Introduction & About Friskis&Svettis

Mission

Friskis&Svettis (F&S) is a non-profit organisation, which started in 1978 in Sweden. Friskis&Svettis' mission is to provide fun and accessible, high-quality workout for everyone.

Members

In 2024 there were 518 698 members across Europe, with as many as 504 651 in Sweden alone. That is almost 5% of the Swedish population and F&S is still going strong! Almost every city and town in Sweden has its own Friskis club and Friskis&Svettis is one of the best known brands. Outside Sweden, Friskis is most popular in Norway (11 846 members). In the rest of Europe there were 2 201 members, Finland being the biggest. There are also Friskis clubs in Aberdeen, Brussels, Copenhagen, Fuengirola, London, Paris and of course... Luxembourg. 

The numbers speaks for themselves, Friskis has found a winning concept. Run by some 12 000 fitness-passionate volunteers, Friskis puts the emphasis on high-quality, accessible and fun workout. At Friskis everyone is welcome, regardless of level or previous experience.

Friskis&Svettis Riks

F&S Riks is Friskis’ umbrella organisation and as such provides guidelines for all Friskis clubs. It is responsible for the brand, for development of training forms and training courses as well as coordination of growth and IT issues. All Friskis clubs are members of F&S Riks. At F&S Riks' Annual General Meeting (March each year), decisions are made on overall issues that affect all Friskis clubs. In between the Annual General Meetings, in the autumn, a “business” conference (VKON, Verksamhetskonferens) is held where issues about the development of Friskis are discussed with all clubs. F&S Riks also runs a number of overall development projects for the benefit of all clubs. The projects are always run together with interested local clubs that can contribute with the right skills depending on the type of project.

An important part of Riks’ work is to protect and promote the Friskis brand. To do that all clubs need to follow the common guidelines and work in the same direction. At the same time, the local ”roots” and the local commitment are crucial for all Friskis clubs. A strong brand and the local commitment makes for a strong club. F&S Riks produces presentations of the different forms of training and provides an image and film bank and other material that the local clubs can use for free on their websites, to complement their own local material. By the way, the name should be written without space: Friskis&Svettis.

Riks spokesperson is its Secretary General, for the moment Janna Hellerup Ulvselius (appointed in March 2023). F&S Riks employs around 20 persons.

Training offer

In 2025, F&S Sweden offered around 80 different types of classes overall, ranging from the classical Jympa at different levels, Barbell, CoreFlex, Multi Fit, Step, Yoga and Dance Fusion to Spinning and Gym (at clubs with their own premises). There is something for everybody, including for specific target groups such as children, teenagers, seniors, pregnant women or the disabled. Friskis also has its own workout app called Friskis Go, allowing members to workout wherever they are.

The F&S Concept

Whether you go to a session in Luxembourg, Gothenburg or Paris, you will know that you are at F&S, the concept is the same everywhere! What is then so special about the F&S concept? Many things…

  • Everybody is welcome at Friskis, young and not so young, fit and less fit, beginners and more experienced… No need for fancy clothes, you can come as you are and will be welcomed with a smile. Friskis is a friendly club!

  • Friskis sessions are easy to follow, simple, straight-forward, fun and effective. The concept is built on music and the pleasure of moving. The idea is that if it’s not fun you won’t continue.

  • Friskis clubs are run by people who volunteer their time because they are passionate about what they do, and it shows. In 2024, there were as many as 12 000 volunteers working for Friskis.

  • Membership costs a fraction of what a commercial club charges, but the quality is second to none.

The concept has been developed in co-operation with experts in the fields of medicine and physiology, on the basis of scientific research. A session of F&S workout integrates all essential elements of physical exercise, i.e. warm-up, flexibility, strength, cardiovascular training, cool-down and relaxation, with different emphasis depending on the intensity. 

All instructors are trained and certified under the supervision of the F&S Training Academy in Sweden. Instructors are given a framework with specific requirements (rules) to follow for each type of intensity, against which they are regularly evaluated by specially trained evaluators to ensure that sessions fulfil the high quality requirements set by Friskis Riks. Instructors’ physical and leadership performance are also evaluated.

The evaluation used to be called “luffning” in Swedish, and the evaluator a “luffare”. As of 2023, a new approach was launched for support, follow-up and development of volunteers within the clubs. Instead of “luffare” there are now ‘Friskis coaches’, group reflections and ‘check-in’ dialogues with other volunteers once a year based on Pass.nu documentation. For smaller clubs like ours, who may not have their own ‘Friskis coaches’ it is OK to continue making use of coaches (or ‘luffare’) from Sweden.

F&S Luxembourg

F&S exists since 2000 in Luxembourg. The club is run by around 25 volunteers: Board members, instructors and hosts. The organisation is a member of the Cercle Sportif, the umbrella sports organisation of the EU Institutions in Luxemburg. As a member of Cercle Sportif, the club receives subsidies and gets free access to the sports halls of the European schools. In return, the President, Vice-President and Treasurer must be employed by the EU, or have a spouse employed by the EU, and more than 50% of the club’s members need to work for the EU institutions. 

In March 2025 F&S Luxembourg offered 12 classes a week and the following training forms: Jympa, CoreFlex soft, Barbell, Multi Fit, Yoga, Dance Fusion in the two European schools and at the Coque, as well as an outdoor class, Cross Running. Family classes were stopped in 2023 due to a lack of instructors. Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, F&S Luxembourg offered some 17 classes a week in five locations (European schools in Kirchberg and Mamer, Beggen, Konviktsgaart and Coque). Since the pandemic, we struggle to get back to pre-pandemic membership figures. A lack of premises and good slots is part of the problem.

Membership saw an all-time high around 2010 with almost 600 members, but has since declined gradually to around 200 members before the pandemic and is now (March 2025) at around 135, including around 25 volunteers. 

It is clear that since Friskis was established in Luxembourg, in 2000, when there were very few fitness clubs in Luxembourg, competition has increased enormously with a wide range of fitness clubs to choose from. There are now even some commercial clubs that can compete with our prices (but not our concept!).