Jonny & I are the proud owners of Central-Fitness Cromwell, a brand new 24 hour gym located in Cromwell, a beautiful town surrounded by stunning mountains and a breathtaking lake.
Our venture began in 2016 as an idea, a great idea that I honestly thought would remain just an idea. Jonny, being the optimist he helped convince me that this dream of ours could become a reality.
We shared our thoughts and ideas with Kale Panoho, a close friend, established trainer and a successful business advisor. Kale's eyes lit up and his reaction to the concept of Central-Fitness becoming a reality was what gave me the final push too.
The support we received from Cromwell residents was unreal. We agreed that if 100 people expressed an interest in joining the gym we would go ahead and turn this idea into a reality. Over 100 people signed an expression of interest flyer.......it was set, Central-Fitness was going to become Cromwell's first 24 hour gym equipped with brand new equipment and even a basketball hoop.....but where do we start? After all it was still just a promising idea.
"Cromwell's first 24 hour gym equipped with brand new equipment and even a basketball hoop.....but where do we start?"
Our dads jumped on the bandwagon and helped us throughout this entire process, their experience in the building industry, their expertise as business owners and their general support throughout our highs and lows proved to be helpful. The ever patient tradesmen took on their roles without complaint, they were amazing, managing to work late nights and weekends to get the doors open sooner rather than later. I can only imagine what was going through their minds as they repeated themselves numerous times until I finally, sort of understood what they were going to do next. Throughout the next 6-7 months we got our "ducks in a row" so to speak while still managing to continue our relatively "normal" lives, Jonny as the manager of Southern Lakes Scaffolds and myself as a Head Swimming Coach and full time student.
"The freight truck arrived loaded with 10 TONNES of brand spanking new equipment"
I took on the role as the painter, too easy I thought, painting will be a breeze.....yeah right! I finally reached breaking point on the last day of painting, by this point I had lost count of how many cans of paint I had gone through, dad walked in at the wrong time and proceeded to lend an ear as I expressed my "love" for painting - thanks dad.
The place was looking....well.....almost done when the freight truck arrived loaded with 10 TONNES of brand spanking new equipment.
A plea on Facebook convinced 10-12 followers to lend a hand and help us move everything indoors. What troopers!
It was certainly not an easy task but by mid afternoon we were all unwrapping the presents and admiring the new toys like children on Christmas morning.
"throughout our official opening day the flooring was being laid, the doors were being painted, the powder room was being set up and my mum was cleaning the bathrooms"
The following 6 to 8 weeks was spent putting together equipment, adding the final touches to the gym space, recruiting our passionate trainers, Will and Alesha. And cleaning, so much cleaning. It was a week before our official opening, we were almost there, time for the world to know we were finally opening. We spread the word through the radio, stuff, the local paper, flyers, posters, Facebook and through word of mouth.
Opening day was a success, Souvlaki Kebabs hooked us up
with food, we gave away a 12 month membership, Cheryl won a new bike thanks to Crank Cycles, Reds Classic Barbour Shop gave away two pamper packs, the Mayor; Tim Cadogan cut the pretty red ribbon and the community explored their new gym. We still managed to leave things right to the wire, not even joking, throughout our official opening day the flooring was being laid, the doors were being painted, the powder room was being set up and my mum was cleaning the bathrooms.
"The feeling that overwhelmed me was similar to a mothers when leaving her first born at daycare for the first time"
What a day, it was busy but it was such a relief to finally open the doors. Sharing the space with everyone and showing them around doesn't get old. It was finally time to leave the gym to its members. I am not going to lie, I imagine the feeling that overwhelmed me was similar to a mothers when leaving her first born at daycare for the first time. We celebrated over a well deserved beverage before having an early night, we were exhausted, the previous 5-6 months had caught up, but we didn't mind, we couldn't have been happier. Central Fitness was officially open. If you want to learn more about us feel free to roam around the rest of the site: www.central-fitnessgym.com