{"id":28496,"date":"2017-10-06T16:55:19","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T20:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/creator\/?p=28496"},"modified":"2020-02-26T14:28:11","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T19:28:11","slug":"meet-new-trainer-hard-yard-employs-ex-offenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/meet-new-trainer-hard-yard-employs-ex-offenders","title":{"rendered":"Meet your new trainer: Hard Yard employs ex-offenders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI studied law, but I knew early on I didn\u2019t [want to be] a solicitor or a barrister,\u201d says London-based entrepreneur Frankie Bennett. \u201cI was much more interested in what happened to people after they leave the criminal justice system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They were often coming out of prison with few skills, making it nearly impossible to find a job. But many of them had an area of expertise that made them extremely valuable in the workforce: fitness.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Hard Yard: Prison-Style Workouts Taught by Ex-Cons | Creator Awards | WeWork\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mpwe_Qamxps?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of talent coming out of prisons, and there\u2019s a will to work,\u201d Bennett says. \u201cThere\u2019s also a booming fitness industry. I thought: How do we bring those together?\u201d Her solution was <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehardyard.co.uk\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Hard Yard<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an exercise program that employs ex-offenders as trainers. Weights or other equipment aren\u2019t necessary, so they can be done anywhere. On a recent weekend, people were gathered on a rooftop in Shoreditch for a tough workout. There are 10 other workouts each week across London.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In January, Bennett met Beth Thayne, who would become her cofounder. Thayne\u2019s background in startups proved to be just what the company needed. \u201cThe concept really resonated with me,\u201d Thayne says. \u201cAnytime I\u2019ve had difficulty or stress in my life, I\u2019ve used exercise to get through it. The Hard Yard was a good fit because these were people who approached exercise the way I do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their company got a huge boost this month when they won $18,000 at the London <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creatorawards.wework.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Creator Awards<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, sponsored by WeWork. \u201cWith WeWork\u2019s support, we can expand our team,\u201d Bennett says. \u201cWe desperately want to take on more trainers. It can take our program to the next level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI studied law, but I knew early on I didn\u2019t [want to be] a solicitor or a barrister,\u201d says London-based entrepreneur Frankie Bennett. \u201cI was much more interested in what happened to people after they leave the criminal justice system.\u201d They were often coming out of prison with few skills, making it nearly impossible to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":895,"featured_media":28509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43903],"tags":[39221,39218,30177],"class_list":["post-28496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-stories","tag-entrepreneurs","tag-small-businesses","tag-creator"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.4 (Yoast SEO v25.3.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meet your new trainer: Hard Yard employs ex-offenders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"People often come out of prison with few job prospects. 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