20 Years Of The ANT - Part 2

With the first class in the rearview mirror and my self confidence growing class by class, I set about planning to evolve my business.

As word of mouth spread, class numbers grew, as did my Personal Training Client base.

Daytime classes were introduced to the timetable including Gentle Exercise - aimed at older adults and beginners. (Side note: This class is still offered 3 times a week 20 years later under the name Be Active).

As my class offerings grew, I decided that the word "fitness" needed to be incorporated into the name to make it clear what A.N.T. (Andrew Neville Training) offered - a fitness service!

So ANT remained, and fitness was added - and abracadabra - ANT Fitness was the new name.

We always thought ANT was an ideal name as not only did it stand for my name (Andrew Neville) with Training added, but ANT was a perfect representation of what we wanted ANT Fitness to become - like Ants, small but strong, with a focus on teamwork.

The first year in business went by so quickly, and with solid growth, I needed to improve my offering of equipment to be seen as more professional. My first arrival of leased equipment suddenly had ANT Fitness looking like a "proper" gym. Now available to use in Personal Training Sessions and classes were Rowing Machines, Industrial Treadmills and Cross Trainers, a couple of benches and a Pulldown machine. Not forgetting a range of dumbbells that had their very own dumbbell rack to store on, as opposed to the good old bookshelf.

With the upgrade in equipment, I started to field enquiries as to whether I was going to open the studio (still in the Masonic Hall) for casual visits where people could come and use the equipment, not just in classes.

I decided to trial it for 2 weeks for a couple of hours at various timeslots across the week.

That decision had a major influence on where ANT Fitness headed over the next couple of years.

The casual visits were a hit, numbers increased, and I employed two trainees in Adam and Michael, to help with the growing classes, gym hours and Personal Training.

More leased equipment arrived, so we could offer more cardio equipment, as well as expanding our weights area with a Leg Press, more benches and olympic weights.

In the first couple of years, I introduced Kids Fitness classes (known as Active Ants, and still running to this day), Boot Camps at both Wallerawang and Portland (known as Camp Ant) and Spin Classes.

I was always keen for ANT Fitness not to be hidden from the community behind the Masonic Hall doors so we regularly took part in community events, whether it was town parades or charity events like Relay For Life. I also offered fitness services throughout the community, including with parents at Portland Central; with students at Portland Central, St Josephs, Meadow Flat, and bringing the Active Ants Kids Fitness program into local pre-schools at Blinky Bill in Portland and Pied Piper in Wallerawang.

I was pleased with what ANT Fitness was growing into - a gym where you were welcomed like family, where you could come dressed however you were comfortable, without the worry about training in front of mirrors and a affordable price (I think back then it was $6 for Adults and $4 for concession. 20 years later, the price hasn't changed much at all - $10 Adults and $5 for concession). I also offered no membership or joining fees.

However, little did I know at the time, that I was about to face the first real challenge to ANT Fitness's future.

To Be Continued...