Taking a real interest in health and fitness after his own struggles with weight, Armagh man, Anthony ‘Anto’ McElmeel, turned his new healthy lifestyle into a business venture.
After forming a love for his own health and fitness, Anto completed a qualification in personal training in 2014, with the desire to help others improve their own health and fitness.
Just one year after qualifying and renting a disused unit in the countryside of his family home, Anto opened Maxx Life Gym in October 2015.
Starting off with a blank diary and no clients, one of Anto’s first clients was his wife, Christina who was completely new to fitness and ready to make healthier choices.
After making changes to her own lifestyle under the guidance of Anto’s advice, Christina qualified as a Personal Trainer in 2016 and now specialises in pre and post natal training, taking both one-to-one sessions and her group ‘maxximums’ classes.
With early mornings and late evenings spent at the gym, Anto and Christina are also busy parents to three young girls and quickly had to adapt; becoming business owners and parents all rolled into one.
Anto says: “From a young age the girls grew up in the gym, regularly coming to classes if nobody was free to mind them. This was a problem we faced in the first few years and then it sparked an idea of, “why not make the gym family friendly?”
“We recognised the struggles many parents face between getting to the gym and childminding, so decided to let our members take their kids to gym; where they could sit on the side lines and watch or join in – and that’s how Maxx Life became ‘your family gym!’
“Familiar faces in the Maxx Life gym are our dedicated gym team of ten Personal Trainers!
“A large majority of our trainers start out as clients in the gym before finding a love for health and fitness, and then realising it’s a career route they want to take.
“We are very particular of the trainers we have in the gym, as we are not a performance gym. Maxx Life targets members who are not competitive or training for intense sport reasons. Just normal people looking to better their health and improve their fitness.
“We look for trainers who fit into that mould themselves and when our own members become trainers themselves, it’s the best thing for us because they truly understand what Maxx Life is all about.”
With fully booked classes and no room to take on new members, Maxx Life Gym outgrew their old premises within the first few years of trading. The search began to find the new Maxx home.
After almost three years of searching, new build units on the Ballycrummy Road presented the business opportunity Anto, and his new business partner Shane, had been dreaming of.
Located a mile and a half away from their current location in the countryside, it was the perfect opportunity to grow their Maxx Life empire.
On October 19, 2023, Maxx Life Gym opened the doors to their new state of the art facility, with double celebrations as they opened on the business’ eighth birthday!
With the new gym three times bigger than their original unit, the team had a big task at hand of kitting out the unit with new equipment and new gym classes.
But only six months from the doors opened and, not one to shy away from a challenge, Anto was ready for the next phase of Maxx.
Feeling that Armagh was missing a convenient, healthy food stop and with an empty space located steps away from the gym, Anto’s next business venture was to open Maxxpresso Drive-Thru.
“In Maxxpresso we aim to satisfy two markets, healthy choices and sweet treats,” continued Anto. “We want to have something for everyone, with overnight oats, acai bowls, Greek yogurt pots, protein pancakes, smoothies and protein shakes for the post workout meals, as well as burgers, baked potatoes, breakfast baps, and ice cream whenever people crave something else.
“Although our aim is to encourage our members to eat healthy most of the time, it’s important to enjoy a sweet treat every now and again. Maxxpresso I think offers a healthy balance.”
With lots of ideas and tools up his sleeve, Anto says 2025 is set to be ‘the year of the members’ with the major focus of Maxx Life being placed back on helping members achieve their goals.
“Throughout 2024, our focus has been on completing the relocation of the gym, and upgrading all of the equipment. I am now happy that all the finishing touches are pretty much done before 2024 finishes.
“Now the gym is fully complete, 2025 is where we shift our focus back to what we do best, member mentoring and accountability.
“We will be implementing new ways to help members get more from their time at Maxx Life gym and make health and fitness a real priority in their life by adjusting their mindset.
“We will be introducing seminars which will teach our members the proper way to gym and how to live a healthy lifestyle, as well as encouraging life changes in small increments.
“Every new year, many people set out to make some major changes to their lifestyle, only to fall back into their old ways before the end of January.
“Our mission in 2025, is to teach people how to properly approach the new year, and how to make changes that last a lifetime, not just a month.
“In our seminars, we will teach members how to set proper goals, how to track their progress, and most importantly, how to achieve their goals by weaning themselves into a healthier lifestyle, one step at a time.”
According to Anto: “Not having time is one of the most destructive mindsets a person can have.” He says: “The gym is full of people who lead busy lives but they make it a priority to workout and find the time.
“Time is simply an obstacle we all have to get past. Some people find solutions, while others use it as an excuse. There’s 168 hours in a week, all a person needs to do is find two or three hours a week and the difference it will make to their lifestyle and wellbeing will be incredible.”
What really sets Maxx Life Gym apart, is the fitness challenges they provide, which encourage members to work towards reaching a target. Currently, Maxx members are virtually trekking from Armagh to Mount Everest covering 8,600km and 57,000 steps, all without leaving Armagh!
“As a gym we aim to be different, and one of the ways we do that is through challenges for our members.
“In January 2025, we will be introducing our new member challenge ‘Imagine 2025’ where we want members to picture how their health and fitness will look by the end of 2025.
“Then we will help them create the foundations for getting them there.”
Anto finished with: “Stepping into the gym for the first time is always the hardest part.
“We recognise the courage it takes for many people to take the first step. And we are here to help when they do. However, many people approach the gym and fitness in the wrong way, and this is the major reason most people don’t achieve the goals they set out to achieve.
“There is a right way to gym, and many wrong ways. A healthy lifestyle requires a solid foundation, followed by the addition of lots of small healthy habits overtime.
“Fitness should be a lifelong commitment, not a short-term fix. It’s about making small, manageable changes to your everyday routine. The greatest of achievements take time, patience and effort. That’s what we teach at Maxx Life.”
Click here to check out the Maxx Life Gym website and to sign up to become a member
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