Midlife Fitness Coaching: Innovation in Women’s Health and Wellbeing

Midlife Fitness Coaching was launched in April 2025 by Anna Lowe and Bev Davies, with one mission: to help women futureproof their health.

Drawing on their backgrounds in physiotherapy and nursing, Anna and Bev recognised that middle age often acts as a catalyst that drives women to make positive lifestyle changes, yet many struggle to find support that fits around their busy lives.

As they began discussing their own experiences and frustrations, Anna and Bev took matters into their own hands. The result was Midlife Fitness Coaching. Responsible for delivering digital coaching via a smartphone app, every programme combines a personalised, evidence-based exercise programme with tailored nutritional advice.

The challenge

Anna and Bev knew that the success of their business depended on creating a service that reflected the real-life experiences of their clients and provided the flexibility to follow fitness programmes on their own terms.

Having sourced an app to deliver the training programme, Anna realised that the training videos included didn’t reflect the needs of their target audience:

‘The app featured demonstrations delivered by young, male instructors in a gym environment, which did not reflect the experiences of our target audience.

‘However, we didn’t have suitable filming equipment to produce our own content to a high standard. I discussed the problems we were facing with a friend who suggested contacting the South Yorkshire Innovation Programme (SYIP) to see if it could help.’

The project

Midlife Fitness Coaching were able to access the SYIP Deploy Grant, which provides organisations with up to £2,000 towards the cost of implementing an innovation solution which will enable them to develop new ideas, improve processes, access new markets, or launch new products and services.

The grant funded the purchase of vital filming equipment, lighting, and microphones required to produce a library of instruction videos to deliver their training programmes.

‘We knew most of our clients would be undertaking the exercises at home, so we reflected this in the videos we created. Our new library is filmed in the same space, using women in midlife to demonstrate the exercises.’

Impact

Since securing funding from SYIP, Midlife Fitness Coaching has successfully developed a comprehensive library of training videos, which now form a vital element of the company’s training programmes:

‘The equipment we purchased through the SYIP grant has been transformational for our business. Our vision from the outset was to create a bank of training videos, which could be used to develop our training programmes. To date, we’ve successfully recorded over 60 different exercises, and we’re continuously adding more.’

‘The feedback we’ve received from our clients has been amazing. We were very conscious that to encourage women to make positive changes, the experience had to reflect their own – the exercises needed to look achievable. Judging by the positive feedback we’ve received, I think we’ve definitely achieved this.’

The library of content Midlife Fitness Coaching has produced has seen the company launch two core training programmes, and as a direct result, has seen the business expand its client base to support women from across the UK.

Future Plans

Building on the success enjoyed to date, Midlife Fitness Coaching plans to continue working with SYIP to improve women’s health. The company is currently working with academics at Sheffield Hallam University to ensure the nutritional support they deliver reflects the latest research findings:

‘The research project we’re planning is a really exciting one for the business. We’re going to be working with academics to collect detailed data from participants before and after the programme. The research won’t just be examining body composition measurements but also how this affects quality of life by looking at the impact on sleep quality, mental health, stress and much more.

‘Our experience of SYIP has been very positive. The quality of support we’ve received has been incredible, and as a new business, it has helped us to achieve things we didn’t think would be possible.’

SYIP supports organisations across the region to innovate and grow; develop new ideas, improve processes, access new markets, and launch new products or services.

To find out more about SYIP and how we could help your organisation innovate, please contact us at innovation@shu.ac.uk.

The South Yorkshire Innovation Programme is being delivered by Sheffield Hallam University in partnership with The University of Sheffield and Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, and is part-funded by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.