The success story behind POWER POP-UP!
POWER POP-UP - How everything started a good 3 years ago when there was no Primer at all. Going back in time to the very start of the amazing Power Pop Up concept, wohooow!
A piece now written or at least rewritten and at the bottom in bold you will find a piece I wrote a long time ago, what a great trip man!
About three years (2015-2016) ago the concept of Power Pop Up was born, how exactly did it work? I used to teach strength classes in addition to the Parkour classes I taught for Cirkus in Motion. After our weekly parkour and strength classes ended at the end of May, I decided to keep the strength classes going for another month. That summer I went to France to teach sufkamps for BoardX. Until I left there was still the possibility to give strength lessons, duuuuuus, knalleeeeeen!
Then it was time to think of a cool concept so that it would be innovative and challenging, not only for me but also for the participants. The idea was to break through the weekly concept of same day, same hour... Something that pops up at that hour, then again on that day... What is that principle called again? Oh yes, POP-UP! Now for a name...
POP-UP strength class, POP-UP power, no... Yes, POP-UP POWER! No, not quite satisfied yet... POWER POP-UP, yes that sounds and describes the concept.
So now the new concept was born. Now the interpretation ... The hall of Cirkus in Beweging was still rented until the end of June, but the lessons were already done at the end of May. A hall that is 'empty' for a whole month, no way, not my thing! Fortunately, CIB was chill enough to allow me - with a few important appointments - to use the hall!
Besides parkour and strength, I then discovered that teaching itself became more and more my passion, my motivation and motivation. So the most I wanted was to continue teaching as much as possible. That's why I let the POWER POP-UPS continue as much as possible and even for free. Yeah you missed something if you were'nt there! The first week the group remained quite select. Especially those who throughout the year also followed the strength classes were present, but from week 2 there was really a very clear growth.
A lot of word of mouth advertising (thanks to everyone) ensured that the average in week 2 was easily 20+. Even better, the curve continued to rise. We made that summer 2015-2016 a solid growth from 20 participants to 40. I really never dreamed this, amazing! A regular team of 20-40 people who came to pop heavy every POWER POP-UP and over the 4 weeks reached over 120 completely new people, how great did this concept turn out!
The growth in participants is obviously great to see, but the atmosphere that was really really really great was for me. Exactly what I (then no Primer) wanted to evolve into a low-threshold sports facility, where everyone feels extremely welcome! A great fit community where exercising together and especially enjoying yourself is central. Nobody points at each other, on the contrary, helping each other and enjoying together is what really matters here. This is very clearly the foundation of Primer!
What was especially far-reaching and instructive for me was the way I had to challenge myself back in the days. The way I took myself out of my comfort zone time and time again. I can say with certainty that - over the 20+ POWER POP-UP sessions that were going on back then - I didn't do a single exercise twice. Each time I came into the room I challenged myself to think of a completely new arsenal of exercises.
Sometimes I had a lot of time in advance and sometimes none at all. Sometimes my creativity would pull itself together from moment one and sometimes it would take until 10 minutes before class. What is tremendously interesting is that I ended up not looking at movements or materials, but more at placement and how something could be done differently.
Sometimes I would instruct myself to work with a certain material. Material that in the first place had nothing to do with strength training at all. I let myself think about a certain muscle group, a way of moving, a place in the hall, ... Indoors, outdoors, lots of people, few people, lots of time, little time, I was challenged every time to make a solid circuit. I learned a lot about myself, teaching and working with others!
Finally, I want to talk about the last class back then. There were about 40 of us, WAAAAAUW! Such an amazing effort and enthusiasm from everyone! Over the whole month, really one of the best time investments I've made yet. It's not normal how wonderful the atmosphere was throughout all the classes. Fun, helpfulness, love and movement. When I think back to the almost surreal sign of MERCI during the last lesson, my eyes get watery again (I'm also chopping onions... no, that's not true, milady, haha). What a month! Afterwards the personal merci responses and the 'I've already signed up for next year's', unimaginable feeling, really!
What has made the POWER POP-UP concept so successful is the atmosphere and attitude that exists thanks to the participants! A low entry threshold, you really do not need to be an incredible crack at sports. On the contrary, so many reactions afterwards sounded like: 'wow, never thought I could do this. Never thought that sport could be so much fun.
This is a piece I wrote that summer (2015-2016)
To conclude, some special thanks to a few people....
Joost (from the printshop at the Tiensepoort), thanks for everything! The great effort and enthusiasm time after time! The golf balls we received to provide everyone with trigger point material, the beautiful POWER POP-UP banner we received, the super user-friendly cases to put all the power material in and the gigantic screen during the PENALTY EDITION! Maybe I'm forgetting some things because it was so much, if that's the case... thanks for that too!
Cirkus in Beweging merci for always making the beautiful venue available to us at all possible times. Thanks for the flexibility and support during each POWER POP-UP. Finally, thank you to all the participants and teachers that we might have disturbed a little during our preparations...
Gudrun (fittestyou.be) thank you for your inexhaustible enthusiasm and your inspiring heart of gold! For the great ecological and healthy food during the PENALTY EDITION and for your sincere helpfulness and commitment time and time again!
Nicolas, my other half, as 2 hands on 1 belly we function in these projects! Thanks for being there at the POWER POP-UPS - as much as your schedule allowed - for you! For your feedback, comments and thinking along! Never wanna lose you, love you, neen for real... you're the man!
Thank you to eeeeeeeevery single one of you (thought I sounded better in English) for being a part of this amazing month of my life! I have seldom been sooooo incredibly satisfied after a project, really crazy! Now effe ne summer bang here in France and then start the year again with so much inspiration, knowledge, motivation and desire in Belgium! See y'all there
Want even more Primer? Be sure to listen to our podcast STERK WERK for similar content likeEP22: BoardX, meer dan een surf & snow organisatie! See you soon!
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