About bbb
More than ten years ago, the two sisters Esther and Inge wanted to create a nice place where you as a woman can safely work on personal growth. You can let yourself bloom, grow and shine to the fullest.
They wanted a total concept with focus on body, food and mind. A place where women could easily work on a healthy lifestyle. Before the term ’boutique fitness’ existed and you hardly heard words like ‘holistic’, they started a small and personal health boutique.
A health boutique for every woman
Have you ever been to bbb? bbb is for every woman, for every stage of life and for every age. You are welcome to come and have a look, a trial lesson is free and without obligations. bbb has boutiques in Amsterdam (Jordaan & Amstel), Delft, The Hague, Haarlem, Tilburg, Utrecht, Den Bosch and Rotterdam!
Why is bbb a health boutique?
A health boutique can be recognized by its personal approach and small setting. At bbb there is a lot of room for personal attention and guidance. Thanks to our holistic approach, you will take better care of yourself, eat healthier and make more time for yourself. So whether you want to move in a targeted manner, are in your menopauze, want to lose weight, have physical complaints or just to feel better; we will coach you to a healthier version.
Background
bbb stands for inner beauty, body workouts and lifestyle balance.
The 3 pillars are intertwined in all 3 b’s. Like body, food & mind are intertwined. The first b – inner beauty – is the starting point, after all every woman is beautiful! You work on your inner beauty through healthy food, exercising in a pleasant way and working on your lifestyle.
The middle b – body workouts – is the pivot of bbb, it mainly refers to training your body and the place where you do it, a pleasant environment with professional coaches. The last b – lifestyle balance – completes the circle. A balanced lifestyle is a lifestyle with the right mindset. This lifestyle can be achieved and maintained through coaching. This is how you will get the best out of yourself!
Founders
Let's introduce the founders of bbb health boutique. Inge & Esther are two sisters who grew up in an entrepreneurial family.
About Esther
Esther already knew during her psychology studies that lifestyle change requires an approach in the field of body, food and mind. After her follow-up study in cognitive behavioral therapy, she ended up in the business services sector. But her heart is at sustainable lifestyle change. She wanted to offer this to women in a safe and pleasant environment where they can gradually work on their health and where her other passions, sports and healthy food, would also be an important part. Through her studies and her experiences, she saw that change starts from the right mindset with a holistic approach. Slowly a dream formed to set up a holistic gym, a boutique fitness gym, based on the experience of women.
Dream
That dream became reality with the opening of studios in Amsterdam and Utrecht in 2008. Esther has done several mindfulness and meditation courses in recent years and a yin yoga course. She likes yoga and strength exercises, but the hot cabin remains her favorite.
About Inge
Inge (Esther’s sister) briefly worked at one of the ‘Big Five’ firms in the Netherlands after her studies in economics. She soon saw that an office job would not make her happy. She followed a postdoc study in journalism and worked as a financial journalist at various news agencies and newspapers. Inge interviewed many CEOs of companies, which made her want to set up a company as well. When she unexpectedly fell into depression around the age of 30, she decided not to take the prescribed anti-depressants and wanted to solve it in a different way. She started running, meditating and eating differently. That worked very well for her.
Holistic approach
When her sister told her about her dream of boutique fitness shortly after this difficult period, she immediately wanted to participate. She also saw through her experience that a step-by-step, holistic approach is the way to sustainable lifestyle change. Moreover, she wanted to do business in a socially responsible way and she saw how important a nice place is for women where they can work on themselves in the field of body, food & mind.
After setting up a number of studios of their own, Inge made an effort to make the concept accessible to other entrepreneurs and the personal approach of bbb health boutique could be guaranteed. Inge has a passion for nutrition & mindfulness and has done various courses. Pure, unprocessed ‘real’ food as well as meditation are important to her. She prefers to work out in the hot cabin, but also likes running, Pilates & yoga. Inge has run a half marathon and dreams of running a full marathon. She has completed training in Ashtanga yoga and Pilates.
How it started
The sisters grew up in an entrepreneurial family. They have known about training in heat for over thirty years. Their mother Charlotte owned two heat cabin studios. For years they have worked there as a coach and have seen the benefits of training in heat in women. Women not only achieved their target weight, physical complaints also became less and the sauna effect provided deep relaxation. In addition, their extensive experience has taught them that health is a holistic concept. It starts with the right mindset and body, food and mind are inextricably linked. That is why bbb is a gym where you are coached continuously.
Vision
They shared the belief that real lifestyle change is only possible by paying attention to body, food & mind.
They developed a concept with five core values
holistic
durable
innovative
personal
safe
Based on these values, an environment has been created in which women can continuously work on lifestyle goals in an accessible way. The main premise here is that motivation is capricious and that change occurs step by step. At bbb you can train independently and work on your health. But if things go a little less, a coach is immediately ready to discuss your motivation, nutritional habits or exercise plan. In addition, they developed different programs in their fitness boutiques for different life stages of women, such as pregnancy and menopause.
Hot cabin workout
Movement in a heat cabin was developed in Switzerland in the 1980s. Swiss therapists developed this targeted method (the so-called Thermo-Physical Method) for women to exercise, including to lose weight. It was actually kind of an answer to the muscle building oriented male gyms of the time. This Swiss method was more aimed at women and shaping. The heat increases energy consumption and stimulates fat burning. bbb is women only.
Originally, moving in a heat cabin was developed for women and bbb has further developed the concept. For example, the exercise programs in the cabin are tailor-made for women and there are special programs for women who are pregnant, have just given birth or are going through the menopause, for example. Moreover, many women find it a nice and safe feeling to exercise in a studio that was founded from the perspective of women. Curious? You can schedule a trial lesson online for free here.
Do you want to know more about lifestyle? Esther and Inge have written a book that can be purchased via Bol.com or in the studios.