How Caroline’s Circuits became a midlife fitness empire

Posted by Admin November 24, 2024 Fitness

Caroline Idiens rises at 5am to make sure the technology is working before her live Caroline’s Circuits classes from her sitting room begin.

Caroline Idiens was on a retreat in Tuscany without wifi in 2021 when her younger brother called to say her Instagram following was going into overdrive.

At the time, her Caroline’s Circuits profile had 15,000 followers a year after launch but thanks to a home workout account in the US linking to one of her 30-second fitness videos, every time her brother refreshed the page, he could see she had gained another 2,000 followers.

Since launching in the first week of COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Caroline’s Circuits has more than 2 million followers on Instagram, with more than 5,200 members paying a £35 monthly website or app subscription to her strength-training classes.

As Idiens readily admits, her brand has grown at a “phenomenal pace”. The mother of two’s reels have been viewed millions of times — 30% of her audience is US-based — followers grow by a weekly average of 10,000, while 1,500 have tuned in to her Monday live class in the week that we speak.

While Idiens’ fans are crunching away on millions of workout mats, her family does the same with the figures. “I speak to Dad every morning about the numbers and he’s got spreadsheets all over his office,” smiles 52-year-old Idiens, who is billed as the midlife fitness influencer or, as one UK newspaper put it, the ‘workout queen of Middle England’.

During the 1990s, she worked at a London advertising firm on big accounts such as HSBC and Tesco. As a fitness fanatic she also had a personal trainer and loved the interaction, working on particular strengths and subsequent results.

It piqued her interest and in 2001 she started her own business in London, rising at 5am and doing one-on-one training sessions in Battersea Park. Nearly 25 years later, she is godparents to clients. “It’s been a very nice journey in terms of the connections and relationships we made,” she says.

Caroline Idiens worked in a London advertising agency before starting out as a fitness instructor. — Caroline Idiens worked in London advertising agency before starting out as a fitness instructor.

After moving to Berkshire and training 10 mothers in a “beautiful barn” after their school runs, the business scaled with the pace of one of her 30-minute classes when the pandemic hit after she had created the small Caroline’s Circuits WhatsApp group.

Idiens sensed an opportunity as she started with around 40 loyal friends online and set up a business account on Instagram. “I worked out what I wanted was for people to feel that they were almost in that gym environment,” she recalls, “but without the pressures, the competition and who’s wearing the best kit.

“I think this is kind of my all-or-nothing mentality. I thought ‘I’m not going to try and do Facebook and YouTube but go hell for leather on Instagram’.”

She has undoubtedly found her demographic, with around 97% female followers ranging from ages 40-60, as well as a clear business strategy.

“It’s about solving problems. It’s people saying to me they’ve got sore knees, sore wrists, how to do a press-up or how to stay motivated,” she says. “It’s constantly reinforcing the message that we can do this, but we can do it together because I’m doing it with them and we’ve never repeated a class.

“I’m all about positivity, so I will never say a negative word on my page or on my platform, everyone’s in their own lane, and I’ve decided that what I’m doing is staying with my core group, but making it relevant.”

Her clients range from beginners who have purchased trainers to those training for Ironmans, while she still holds classes from her sitting room. She listens to her audience too, conducting polls such as whether music should be played. The answer came as a resounding ‘no’.

Caroline's Circuits has amassed millions of followers and views since launching in 2020. — Caroline’s Circuits has amassed millions of followers and views since launching in 2020.

Idiens, who still rises at 5am, also replies to the hundreds of messages she receives. “Somebody sent me a message the other week saying that she had never been able to wear a dress without sleeves for an occasion,” she says.

“It was her son’s wedding and she said she had never felt so happy in a certain outfit because she’d done so much strength work over the last year working on her arms. She told me that not only did she look great but she felt totally different.

“I get a lot of messages where people still think that I’m their PT even though there’s thousands of us in one class. It’s really nice that personal element is still there.”

With subscribers on the platform growing towards 4,000 in 2024 alone, she has partnerships with health brands and there are plans for a merchandise range and health retreats. A book called Fit at 50 will also be published in the spring, marking five years since she launched online. This runaway business success has no signs of abating.

“I’ve got a couple of really patient and supportive girlfriends that work in the industry, in brand management and strategy,” adds Idiens. “When I ask them some questions, they always say to trust your gut, stay in your lane and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing because whatever you’re doing it’s working for you.

“I genuinely still feel as excited about doing each class as I did five nearly five years ago.”

Behind the brand: Caroline Idiens on…

Knowing her audience

I’ve tried to make it a really inclusive platform. I try to tell the next group of women that if you incorporate strength at an earlier age, it’s all about longevity, and it’s trying to get that message across because a lot of people still don’t know the fact about lifting weights, and the impact it can have.

The personal touch

I have three generations of a family — a daughter, mother and grandmother — who have done my Friday class for two years. The daughter is at university and the grandmother lives in France. It is their catch-up of the week and they ring one another on a call at 9:30am on a Friday.

Fit at 50: Your Guide to a Stronger, Fitter, and Happier (Mid) Life in Just 6 Weeks is available for pre-order