Evolutis opened its doors in 2016 and, over the past decade, has helped thousands of people across Coolock and the surrounding areas become stronger, healthier and more confident
Evolutis opened its doors in 2016 and, over the past decade, has helped thousands of people across Coolock and the surrounding areas become stronger, healthier and more confident
A north Dublin gym that specifically caters to people aged 40 and above is set to mark its 10th birthday in the coming weeks.
Evolutis opened its doors in 2016 and, over the past decade, has helped thousands of people across Coolock and the surrounding areas become stronger, healthier and more confident. Along the way they’ve built a fantastic community that has supported one another through life’s ups and downs.
Evolutis founder David Knowles told Dublin Live he came up with the idea after going through a period of change when he became a dad. He told Dublin Live: “I’m a dad and I had gone through a period of change myself physically and mentally.
“I wanted to do the same thing for other people. That’s where it was born and then in 2014 I set up the first group programme and it was actually called the SuperDads Fitness Project for men only. That ran for a period of time until I opened up the gym itself in Coolock in 2016.”
Evolutis opened its doors in 2016 and, over the past decade, has helped thousands of people across Coolock and the surrounding areas become stronger, healthier and more confident
After the gym opened, David launched a sister programme called Super Mom’s Fitness Programme, catered to women over 40. He also identified there was a shortage of activities for those over 65 in the community, so runs a weekly programme for that demographic called Fitness Legends.
David said: “What happens when you get older, you’re under a lot of stress, you’re being a parent, you’ve got work and you’ve got everything to balance. So you lose connections with people, with friends, and family, and it feels like all you do work, or take care of kids and family and you have no outlet. I would say that social media is having a massive impact as well.
Evolutis opened its doors in 2016 and, over the past decade, has helped thousands of people across Coolock and the surrounding areas become stronger, healthier and more confident
“The gym is about having an outlet that you can mind yourself and you can take care of your physical, mental and emotional health in a really positive, constructive way,” David said. “That’s what we’ve created.
“We’ve create a place that people can go to and park everything at the door. There’s no politics, no religion, no hot topics allowed in the gym, mobile phones are banned from the floor. It’s all about people talking face to face and building friendships.
Evolutis opened its doors in 2016 and, over the past decade, has helped thousands of people across Coolock and the surrounding areas become stronger, healthier and more confident
“One of the bit of feedback I get a lot from, especially the longer term members, is that their friend group is made of the people they met in the gym.”
David said the business went through an extremely tough period during the pandemic but finally paid off his Covid business loan just two weeks ago. “It’s nice to say we can close the door to that now,” he said.
“Before Covid we were just trying to build something. When Covid came along and set it back, it took us a couple years at least to try and get back to any kind of semblance of normal.
Evolutis opened its doors in 2016 and, over the past decade, has helped thousands of people across Coolock and the surrounding areas become stronger, healthier and more confident
“I genuinely didn’t pay myself a lot of the time or paid myself the absolute bare basic minimum, just to keep everything else on the road. And that went on for a number of years.
“But thankfully, with the head down and supportive people, we got through that and since then we’ve been building, and we’re in a much healthier situation today.”
David explained he is a “big believer in the 3Ps; patience persistence and perseverance”. He said: “People often ask me, are you worried about recession? Are you worried about kind of downturns? I say that we literally had to shut down the gym for two years. If we can get through that, we can get through anything.
“I definitely learned a lot more through those tough times about what was possible. I made lots of mistakes along the way, but for the most part, on reflection, I definitely learned a hell of a lot more about myself through those times and I would look at it more positively today than I did at the time.”
On Saturday September 19 the gym is holding a special community celebration at the gym from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Members, former members, coaches, local businesses, community representatives and local organisations have all been invited.
“The whole premise of the event is to celebrate Eolutis for 10 years but actually celebrate the community and the members themselves and because if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t exist,” David said.
You can find out more information about Evolutis on their website or Facebook page.
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