Boot camp Melbourne

Well, it's been quite a journey from my initial correspondence with Yarra City Council two years ago to the final excellent outcome.

What started out as an ill informed move by the City of Yarra morphed into a very fair and equitable policy that meets the needs of all park users, the local community and commercial fitness operators.

It’s great to see good old-fashioned advocacy by a few passionate individuals bring about change at a local government level. This has been a lesson in never giving up and pushing through to reach your goals even when the outcome may seem inevitable. Through the entire process, the officers maintained open dialogue with the fitness industry and adopted the recommendations made by us.

The use of parks and gardens for commercial fitness activities will continue to grow in popularity, but despite this some municipalities continue to impose draconian policies to restrict the use of open space.

Unfortunately, as we speak municipalities throughout Australia are investigating the possibility of introducing excessively high fees per session, charging a flat fee per annum ranging from $7000 to a staggering $30,000 per annum.

While there are many glamorous images of personal trainers and the fitness industry as a whole, statistics show that 50% of fitness trainers just get by, yet by virtue of how the industry is perceived we continue to face potentially exorbitant fees.

With the unabated rise of Type II diabetes and obesity in Australia, there needs to be a more proactive and realistic approach by State and Federal governments in regards to the vital contribution that the fitness industry can, and does, make in tackling this epidemic.