At the age of 16 I knew what I wanted to do when I was older. During high school the one question that they always kept asking their students was “what’s your pathway… what do you want to do when you graduate?” My answer was simply, I wanted to become a personal trainer.

Graduating high school in 2017 was the start of my new journey. Mid-year 2017 I enrolled into Box Hill TAFE and a couple months later I received a phone call congratulating me on making it into 2018 class. In 2018 I completed both my Certificate 3 and 4 in Fitness at Box Hill TAFE. Over this 9 month period I was introduced to the fitness industry as well as the information I needed in order to help my clients achieve what they most desire. Making the transition from driving 10 minutes away to high school to then driving an hour to TAFE was a huge change in my daily routine, but it was all worth it!

Why personal training? From day dot I was always an active person, playing soccer with the boys and taking part in inter-school sports as well as taking part in community clubs. PE was one of my favorite subjects in school. However I knew that I wasn’t going to become a professional player so I did the next best thing for me, personal training.

One thing I always wanted to do as an adult was help people regardless if it was something big or small. Even though there were so many avenues I could of taken, I wanted to do something where I could get the best of both worlds; I wanted a job where I helped people, and a job I could love, and I found it.

During my time at TAFE, I not only was introduced to the Personal Training side of things but also group fitness and that exposure lead me to my passion that I live today. Completing my final assessment was both stressful and scary because it was the final steps before I came face to face with the fitness industry as a certified trainer.

The fitness industry is WILD. It is constantly growing and full of dedicated, competitive trainers. I was a 19 year old competing against those whom have been in the industry for years, but it wasn’t the competition what scared me it was turning into my competitors. I wanted to do more than just train people. I wanted to educate them. When it came to finding a job, I not only wanted a workplace in which I could do Personal Training but also Group classes and by chance I came across an job vacancy for a positional at Terrific Fitness.

I did my research before I signed myself up for anything. When I searched Terrific Fitness, I saw a family orientated business that actually cared about their clientele and this was confirmed when I walked through the studio doors for the first time when I went for my interview. I saw their clients’ transformations on the wall, as well as all the services and information that they supply to their clientele. Within those first 5 nervous minutes of walking through those studio doors, I knew this place was where I wanted to be.

I waited an entire week before knowing whether I tanked my interview or not and when I got that call I was ecstatic and over the moon with the fact that I got the job, the job I really wanted.

Within the first few months I learned more about exercise, mindset and nutrition than I did during my entire 9 months at TAFE. The level of education I was introduced to have stuck with me as well as has been passed onto my clients. 12 months down the track I am taking 9 classes a week, as well as taking on multiple PT’s and I absolutely love it! One thing I learned very quickly, is that Terrific Fitness is much more than a gym; it is a community, a family that genuinely cares about people regardless if they are members or not.

Terrific Fitness helps the ‘outcasts’ to become ‘in-casts’, regardless of fitness level, regardless if a person has an injury or illness, we adapt and accommodate, no matter what.

Even during this time of the Corona crisis we are still firing on all cylinders offering both online and live classes, ensuring that our clients continue to work at the level they were before the virus outbreak.

It is now more than ever, vital to stay active and build that immune system, and Terrific Fitness is doing their absolute best to ensure that we give our community any and all information that we come across, educating them the best we can  even under these crazy circumstances.

Come join us! I would love to have the opportunity to travel your journey with you.

– Emilia Anastasio