Kids get fit at Jump Gym - workout on a bouncy castle !


*Squeals!* Oh my goodness, how cool is this ?! Now, I defy anybody, even those who hate the idea of doing exercise or going to the gym, not to get excited about this ! It's basically a gym on a bouncy castle ! What a fabulous idea that is. It would make sticking to your new year's resolution to keep fit so easy !

Now, I just have one regret - grown-ups aren't allowed. Awww. That's definitely a concept that needs exploring as I'd join a bouncy castle-gym without a second's hesitation ! In the meantime, let your kids have some fun and bounce themselves fit. For more details, see the press release below.

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KIDS GET FIT AT JUMP GYM WITH AEROBIC ACTIVITY AND FRESH FOOD ADVICE

A flexible inflatable business designed by a family for families


The UK is now the second most obese nation in the world. Childhood obesity is an increasing part of this health-threatening trend, with kids sitting indoors playing computer games and munching convenience foods doing nothing to alleviate the problem. To help kids become fitter in a fun way, Pineapple Leisure Ltd, one of the UKs largest manufacturers of inflatable play equipment, is releasing its Jump Gym product. A first in flexible inflatable fitness, Jump Gym is designed by a family for other families, to help kids exercise and learn about healthy eating in a safe and stimulating environment.

Jump Gym is the brainchild of Sharon Hadley-Ford, mum of two girls and director of Pineapple Leisure.

Sharon was concerned about the decline of school PE lessons and sports days, with parents proving more reluctant for children to play outdoors than they were a decade ago. The resulting Jump Gym, designed by the whole Hadley-Ford family, is a giant inflatable with 12 sports activities built in to encourage jumping, hopping, stretching, climbing, crawling, throwing, and more.

After three years in production, Jump Gym was successfully test driven by the Hadley-Ford girls, aged eight and 14. Now it is complete and ready to be used UK-wide to provide stimulating sessions at schools, nurseries, sports centres, community centres and village halls, with classes designed for pre-schoolers (3-5 years), juniors (6-8 years) and seniors (9-11 years). Jump Gym has new operators in Edinburgh, Sunderland and Glasgow who will soon be offering classes.

Jump Gym hosts Term Time and Holiday Club classes so that kids enjoy year-round bouncy workouts that improve their overall fitness, while also gaining nutrition advice from the cute mascots and hand puppets, Francesca and Frederick. A Hi 5 motto is conveyed to the kids, who are encouraged to eat five daily portions of fruit and vegetables, as well as receiving healthy eating advice, menus and recipes.
Sharon Hadley-Ford says: Our family has worked on the Jump Gym concept since 2007. It was borne from a desire for my children to attend structured play sessions instead of hanging around on street corners, eating fish and chips and playing endlessly on phones and computers. Other mums were telling me that their kids were reluctant to be active and eat properly. I wanted to find something the kids really enjoyed that would keep them fit.

She adds: "Thanks to years of experience in the inflatable play industry, I knew that kids liked to play on inflatables, so we set about designing a fun inflatable with additional sports activities to engage children with various forms of aerobic movement. We conducted online research and came up with some fresh friends characters to set the scene on the inflatable for example Pierre the French apple will teach the children a few French words and recipes. A whole series of educational activities is being planned for the children at Jump Gym, with each activity specific to one of the fresh characters.

All Jump Gym classes combine a weekly Sports Theme with a weekly Fresh Food, such as Skipping and Strawberries. Each week, a new club recipe is posted and children are encouraged to go away and eat the healthy food of the week - for example, strawberries might feature in strawberry smoothie, strawberry yoghurt or fruit salad - and to record how many days they practice the sports action of the week, such as skipping. Reward charts are used at the Jump Gym classes and the kids receive stars for their efforts, to build their confidence. Older children enjoy active sports themes involving, for example, tennis, badminton and hockey skills.

With Jump Gym having launched successfully in Telford, Pineapple Leisure is offering the chance for local owner operators to run their own Jump Gym businesses in individual towns throughout the UK. Thanks to this business model, each exclusive Jump Gym territory will exist without competition from any other operator. Furthermore, all owner operators are given business start-up training, as well as guidance on how to use JumpGym equipment. To get them off to a flying start, they are entered into the Jump Gym database for their area and they receive professional marketing materials and branded Jump Gym accessories, such as banners and crash mats.

The owner operator can scale their Jump Gym business to fit the demands of a second venture or family life and can expect to generate an annual turnover of £40,000. Sharon explains: This business model is ideal for people who want to change their working lifestyle, fear redundancy in these uncertain times, or would like to work part time or in term-time only. No previous experience is necessary and the business can be run from home with very low outgoings. Jump Gym could be the ideal recession-beater as demand for kids fun and fitness is likely to remain fresh.


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4 comments:

  1. Those jump gyms are really cool and can provide some serious kids exercise. I been to places that have these and the children can get a fun workout in within 15 minutes.

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  2. This looks so much fun, as well as good exercise.

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  3. That looks fun, and a great workout.

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