'At the coffee table I am closest to the athletes'

Collin Schouten started as a coach at Happy Bodies in Heemstede eight years ago. He progressed to club manager and later regional manager. Since 2019, he has been the operations manager responsible for all Happy Bodies locations. In this blog post, he talks about his work as operations manager and what makes Happy Bodies unique.

Operational matters

I started as a coach at Happy Bodies and progressed through various roles to become operations manager. In this role, I'm responsible for the operational aspects of all Happy Bodies lifestyle clubs, from staffing and training plans to being the face of the clubs, and inspiring new members and retaining existing ones.

26 locations

My "home base" is Haarlem, where I work one or two days a week. The rest of the week, you'll find me at one of the 26 locations across the country, from Alkmaar to Eindhoven. I often work at the coffee table. That way, I'm closest to the work floor and stay in touch with the members. There, I hear all sorts of things: from goals to enthusiastic stories and the occasional improvement suggestion. What's really great is that the athletes really feel compelled to tell me how great the coaches are. That makes you incredibly proud, doesn't it?

Keep up with sports

At Happy Bodies, the athletes are happy to have finally found a way to maintain their workouts. Many people don't feel comfortable in a regular gym, as Romano mentioned in his blog. They don't know what to do, they don't see any results, they hate the pounding music, the pumped-up bodies, and the large mirrors. After a few weeks, they quit, only to try again months later at a different gym of the same type. With us, it's completely different. Here we play relaxing background music, there's a homey atmosphere, and people find like-minded people. More importantly, the training plans are completely customized. Thanks to the Milon Circle, the athletes know exactly what to do, and here they finally see results, even if health isn't something they take for granted.

Efficient way of exercising

The Milon Circle offers an efficient way to exercise. It's a fully automated circle with fitness equipment where you can train your entire body in six 35-minute workouts each month. The equipment is configured to your body, so you always train with the correct posture and intensity, on your way to your personal training goals. The risk of injury is minimal, and truly anyone can improve their health this way. If you have any complaints, you always move within your pain limits: if you can only extend your arm 90%, we'll start within that 90% and then see if and how we can gradually improve.

Grow

I also love fitness and enjoy mountain biking. But my biggest hobby is my work. I've been working at Happy Bodies for eight years now and have seen it grow from one location in Amstelveen to its current 26 locations. I've grown too, from a coach with a passion for helping people to where I am now, as an operations manager. Although, I secretly miss helping people improve their health and become fitter and happier sometimes.