Tasmanian gym owner recognised for inspiring community work

Matthew McKay, personal trainer and owner of the Raw Strength gym on the outskirts of Hobart, has been recognised with a St Lukes Health Community Award for his philanthropic work.

Early this year Mckay started a low-cost gym in the Clarendon Vale Neighbourhood Centre where he helps locals who may not otherwise be able to afford to access a gym to meet their goals, challenging, according to the Hobart Mercury, perceptions that “health and fitness is a luxury”.

Providing affordable and unpretentious fitness and strength training with a special focus on supporting the aged, disabled and disadvantaged, McKay, who grew up in a low socio-economic areas himself, is in a unique position of truly understanding his clientele and being able to help them.

Mckay told the Hobart Mercury “I grew up in similar government housing, low-income position with a single parent.

“It means when I say ‘I understand’ or I give advice that it’s coming from a place of true sympathy and that I understand their challenges.

“Now I am in a position to do something positive and help people, and when I was younger and starting out in my own fitness journey I know it may have been a lot easier if I had access to this.”

McKay has received acclaim for his initiatives since starting Raw Strength in 2016, having received a St Lukes Health Healthier Communities Award in 2021, a Tasmanian Young Achiever Award in 2020, and a Motors Homeground Advantage Award grant in 2018.

His journey began with a comment made many years ago by McKay’s mother when training for his earlier sporting interests which included football, martial arts and bench-pressing.

He recalled “I was pursuing my sport at the time and I suggested she come train with me to help her health and to spend time together, and she said ‘No I am too fat for the gym’,” he says.

“It got me thinking about how few places there were for fragile people to work on their health.

“I wanted somewhere without mirrors and exposing lights drawing attention to faults, and to create a place that does not ask you ‘how much weight do you want to lose?’ but rather ‘what do you want?’.”

Exercisers at the Clarendon Vale gym pay a $5 weekly fee on a needs-basis, and he foots the bill for the cost of operation himself through his Moonah commercial gym, but he says it is all worth it to encourage better health outcomes in the community.

He went on to tell the Hobart Mercury “you can’t give away a service for free or people won’t respect it, it is about finding that sweet spot with what you know they can afford.

“The people are using the gym fairly regularly now, which is great; two people have also given up cigarettes and some are using it for weight loss.”

Mckay’s ultimate goal would be to use the Clarendon Vale gym as a prototype to take to other neighbourhood centres across the state, then nationally, to get a wider initiative happening.

He noted “the gym is starting to bring in enough data that we can package up a ‘how-to’ and take it to other vulnerable communities.”

However, before this can happen McKay needs more people to sign up to this low-cost gym and also to participate in his main gym at Moonah, which ultimately bankrolls the entire project and has copped a battering due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

He added “we would ideally like some more people to step into our facility and experience what we offer

“Post COVID-19 it has been very challenging to recuperate lost financials, and even one or two more people would make a world of difference.”

McKay, who is also an affiliated and accredited Powerlifting Australia Coach, is also featured on a 2020 Awards Australia podcast talking about pathways for drug-free power lifting.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

Images: Matthew McKay (top) and with a group of clients [at centre] (below). Credit: Raw Strength/Facebook.