THREE years ago, personal trainer Heidi Dell was skimming the stations of her TV in Moree, NSW, when she came across the annual Reebok Crossfit Games.
After liking what she saw, she started looking more into the fitness craze that had taken urban Australia and the world by storm and decided she needed to get involved.
With plenty of things working against her, such as the small population of her town, the stigma of exercising in public and having so many potential customers living large distances out of town, Heidi opened the doors to her very own Crossfit gym and hasn’t looked back.
“Everyone thought it was a pretty crazy idea at first,” she said.
“But the more people started coming, the more they told their friends about it and eventually, it started to break the mold.”
Crossfit was first established in the United States and refers to a fitness regime of high intensity workouts that consist of weight lifting, cardio and gymnastic aspects.
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast are flooded with gyms that are apart of the Crossfit franchise, but gyms taking it on in rural Australia are few and far between.
Heidi said she wanted to bring a new element of exercise to her rural town, especially because it generated a welcoming, fun environment for people to get healthy.
Despite the fact the “Crossfit Craze” hadn’t exactly kicked off in the country when Heidi first opened her gym doors, she had confidence it would because of what the program could offer.
“The thing about Crossfit is anyone can do it at any fitness level,” she said.
“It’s not a competition during the classes, just about helping the individual improve in their own way.”
Since Heidi’s gym first opened, it’s grown in numbers every year, with a very diverse group of clients.
Whilst the odd farmer has signed up for a membership, Heidi said the gym has become apart of a lot of rural women’s routines.
“I have clients who live on farms half an hour out of town that will come and do an hour session when they come in to do their weekly shop or pick the kids up,” she said.
The younger generation of the town is also a huge clientele for Heidi, which has helped her incorporate community aspects to her business.
Once a week, the Moree High School brings a group of students to train with Heidi, to learn about fitness and strength.
She also runs classes for juniors, teaching them things like gymnastics and the basics of exercise and nutrition.
On the other side of the coin, Heidi also trains older people at the gym, who most of the time, join in on the classes with everyone else.
“My clients range from seven to 71 years old,” she said.
“it really does show that anyone can do the activities.”
Heidi said for her, the best part of opening her gym has been helping people learn more about health and to change their lives for the better.
On a fitness scale, that’s been about providing professional training to help people become stronger, faster and more confident in their body’s ability.
On a mental health scale, it’s been about offering locals a place to exercise free of judgment that’s actually social.
My clients range from seven to 71 years old, it really does show that anyone can do the activities.
- Heidi Dell, GTK Crossfit owner
“I would never run a gym where everyone was running on treadmills with earphones in,” she said.
“What I love about it here is women can come in and have a chat with their friends, and kids who live out of town can spend time with friends outside of school.”
Since first opening, Heidi said she’s try to diversify her business as much as possible and offer services to her regional clients that aren’t always easily accessible.
Over the duration of the year, she’ll often run things like six week challenges, where members and guests can sign up for fitness and nutritional challenges that they can use themselves throughout the year.
She’s also tried to make the gym environment somewhere where everyone can go- running classes only for women once a day and spreading class times out over the day to ensure people are able to fit exercise in to their schedules.
With two qualified, personal trainers working at the center, both Heidi and Trent Loder, members have access to professional advice whenever they’re in the gym.
Whilst opening her business in a regional town was a huge risk for Heidi, she said she wouldn’t change any of it. “It’s really rewarding to love your job," she said.
