Keri McKibbin Personal Training

What happened to the “OLD GYM”?

The gym always evolves, history has proven it, some last the course, some come to church with us daily and deal with their daily stresses, their dark moments, celebrate their victories with us, and many of you have brought your children and grandchildren through the gym with you.

People ask me what the gym was like in 1957 but I wasn’t around then, but I know it was very basic but functional. That was the “old gym”.

Then I remember the 70’s in my earliest memories, and some very fond memories of some great characters. That was the “old gym” I learned a lot there!

The 80’s saw an extended gym, with plenty of fresh new characters and some women starting to train with us. Ground breaking but that was the “old gym” for you.

The 90’s brought more cardio machines into the gym, but still weight training remained our strong foundation, but things were-a-changing, full of amazing people and some train with us today, but that was the “old gym”.

The 2000’s Brough fresh new characters into the gym, mixing in with the old, we had a load of laughs, saw some great people come and go, some moved overuses, some moved away, some came and went, then came back again, but that was the “old gym” for you.

My dad got ill and I took over full time, we started having a lot of youngsters in the gym from a very young age, we had lots of females training with us, we started to replace all the old stuff bit by bit when we could afford it, it was an exiting time when so many doubted us-but I’m talking about the “old gym” if you wondered, we caused a ruckus daily,

We went into the biggest recession since 1930 in 2008, but coincided with our greatest growth period in history which ran strong right up until the government closed us in march 2020, but that was the “old gym”.

We found our greatest spirit and fight in those darkest of times when we had to workout outside in the freezing rain, Ice and monsoons but you all came out breathing fire in great numbers, we had support like no other time in history, but that was the “old gym” even when people doubted us most.

We came out of that dark but enlightening period for us stronger than ever, invested more than ever, and brought a great number of characters into the gym, again mixing with the older members, all valued, but this again is the “old gym” in case you wondered.

The gym is ALWAYS changing and evolving, but the fun, exiftqment, hard work ethic and incredible results will never change, There will always be the “old gym”, every month for the last 66 years!! I’ve seen most of it, and underneath all the radical changes, the heart of it has never changed. 

I always concentrate on who’s training with us right now as THAT IS A LOT to deal with and it’s all consuming trust me. The old gym has gone and then gets constantly REBORN, change is good, we embrace it and love it. LONG LIVE THE CURRENT “OLD GYM” because it’s breathing fire like never before.

In school, we have to get through a series of passages of work, disciplines, subjects, to make sure we have a wide range of knowledge and ability to take into the outside world. Bit by bit, and when kids follow a syllabus, they get where they want to be however tough and sometimes unenjoyable it is along the way.

In mixed martial arts, you see their students learn kicks, punches, chokes, out to escape from seemingly impossible situations until they become excellent righters prepared for any eventuality. It all takes time but is very much worth it, the most dedicated become in the ring fighters that we admire.

At the gym, I see it important to prepare you for any eventuality in terms of daily life, sporting performance, gain excellent balance, gain impressive strength, develop lower limbs that can be strong, jump well, stay on one leg no problem and attain excellent endurance that lets you take on any task or activity you choose.

This is why your programme must always always have some weight training in it, why you must always test your heart and lungs to gain great endurance, why you must develop great balance through a lot of time on one leg and balance pads, why you develop great power through prowlers, sleds and ropes that can’t be replicated on any machine, all of these exercises count much more than you ever thought.

To achieve anything meaningful in life and in particular good health, we need to get good at a number of things, even at some of the things we don’t think we are good at, because a complete programme demands we work on our weak points as well as our obvious strengths.

We may struggle at times but long term we will be much happier we tested ourselves, and came through the other side much better for it.