If you’re nervous about joining a gym, you’re in good company. There’s even a word for it now: gymtimidation. Some people call it gym anxiety. It’s the worry that everyone will be watching, that you won’t know how anything works, and that you’ll somehow be found out as someone who doesn’t belong there.”
Here’s the truth. Almost everyone in the gym felt that way on day one. Including the bloke who now runs ours.
What actually happens when you walk in
Nobody is watching you. People are counting reps, picking a song, or thinking about dinner. The person you’re worried about is mostly worried about themselves.
On your first visit to a Stepz club, someone says hello. You get shown around, shown how the equipment works, and you can ask any question you like. There are no silly ones. We’ve heard them all, and we asked most of them ourselves once.
You don’t need to be fit to start. You don’t need the right gear, a program, or a plan. A t-shirt, a water bottle and twenty minutes is plenty. And because our clubs are open 24/7, you can come in at a quiet time while you find your feet.
Why Stepz has always been like this
Stepz was started by Quang Tran and Murray Brass with a simple idea: a local gym where ordinary people feel comfortable. Not a luxury club. Not a place for people who are already fit. A convenient, friendly gym that’s part of its community.
That idea has carried through to more than 25 clubs across NSW, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT. The equipment has changed over the years. The welcome hasn’t.
Our franchisor was the nervous new member once
Sam Waller, who owns and leads Stepz Fitness today, first walked into a Stepz gym in 2009 as a member. By his own description he was overweight, out of shape, and about to finish school with no plan.
“I didn’t feel like someone who belonged in a gym,” Sam says. “I felt like someone who’d be looked at.”
What kept him coming back wasn’t the equipment. “It was that nobody made me feel like I was in the wrong place. Someone said hello. Someone showed me what to do. I left knowing what to do next time.”
He stayed. He became a personal trainer at Stepz that same year, bought his first club at 20 as the brand’s youngest franchisee, and took over as National Franchisor in 2017 at just 24. He’s quick to point out that the culture he fell in love with was there long before him, and that Quang and Murray deserve the credit.
Taking that story to the industry
Last week Sam spoke at the AusFitness Industry Trade Show & Summit at ICC Sydney, on a panel called “The Inclusive Brand: How Diversity and Belonging are Reshaping Fitness Marketing”, alongside speakers from Anytime Fitness and Fit Your Ability.
He admits he was nervous about it. A gym franchisor talking about inclusion can sound like marketing. Then he thought about the kid who walked into Stepz in 2009.
“We’ve never talked about inclusion as a strategy at Stepz,” he says. “But it turns out it’s been the whole point since day one.”
His message to other gym owners was simple. When you work in a gym every day, you forget what walking into one feels like. So walk through your own front door and ask three questions:
Does someone acknowledge you?
Can you ask for help without feeling embarrassed?
Do you leave knowing what to do when you come back?
Those three questions are the standard we hold ourselves to in every club.
Five tips for your first week
- Book a tour first. See the place before you commit to anything.
- Go at a quiet time. Mid-morning, mid-afternoon or later in the evening.
- Start small. Twenty to thirty minutes, two or three times a week.
- Ask for help. It’s what our team is there for.
- Bring a mate if it helps. Most people find the second visit much easier than the first.
Come and say hello
If you’ve been putting it off, this is your sign. Find your nearest Stepz club, drop in, and let us show you around. Someone will say hello. We promise.
