It’s a community of like-minded people who encourage and motivate each other to do their best. It’s about being instantly welcome without judgment. It’s about showing up when you don’t want to, but you do anyway because you know your peeps are waiting for you. It’s about being greeted at the door with Mel’s big smile because she is excited to see you! It’s about being asked how your day was or how things are going, or trying to come up with an answer to the Circle of Love question. It’s about finishing the workout and giving it your best, for that day. It’s about the high-five at the end of class and leaving in a better mood than you may have come in with. It’s that amazing “I just kicked some ass feeling” as you walk to your car and then laugh because you survived Mel’s brutal attempt to keep time. This is Mel-FIT!
When you surround yourself with positive people who have similar goals, great things can happen!
What are you waiting for?
My career as a Personal Trainer began in 2002 in Vancouver, my company name was Follow the Leeder in Personal Training, a play on words of my last name, Leeder!. Then in the beginning of 2011, my family and I moved back to the Island and the Westshore became our new home. In the spring of 2011, my Dad and I built my garage gym. I got my first clients by offering free Saturday morning workouts in the park during the summer…all you had to bring was a donation to the Food Bank. In 2013, I won the Westshore Individual Business Award, for my home based gym that was growing out of control! My husband said, “your gym has outgrown our garage and driveway, you’re driving the neighbors crazy…you need a bigger space and I want my garage back!” In April of 2015 we purchased the space now known as Mel-FIT X-Training Center!
One of my favorite classes is Saturday’s Mudder training / obstacle training, it’s like a playground for adults! To date, our gym has completed six Tough Mudders, and four SPARTAN Beast races, Mud, Sweat & Tears, Mud Mulisha, Mind Over Mountain (MOMAR) race, and the Kusum Klimb. We have done group hikes on the JDF trail and West Coast Trail. The gym peeps have been participating in the Island Trail Series since 2016 and in 2021, I completed my first Ultra race, the Finlayson Arm 105km trail running race. After that, I was so inspired, I started our gym’s first trail running group, Trail-FIT peeps! The gym has continued to grow and one of my goals is to be as diverse as possible and make fitness fun for everyone.
