Last week, I made a trip down to the very southern part of Sweden, and the small town of Ystad. There, I had the great pleasure to visit Breeze Fitness – with a reputation to be one of the most innovative fitness facilities in Sweden. Seth Ronland, the owner of Breeze, a Swedish fitness profile in his late twenties (national champion in Athletic Fitness), started his gym (Breeze Fitness) 18 months ago.
I have to say that my expectations were quite high prior to my visit and I was definitely not disappointed from what I saw. In fact, Breeze Fitness is by far one of the most well planned, resourceful, innovative and excitingly fun fitness facility I've ever been to (not to confuse with biggest, shiniest, or most extravagant) – and I've seen a lot of gyms around the world during my travels.
What separates Breeze from the rest of the pack is first of all the owner (Seth), his staff and the investment decisions Breeze makes. In my opinion, there are waaay to many gyms today with main focus on profit. This approach and lack of passion and genuine interest often has one-dimensional, robot-trained staff and most of the budget is spent on fancy, over-kill interiors, locker rooms and useless workout machines that only take up valuable floor space (don't get me wrong, passion only takes you so far and a business-sense and revenue making is important to survive in this world).
At Breeze Fitness, I got to try the Jacob's ladder for the first time. Although it's a form of cardio machine it's different (and definitely not a scary as it seems) from the stationary bikes and treadmills normally seen in the monotone cardio area (I'm with Peter Twist on this one – throw out flat screen TV:s and engage in your workouts, focus on the present!) I believe that humans did evolve to a bipedal creature for a reason, but crawling is still one of the most basic and fundamental activities one can do. Not to forget, it's fun, has minimal impact on joints, activates the whole body, pace is instantly determined by the user and the position of the body allows for a good complement to practice running technique.
Breeze Fitness (btw, which I don't think the name reflects reality – it's a frickin tornado!) is packed with cutting edge equipment, brands, tools and knowledge (TRX, Keiser, Hoist, Jacob's Ladder, FMS screens, etc, etc) and is currently expanding it's facility to include a huge, open space, turf covered, workout area. When this is up and running (later this summer), I challenge anyone that can find a fitness facility in Sweden that can match what Seth has put together (and remember, Breeze has only been around for 18 months...).
Seth has a genuine passion for fitness and wellbeing that goes along well with his knowledge and experience. It's clear that he has a humble philosophy to stay on top of the game, constantly learning and taking on new concepts and systems to his programs at Breeze. A place that's also a reseller of TRX's, Vibram's and healthy and convenient food products, just to name a few. I'm gonna stop now, before my praising goes over hand, but it's exciting and revealing to meet a guy like Seth and to see such a great facility like Breeze Fitness operate in my home country of Sweden (that would kick butt big time Internationally, too).
I took plenty of great action pics from Breeze Fitness, but unfortunately my memory card gave up on me...And what can't be fixed at Pantip Plaza in Bangkok probably can't be fixed anywhere in the world...
I truly hope pioneers like Seth continues to grow and be successful in their missionary task to inform and educate the average Joe and Jane (or “Svensson” as they are called in Sweden) of holistic, healthy living. I envy everyone that lives in (or even close to) Ystad to have access to a place like Breeze and if I ever decide to move back to Sweden in the future, Seth is a guy I will contact, for sure.
Stay strong!
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