BODYACTIVE on the Marsh Road in Skibbereen is a great example of how centres of fitness have become such busy social hubs in Irish life.
Current owner and Skibbereen native Jonathan Davis first took the reins in 2017, originally in a partnership: “My first job in the fitness industry was in September 2014, when I started in the local gym here in Skibbereen called the Skibbereen Sports Centre,” recalls Jonathan.
Jonathan Davis of BodyActive in Skibbereen. (Photo: Anne Minihane)
“Then I decided to go out on my own. I was in partnership first in February 2017 – that’s when BodyActive was created.”
Since then, there have been a few twists and turns in the road, with the biggest twist coming in the form of the lockdown.
The Covid period brought huge changes – both for the nation and for BodyActive.
“Since November 2021, it has gone in a different direction,” says Jonathan.
“It’s more of a coaching facility now, less like the traditional gym. It’s coaching in a small-group and a large-group setting.
“The fitness industry has changed a lot since I’ve been involved in it. It’s seen as a service that’s a lot more valuable to a community compared to what it was 10 or 15 years ago.
People are more interested in it. They invest in it, they put money aside every week to take care of their health.”
People now pay more attention to their mental and physical health than they did before and it’s a commitment that people are adhering to over a long term, Jonathan says.
“Before Covid, people would come in for a while… they might do it for 6 weeks and then they’d go away again. But since Covid, with the experience of the lockdowns where they were staring at a screen every day, people seem to have taken on board the importance of being fit and what that means for your health.
“Since then, people have created a weekly routine around fitness. It’s taken it in a completely different direction. Instead of being hungover on a Sunday morning, they’re out on a bike or they’re going for a walk or they’re joining a rowing club.”
The move to embrace a fitter life has turned places like BodyActive into great social hubs – the kinds of social hubs that didn’t really exist before and the sense of community and social interaction is a very important part of what Jonathan and his team do.
“We take great pride in community,” says Jonathan.
“We know everybody’s name, everybody gets to know one another. We have monthly events where we go for a walk or go for a night out or we sometimes get a guest speaker in. People really get to know one another in a setting like ours where it’s so open and encouraging.”
BodyActive offers three different types of coaching programme for three different age categories: General Population covers those in the age bracket from roughly 20 up to 60. For 13-17 year olds, there’s the Teen Strength Programme, while the Masters Programme is for 60s and over.
“My aim is to make an impact on people’s lives for the better,” says Jonathan, “to make people’s lives better in a place where they’re safe, where people can chat and socialise. Even if you take the fitness element out of it, people can meet for a coffee afterwards… we’re just trying to make an impact on our local area in a positive way.”
For Jonathan, the reward often comes at the end of the year, when he reads through comments that people have made, very often expressions of gratitude at how BodyActive changed their lives for the better.
In line with their logo, “Fitness is a Lifestyle”, they’ve created a community that embraces the healthy and the active as part of normal life: a growing community which now has over 300 members.
For more information, see bodyactive.ie.
