Andy Graydon is a fitness instructor and personal trainer in Glasgow. I first started going to Andy when I heard about his Ladies who Lift classes – he was offering small, friendly group sessions which were even suitable for absolute beginners. Although I was a little intimidated by weight training I went along and very quickly got hooked.
That was about 6 months ago and during that time, Andy had been working at the back of a gym used by Omnipotent Crossfit in the Merchant City. It worked but it wasn’t ideal and groups sometimes felt like they were in each others’ way. No matter though, because Andy had plans. He was going to open his own gym.
It took months. There was a colossal amount of work to be done, from finding the ideal venue, acquiring it, getting planning permission for the change in use, finding builders and people to set everything up, hiring more fitness instructors and on and on.
At one point, all the weights and equipment arrived and were left outside the gym and with a pallet fork that wouldn’t run on the new gym flooring Andy’s only option was to manually move all the new equipment. All 3.8 tonnes of it. I guess that counted as his work out for that day.
It was all worth it, though. On Thursday Andy emailed to say that the new gym was officially open. A friend who goes to the Ladies who Lift sessions said that she had been in the new gym for the Thursday session and had loved it. Last night Andy through a party to celebrate the official opening so I finally got a chance to see the place he’s been going on about for months.
I am so proud of him! It looks amazing. The facilities, the space, everything. It all looks fantastic and I can’t wait to go try out all the new toys! He got an astroturf strip put in and tyres for flipping and all kinds of brilliant stuff. The photo is of the mural on the wall – if a demonic version of Ronda Rousey isn’t enough to persuade me that I can do one more rep then nothing is.
Bonus! My usual Tuesday Ladies who Lift session is at 19:30 but the gym is now much closer to where I work than it is to where I live. This works fine, however, because Andy is moving that session to 18:30 and it will be followed immediately by a 19:30 yoga session with new yoga instructor, Robyn! So, my new Tuesday routine will be: Work, grab a coffee, head over to the gym, sit on the comfy new sofas while I wait for the Ladies who Lift session to start, lift, stretch, go home, eat, sleep. I’m going to be strong and bendy. It’ll be amazing and I am so excited.
Well done, Andy! It’s great to see your hard work paying off.
In Becky's Head 
Neat 🙂
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