There is a growing fitness culture sweeping St. Lucia that, year on year, cause more St. Lucians to flock to gyms and fitness centres to tone up their bodies, improve their health and their looks, or simply to push themselves physically and mentally..
At the same time, many of them struggle to find the motivation to get off the couch and make it to their scheduled gym classes.
Louis Andre’ Murray, a professionally trained and certified fitness trainer, and the founder of Voltage Fitness, has developed a novel approach to keeping fit that enables practically anyone to do so on their own time, according to their own personalized schedule, and they don’t even have to leave the comfort of their homes to attend a gym if they don’t want to.
First launched in June 2018, Voltage Fitness offers mobile personal fitness training services. Murray, along with his two associate fitness trainers, Quincy Charles and Deanna Dujon, travel to their clients’ homes to train them.
“When the client calls to enquire about our service, I tell them what the training sessions entail and then they decide what times and days they wish to do the training. I then go to their home or to whatever other place they wish to do it. Sometimes they may wish to do the training on the beach or some other open space. I bring my equipment and we also use whatever equipment they have as well, so it’s a combination.” Murray explained.
Voltage Fitness clients range in age from 16 to 60 and the training sessions are normally just 30 minutes.
Initially, Voltage Fitness started off with five clients but the number quickly grew to 15. After he hired two trainers, Murray’s client base mushroomed to 36 and is growing.
Murray admits that with some clients, the idea of a trainer coming to their homes to conduct fitness classes took some getting used to.
“When I started off, I found that some individuals were not so comfortable with the idea of a stranger coming to their home. This was why initially several of the clients I got were through referrals. Clients who were already comfortable with me and satisfied with the results, and trusted me, recommended the service to others,” said Murray.
So far, client feedback has been largely positive, says Murray. “I’ve got a lot of happy clients. Some come to lose weight. Others come to shape up or keep fit and stay healthy. I have guys who also want to bulk up for greater strength. My client base is growing steadily because clients have been referring others whom they think would be interested in the service we offer.”
Prior to starting his mobile fitness training business, Murray worked at a local gym for several years. He has also worked at a health food store. In addition, he is skilled in martial arts, having undergone training in the sport locally, for a number of years.
While acknowledging that conventional gyms do a great job in helping individuals achieve their fitness goals, Murray believes that mobile personal training does likewise and has some additional benefits.
“The benefits of mobile fitness training is that clients are much more comfortable and, as a result, they’re much more likely to give their hundred percent. They don’t have to worry about who is watching them. There’s something called gym-timidation, whereby an individual utilizing a gym could feel intimidated just because there are other persons who are quite fit. This makes them feel discouraged, especially if they’re not really in shape. Sometimes they forget that the reason they went to the gym in the first place is because they’re trying to get in shape. You don’t have to worry about that when we [the Voltage Fitness trainers] come to you because you’re in the comfort of your own home. You train at a time that is convenient for you and it doesn’t clash with your working hours. And since our sessions are short and quick, the client does them and we get out of the way. Then they have the rest of the day to themselves.”
Murray gives every indication that he’s not only knowledgeable about the science and art of personal fitness, he clearly enjoys what he does and puts his heart and soul into it.
“I love personal training. I’m passionate about it. I’ve dedicated my life to this. But more importantly, I got into it because I love helping people get healthy and feel good about themselves. I have clients who say to me after a month of training, ‘Andre I love how I look and I feel good about myself. I look better and my clothes fit so much better.’ Just hearing that and knowing that I can help improve somebody else’s life, gives me joy. This is really a strong part of the drive for me in doing what I do,” says Murray.
Currently, Voltage Fitness serves clients mainly in the northern parts of the island, from Gros Islet and Cap Estate through to Morne Fortune. However, Murray looks forward to making his services available to other parts of St. Lucia as the business grows.
“I’m hoping to expand in the future and serve other areas. I eventually want to have my own fitness training centre and still move around offering mobile fitness training. The idea is to have one of my trainers manage the centre while I continue to offer mobile training. I’m also hoping to have my own Voltage Fitness games where clients from around the island can come together to meet and compete with one another,” Murray added.
Interested persons can contact Voltage Fitness via Facebook, Instagram or the company’s website, or email [email protected]
