A Sandwell lady with a mild learning disability is reaping the rewards of a new AI-powered, smart fitness platform called EGYM.

Hayley Beste, age 42 from Rowley Regis, also has a complex hole in the heart condition with a narrowing aorta,  but she faces these health adversities with great resolve and has tangibly improved her fitness, wellbeing and confidence with tailored EGYM workouts at Portway Lifestyle Centre in nearby Oldbury – which is an established centre of excellence for people with disabilities.

EGYM provides the ultimate in tech-enabled, flexible and personalised workout experiences at Portway, which as a fully inclusive centre works closely with Sandwell Council’s Adult Services team. They’re based on site and encourage historically excluded groups to take part in more physical activities and lead healthy, fulfilling lives.

Hayley has already been making great progress at Portway via targeted walking, aerobics, hydro pool and bike work, but she has especially embraced the new EGYM equipment because of the freedom it gives her and the real time visual representation of her progress. She says: “I’ve got the app on my phone and it always shows me how well I’m doing. I’ve only been doing it for a few months but have already moved up to level 4 and earned a gold medal.”  

Her mum, Christine has also noticed the difference and adds: “Portway has already done a marvellous job with Hayley, but the EGYM has inspired her to be even more health and fitness conscious. She’s started choosing the gym over our regular shopping and coffee day, plus she and her social group are all talking about the app and the progress medals they can earn. They really are encouraging each other and getting more active because of it.”

Hayley works closely with Adult Services support worker Carol Steele, age 62 from Netherton, and the two have struck up quite a partnership on EGYM, with Carol also using it to quickly go down a dress size and realign and strengthen a problem shoulder.

Carol explains: “EGYM has given Hayley extra purpose and the moving visual aspect of the  machine dashboards especially works and gets her excited about her progress. It’s also given her more focus and drive in her cardio and strength sessions with me. Hayley has even started new dance classes due to her new-found confidence and enthusiasm and she loves sharing her constantly updating app results and achievements with family and friends.

“EGYM is very motivational, like an electronic coach, but it also interactively displays your body fat, muscle mass, sugar levels and calories burnt, for a more detailed health overview. Users become a lot more aware of what they’re achieving and capable of, because it adapts to each individual’s needs and readjusts to their target settings at the touch of a button.”

*EGYM is the largest open fitness platform in the world, integrating 200+ leading fitness brands into a single training experience, with data-driven technology that drives results and ensures users of all abilities/fitness levels can achieve their goals efficiently and effectively. With constant ‘live’ feedback it makes for a highly personalised and motivating user experience.

At Portway it’s part of an overall £500,000 gym facility investment by Sandwell Leisure Trust and underscores their commitment to the best in fitness innovation, enhanced user experience, active community engagement, plus health and wellbeing development for users across the Black Country.