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“It’s a facility where members can find something totally different that’s not available in any other gym in Killarney,” says Activate co-founder Brian Foley. “It’s fairly unique in Kerry in general as well, in terms of the space we have and the type of work we do here. We’re trying to bring a professional level of strength and conditioning coaching to the general population.

Established by Brian and his wife Róisín in 2017, Activate has quickly earned a reputation for high standards, which is no surprise considering the couple’s impressive level of experience in the field. The pair lived in Australia and New Zealand for six years where they worked in Strength & Conditioning and CrossFit and Brian, a Farranfore native, also in rugby union and Aussie rules during his time abroad.

“We’ve set up Activate the way you would any world class facility,” Brian explains. “We’ve got the gym floor and all the equipment that would come with it such as free weights and conditioning equipment. We treat recovery as important as training, we’ve got the recovery suite with a cryotherapy bath and a hot tub for contrast bathing, which is ideal if you’ve just played a football match, been on a long run or competed in a marathon. The goal is to get your body back to normal as soon as possible.”

At Activate you can also avail of the innovative NormaTec recovery boots, which are used by Premier League footballers, Aussie rules players and NFL players to aid their recovery.

“We’re trying to approach things from both sides,” Brian says. “We want to make sure that we’re making people fitter, faster and stronger but ensuring it’s done in the right way whilst also looking after their recovery needs. We offer stretching classes twice a week for flexibility work and, like everything else at Activate, they’re totally guided from start to finish.

“The minute someone walks in the door, they are more or less taken by the hand through all of their exercises. You’re never left wondering what to do, and will always be shown the correct and safe techniques on how to get fitter for the long term. We make sure the technique is spot on. It’s totally different to the traditional gym where you might come in and work away for half an hour on the treadmill and then scratch your head trying to figure out what to do next. We’ve got everything programmed for you. We are about long term health and fitness, we’ve worked with professional athletes and senior citizens alike and one thing always runs true: A healthy body is vitally important all through life, so we don’t believe in quick fixes or fads, we treat our profession very seriously.”

Brian and Róisín are hosting an open day this Saturday at 11am, which they hope will serve as a great opportunity for newcomers to check out their state of the art facility in Ballycasheen and see what Activate is all about. Special Olympics Ireland athletes will be in attendance to cut the ribbon and officially open the gym. There will be plenty of fun and games on the day as well as a few great prizes thrown in for good measure.

For more information, call 087 4030894 or visit www.activatefitness.ie