It's all about me!

I am a 70’s model, I grew up in Perth, riding bikes on the street bare feet, buying 20c lollies from the corner store, occasional Friday night roller skating and holiday camping on beaches and in the bush and 4w-driving - my life as a kid was great!

I went to local schools, rode my bike there too, was a regular average student, was a sporty teen, mostly netball swimming and cross country. Realistically i got involved with whatever sport I could get my hands on.

Later, I sailed on tall ships, I didn’t go to uni, I spent the next few years working in a music shop and a winery, I headed overseas, drinking and partying with my friends, eating shit food (yep I used to love Maccas) while trying to make rent each week. This was also a great time of my life.

I travelled to QLD around the year 2000 finding work on whale watching boats for a short time, then followed my nose up to Airlie Beach to work on sailing boats and ferries as a hostie/deckie, becoming qualified myself as a skipper, to then work at Palm Bay for the next 8 years as their transfer skipper, and later assistant manager.

During this time I met my husband, travelled back and forth between Perth and Airlie until a time I started to call Airlie home (however Perth will always have my heart, my family and a couple of very special friends). A couple of houses later, we had a couple of kids and when my eldest (now miss almost 15), was just 7 months old, when I found myself needing to be more active. I had always lived and worked actively and not realised that when I had my first child just how much alot of that had stopped and I needed to actually schedule it in.

I found Tina! A lot of us found Tina and she was the best, I’m sure she still is, however, now on the Goldie. I started her boxing and circuit classes, found my fitness, fell in love with the style of exercise, shifted the 5 kgs i was not enjoying carrying and continued with her for 7 years. She inspired and still inspires me to work hard.

When my youngest was 2, i studied and became qualified as a PT and took over from Tina when she moved south and spent the next couple of years building my business and confidence as a PT to where it is today.

I have created my business to suit my family, to be able to work as a mum and still be able to drop off and pick up from school and have most of the weekends together. The business has highlighted my passion to help people and this has grown immensely over the last couple of years.

Watching people go from exercise being a chore, only turning up because they know they ‘should’, to prioritising exercise, making it a regular ‘appointment’ in their weekly schedule, and actually enjoying and learning from the sessions, is what makes my job not a job. I’m lucky enough to be doing what I love. I am proud of my clients, I am proud of the little community I have created, some have been with me since the very beginning, others starting all the time. Inspiring women, inspiring and supporting each other through the intricacies of life

I was that Mum, needing a flexible option to suit having young kids, working casually with no fixed schedule…. so being able to provide sessions that are not only an effective workout, but are fun, friendly, and Mum’s can have their little ones close by, was exactly what I needed when my kids were pre-school.

Getting people on the right track is what drives me each day, educating, inspiring and motivating people to make small changes to better their health, also helps me stay accountable in my own life, both in fitness and nutrition. I am also human, I do have ‘bad days’ or weeks, but getting myself back on track asap is what I know I have to do… and I am active, every single day, in some way or another.

I have since added Weight Management Coaching to my qualifications, adding another option for people to learn about health holistically. I could talk all day about the many ways to healthy eating and being physically active.

In my own time I like to camp, hike, spend time with friends, go out boating with the family, read books, paint and cook. I don’t know how many hours a day I spend behind the kitchen bench, but I do know most of our food is fresh, healthy and home made (with love).

The future always brings opportunity, and i mostly look on the bright side of life, so whatever the universe has planned for me, I’m quite positive I can handle it. For now getting the kids through school, managing every day challenges, taking time to explore, spending time with family, while building the community that is A FIT LIFE by Tonya is where i’ll happily be.

xx