If you don't know by now, I'm Adam. Part owner and transformation expert at AK Active. I've changed the lives of hundreds of people just like you across the world by building not just the body, but the mind, too. After seeing all of the problems within the fitness industry, I decided to do something about it...
I remember wanting to change my body and really build myself and my confidence up. I was a skinny kid in school, I would only eat at lunch if others around me where, too. Otherwise I feld too anxious to eat in front of others. After that, I used to go home and binge on rubbish as I was starving.
Imagine being 6ft 2 and weighing in at nine and a half stone. People used to say things about the way I looked, they said things like,
"Theres more meat on a sparrows kneecap," and that I needed to eat more.
What resulted was a self conscious mess that didn't have a clue what to do to silence the bullies and build myself up.
That was a problem.
BUT - Heres the real problem...
As soon as I could, I joined a gym. My first session consisted of running on a treadmill for 30 minutes. How ridiculous is that? I'm 6ft 2, nine and a half stone wet through, trying to put weight on and I jump on a treadmill...
Why? Because I was anxious, I felt intimidated as soon as I walked in. I was so anxious about getting in the gym, not knowing anybody, not knowing what to do, worries about what people would think of me. I just jumped on the first things I saw was free. I wasn't even very good at that either, with legs that resembled that of a baby giraffe.
I stayed on that treadmill until it nearly killed me, purely because I didn't want to look like a failure. I didn't enjoy it. In fact, I hated it. I felt intimidated not just by other members, but by the robotic personal trainers starting at me from the point of walking in. Nobody was there to help me. I had no support and I definitely had no knowledge about what I should have been doing!
I realised that this was a huge problem, not just for me trying to gain weight, but for those trying to lose it, too. How many times have you gone into the gym, too intimidated to enter a certain area, too intimidated to even move from the treadmill or exercise bike that you've sat yourself on?
It shouldn't be like that.
What's worse is that from here, its a slippery slope. We're anxious, our confidence is knocked. If we're not careful, it projects and manifests itself in other areas of our lives, when we are in public for example. We don't feel good enough, we are worries about what people think. Scared to fail.
So scared to fail that in the end we don't even try. We give up.
I've been through it. It shouldn't be like that.
That's why I vowed to do something about it. I dreamt of a place where you could walk through the doors and leave again feeling uplifted, accomplished and proud. A place where everybody knows your name, where you have support when you need it. A place where you know exactly what to do to reach your goals, and anything you don't know, you're not afraid to ask.
A gym is not just a place to burn calories. Its a release, an outlet. A place where you go to boost positivity and confidence. Where you go to evolve, to transform.
This dream is realised and proven through AK Active, Lancashire's best mental health supporting gym as voted by the people of Lancashire.
We know that one in six people are affected by mental health issues according to the World Health Organisation. This has no doubt worsened in a world post COVID-19.
We believe in supporting our members by creating an environment that they thrive in, and one that they leave feeling uplifted, bursting with confidence and pride.
If you want to be bursting with energy, beaming with confidence, in your BEST shape ever, then you are in the right place. We are here for you.
"Fitness is a journey that we all should start, but never finish."
We are the hand up to that start line.
Adam.
