Hey Visions community,
What a month it’s been. On Feb 1st we hit the big 40. Wow.
Thanks to everyone who has made it a special month and shared so many great memories.
It gave us a great opportunity to reflect on our wonderful history. We dug into the archives and found some beauties to share. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
It can be a cliché phrase, but we honestly mean it when we say this place is more than just a gym.
1980s
On the 1st February 1984, aged just 24 and a budding physiotherapist, Wayne opened ‘Visions Aerobics Centre’ at the beginning of the aerobics craze (yes, that was a thing). Decked-out in a large amount of fluoro lycra, Visions regularly entered, and even won, state and national aerobics competitions.
Where did the name ‘Visions’ come from?
Wayne wanted Visions to be a place where people felt comfortable in themselves and could exercise without feeling self-conscious and worried about how they looked. With this in mind, all aerobics classes were conducted in semi-dark lighting, where the emphasis was on the exercise – not how you looked doing it!
In addition to this, Visions housed an enormous projector screen which played music video clips during the aerobic classes. The music videos were manually taped from episodes of the ABC’s ‘Rage’ music show, before being grape-vined to on the Visions gym floor. If you are a copyright lawyer you never read this…
Between the semi-dark lighting and the big screen, it only seemed fitting that the name of the gym should be called ‘Visions’.
Like many small businesses, times in the beginning were tough, and Wayne lived on bread and water and often slept in the gym's office to help make ends meet. But gradually the reputation of Visions grew and it became an established Hawthorn institution known for its fun vibes, quality fitness facilities and just generally as a place where anyone and everyone was welcome to be a part of its community.
Wayne was lucky enough to have the tireless support from Norma, his Mum, who worked here religiously for over 25 years. You can see Norma in many of the photos, including the one where she has a screw-driver in hand fixing equipment. That was Norma, tough as nails and always a big smile.
1990s
With the addition of a couple of mezzanines, a few pieces of gym equipment were gradually added to the upstairs area. As a result, Visions Aerobics Centre became Visions Fitness Centre. ‘Circuit classes’ became popular, where participants would rotate between seated pin-loaded weights machines.
You might notice some unusual looking blue equipment in some of the photos. This was a ‘state of the art’ range of equipment which used hydraulic pressure technology to generate resistance, instead of weight stacks. Maybe not so surprisingly, this trend came and went relatively quickly.
The 90s also saw the beginning of our Burwood road sign. Almost every month for three decades, a new sign has been erected. For the first 20 years, the sign was a fluorescent colour with hand-painted letters. As a kid, Pat remembers being up the ladder painting that sign from a disturbingly young age.
Nods to our history
Things that we’ve brought back:
· On-site physio
· Air-bikes
· Classes in the dark
· The big screen
2000s
Aerobics began to lose some of its popularity in the late 90s, so by the turn of the century we had filled the entire gym space with equipment and bid a teary farewell to aerobics at Visions. Sadly, fluoro-lycra began to disappear through this period as well, however thankfully some of our long-term members still choose to persist with various versions of their 90s activewear.
Through this decade we installed a small boxing room downstairs, decked the gym out in then-fashionable blue carpet 😳 and installed over 100 pieces of pin-loaded and cardio equipment. During this era, machines (weights and cardio) ruled.
2010s - Now
In 2013, we tragically lost Wayne, which saw Pat step in as owner. This was a tough time, but the gym community rallied around one-another, especially the staff, and Wayne’s legacy lived on. Nick deserves more than a mention at this point. He stepped up and took management of the gym the day Wayne passed away and subsequently managed the business for the next several years. On top of running a successful team and business, Nick has had an invaluable hand in physically maintaining and updating every inch of the facility at Visions over 15 years. The hours and effort he has (and still does) put into this place are immeasurable.
Even by its own standards, the fitness industry changed dramatically this decade. Commercial 24/7 chains and cross fit gyms began opening everywhere. Functional movements (for example: squats, deadlifts and kettlebell movements) was becoming popular, as was the flexibility to train early and late. So, as we always have, we adapted.
For example, in 2012, we had one squat rack that was barely used. By 2020, we had seven. We gradually chipped away at the equipment that was used less often, creating space and keeping the gym constantly updated with new toys and new ideas. We are excited to continue this in 2024.
Many of these innovations were led by Michael, who started here in 2015, after being a member since 2008. Michael injected a passion for fitness that has played a major part in the direction the gym has taken, not just in terms of the equipment we house, but more importantly, in the way we use the equipment and our holistic approach to fitness more generally. He also reinstated classes at Visions, running boxing classes in the back alleyway, which gradually made it onto the gym floor in 2019 and then into our dedicated group training room in 2020. We’re still encouraging him to bring back some aerobics.
During the pandemic, which saw us closed for 367 days in total, we didn’t sit still. On top of running online classes and community-building activities to support our communit, we also renovated the facility from top-to-bottom. We painted every square inch, introduced new equipment and installed an access control system that allowed us to open 5am-midnight.
We estimate to have served over 100,000 people in the last 40 years. That’s a lot of endorphins and healthy habits this place has enabled. We make special mention to Florence and Min, two ‘old ducks’ (self-described!) who have been much-loved Visions stalwarts since the beginning.
The list of people who deserve to be thanked is too long. Those people know how important they are to the fabric of this gym and its history. We can only hope we have left an impression on them that’s as significant as what they left on us.
Our team today is something special. Led by Michael and Brooke, our staff are genuinely dedicated to the Visions legacy - creating a friendly, inviting space for our community to train and feel good (they also happen to know a great deal about health and fitness).
We are not perfect, and in a way, we don’t want to be - we’re not promoting perfection. We’re promoting being active and how good it feels. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an elite athlete or a complete beginner, movement is good for the body and mind. From the equipment, to the atmosphere, to the knowledge, and the support – our goals is the same as it was in 1984 - to help you feel good being active.
We hope you enjoyed a peak into this gym’s history and how much love has gone into it across 40 years. You’re a part of it, after all.
Happy Birthday Visions.
Pat and The Visions team