A fitness app called bounts, which has been created to motivate and reward people for being active, has gone into partnership with Gladstone Health & Leisure.

Leisure operators using the Gladstone Plus2 system will be able to activate bounts, opening the rewards scheme up to more than three million Gladstone members across the UK. Bounts can be collected and then redeemed against national brands and local retail outlets and services, ranging from Starbucks, Odeon Cinema, Sainsburys and Debenhams, through to local cafes.

In addition to rewarding activity undertaken within a health club or leisure centre, bounts links with a number of established fitness tracking apps and devices including Map My Run, Runkeeper, MyZone, Nike + and Fitbit, enabling users to log effort and collect points for physical activity completed anywhere at any time.

Similarly, health clubs and leisure centres can integrate bounts onto existing membership software and online booking systems letting them choose what to reward, and when.

Explaining the rationale behind the new app, founder John Stuart said: "Motivating behaviour can be complex but we can often ignore the very simple reality that a lot of people like rewards and research shows that rewards work.

"The explosion of tracking apps, devices and connected gym equipment are now tools that every operator should be leveraging to better understand their members behaviour, personalise communications and look for opportunities to motivate and incentivise through rewards that are tailored specifically to that member.

"Bounts creates a new reason for instructors to speak to members and generates daily insight and social activity to keep people motivated."

Commenting on the partnership, Arthur Morris, Gladstone Health & Leisure MD, said: "As a sector, we need to look beyond our current provision and find new ways to engage people and encourage activity.

"Incentive schemes have proved that behaviour can be influenced by introducing rewards and we believe bounts offers a unique opportunity to reward activity taking place both inside and outside of venues."