Lifestyle

FITFCK & Fitness First Announce Partnership, Bringing Fitness Dating Classes to London Gyms

Published

2 years ago

June 26, 2023

FITFCK, a dating brand for gym-enthusiasts, has announced a partnership with leading international gym firm, Fitness First. The partnership will bring in-real-life fitness dating classes to Fitness First’s extensive network of London gyms. Attendees can look forward to expert-led fitness classes and exhilarating workouts, designed to lead to dates.

This exciting collaboration builds upon the success of FITFCK’s previous in-person dating events and will further enhance the offerings available to Fitness First’s members. With many Fitness First gyms already involved, the two fitness brands are preparing to take IRL fitness dating experiences to the next level.

FITFCK, described as “The fitness brand to watch out for in 2023″ by Bodybuilding.com, has previously connected gym-goers through a series of extremely successful IRL fitness dating events across London – and more recently, Manchester. The first event, which took place in March at CrossFit Gym, Putney sold-out to hundreds within 12 minutes – showcasing a strong demand for combining fitness and dating in a social setting.

Pioneering the fitness dating scene, Jamie Wykes-Hobday, founder of the BBC featured company, is building an omni-channel brand for not just dating and relationships, but also backed by a seemingly very engaged fitness community.

As well as a strong track record for hosting in-person fitness dating events, FITFCK more recently diversified its product suite by releasing an IOS and android compatible FITFCK dating app. The app garnered significant attention and positive reviews from the media – as well as the app users themselves. The app currently boasts impressive user metrics – considerably higher than the reported rates from other growing, and established, dating industry players.

FITFCK’s in-person events and online dating app are already being promoted to the brand’s fast growing following of over 51,000 engaged Instagram users. And now, with support from Fitness First, the brand is set to reach an additional 70,000 London based gym goers through Fitness First’s gym floor advertising, as well as direct online promotion to their online database.

Despite the app being a huge success, it’s FITFCK’s approach to IRL fitness dating events that sets them apart from traditional dating platforms. Apps have certainly shaped a lot of dating experiences for people in the 2020’s – and that’s not just millennials and GenZers. But, the dating landscape is seeing a new trend emerge as people are becoming more and more interested in meeting new people and dating in real life, for example through meetups, speed dating and singles parties. The entire process seems to be becoming much more ‘intentional’. And after the Covid-19 pandemic, can you blame anyone?

As a result of these new trends, many dating apps are making efforts to incorporate real life events into their business models – think Bumble for example. The difficulty for mainstream giants is that their users encompass such a wide range of interests so it can be hard to connect a group of people who have anything in common. FITFCK’s partnership with Fitness First will absolutely break the mould for IRL dating success. Despite often being seen as a small ‘niche’, almost 15% of the UK population hold gym memberships. If just a quarter of these are single, that’s almost 3 million people the fitness brands can help.

Entrepreneur and FITFCK Founder, Jamie Wykes-Hobday, commented: “I am absolutely ecstatic to say that FITFCK will be collaborating with the incredible Fitness First to bring fitness dating classes to a number of gyms in London – and that’s just the starting point! Since the early conversations, we knew that FF would be a good collab for us. What stood out was their mission to connect people through fitness and workouts, combined with their appreciation for the strong fitness community… we just prefer to throw a few dates and number swaps into the mix ;)”.

“Getting gym goers together under one roof, with a workout and a DJ, is a fulfilling prospect for both of our brands. We’ve run hugely successful events throughout 2022-23 so we know exactly how powerful they can be – and how much our community loves them. Now, working with Fitness First, we’re able to massively increase the frequency of our events and connect a lot more people – we’re upping the weights and the reps, if you like.”

When asked about the ‘event attendance to subsequently organising a date’ success rate, Jamie answered: “We’ll have to find a better metric name to report on that! But in all seriousness, that’s the true beauty of what we’re trying to achieve here. Our goal is to bring together fitness lovers and gym enthusiasts who share a passion for their training and the industry. What’s the worst that can happen? If they don’t find a date at the event, they’ll walk away 100% satisfied after a first class workout and come along to the next event to try again – the only workouts we regret are the ones we don’t do, right?”

To further support the partnership and spread the word about the upcoming Fitness First dating classes, the FITFCK team will be attending The Tru Athlete Expo, in London on 11-13th August 2023. The expo is a must-attend fitness festival which will undoubtedly increase footfall through Fitness First’s London gyms when the events take place in the very near future.

FITFCK and Fitness First, although just rolling out this partnership across the fitness centre’s London gym venues at present, are confident this is just the beginning. The collaboration is set to extend nationally in the coming months with the opportunity for international partnership also. That certainly would be a PB for the brand, which continues to take huge growth steps.

FITFCK will also be creating their first LGBTQ events next month, in partnership with Pride Month. We’re excited to see what’s next for Jamie, his team and their FIT as FCK community.

To learn more about FITFCK and Fitness First Gym’s upcoming fitness dating events visit www.instagram.com/fitfck

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About FITFCK

FITFCK is a fitness dating brand designed to connect like minded gym lovers through IRL fitness dating events and our soon to be released fitness dating app. Born out of heartbreak, after founder Jamie Wykes-Hobday was dumped weeks before competing in a bodybuilding show, FITFCK (Pron: “fit-eff-see-kay”) has quickly becoming the place for UK based fitness lovers who are looking to share their lifestyle choices with someone whether it be dating, relationships or casual.

Lifestyle

Wanda Knight on Blending Culture, Style, and Leadership Through Travel

Published

5 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Michelle Langton

The best lessons in leadership do not always come from a classroom or a boardroom. Sometimes they come from a crowded market in a foreign city, a train ride through unfamiliar landscapes, or a quiet conversation with someone whose life looks very different from your own.

Wanda Knight has built her career in enterprise sales and leadership for more than three decades, working with some of the world’s largest companies and guiding teams through constant change. But ask her what shaped her most, and she will point not just to her professional milestones but to the way travel has expanded her perspective. With 38 countries visited and more on the horizon, her worldview has been formed as much by her passport as by her resume.

Travel entered her life early. Her parents valued exploration, and before she began college, she had already lived in Italy. That experience, stepping into a different culture at such a young age, left a lasting impression. It showed her that the world was much bigger than the environment she grew up in and that adaptability was not just useful, it was necessary. Those early lessons of curiosity and openness would later shape the way she led in business.

Sales, at its core, is about connection. Numbers matter, but relationships determine long-term success. Wanda’s time abroad taught her how to connect across differences. Navigating unfamiliar places and adjusting to environments that operated on different expectations gave her the patience and awareness to understand people first, and business second. That approach carried over into leadership, where she built a reputation for giving her teams the space to take ownership while standing firmly behind them when it mattered most.

The link between travel and leadership becomes even clearer in moments of challenge. Unfamiliar settings require flexibility, quick decision-making, and the ability to stay calm under pressure. The same skills are critical in enterprise sales, where strategies shift quickly and no deal is ever guaranteed. Knight learned that success comes from being willing to step into the unknown, whether that means exploring a new country or taking on a leadership role she had not originally planned to pursue.

Her travels have also influenced her eye for style and her creative pursuits. Fashion, for Wanda, is more than clothing; it is a reflection of culture, history, and identity. Experiencing how different communities express themselves, from the craftsmanship of Italian textiles to the energy of street style in cities around the world, has deepened her appreciation for aesthetics as a form of storytelling. Rather than keeping her professional and personal worlds separate, she has learned to blend them, carrying the discipline and strategy of her sales career into her creative interests and vice versa.

None of this has been about starting over. It has been about adding layers, expanding her perspective without erasing the experiences that came before. Wanda’s story is not one of leaving a career behind but of integrating all the parts of who she is: a leader shaped by high-stakes business, a traveler shaped by global culture, and a creative voice learning to merge both worlds.

What stands out most is how she continues to approach both leadership and life with the same curiosity that first took her beyond her comfort zone. Each new country is an opportunity to learn, just as each new role has been a chance to grow. For those looking at her path, the lesson is clear: leadership is not about staying in one lane; it is about collecting experiences that teach you how to see, how to adapt, and how to connect.

As she looks to the future, Wanda Knight’s compass still points outward. She will keep adding stamps to her passport, finding inspiration in new cultures, and carrying those insights back into the rooms where strategy is shaped and decisions are made. Her legacy will not be measured only by deals closed or positions held but by the perspective she brought, and the way she showed that leading with a global view can change the story for everyone around you.