Our story
Evo was started in 2014 in a church hall in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear when Sarah realised her love of fitness and the benefits of exercise on her mental health and much more. She decided she wanted to encourage local people to turn up to a class feeling comfortable in their own skin and to leave with a tribe right behind them, cheering them on.
Evo is a community of amazing Fitness Instructors - Personal Trainers, awesome staff who work hard behind the scenes, and three co owners. Helen who voiced a desire to come onboard as co owner in 2018 and the dream started to grow bigger, and in 2019 the ownership of Evo became just perfect with our fantastic long term Instructor Emma - who had been an integral part of Evo for 4 years already - joining in and taking a place that was well deserved in helping Sarah and Helen lead their team and clients to a beautiful future of support, motivation, encouragement, an ear to listen to them.... with a fantastic irreplaceable team behind them......
Services we offer
Meet the team
Sarah - Founder/Co Owner
Sarah opened her first class and Evo was born in June 2014! She loves trail running, road riding and mountain biking in the Santa Cruz mountains and also loves nothing more than to hit the hills and do some dirt-biking with her family most weekends when its not too hot. Sarah qualified in many level 2,3,and 4s and is now studying Psychology in The Bay Area of San Francisco California and also hosts our podcast Evolve.Health.Fitness.Happiness. Her one and only aim in opening Evo was to change just one life, just to make someone realise they are loved, needed and definitely can do anything they put their minds to. Evo is definitely achieving this. It is so exciting to see where Evo goes from here.
Emma - Co Owner
Emma joined Evo early 2014 and quickly qualified as a level 2 gym Instructor. Since then shes always been in the hustle and bustle of the studio teaching classes everyday, her favourite classes to teach are Indoor cycling & Kettlebells. Emma is now a co - owner as of 2019 and is thriving in her continuous growth of knowledge and building her skill set. Shes just about finished her level 3 PT qualification.... go Emma.
She’s fun loving, caring & always striving for more.
Evo girl through and through dont know where we would be without her!
Helen - Co Owner
Helen was born in summer ‘76 and has always enjoyed sports. After joining as a client in 2017, she quickly fell in love with Evo and its ethos and qualified in Level 2 fitness and Indoor cycling to start as an instructor. Helen became a Co-Owner in 2018. Helen has a real passion for fantastic food, she qualified in nutrition whilst completing Level 3 Personal Training.
You will usually see Helen posting recipes and treats on our social media nutrition page ‘Evolution Foodspiration’ ..... shes the go to girl for any foodie ideas and inspiration!
Lou -
Business Development Co-Ordinator
Well what can we say about Lou!!
She’s amazing ! She gives her whole heart to this business and we cannot thank her enough for all she does above and beyond!
Lou is also on her own journey and is smashing the ceilings that she’s has built over time and will take her time and appreciate every step of her journey we are sure!
What is it Lou does? She really is all hands on board and will do all she can to keep the business growing! Here is a list of a few of her talents! Lou develops, and secures new business opportunities by generating leads and sales, maintaining client relationships, and coordinating promotional activities. She is truly awesome we are sure you will all agree!
Kerry Carver
Zumba and Pound Instructor
Kerry is our amazing and crazy Pound fit and Zumba fitness instructor here at Evo and also an FND engineer with openreach.
She has dabbled in many sports through out her childhood with track and cross country being her all time fav!! One highlight throughout her running career was when she finished 2nd in the u17s girls mini London marathon and the feeling She got just even competing in such a race was exhilarating and made all the hard work training worth while.
Kerry absolutely loves being a part of the Evo family both the staff and clients are unbelievably supportive of one another and just lush all round! The buzz she gets from teaching you guys in class is amazing, seeing those sweaty smiling faces enjoying working out along with her gives her so much drive and determination. She loves Evo! it is definitely the place to be!!
Connor
Personal Trainer and Instructor
Growing up I never used to enjoy fitness, I was uhealthy, had weight problems, and I was bullied for it.
I started to take more interest in other sports like boxing, parkour/freerunning and many others and started to enjoy my time in fitness.
Once I left school I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but sport and fitness was on my radar. A friend of mine told me to try out college, so I enrolled onto my level 2/3 fitness courses. I qualified in June 2012. Been at Evo since 2017.
My life has been a rollercoaster but I can definitely say Evolution Fitness has been one of the best opportunities in my life and I’m happy I have been blessed with being part of the company and family
Karen Juan-Dees
Social Run Leader
Hi I’m Karen, I’ve been a client of EVO for the last 3 years. EVO is not like any gym I’ve been at before, its a place where I found my love for fitness. I am the Run Leader at Evo wanting to help our clients begin or develop their running experience. My own love for running started over 2 years ago where I developed a passion for long distance running after completing several half marathons. Along with running I also love Kickboxing and any HIIT and Strength based training. I believe balance comes from exercising the body and mind and compliment my training with Yoga, Pilates and meditation. I’m currently studying my level 2 Fitness Instructor qualification and then Level 3 Personal Trainer after. I have 2 children and understand the importance of balancing family, work and finding some me time in amongst that to exercise. EVO can help you find that balance and help you become the best version of you so that you can develop the strength and resilience.
Sharna Johnson
Fitness Instructor/Personal Trainer
Being a competitive swimmer in my younger days definitely kick started my love for fitness. After becoming injured and struggling mentally with the recovery I decided I wanted to become a sports physio which lead me to take my sports therapy degree. I fell even more in love with fitness after attending classes at Evo! I then decided to do level 2,3 and loved 1-1 coaching. After my degree and being very data and statistics focused, I started to take a more holistic approach to my training. Big lover of all things to do with mindset and mindfulness. Love yoga and meditating. I realised the true magic happens when you work on not only your physical health but your mental health too!
My goal as an instructor is to help people fall in love with their bodies. Fitness shouldn't be just how you can look, or what you can change its about celebrating what the body is actually capable of! Self love....
I love travelling and experiencing different cultures. I love anything outdoors and nature!
Samuel Vernon
Fitness Instructor
Sam joined the Evo family in August 2018. He is a massive part of the Evo family and a great part of this amazing team. Sam loves instructing the most amazing members and keeping them tapping there toes. Sam teaches a selection of classes from Raise the Bar to Ass and Abs to Dance Aerobics. He is a great believer that classes should be both enjoyable yet effective. Always striving to want his participants to be the best they can be so you'll get plenty of encouragement and support from being around Sam. Our Sam does the best routines in dance and can definitely teach you a move or two in your spare time. Dont be shy have a go and get booked into a class with him today!
Donna
Run Leader- LiRF certified
Donna is an England Athletics LiRF (Leader in Running Fitness) qualified run leader and is working towards the CiRF (Coach in Running Fitness). For the last 2-3 years, she has lead various ‘C25K’, ‘beginners’ and ‘improvers’ groups. Her groups have predominantly run for Active Newcastle and Elswick Harriers, though she as lead and supported at other, local run groups in the West End. She delivers local, social runs at varying distances and abilities, and plans interactive, coached sessions, designed to really push and develop runners to improve. Donna has trained for many, many races over the last 3 years, and has completed many half marathons. She started training for the 2020 Liverpool Marathon, alongside a group of friends, but training had to cut-short due to Covid-19 and having to move a full-time job home around a busy family. She is now looking forward to the Liverpool Marathon race in May 2021, and will be spending much time between now and preparing and training for long weekend runs! Donna loves exercise and enjoys yoga and spin classes, to compliment her running. She’s really excited to be part of Evo, and loves how inclusive, motivational, supportive everyone is at the gym. She lives locally, and knows the area really well, and she really can’t wait to get stuck in!
Careers
At Evo we are always on the look out for amazing talent to join our family, so if you or someone you know would like to know more please contact us!
Applicants must have at-least level 2 gym instructor and 1 other relevant qualification for classes.
