It’s our 18th birthday!
Ding! Ding!
Is that a tram I can hear? Or birthday bells?
It's both, as not only is Griffen Fitness turning 18 this month, but we also have the long-awaited trams running up and down Leith Walk! Exciting, but it's been a long time coming:
2005: Fitness with Tracy Griffen launched from the back of my bike. Cycling all around Edinburgh teaching exercise with what equipment could fit in a pannier bag - I was advised by Business Gateway that it was a terrible idea. Teaching aqua aerobics at Edinburgh Leisure pools.
2006: Building the business through word of mouth and working with Bite Magazine. 'Monday Night Feelgood' aerobics class launched at Pilrig Church Hall, plus aqua classes at Drumsheugh Baths. We move home to Balfour Street and the trams are meant to be built soon.
2007: Started fitness column for Trinity Spotlight and Newtown View magazines (columns still going strong). I even (reluctantly) pose for photos. The above photo is from a 2007 Scotsman newspaper photo shoot outside Dynamic Earth. 'Healthy Living in Leith' segment appears on Leith FM.
2008 / 2009: Perfecting the 'Griffen approach' to exercise by training ridiculous numbers of clients and getting seriously fit. Started The Leither magazine column - still going strong.
2010: We open the studio at 3 Balfour Street, Griffen Fitness becomes a Limited Company, global recession and we lose over half of our clients overnight.
2011: 'Healthy Living Yearbook' published, written as a result of a back injury from qualifying in Extreme Ketllebells. I avoid kettlebells from here on in. In response to ongoing tram nonsense, I join Edinburgh committee of Federation of Small Businesses and get politically active.
2012: Husband Andy and I stop drinking alcohol for a year and place second in the mixed teams of Coast to Coast Race, discover the joys of endurance training.
2013: Andy and I help start the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling. Invited to Downing Street for Small Business Saturday.
2014: Fitness pug Coco is born in January, starts 'work' that summer. I join the Scottish Policy Unit of the FSB.
2015: Purchase of the studio, our HQ is secure forever.
2016: I exit the political world, exhausted by tedious committee meetings. Tram project abandoned overnight, Balfour Street a mess. Punk Aerobics is born.
2017: Coco and I start volunteering for Leith Festival.
2018: I join Board of Directors at Leith Festival.
2019: I try running both a fitness studio and Leith Festival (as Festival Coordinator) at the same time. Extreme admin.
2020: A global pandemic and the studio is locked down. Webcam Workouts are born and 'Get Fit & Enjoy It' is published.
2021: Who can even remember what happened in 2021?! We escape to the allotment... a lot.
2022: We dabble in podcasting and compete in the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championships.
2023: Trams run on Leith Walk and Griffen Fitness reaches adulthood. Hooray!
I've learned that running a business is an endurance event, not a sprint. Trust your gut and follow your heart. Of course, Griffen Fitness would not exist without YOU, so a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years.
You can spend a lot of time telling the world about your products and keeping up with what everyone else is doing on social media. But if you really want to succeed, you need to focus on your OWN goals. And it seems fitting on the year of the businesses 18th birthday, that trams should be running down Leith Walk. Somehow the adversity of Edinburgh's biggest folly has made us stronger. And as always, we remain cautiously optimistic.
Griffen Fitness sent a newsletter every month from 2006 to 2020; 14 years of newsletters, or over 150 newsletters in a row. So it's been nice having a wee break. Whilst Facebook, Instagram and newsletters have been abandoned in the interest of productivity, I do still tweet @tracygriffen. My online blog post library is growing every month, check it out at on my (kinda new) website.
If you're keen to book in, studio hours are now 9am - 5.30pm Mondays to Thursdays (last session 4.30pm). PT sessions remain £50 with continued free online support in between sessions, and the price will remain frozen for the rest of the year. In an uncertain world, you can be sure that Coco and I will be doing fitness on Balfour Street, as we do.
