I’m sure most of us, if asked the questions – ‘would you like to be fitter?’, ‘would you like to lose weight?’ and ‘would you like to feel healthier?’, would answer with a resounding ‘YES’! And although many of us have taken steps to do something about it; whether it’s going on a diet or joining the gym, we still find ourselves looking for permanent solutions to these questions.
With more and more experts advising that diets are no good for us and what we should actually be doing is making lifestyle changes, it comes as no surprise that fitness and exercise are also following suit. In our post ‘Everything You Ever Needed to Know About…Fitness Retreats!‘ we looked at how holidays have evolved in such a way that now more people expect and even want to include elements of fitness within their summer breaks. The rise of the ‘fitcation’ looks set to continue and one company that knows all about treating their guests to the absolute best in fitness breaks is Target Human Performance.
Target follow the ethos that to get great results they must work at achieving each individual customers needs and it is this personal touch along with a team of highly qualified fitness trainers and luxurious locations that is seeing such great results.
Whether you’re already a fitness aficionado and fancy continuing to develop this whilst on holiday, or you are literally just starting out on your fitness journey and need some guidance and motivation, Target have something for you.
So, if you feel like you could be fitter, would love to learn about healthy eating, or even just fancy a break from the mundanity of day-to-day life then why not check out Target HP’s fantastic fitness retreats.
Or…
Why not enter our competition to win a 5 Day Executive Fitness Retreat in association with Target Human Performance and Cocofina!
Interview with the Team at Target Human Performance
We’re always keen to delve a bit deeper and get right down to the nitty gritty of who a company truly are and find out what they’re really about. So, check out our interview with Target and find out more about their amazing offer!
Who are Target Human Performance?
“The company, Target Human Performance, was originally formed as a brand to provide excellence in personal training, fitness and wellness in 2007 by fitness entrepreneur, James Golden. The Target Training club opened its doors in the January of 2010 in Amersham, Bucks. The club’ s ethos is to provide a small boutique facility with an exclusive membership offering one to one fitness training, group fitness classes, a private gym and a Physiotherapy clinic. Essentially this is a one stop shop for health, fitness and wellness.
Target Fitness Holidays became part of the brand in 2013, which formed off the back of our fitness team offering a limited amount of places to members in joining us on a fitness camp providing healthy eating and an intensive training programme. This was highly successful and the product began to form.”
Why the name Target Human Performance?
“The brand of Target Human Performance was given to the company as the word ‘Target’ is crucial if people are to achieve health and fitness results. Without knowing the destination or what the individual wishes to achieve, it is difficult to create a plan, so we aim to make everything we do with our clients ‘Target’ orientated (excuse the pun).
‘Human Performance’ relates to the human body having to perform, live and behave a certain way in order to provide the body the best chance of achieving results.
The Target Training Club and Target Fitness Holidays also operate under the brand of Target Human Performance.”
What fitness retreats do you offer?
“We currently have 4 styles of retreat:
Ladies Recharge Bootcamp @ The Woodlands Farmhouse in Somerset
This is a 4 day ladies only experience in which we offer the chance to work with our fitness team and private chef across a long weekend of health, fitness and pampering. Treatments are provided to ensure the guests return feeling completely rejuvenated and reenergised from the experience.
Get Fit Fast @ The Colloquy in Herefordshire
The emphasis on ‘Get Fit Fast’ is a boot camp style approach across 5 days with the programme consisting of 5-6 hours of training per day. A private chef will support the programme with a healthy eating approach to ensure maximum impact is achieved from the 5 days.
Train in Spain @ Almond House in Andalusia, Spain
This is a 7 day fitness holiday experience in the sun. We offer dates in May and September at a secluded location in Andalucía for guests to join us on a balanced fitness week with a variation of training approaches and healthy eating.
Executive Fitness Retreat @ The Woodlands Farmhouse in Somerset
Recently featured as one of the top 12 fitness holidays in The Times newspaper. This experience provides a complete fitness, healthy eating and feel good experience. The programme consists of a structured 4-5 hour daily exercise programme, private chef providing a high quality clean eating approach with a range of treatments to ensure the experience provides the complete fitness retreat in the most luxurious of venues.
Visit our competition page to be in with a chance of winning one of Target HP’s Executive Fitness Retreat!
Tell us about the different locations?
“The locations we use for our retreats are all set in stunning grounds that are situated in secluded locations. Our venues are handpicked to allow the guests to switch off from everyday life.
Woodlands Farmhouse in Somerset is set in the heart of Glastonbury with the rooms and training rooms overlooking the Glastonbury Hills.
Our other UK venue in Herefordshire called ‘The Colloquy’ is located at the heart of the Whittern Estate and is a stunning conversion of the Estate’s Victorian stable-yard, which now enjoys modern luxury and beautiful grounds for the training programme. ‘The Colloquy’ is designed with imagination and flair, these historic Victorian stable buildings use space to its best advantage, creating a very special environment for the fitness retreat.
Almond House in Hurecial Overa, Andalucia sits amidst spectacular rugged landscape and offers total seclusion and the most idyllic setting for our fitness retreat. The venue is situated 700metres above sea level which provides a very clean air and the perfect environment to improve fitness levels. The outdoor training area is totally unique and is ideal for the most functional training programme.”
How have the first fitness retreats gone?
“Our fitness retreat programme began in May and runs right through until October. Our Ladies Recharge Bootcamp completed on the first week of May, which brought 8 guests. The weather was perfect and the first ever ladies retreat become an instant hit. We have already launched 3 dates for 2017 with recent guests re-booking for next year already.
We have also recently returned from a retreat to Spain with 7 guests training in the great outdoors under glorious sunshine (23 degrees every day) at 700m above sea level. This is an experience which really needs to be done at least once in your life. The venue, training programme and food are of the highest order.”
So, this retreat in Spain… Do people turn up expecting a sunshine holiday?
“Our location is Huercal-Overa in Andalucía, which will only bring sunshine from May onwards. Our venue is high up in the Desert mountains of Andalucía in the most remote location. You can hear a pin drop in between the fitness sessions. This particular retreat provides the perfect combination of training and relaxation. Expect a sunshine holiday with fitness training on tap but at the same time enjoy an afternoon reading beside the private pool.”
What sort of people book onto your retreats and what are their expectations?
“We have had a variety of people booking onto our retreats for different reasons. Firstly, the retreats are relatively small groups, which allow our fitness coaches to support individual needs and separate into small groups when necessary. Each retreat we offer provides a different experience, which subsequently attracts a mixture of interest to the retreat. 
The typical customer for our ladies boot camp has been female friends wanting a health and fitness experience in a social group.
The ‘Executive Fitness Retreat’ has attracted guests who are typically sedentary and want to embark on a health kick. This option is our premium product.
‘Get fit fast’ and ‘Train in Spain’ offer a boot camp training approach, one in the depths of the English countryside over 5 days, which will attract both male and females who require a focused approach to improve their fitness levels. The Spain version is similar, but ultimately in the sun for 7 days. The age range of our previous guests have been from 27-62 years old. It is preferable that the customer has some background and understanding of health and fitness i.e. attending a gym 2-3 times a week, as they will be able to engage with the activities a lot easier. We do make contact with the customer to ensure suitability.”
And what’s the feedback been like?
“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive with a large number of rebookings. One of our recent guests, Sejal, provided a review of the recent ‘Ladies Recharge Bootcamp’, which sums up the experience for each guest. She proudly proclaimed on her Facebook page:
“Feeling recharged, relaxed, a little achey.. But am so grateful to Anna Carys and Nadine Bantleman for the most amazing Recharge Bootcamp. Pilates, boxercise, yoga, circuit training, spa treatments and the most delicious food thanks to Laurent from the French Kitchen. Stunning venue, fantastic ladies and the best laughs.”
All of our fitness retreats are as enjoyable as the next and receive glistening reviews like the one from Sejal!”
Is there any downtime on the retreats, or is it 24-7 health and fitness?
“With each retreat there is always some relaxation during the days, for example, we start the day with an early morning hike, then either a Pilates, Yoga or strength training session depending on the day in the programme. Lunch is served at 2pm with a specially prepared gourmet meal and a break for roughly 1.5 hours before finishing off the day with a further afternoon training programme. On our Ladies Bootcamp you can unwind and relax with a massage/treatment, which has two treatments of choice included within the package. Our retreat in Spain offers a trip to unwind and relax at the beach with a well-earned rest on Day 4 of the 7 Day experience. This certainly helps the customers recover and prepare for the next phase of the fitness programme.”
Tell us a bit about the type of food that’s created and served on your fitness retreats? Is it all lettuce leaves and water?
“We provide a variety of food on each fitness retreat. All produce is cooked fresh by our private onsite chef. We put in the extra effort to make sure all the food is delectable and varies to the taste buds of the guests. 
Our retreats are premium and we certainly do not provide lettuce leaves and water only. We typically provide an early morning freshly made juice, for example coconut, kale and ginger. Breakfast is served soon after a morning hike/walk, which could be blueberry and banana pancakes or salmon and poached eggs. Our chef will provide a two course lunch, example being pea and mint soup and King Prawn, mango and quinoa salad. Finally, a main meal could be, for example Moroccan vegetable, chickpea and apricot tagine with spicy couscous.”
What about if someone fancies a glass of wine at the end of the day, is that allowed?
“We do not provide alcohol on the camps, but we supply an honesty fridge on the retreat to Spain, which allows guests a glass of wine with their evening meal if they wish. However, we do not recommend alcohol if someone is trying to maximise their results from the retreats. On the final day of the Spain retreat we do crack open a bottle of wine to celebrate a week of accomplishment and fun! The UK based retreats does not offer alcohol as an option.”
What’s your opinion on quick fix, faddy diet programmes?
“We do not approve of quick fix, faddy diet programmes at Target. We recommend an approach that provides balance and does not disrupt metabolic rate. In our professional opinion, the only way to long term health is not through consistent consumption of the healthy options and making sure you eat the right food at the right times. Habits and healthy eating is the best way to lead a healthy life and to lose weight. We also highly recommend avoiding refined sugars and the ‘800 calorie a day diets’, as we believe both of those are very unhealthy for the body and can lead to short term damage and possibly even to long term damage.”
And what about boot camps…passing trend that offer short term solutions or a great way to kickstart a new routine and lifestyle?
“We believe that boot camps are not a short term fix, but rather a way to have fun if you enjoy group activities and exercise, or it can even be a way to jump start yourself into habits and exercising more frequently. Either way we know you will have fun and achieve something from the experience.”
Would you call any of your retreats a ‘bootcamp’?
We have 4 different fitness retreats and we would classify 2 of them as boot camps with the other two as fitness retreats. 
We classify our “Get fit fast” and our “Ladies Recharge” as boot camps, as they have a particularly heavy emphasis on exercise. For example, there is 5-6 hours of exercise daily on our ‘Get fit fast’ retreat and our woman’s retreat has a higher amount of exercise compared to our ‘Train in Spain’ and ‘Executive Fitness Retreat’. These both have a higher amount of recreational time and have a slightly more relaxed schedule in terms of workouts.”
What are your plans for the future?
Target has a plan to offer over 20 fitness holidays in 2017 along with the possibility of opening its second Target Training Club in another location. The holidays are becoming increasingly popular, as the consumer is often looking for different holiday experiences. Healthy eating and fitness has been trending very hard in the UK at present. Our products provide the perfect solution to living healthy, eating clean and training smart.”
So, what’s the ‘big dream’ for Target HP?
“The big dream for Target HP is to develop a strong brand and reputation in the health and fitness industry for its excellence in delivering a premium product and service. We aim to support our clients/guests in achieving there personal targets and making the journey an enjoyable one. If our customers get the results they hope to achieve, then we are happy and doing the job we set out to do when we formed.”
And finally, the competition, exciting stuff! What can the winner expect?
“The winner of the competition can expect a unique holiday with a difference. Being on holiday used to be about over indulging and consuming vast quantities of alcohol. More and more people are now looking for ways to live a healthy lifestyle and especially during opportunities away from the sedentary day to day job. Whether you’re looking to get fit, motivated or try something new you will not be disappointed on our ‘Executive Fitness Retreat’.
Our team of highly qualified fitness experts will educate you on nutrition, how to train smart and motivate you to make the relevant changes to live a healthy lifestyle going forward.
Our retreats include a combination of 5-6 hours per day of high and low intensity training, beautiful hikes, yoga and Pilates. All your food and drinks will be catered for by our private chef whilst staying in our private 5* accommodation.
We are looking for innovative and creative recipes to inspire people to use fresh, seasonal produce and prove eating clean is tasty and delicious!”
To be in with a chance of winning a 5 Day stay at Target’s Executive Fitness Retreat check out our competition page for more details!
