20 Years Of The ANT - Part 1

7th April 2005 - The day ANT Fitness was born.

12 months earlier, I had left the security of my full time job as an Officer in Charge of the Portland branch of the Commonwealth Bank, to study my passion - Fitness.

At the time, I had no intention of starting my own business. The plan was to complete within a year, both Cert III and Cert IV Fitness by correspondence, and seek employment in one of the gyms in either Lithgow or Bathurst. As the year of study went on and I chatted to locals down the street or at Touch Football, I was regularly asked if I was going to offer classes in the local Community Centre. The seed was planted - could we offer a fun, affordable fitness service to the people of Portland and surrounding communities? And would it be enough to provide for our young family - three children, aged 5 1/2 , 3 and 1?

Following surveys and lots of prayers, Monique and myself decided I should give it a go. Imagine if I could live my passion!

And so, in April 2005, it was time to step outside the comfort zone, into the unknown, and see if a fitness business could make it in a small country town of approx. 2500 people.

My former boss, told me, days before I was due to commence, that I wouldn't last 12 months.

Challenge accepted.

Moments after that face to face meeting with my former boss, I bumped into Evan Toyer, the local real estate agent at the time, and someone who I had become friends with, during my time in the bank. He asked what I had been up to, and when I told him of my plans, he told me to jump in his car. Evan drove me up the Wolgan St hill (Doctors Hill to locals) and parked outside the Masonic Hall. Taking me inside, he opened the double doors, that revealed a large empty hall, "Would this work for you?"

We shook hands on the deal, a private lease was drawn up, and the rest is history.

A couple of weeks later, I was ready to open the doors to A.N.T (Andrew Neville Training) and offer the first of my 3 weekly classes.

The equipment on offer was a Treadmill, 1 small weight bench, a boxing stand, 2 sets of dumbbells stored on an old metal bookshelf, a mini tramp, 2 steps and a skipping rope.

The three classes being offered were: Tone Circuit; Cardio Circuit; and Fit n Tone (a combination of the first 2 circuits) - my class names were full of creativity back then lol.

The thing that most people don't know was the first class almost didn't happen. I got stage fright. I was never one comfortable being in front of a group and never liked public speaking or debating at school. That first night, I was at home, about to leave, and then it hit me. The reality of what I was doing. "What was I thinking" I said to Monique, "This was a stupid idea. I can't stand in front of people and instruct them through a class. No one will come. No one will enjoy it".

Monique did what she has done countless times over our 29 years of knowing each other, and the past 20 years of ANT Fitness - calmed me, reassured me, believed in me, and told me to go and make fitness fun for people.

And so I did.

I think maybe 7 people came to that first class. It was nothing flash, just a basic circuit. But we had fun, laughed, and I survived being the instructor.

As I packed up that night, I thought to myself, "Imagine if I got to do this forever".

To Be Continued...