Friskis & Svettis

Friskis & Svettis is a non-profit organization of Swedish origin aiming at providing various forms of exercise. Friskis & Svettis is today one of Sweden's largest organization. Since its inauguration in 1978, with only one participant at the premier "Jympa"-session, Friskis & Svettis by 2007 had a total number of paying members exceeding 400 000 in Sweden, equalling 4,21 % of the country's total population.

Friskis & Svettis features several forms of activities, ranging from exercise to wildlife experiences. Its original activity and core product is the "Jympa", a unique Swedish way of training developed by Friskis & Svettis's founder Johan Holmsäter. The word is derived from gymnastics. A jympa session is rather similar to aerobics class in excercise content, but tend to be less choreographed and less coordination-requiring. The jympa concept does not assume that participants regularly attend a specific instructor's session. Also, the profile of jympa in Sweden has tended to be more informal in comparison to aerobics, attracting a wider variety of participants.

Smaller Friskis & Svettis clubs usually use school or general sports facilities for their activities, while larger clubs tend to have their own facilities and have all the outward appearance of a commercial gym. The concept of Jympa, together with Friskis & Svettis maintaining its status as non-profit, has maintained the organization at a unique position on the Swedish exercise market with continued growth despite fierce competition with commercial gyms such as SATS and World Class Training offering similar activities.

There are today several local Friskis & Svettis training centers set up outside of Sweden, most notably in Norway, with 35 branches, as well as activity in Helsinki, Vantaa, Copenhagen, Brussels, Paris, Luxemburg, Amsterdam, London and Aberdeen. All of these branches use the concept of Jympa as its core product.

[ [http://web.friskissvettis.se/history___568.aspx Friskis&Svettis ] ] [ [http://www.friskis.be/ Friskis&Svettis Brussels – The fun way to exercise in Brussels ] ] [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZjKUe6XBXo&feature=related YouTube - Växjö 2007-06-25 ] ]

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