A new women-only fitness and weight-loss centre is set to open in the UK.

Following the signing of a master franchise agreement in the UK with master franchisee Jason Chong, the first Contours Express club should open in early 2005.

The agreement calls for 82 Contours Express sites to open in the UK over the next 10 years, but Chong says the market has the demographics to support more than 1,000 locations.

The concept was founded in the US by former gym operators Daren Carter and Charlie Woodward who launched the first site in Kentucky in 1998.

Comprising a 16-piece training circuit which can be completed in 29 minutes, Contours Express uses custom-built, weight-based, CardioFit resistance equipment rather than hydraulic equipment.

The company has also recently signed an areas development agreement in Brazil and is expanding in Canada and Mexico; it expects to have at least 450 sites in the US by the end of the year and 1,000 locations internationally by 2009.

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