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Empower Fitness & Martial Arts
Finalist - 2010 Oustanding New Business
 
Empower kicks into action!
 The Northern Beaches community has a new place to head for a good work-out and martial art skill after Empower Fitness and Martial Arts officially launched into action in February 2010.
Saturday, 27 February saw more than 150 members of the local community, media and martial arts gather to watch the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon, spiritual smoke cleansing by tribal elder Uncle Max, Haidon Kumdo, Taekwondo, Hapkido and Zumba demonstrations and welcome the Empower Fitness and Martial Arts Centre and Dojang into the Brookvale community.
The journey to bring the project to completion took 12 months and saw a team of tradesmen, volunteers, along with owners and senior martial artists, Anne Mouland-Claassens and Ron Claassens, transform a dilapidated warehouse into a purpose-built dojang.
“We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved,” Mouland-Claassens said.
“It doesn’t seem like the place we first walked into. We had to remove tons of rubbish, see to loose wires and even build walls; we started with a shell and transformed a dream into reality”
Empower now boasts 260 metres of matted and sprung floors, eight punching bags, a full gym including traditional training equipment, full-length mirrors, a shower, seated waiting area with vending machine, massage room, change rooms, toilets, and a fully-equipped kitchen.
The centre, which was developed as a purpose-built dojang and will host martial arts as well as fitness classes, is the first of its calibre in the Northern Beaches.
 According to its owners, the advantage of a centre like Empower is that unlike a gym, it does not charge a yearly membership fee. Instead its facilities and classes, run by experienced, highly qualified staff, which can be paid for on a per lesson, per ten lessons or per month basis, at affordable rates.
Another advantageous point of difference, they said, is that the centre is more community-minded than most gyms and caters to people of all ages, with kids, adults and family classes.
The centre’s schedule of classes includes kids, adult and family Taekwondo sessions, kids and adult Hapkido as well as Zumba, Women’s Instinct Self Defence and a range of fitness classes focusing on cardio, weight training, power combat and high-impact, energy.
Empower Fitness and Martial Arts Centre is located at 22 Orchard Road in Brookvale (see contact page for map & details).
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