Bolton's The Colony Health & Fitness Gym opens

The Colony Health & Fitness Gym in Knowsley Street is run by three personal trainers, Conor McGirr, Luke Walker and Jake Abrahams.

It opened only this week and the team are already getting to know their clients individually including calling them if they miss the gym to check if they’re okay.

New Bolton gym

Conor said: “We all worked in commercial gyms. We decided to start our own place and look after people because a lot of what we do is not just exercise.

“It’s checking people are OK and if they’re using the gym because you can maybe go to the gym three times a week, but the rest of the time is spent out of it.

“For us it’s about building a community where everyone knows everyone here and people can come and talk to us about anything.”

The personal trainers will run group sessions to bring people together as well as allowing them space to train alone.

If that wasn’t enough, the gym also has an on-site physio to help people training with injuries or for advice, showing people how to train.

Luke said: “I remember doing a vision board when I was at 16 and on it I wrote that I wanted to drive a certain car and own a gym one day.

“I’ve managed both of these things, so it’s a sense of achievement because I’ve not taken an easy route, but I’ve made sacrifices to get here.”

Conor took up ju-jitsu when he was younger and dabbled in white collar boxing before becoming a personal trainer.

Luke spent his childhood years playing rugby since he was five years old and started going to the gym at just 14 as his passion for fitness took hold.

New Bolton gym

Jake started off selling memberships at other gyms before working his way up to become a personal trainer.

Luke said: “People can come to the group sessions and then afterwards get talking to someone from it, because we just want it to feel comfortable, where you know everyone, you see.”