An original concept, a charismatic owner and a team full of passionate university accredited coaches. Fitness Advancement has evolved from a single garage to a warehouse with five independent training areas designed for all levels of fitness.
For this gym it’s not all about training the next Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Although Justin Cronin, owner of Fitness Advancement, would love to train The Rock, the aim of Fitness Advancement is to eliminate intimidation and help everyone get fit.
Their slogan is “a personal training facility that is nothing like a gym.”
It’s an Australian first, and is a raging success in Geelong.
“It’s not like a gym because all of our spaces are individual training areas, so there is really just you and your trainer. Clients can say whatever they want without there being 20 or so people staring at them” Justin says.
At Fitness Advancement, it’s a judgment-free zone, where charisma and passion are almost instilled in the culture.
“We have created an atmosphere that is safe for everybody, somebody who has never been inside a gym before we want them to feel comfortable as soon as they walk in through that door.” Justin says, “we’re not the type of personal training facility to push you out the door with some exercises.”
The genuine care and consideration put into creating this environment has ensured a consistent growth of clients starting from booking out a single garage, to now filling a warehouse in Breakwater, week in week out with no memberships or lock in contracts.
“I received business advice that to have a steady stream of clients I needed to lock them in and that just didn’t sit right with me,” Justin says.
“I wouldn’t be paying money to someone if I wasn’t seeing results and I think that’s the key, our clients keep showing up because they see the results.”
In the two and a half years they have been open Justin says there are still clients from day one and following COVID-19 Fitness Advancement is as busy as ever.
“I think one of the greatest things about Fitness Advancement is every single one of our trainers are exercise scientists,” Justin says, “ if a client has got a question about anything health and fitness related, our trainers will be able to answer it and explain why that’s the case.”
“We look at our trainers as coaches because it is not just surface level training anymore.”
Exercise scientists are different from personal trainers as they have undergone four years at university studying the science of how your body works. They cover everything in depth from nutrition, strengthening muscles, and weight control to managing mental health, getting better sleep and reducing inflammation.
Justin admits by hiring exercise scientists over personal trainers his clients have seen greater results and Fitness Advancement retains 8 out of 10 clients.
“There’s a genuine reason our coaches are here,” Justin says “it’s no longer just for financial reasons they genuinely care about our clients health and fitness.”
“For us, it’s about educating our clients on how to create and maintain a healthy sustainable lifestyle.”
Unlike the standard sign up at a gym, Fitness Advancement takes extra care in getting to know you and your goals.
“If I know I have a new client coming in I would never leave them standing around even for five minutes I am going to greet them at the door with a welcoming smile,” Justin says.
From the greeting at the door, Justin takes you through a personalised fitness and medical check to assess your fitness level, understand your goals and get to know why you are coming to train at Fitness Advancement.
From there a client is matched to a coach, who tailors a program and will help execute it throughout the training sessions including warm up, cool down and sometimes homework to complete before the next session.
“We really just want to create a safe environment where everyone feels comfortable to come and train,” Justin says, “there’s no one type of client at Fitness Advancement.”
“We cater to people who have injuries, people who have never been in a gym, people looking to change gyms and people who don’t have the same opportunities inside a normal gym space.”
In fact, Fitness Advancement is the only registered NDIS facility in Geelong.
“It’s about giving everyone an opportunity to participate and be active,” Justin says, “we have kids with ADHD as young as 7, people in wheelchairs and people in their late seventies train with us .”
“These people usually don’t have access to a gym or fitness facility so it’s about providing equal opportunities for people to participate and be active,” Justin says, “We really just want everyone to feel comfortable and safe coming to Fitness Advancement.”
The success stories from Fitness Advancement are limitless. It’s not just their initiative to have individual, non-intimidating training spaces, but every coach’s commitment and passion to fitness, health and wellbeing that makes this place special.
Final words from Justin: “We want to create a lasting impression on our clients and create that unique experience with someone who can guarantee results in the shortest possible time.”
So for a breath of fresh air from your standard gym environments, and passionate, charismatic coaches who provide in-depth training to everyone, get in touch with Justin and his team at Fitness Advancement.