LOSE IT-04.2019

40 LOSE IT! VOLUME 30

BY SINELIZWI NCALUKA

IT UP!

outh African-born

Steve Uria started his

fitness guru journey in

the US by sending his

adopted city Atlanta

Georgia to boot camp.

The first of its kind,

he’d launched the

exercise regime in

collaboration with CNN’s medical

reporter Sanjay Gupta. The workout

craze was quickly adopted by gyms

around the country and soon spread

across the world. The concept

played right to his strengths; Steve

had spent a year in the Special

Forces Military programme of the

former SADF (now SANDF).

But Steve was not new to the

fitness industry: SWEAT 1000, one

of his earlier creations, had been

the first ever fitness boutique in SA.

‘Everyone said it would never work,

but we did it and ended up with

eight stores before I left SA,’he says.

‘Springbok rugby players,

This is not your

average swingsets-

and-sandpits

playground. Switch

is a compact exercise

programme that

guarantees an

intense workout

in 60 minutes.

Steve Uria (above) and his Switch

Squad are whipping SA into shape.