Few gyms have a history and soul like Visions. In an industry dominated by trends, icons, innovations and now corporate franchises, how many gyms can boast that they are independent and family owned, let alone have a 40 year history?
Our roots hold a special place in our hearts, motivating us and shaping our aspirations for what our gym stands for. Nearly four decades ago, Visions embarked on its journey, becoming an integral part of the ever-evolving fitness landscape. Since its inception, our gym has remained a steadfast institution in Hawthorn, upholding the same values of quality, community, and friendliness that our founder, Wayne, instilled when he first opened the doors all those years ago.
Where it began:
In February 1984, Wayne, a budding physiotherapist, established 'Visions Aerobics Centre' at the height of the aerobics craze. With instructors on stage equipped with Madonna microphones and moving to the beat of Tina Turner, Prince and pre-2022 Kate Bush, the energy at Visions was palpable. Not to mention, all those grapevines and step-ups were performed in front of a colossal screen playing music videos that were no doubt illegally taped from ABC’s ‘Rage’ the week before. We’re hoping it’s too late to bring legal action 😳😅🫶.
Like many small businesses, times in the beginning were fun, but tough, with Wayne effectively living on bread and water in these first few years and often sleeping in the gym's office! Norma, Wayne’s mum, was an integral part of the business through this period, adopting the nasty 5am shifts, running the books and often seen with a screwdriver in-hand fixing a machine. The reputation of Visions continued to grow and it became an established Hawthorn institution known for its fun vibes, quality fitness facilities and more generally as a place where anyone and everyone was welcome to be a part of its community.
Over the years, more and more pieces of gym equipment were added to the upstairs mezzanine for people to warm up on before classes. As we rolled into the 90s, the evolution of aerobics expanded to include circuit classes that incorporated more weights and machines. Some classes were solely based on rotating through seated pin-loaded machines - the origin of ‘circuit’ classes! As a result, the upstairs mezzanine eventually became a fully-fledged weights area in its own right and we evolved from an ‘Visions Aerobics Centre’ to a ‘Visions Fitness Centre’.
Aerobics began to lose some of its popularity in the late 90s, and by the turn of the millennia we had filled the entire gym space with equipment and bid a teary farewell to aerobics at Visions. Fluoro-lycra attire also began to disappear through this period, however (thankfully or distressingly!) some of our members have refused to part ways with their various 80s activewear choices even to this day.
Now, 23 years-on, the business remains within the family with Wayne’s son (and Norma’s grandson) Pat, owning the gym. Our wonderful team is led by Michael and Brooke – both past Visions members who fell in love with the place so much they decided to make it their day job. There’s a whole family of current and ex-staff who have contributed to Visions in the past decade and deserve a shoutout, but we’ll leave that to another day.
The gym received an impressive renovation during lockdown, our group training room has been getting PLENTY of use and we even have a sneaky shout out to our history with a modern take on the 80s video wall. Visions is looking and feeling better than ever.
Watching the fitness industry advance in leaps and bounds over the past decade makes us even more proud of our position in the industry, our history and our impact on the local community. Health and fitness – and particularly gyms – can be intimidating for many people. These days the justification behind being active is often skewed to be about image or obligation, as opposed to what it should be – about feeling good in your body and your mind. It is more important than ever for people to have an inviting, safe space to feel comfortable and motivated to be active. We’ve created a community that embodies this ethos. That was our goal in 1984 and we haven’t wavered from it since.
We send a big shout out to all the members, staff and wider community who have helped us get to where we are today. Thank you ❤️
The Visions Team