Reinstate Barbell/BodyFX Fitness Class on Saturday Mornings

To the Management at Time Capsule, 100 Buchannan Street, Coatbridge ML5 1DL

We, the undersigned would like you to reinstate the Barbell / Body FX fitness class on Saturday mornings at 09:00am which was run by Amanda Cappie.

This class which has been running for approximately eight years was suddenly cancelled without any consultation with any members who attended the class. It has since been replaced by a Body Pump class which is run by Les Mills.
However, Body Pump is already on offer ten times throughout the week so there was no justification to have yet another one at the expense of the one and only Body FX/Barbell fitness class on offer.

It has been suggested that the class was cancelled due to low numbers, however this is not reflected throughout the whole year and there are other classes in the Time Capsule such as ‘circuits’ and ‘metafit’ which sometimes have low numbers and they haven’t been cancelled. Another point to remember is that Body Pump is well advertised throughout the Time Capsule whilst Body FX/Barbell on a Saturday morning barely got a mention.

Despite not being part of “Les Mills”, Amanda’s Saturday morning class was known by many as “Body Pump”. Regardless of whether that was right or wrong, that was how people described the class. When Amanda had to change the name of her class to “Body FX / Barbell” (probably because Les Mills did not want others using their trademark name which is completely understandable) we believe the Time Capsule were less than keen to make customers / member aware.

We know that when some people called the Time Capsule to make bookings / enquiries for Saturday mornings, they were informed that “Body Pump” was not on. Whilst this was technically true, members should have been made aware that an alternative “Body FX / Barbell” class was on, but they weren’t.

Had the Time Capsule been more honest and helpful with people who made enquiries, then perhaps the numbers wouldn’t have been low at all. The fact remains if the numbers for Amanda’s class were low, then the Time Capsule was at least in part, responsible for this. We also think it is very disrespectful to see that as soon as Amanda’s class was cancelled, the Time Capsule started advertising classes on Saturday mornings. Why not do this before?

We pay a membership fee to NL Leisure, not to Les Mills!

The benefit of having Amanda’s class alongside the other Body Pump classes is that it gives members the choice of attending either class or even both which I am sure you will agree, can only be a benefit to the existing member of NL Leisure.

Amanda is qualified in dealing with people who are returning from injury and has personally helped many members over the years to return to fitness gradually and safely and her knowledge with dealing with injuries and personal one to one approach with people is exceptional. Her routine is not confined to a standard workout, but rather she is willing to spend time with anyone in her class to offer an alternative set of exercises based on their individual fitness levels and is keen to approach people to work on their technique if she feels people aren’t doing things the right way. She is an excellent asset to the Time Capsule.

We feel that the decision to remove Amanda’s class is a loss for the Time Capsule and its members, purely for the pursuit of giving Les Mills classes a monopoly without care and consideration for the members of NL Leisure who have attended Amanda’s classes on Saturday mornings for many years.

For clarity, many members enjoy Les Mills classes too and we have always said that it was beneficial to have both classes on offer. There is no reasonable justification for removing the one and only Body FX/Barbell class to simply add another Body Pump class that is on offer many other times throughout the week.

Please reinstate the Body FX/Barbell class on Saturday mornings at 09:00 which is run by Amanda Cappie and give your members more options, not less options.

Yours,

The Undersigned

Various NL Leisure Members    Contact the author of the petition