Journey from flab to fab Award win a result of hard work
LIKE most personal trainers, Michael Kassouh is young, fit and friendly.
But it’s the Ormeau gym owner’s backstory that could be the reason his gym Genfit was voted the best in the Gold Coast.
Mr Kassouh was overweight his whole life and at his heaviest was 110kg – at 163cm tall, that put him in the obese category for his BMI.
Following a heart attack scare about eight years ago, Mr Kassouh was told he had to make changes or risk not seeing his children grow up.
“I was working in a warehouse and I would probably drink a litre to a litre and a half of redbull and coke a day,” Mr Kassouh said.
“I’d spend $150 on the smoko truck a week.
“I was playing with my kids and had chest pain and was sent to the doctors. I was told I wasn’t having a heart attack but I had a lot of pressure on my heart.
“I was told you’ve got a choice to make now, you’re not going to live much longer.
“It was enough of a scare to wake me up.”
Mr Kassouh signed up to a bootcamp through his job and overhauled his diet, losing 45kg in five months.
While he’d always been intimidated by gyms, he plucked up the courage and walked in to one called Rush Hour in Ormeau.
It was there that he began studying to become a personal trainer.
Mr Kassouh was eventually employed at Rush Hour as a personal trainer and spent many years working for them, however the death of his father two years ago sparked something.
“I decided I was going to open a gym,” he said.
“I bought a 150sq m studio, it had a little group fitness and weights area.
“Within our first month we jumped from no members to 50 or 60 members.
“In the last year and a half, we’ve turned the facility in to 440sq m in to fitness and gym facilities, and we’ve hit 530 members.”
Not only does his weight loss journey help to relate to his clients, Mr Kassouh said he knows how it feels mentally to fight for your goals. Check out today’s for Best of the Gold Coast’s top 10 best gym, as voted by you.