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Reach Up: transforming more women's lives through group exercise

5th June 2025

We’ve joined forces with EMD UK to launch a revolutionary new learning hub for group exercise instructors, building on the foundations of This Girl Can Classes.

We’re thrilled to introduce you to Reach Up, our new collaboration with EMD UK, the national governing body for group exercise.

Supported by National Lottery funding, Reach Up is a free, online resource hub for group exercise instructors that aims to boost physical activity among less active and inactive women. 

It contains bitesize learning to help instructors understand and reach more women in their communities – especially those who face the most barriers to getting active, such as Muslim women and women with long-term health conditions.

Engaging women from underserved communities is the top priority for the next phase of our campaign here at This Girl Can. 

Screengrab of Reach Up platform homepage.

Reach Up offers easy-to-digest resources, including videos and infographics, on topics such as behaviour change, effective marketing strategies and how to support participants with health conditions.

It builds on the foundations of This Girl Can Classes, our previous collaboration with EMD UK, which launched in 2019 in response to insight revealing that many women felt intimidated by traditional group exercise classes.

Claire Edwards, our head of campaign activation, said: "We’re proud to launch Reach Up alongside EMD UK. This resource equips instructors with the tools they need to engage with and retain women who often feel that group exercise isn’t for them.

"The This Girl Can campaign has already helped nearly 4 million women become more active. This latest launch continues our mission to break down inequalities in women’s activity levels and drive the change needed so that all women, regardless of background, feel they truly belong in sport and physical activity."

Two women using Swiss balls in a gym.

Group exercise is one of the most popular ways for women to get active, with more than 20% of women in England regularly attending fitness classes, according to our Active Lives data; that’s more than are engaged in either running or swimming.

However, our research with women who do not currently attend group exercise classes, conducted for us by Walnut in 2023, found there are two key reasons why:

32% said they were worried about not being fit enough.

25% said they were concerned about feeling judged.

Who is Reach Up for?

Reach Up content is designed to support all instructors, from those working in community halls who want to make a bigger difference in their local area to multi-site fitness operators looking to upskill their staff.

Instructors and front-of-house staff who are better equipped in topics such as behaviour change could lead to better retention, membership conversion, and better customer lifecycle from group exercise classes. 

The bitesize modules will be actively promoted and immediately available to more than 11,000 instructors via the EMD UK instructor membership.

Through Reach Up, group exercise instructors can:  

  • Understand the barriers women face and how they can be overcome
  • Learn about behaviour change and the key role they play in this
  • Enhance their knowledge in health conditions that disproportionately affect women.

"This resource equips instructors with the tools they need to engage with and retain women who often feel that group exercise isn’t for them."

Claire Edwards

Head of campaign activation, This Girl Can

Shelley Meyern, COO of EMD UK, said: "We’re thrilled to introduce Reach Up to the fitness sector. Instructors play a crucial role in helping women lead active lives, with 4.8 million adults attending group exercise classes every week.

"Reach Up makes it much easier than ever before for instructors, whether working in leisure centres or community halls, to upskill and make an even greater impact. The accessible, bitesized format means instructors can apply what they have learnt straight away.

"We’re proud to work with This Girl Can help more women find activities they love and to stick with them." 

Reach Up is now live and accessible to group exercise instructors, fitness professionals and operators. Active Partnerships and community projects are also invited to join forces with Reach Up to create change in their local areas.

Additional modules will be released throughout June, and the hub will be regularly updated with further topics coming later in the year.

Discover Reach Up