Sweat Depot Fight Fitness

SHANNON aka “SHANNIE”

Some people become influencers.

Shannie was an influencer long before social media existed.

These days she’s social media royalty - aka - MyFoodReligion.

But to me, she’ll always be the 16-year-old s***k who wandered into Tora Bushido Kickboxing at the Arana Hills PCYC… a gush of fresh air with a slap of innocence I never knew I needed.

I’ll be honest… I was chuffed she wanted to hang out with me, and hoped she’d overlook the genetically less-qualified aspects of myself so I could hang around.

She was funny.
She was feisty.

She had a smile that could convince almost anyone to do almost anything.

Grown adults would happily train for the promise of a lolly and another flash of that smile. And that laugh…

Shan and her family are one of the reasons I kicked off my Sweaty little rock show.

The multitudinous Williams family are part of our sweaty fabric. Shan literally painted the original Sweat Depot walls red.

Her sisters became our Sweat Diva models. (Hogging all the genetic goodness in one batch.)

Shan, Whip, Em and Rabbit somehow became my unpaid, on-call babysitters when my newborn arrived and I still had classes to teach when maternity leave wasn’t an option.

And her mum…
Tall Janet…
Fed me and delivered exactly the sort of tough love and BAS advice I needed whenever the wheels looked like they were about to fall off.

And her dad… Dan the developer. One pivotal conversation with Dan would change everything for me.
When I was wrestling with whether I should leave the Police he took time to sit me down and say,
“Kiddo… it’s okay to leave the Police. Life is too short for regrets, and you are going to be ok.”

Sometimes people don’t just support your dream.
They give you permission to chase it.
The Williams family did that for me.

Now back to Shannon the Instructor.

Hands up my Sweat Depot veterans if you were donked on the nose while hearing…
“KEEP YOUR HANDS UP!”

Some lessons are best remembered with a sore snoz.

And finally…
Shannie and food.
The best moments of my 30’s will always be sharing good food with Shannie. We ate and laughed our way through a decade.
She is quite literally the only religion I’ve ever willingly signed up for.

Shan…
Thank you.
Not just for your friendship.
Not just for your laughter.
Not just for helping build Sweat Depot.

Thank you for generously sharing your entire family with me.

You may have been one instructor…
But your family became part of our foundations.

Welcome to the Sweat Depot Hall of Magnificent Beasts.

There is no version of this story without you.
❤️

🍒 CHERIE AKA "CHERRY TREE":
Operation Sweat Continues.

Every gym has that one person who makes everyone feel like they belong.
For us, that person was Cherie.
I have always called her a "Land Angel." I'm fairly certain she accidentally wandered down from the angel realm one day and simply forgot to leave.

Long before 'customer experience' became a a corporate w**k word, Cherie had unknowingly mastered it.

Whether she was behind reception, pampering us with beauty therapies and essential hair removal, answering the phone, or simply greeting people as they walked through the door, she had a gift that can't be taught.

She made people feel seen.
She remembered names.
She remembered birthdays.
She remembered how your kids were going, how your sore shoulder was feeling, and whether you'd had a rough week.

The gym always felt a little calmer when Cherie was there.
She wasn't the loudest person in the room.
She didn't need to be.
Her kindness did all the talking.

Fast forward a few years and nothing has changed.
She has always been a devoted mum, and now... a grandma that has deified aging. (Give us your secret Cherie🧐).

Cherie, you have always been supremely gorgeous—but your greatest beauty isn't just your sunshine smile (which is 'tres magnific').
It's your heart.
Thank you for making hundreds of sweaty people feel welcomed, valued and cared for.
You weren't just part of Sweat Depot.
You were one of the people who gave it its soul.

Cherry Tree...
Welcome to the Sweat Depot Hall of Magnificent Beasts.
You will always be part of our story.
❤️

OPERATION SWEAT – Hall of Magnificent Beasts

Jules "Frog" Gardiner

Our OG Frog defies both human biology and protein powder logic.

She is one of the very few people I'd happily go to war with—and that's probably the highest compliment I know how to give.

Pound for pound, this woman could out-lift men twice her size. She'd throw kettlebells around like they were pom-poms... all while weighing an intimidating 47 kilograms.

Her nutrition advice? Jules has spent the last twenty years proving that science is merely a suggestion.
Her performance-enhancing substances of choice appear to be early nights, Whoppers and fermented grapes.
And as you can see... it works.

The first time I met Frog, I was a little terrified.
She has an extraordinary ability to smell BS before it even arrives, and her face doesn't waste time trying to disguise it.

I had no idea that this formidable woman would become one of Sweat Depot's most legendary instructors, and one of the dearest friends I'll ever have:
- She trained at 5am.
- She trained again at 5pm.
- She cleaned toilets.
- She helped move the gym four different times.

She is, without question, one of the hardest-working humans I've ever known.

She carried the weight of being a single mum while living in extraordinary physical pain, yet I honestly can't remember hearing her complain.
Not once.
She simply kept showing up.
For me.
For the gym.
For everyone else.

I love this woman.
We can go years without seeing each other, but I would still entrust her with everything I owned.

If the world goes sideways...
I'm riding with Frog.

So Jules—despite the fact that you absolutely abhor social media and despise any recognition...
It gives me enormous pleasure to officially induct you into the:
Sweat Depot Hall of Magnificent Beasts.

You weren't just part of Sweat Depot.
You are part of what held it together.
You are the mortar between the bricks.
There is no us without you.
❤️

When Joey Joanne Johnson walked into Sweat Depot everything became right and good. Being with her is like coming home. When we had our 2007 Sweat Diva fashion parade she presented me with a bunch of mortgage-your-house sized roses. When my feet were 9 months pregnant swollen and class sweaty she massaged them and told me I was doing great (I was not, in fact, doing great). She loved me when I was unlovable and told me to stop caring about what other people thought, said and did. She cared for my children tenderly, like a young grandmother.

She is the bearer of gifts and homemade treats.

And a formidable and fearsome trainer.

She was an OG Oz Aerobics Instructor and would become an OG Sweat Depot instructor.

She is a sister, mother, friend and mentor so many of us.

We love you to all the sweaty planets 🪐 and back. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Stayed tuned for more beautiful Sweat Depot babees this week… 👶

📣It’s time for:
👶🍼Who’s that beautiful babee???

Over the next few weeks guess the baby 📸 of our celebrity instructors and treasured staff and receive - I don’t know - a handmade 🕯️candle or some other D grade craft 🧼🫧🧴.

🎀Who is this gorgeous child?
🥊What sort of pain would soon be she dishing out?

"Missing Persons"

HAVE YOU SEEN THESE PEOPLE?

🥊Underneath:
Last seen training 2007-2014.
🏄‍♀️Some escaped...
🥇🏆Some never missed a class...
🤸🤸🤸Some still owe us tuck jumps.

20 years in the making… are you part of our legacy? Drop the days/ weeks/ months/ years of sweating in the comments.

No blue suit
No black
No grey
No Chad
No Keith

Mission complete…

When drunk parents can't read
***or don't care
But shout out to the prep teachers who taught their children!

Thoughts and prays to the emergency services workers who are called to retrieve the toddlers and young children hit by a tradies car driving to work on their private property.