Katifit Gym: ‘It’s just a vibe’

Her journey in the industry began with a personal trainer qualification, which she completed with Skills Active Aotearoa while working at Katifit. A decade or so later, Jenna’s got six of her staff currently training with us, and so many more who’ve completed their qualifications over the years that she’s lost count.

“I love how you can do all the study at your own pace,” she says, “but in the workplace so you’re getting that industry experience. And also dealing one-on-one with our customers and our members to understand the diverse people that eventually you work with.” She sees Katifit Gym as an ideal setting for on-the-job learning: “It’s a good place for students to come in and learn because there’s such a social culture in the gym, where you get that real personal feel with members.”

In many ways, it’s a family business as well. “I’ve even got my 16-year-old daughter doing her Level 3 in fitness,” says Jenna. “It’s actually quite neat to see. I’m getting a little bit of the insight more of what the Level 3 covers as well as the Level 4, so that’s pretty cool.” Jenna’s supported by her husband – an engineer by trade – as well. She handles the business operations of the gym, and he’s able to lend his expertise in building racks, keeping equipment running, and finding creative solutions. “We’ve managed to be able to operate a pretty good business, being able to grow without having to get contractors in to do a lot of that.”

As well as getting her family’s support, the community at large have embraced Katifit Gym. “The beauty of having a small-town community gym,” Jenna says, is that “all these people that work in different professions, somehow, they want to help me, you know? I’ve got all this advice coming to me and I’ve got all these people that are so passionate about my business that I can lean on for advice.”

So while Katifit’s equipment may not be as flash as a chain gym’s, Jenna tries to provide everything that everybody needs. More than that, she does her utmost to foster a sense of community among her members, encouraging people to treat it as a space belonging to everyone. “My members, they’re like, can you do this? Or this? And I say, look, this isn’t my gym. This is our gym. You know, this is our community.”