Features

Rabble: The Movement keeping you fit and making you money!

Jason Grant is 32 and a Rabble Instructor in Dundee.

Previously a successful account manager working for a large corporation and running a sales team of twelve reps he’s now swapped the board room and nights in four star hotels for working running life changing group exercise sessions which make participants happy and fit.

Jason says I have always been very active and participate in Canicross which is cross country running with your dog. However, my work life, despite delivering career and financial rewards, really played havoc with my fitness. Late evenings in bars and deals made over meals and all that coffee were eventually taking their toll and I was looking for a real lifestyle shift.

When my company was going through a restructure and there was an opportunity to take redundancy, I knew it was now or never.

I researched every single franchise opportunity in the fitness industry but they were all wrong as they were based on a bricks and mortar concept which not only meant a fixed overhead but also limited my catchment area. I needed to be able to offer multiple locations to attract groups with different demographics and be flexible enough to bring my service to my audience.

Where I live is saturated with gyms and numerous bootcamp fitness offerings but I knew that most people were put off by needing to sign up to contracts or even to venture inside the building. I also wanted to start something which meant that people were still turning up in February long after new year’s resolutions are forgotten.

Then I discovered Rabble which was unlike anything else I’d seen. It’s based on team games, outside, in public green spaces which have participants running around for an hour, having great fun and getting fit in the process. I contacted the founder Charlotte, a former elite triathlete, who due to injury had to give up the sport and used the opportunity to start the business.

After lots of questions, gaining a level 2 fitness instruction qualification and some serious planning, I became the first Rabble licensee in Scotland.

I started with a soft event held at an organised marathon and invited everyone I knew from Canicross and friends and family to make up the numbers and then ran an event for a work running club to be able to demonstrate how the sessions worked and to start the engagement process.

I also had to go through the shift of having a team of staff working for me to having to do everything myself including all the admin, reports, marketing and social media.

Since launch everything has literally snowballed – the beauty about Rabble is that almost anyone can take part and the benefits are helpful not only for physical fitness but also mental wellbeing.

During the summer months (April – Sept) I run three sessions every week, two evenings and one on Saturday. During the winter months (Oct – March) I run two indoor sessions, one on a Monday evening and one on a Wed afternoon for Abertay University students only. I also hold one outdoor session on the first Saturday morning of each month.

Abertay University used Rabble Dundee to help new students get to know each other with 8 nationalities taking part in the games and businesses have also adopted Rabble Dundee as an afterwork club for employees.

In November I ran a programme at Dundee & Angus College for their Respect Week and I am due back again in Jan 2019 for their Refresher Week. My work with Dundee & Angus College is designed to promote engagement between staff and students and deliver energiser techniques.

In April 2019, I’ll be taking Rabble to the Dundee Mental Health Awareness event in Slessor Gardens to allow anyone to take part and find out how Rabble can put a spring in your step.

It’s very easy to say that you’re passionate about something but when you see the transforming effects that Rabble delivers, let alone how it’s changed my life, it’s impossible not to be enthusiastic about the huge opportunities ahead of me to really make a difference.

Jason@Rabbledundee.co.uk

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