It’s 8am on a Sunday and a new community group is gathered inside the school hall at Kearns.
There are more than 50 people of all shapes and sizes, who are slowly starting to do stretching exercises.
There’s mums and dads, the odd grandparent and lots of kids of various ages and sizes.
Most of the grown ups are sipping what I find out later is green tea, which apparently helps kick start your metabolism.
Also in the hall and taking part is a fit looking young woman called Chantelle Yeaman, who started the first of these exercise classes in Camden in January.
The one here at Kearns, called Campbelltown Fit Families, was established by personal trainer Rodney Wilson, who loved what Chantelle was doing at Camden Fitclub and decided to run his own.
It’s Rodney who jumps on the stage this Sunday morning and gets things going once it’s obvious everyone who’s going to come is already inside the school hall.
For the next hour the participants are taken through various exercise routines, some harder than others but Rodney yells out there’s no pressure if you can’t do the sit ups, the pushups or the squats.
The fun level does go up when Rodney leads everyone outside for some outdoor activities, both on the concrete area outside the hall and up on a grassy knoll that faces the beautiful Scenic Hills.
At the end of it all everyone who wants one gets a nutritional shake, there is a bit of a chat here and there and everyone finally says see you next week.
So what is going on here? Let’s ask Rodney, shall we?
“I met Chantelle, and I was a bit sceptical at first, but then I introduced my mother to the program, who is here today,’’ says Rodney.
“My mother had trouble losing weight and struggled with her exercises, but after 10 weeks at the Camden Fitclub she lost 11 kilos.
“So then that got me involved in Campbelltown Fit Families.’’
That was about six weeks ago and Rodney said he had plenty of reasons why he emphasises family here in Kearns.
“Family’s important to me, I have a big family, we all love each other,’’ he said.
“I lost my dad very early and I also lost my partner very early as well.’’
The first class put on by Rodney attracted around 20 people, but there were more than 50 last Sunday when the Voice in Macarthur checked it out.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“They come from Camden and Gregory Hills and as far as Tahmoor and Appin and there’s a lot of locals from here in Kearns,’’ Rodney said.[/social_quote]
Apparently a lot of the parents get “dragged’’ into it by their kids, who love the communal hour of exercise.
“It’s just great to see the kids come in and they bring the parents along, and they’re teaching them about nutrition, too,’’ he says.
“We had a lovely mother ring me and say the kid went home last week and threw the ice cream out of the freezer because it wasn’t healthy.
“And the way we look at things at Fit Families is if we can’t help the young kids then we’ve got no hope for the future.
“We encourage everyone to come down with their families, bring their friends, no booking’s necessary, you can come and go as you please,’’ Rodney said.
“We’re here every Sunday morning at 8am and everyone’s welcome.’’
Chantelle Yeaman, who is from The Oaks and runs the Camden Fitclub every Wednesday night from the scout hall in 22 Barsden Street says the whole thing is more about community than anything else.
“I was in the fitness industry but left it when I lost my passion for it,’’ Chantelle tells the Voice in Macarthur.
And so I was coming and going between Gold Coast [in a job I wasn’t enjoying] and Camden, seeing my friends and family, and I just noticed that people looked like they were literally struggling to walk down the street,’’ she says.
“They didn’t look happy, nobody was talking to anyone – there was no community feel.
“So I decided to do something about it.
“I started the Camden Fitclub to provide the local people with somewhere where they can come down every week and for a minimal, minimal cost be around a supportive community that’s going to lift them up every week and help refocus them for the week ahead despite what is going on at home or work or anything like that,’’ Chantelle said.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“That’s what I had in mind, purely for the community, something that’s not going to cost them an arm and a leg.[/social_quote]
“It’s about the exercise and the nutrition but also the community feel.
“I wanted to offer something that’s a little different from what’s out there and help inspire people to be the best they can be,’’ she says.
Rodney agrees: “It’s just about getting people together really and resetting yourself every week and you come here even if you had a bad week,’’ he says.
“We all fall off the wagon every now and again, so you come back here, you reset, set you goals again for the next week, and we help you achieve whatever it is you want.
“It costs just $5 and for that you get the cup of green tea when you come in, and that starts your metabolism for the day, gets you focused, it’s a green tea so it’s quite good for you,’’ he says.
“We then do our exercises and then you get a nutritious shake at the end to replenish the nutrients of the body taken out.
“If you don’t want to pay $5 you can just come and exercise.’’
If you are interested you just turn up either on Wednesdays at Camden or Sundays at Kearns. Chantelle says she also runs a class similar to Campbelltown on Saturday mornings at the scout hall in Barsden Street.
• If you’d like more information you can find both on Facebook; just search for Campbelltown Fit Families or Camden Fitclub.
