Hitsona Global : Gary Vaughan on Trading Psychiatry for a HITzone Hove Studio

This 3:07 HITZone Hove franchisee testimonial gives Irish franchise prospects a clinical-background operator perspective on the HITZone fitness-studio franchise model. The franchisee — Gary Vaughan — spent fifteen years in psychiatry, both clinical and community, and is also a qualified personal trainer and pilates instructor. He flew from Dallas to meet HITZone's global headquarters and the brand's support began at that pre-purchase stage — multiple HITZone studio visits, meetings with existing studio owners, conversations with members — before he committed to joining the community. The brand-fit framing is explicit. Vaughan evaluated other fitness franchise opportunities and rejected them because they were big-box concepts and that was not the kind of operator he wanted to be. He chose HITZone after extensive research because the brand was about community and about making a real difference rather than about scale — and because the brand's stated values matched his own clinical-services orientation. The trading update is unusually concrete. HITZone Hove opened in January 2020, with plans for a second studio that COVID-19 delayed. Since reopening from lockdown the studio has trebled its member base, with many new members being frontline workers prioritising fitness post-pandemic. A second studio reopening was planned for January 2021 and a third by end-2021. For Irish franchise prospects evaluating low-impact-fitness franchise concepts, this is one of the stronger multi-studio operator testimonials in the HITZone Irish watch-page set. For Irish prospects evaluating fitness-studio franchise concepts with clinical or professional-services backgrounds, this Hove testimonial is one of the stronger background-fit pieces in the HITZone Irish watch-page testimonial set.