Personal training and twelve-person bootcamps on the grass by Roath Park lake since 2016, in every kind of weather: a free first session, every price on this website, two trainers who are qualified, insured and know your name, and a plan on paper you can keep. Most of our clients had not exercised in years. That is the point.
Training
01
An hour with Gethin or Hanna in Roath Park, built round you: a free first session to find out what you can do and what you want, a twelve-week plan written down, kettlebells, bodyweight, the hills and the lake path, and the other days of the week planned too. For the people who want a person rather than a programme.
£45 an hour, £400 for ten; 45-minute sessions £35; a pair training together £60 an hour (£30 each).
02
Forty-five minutes on the lawns by the lake at 6:30 or 7:30 every morning but Sunday, and 6pm on Tuesday and Thursday: a circuit of strength and conditioning scaled to three levels in the same session, twelve people at most, the same faces most weeks, and the month's programme published on the first. Drop in for £12 or come as often as you like for £59 a month.
£12 a session, ten for £90, or unlimited for £59 a month with no contract.
03
A group for people who cannot run yet and people who can run a bit: a walk-run plan from the first week, two coached sessions a week round the lake and up the Nant Fawr, a 5k in eight weeks and a 10k in sixteen, and a trainer at the back as well as the front. £25 a month, with the plan for the other days, and the parkrun on Saturday as the test.
£25 a month for two coached sessions a week and the plan for the days between.
04
The one-to-one hour with a partner, a friend or a few: a pair for £60 (£30 each), three for £72, four for £80. Same plan, same trainer, same lawn, and the thing that makes most people keep going, which is someone expecting them to be there at 6:30. For couples, friends, parents and teenagers, and workmates.
A pair £60 an hour, three people £72, four £80, split however you like.
05
For the people who moved away, the shift workers, and the ones who want the plan and the accountability without the lawn: a plan for the week every Sunday night, written for the kit and the time you actually have, a check-in message every Sunday, a half-hour video call once a month, and form checks from the videos you send. £79 a month, no contract.
£79 a month, no contract.
06
For the people who will do the work themselves and want it done right: a one-hour assessment of how you move and what you want, a twelve-week plan written for your kit and your diary, a session in the park to learn every exercise in it, and two check-ins at four and eight weeks. £120. Or the assessment alone for £45 if you have a plan and want to know whether it suits you.
£120 for the assessment, the plan, the teaching session and two check-ins.
Prices
£45
Ten for £400. A 45-minute session £35. The free first session included.
£60
£30 each. Three people £72, four £80. Blocks of ten at ten per cent off.
£12
Twelve people at most. Ten for £90. The first one free.
Unlimited bootcamps £59 a month, the running group £25, online coaching £79, a twelve-week plan taught to you £120. No contracts; blocks refunded pro rata.
How we work
Most people who find us have not exercised in years, or ever, and are nervous about turning up. Bootcamps are scaled to three levels in the same session, the running group starts with walk-run, and nobody is shouted at. The fit ones look after themselves; we are here for the rest.
Not the scales unless you want them. The stairs at work, the 5k, the garden, the knee, the dress, the dog walk that is now a hill walk. We agree the measure at the free session and check it at week six and week twelve, on paper.
Bootcamps at 6:30 and 7:30 six mornings a week, so the session is done before the day gets a vote. One-to-one from 6am. Tuesday and Thursday evenings for people who cannot do mornings, and the running group on Wednesday evening and Sunday morning.
The monthly bootcamp pass rolls month to month and stops with a text. Blocks of one-to-one hours are refundable pro rata. If you stop coming we ring once to ask if you are all right, and then we leave you alone.
Bootcamps
Forty-five minutes on the lawns by the lake at 6:30 or 7:30 every morning but Sunday, and 6pm on Tuesday and Thursday: a circuit where every station has an easier and a harder version, a trainer walking it correcting and encouraging, and the same faces most weeks. Drop in for £12, buy ten for £90, or come as often as you like for £59 a month. The first one is free.
The park
Roath Park has everything a gym has except the mirrors: flat grass for the circuits, a 2.3-kilometre path round the water for the running group, thirty-eight steps at the lighthouse for the Saturday finisher, the Nant Fawr hill for the ones who ask, and the big trees by the conservatory for when it rains. The park page says where each is and where we meet.
Where we train, and where to meetResults
To do the stairs at work without stopping
A first 10k
To carry the shopping and get up off the floor
Clients
I had not exercised in twelve years and I cried a bit at the free session because I was so nervous. Gethin walked me round the lake and we did ten squats to a bench. Twelve weeks later I did the lighthouse steps twice and the stairs at work are nothing. The plan on paper is on my fridge.
Could not run for a minute in January. Hanna ran at the back with me for the first month. Cardiff 10k in June in 61 minutes. The Sunday coffee is now the best bit of my week.
Sixty-four, a sore knee, and I thought a bootcamp meant being shouted at. It means twelve of us on the grass at 7:30 with three versions of everything and a man who says "nice" a lot. I can get up off the floor without my hands now, which is the thing I actually wanted.
A one-to-one hour £45 (ten for £400), a pair £60, bootcamps £12 a session or £59 a month unlimited, the running group £25 a month, online coaching £79 a month, a twelve-week plan taught to you £120. The first session of anything is free and nothing is on a contract.
Roath Park, Cardiff: bootcamps and one-to-one by the boathouse bench on the promenade (Lake Road East), the running group at the lighthouse, and under the trees by the conservatory when it rains. The park page has every spot we use and how to find it.
Then you are our usual client. Half the people at the free session have not exercised in years; bootcamps have three levels at every station, the running group starts with thirty seconds of running, and one-to-one starts with a walk round the lake. Nobody is shouted at and nobody is watching.
We train under the big trees by the conservatory, where it is mostly dry, and carry on. Only lightning, ice on the paths or a red weather warning cancels: a text an hour before, and the session is credited. It happens about four times a year.
Both trainers hold Level 3 personal training qualifications, outdoor fitness and older-adult or pre- and post-natal certificates, current first aid and defibrillator training, and we carry £5 million public liability insurance and a licence agreement with the park. The certificates are on the team page.
No. Pay per session, buy a block, or take the monthly bootcamp pass, which rolls month to month and stops with a text. The only thing you need to book is the bootcamp slot, by 9pm the night before, because we cap at twelve.
Tell us what you are after and roughly when you can train, and we reply within the hour between sessions with a time for a free first session: a walk round the lake, a look at how you move, and an honest answer about what it will take. Or just turn up to a bootcamp, the first one is free too.
