10 Years of SPC: Looking Back at a Decade of Training, Growth and Community

In 2016, Sussex Performance Centre opened its doors with a simple aim: to create a place where people could train properly, be coached well and feel part of something.

Ten years later, SPC has grown into far more than the gym we started with. We’ve coached thousands of sessions, worked with people of all ages and abilities, built programmes for men, women and young people and watched SPC develop year after year.

It has become a community.

To mark our 10-year anniversary, Nathan, Michelle and Tom sat down together to look back at the journey so far — from the early days of SPC, through the challenges of Covid, to the centre and community we have today.

The video above tells a big part of that story, but reaching ten years felt like the right time to reflect on what has changed, what has stayed the same and what we’ve learned along the way.

Starting SPC

When SPC began in 2016, the facility and the operation looked very different to what members see today. There were fewer coaches, less equipment and a much smaller membership base. Like most new businesses, the early years involved a lot of learning, experimenting and trying to understand exactly what we wanted SPC to become.

Coaching had to be at the centre of everything we did.

We never wanted SPC to simply be somewhere people came in, exercised and left. We wanted members to understand what they were doing and why they were doing it. Whether somebody was an experienced athlete, completely new to resistance training or simply wanted to become stronger and healthier, the aim was always to provide structure, guidance and good coaching.

That principle remains a huge part of SPC today.

More Than Just Athletes

With a name like Sussex Performance Centre, it would have been easy for SPC to become a facility aimed exclusively at athletes. Sport and performance have always been part of our background and continue to be an important part of what we do, but over time our definition of performance has become much broader.

For one person, performance might mean becoming quicker on a football pitch. For somebody else, it might mean completing their first pull-up, feeling stronger in their 60s or 70s, returning to training after years away or simply having enough confidence to walk into a gym and know what to do.

Performance means different things to different people.

That range of people has helped shape SPC. Today we coach teenagers beginning their strength-training journey alongside adults who have trained with us for close to a decade. We work with competitive athletes, recreational sportspeople and members whose main goal is to stay strong and capable for everyday life.

The training will look different for each person, but the principles behind good training remain the same.

The Growth of Group Training

One of the biggest developments over the last ten years has been the growth of our group programmes. SPC Men, SPC Women and SPC Youth have all become established parts of the centre.

These programmes have allowed us to combine the structure and coaching standards of personal training with the atmosphere and accountability that comes from training alongside other people.

SPC Women in particular has grown enormously over the years, creating an environment where women can become confident with resistance training and continue progressing over the long term. Our Youth programme has also become something we are extremely proud of, introducing young people to strength training, movement, speed, coordination and fitness in an environment where the emphasis is on learning good habits rather than chasing numbers.

Seeing children begin training with us and then continue developing through their teenage years has become one of the most rewarding parts of the last decade.

The People Behind SPC

Equipment can be replaced, programmes can change and facilities can improve.

But ultimately, a gym is shaped by its people.

Over ten years we have been fortunate to have some excellent coaches become part of SPC. Some have stayed for many years, some have moved on to new opportunities and others have returned later in their careers. Each has contributed something to the environment and helped thousands of hours of coaching take place across the decade.

The same is true of our members. Some people have trained with us almost from the beginning, while others have joined for a phase of their life before moving away, changing jobs, starting families or pursuing different goals.

There have been friendships formed, training partners created and plenty of people who originally walked through the door knowing nobody who now feel completely at home at SPC.

That is something we never take for granted.

When the Gym Had to Close

No look back at the last ten years would be complete without talking about 2020. Like gyms across the country, SPC was forced to close during the Covid-19 pandemic and almost overnight the way we coached had to completely change.

Sessions moved online, programmes were adapted around whatever equipment people had available and the normal routine of coming into SPC disappeared.

It was one of the most challenging periods the business has faced, but it also demonstrated just how strong the community around SPC had become. People continued training together from their living rooms and gardens, and when the opportunity finally came to return to the facility there was a genuine sense that SPC had made it through something significant.

That period changed the business, but it also strengthened it.

Looking back now, it feels like an important part of the story.

Ten Years of Progress

Walk into SPC today and a lot has changed compared with 2016. The equipment has improved considerably, the coaching team has grown, the timetable is busier and the range of services we offer has expanded.

Personal training remains a major part of what we do, alongside structured men’s and women’s training, Youth sessions, strength classes, functional fitness, running events and specialist coaching.

But progress hasn’t simply been about adding more. Over the years, we have also become better at understanding what good training actually looks like for the people we coach.

Programming has evolved, exercises have changed and ideas we once used regularly have been replaced as our knowledge and experience have developed.

A good training facility shouldn’t look exactly the same after ten years.

Coaching should continue to evolve as evidence, experience and the needs of members change. That process will always be part of SPC.

The Community Around SPC

Perhaps the biggest change has been everything that now happens around the training itself. SPC events, competitions, run clubs, women’s days and family events have become part of the calendar.

Our recent 10-year anniversary Family Fun Day, attended by more than 300 people, probably demonstrated that better than anything else. Seeing members, former members, coaches, children and families all together was a reminder of just how far SPC has come.

SPC has gradually become much more than a room full of training equipment.

The community hasn’t been something deliberately manufactured. It has simply developed over years of people turning up, training together and sharing experiences.

That is probably one of the things we are most proud of.

What Hasn’t Changed

Despite everything that has developed over ten years, some things remain very similar to the early days. We still believe people benefit from being coached, we still believe strength training should form a fundamental part of most people’s exercise programmes and we still believe consistency beats short-term intensity.

We also still want SPC to be somewhere where people can train seriously without taking themselves too seriously.

Good coaching still matters.

There will always be new equipment, new training trends and new ideas within the fitness industry. Our job is to keep learning while holding on to the principles that have served our members well.

Looking Ahead

Ten years feels like an important milestone.

But it certainly doesn’t feel like the end of the story.

There is still plenty we want to improve. We want to continue developing our coaching team, improving the facility and creating better training opportunities for our members. We want more young people to experience good strength and conditioning early in life, and we want adults to see resistance training as something they can continue doing throughout their lives rather than something reserved for a particular age or type of person.

Most importantly, we want to maintain the environment that has allowed SPC to grow over the last decade.

To every member, coach, parent, athlete, friend and supporter who has played some part in the first ten years — thank you.

You’ve all been part of the story.

Here’s to the next ten.

Watch the video above as Nathan, Michelle and Tom look back through the last decade of SPC — the early days, memorable moments, challenges, changes and some of the stories behind the centre you see today.