Born with cerebral palsy, Karl Versteeg largely credits his parents for the leaps and bounds he has made in life.
"If you meet mum and dad, dad is tall, mum is short with a fiery temper to match. I think I was way too big for mum - in a country hospital I was delivered as a breech birth, got caught half way and was without oxygen but came through," he says of his dramatic arrival in life.
"I couldn't walk for a while and there were many trips to see specialists and due to dad's diligence to help me I walked by when I was three years old."
Mr Versteeg says he was meant to go to a "special school" - his hands trembled, his gait was clumsy and his speech was, and still is, a little slurred - but he attended a mainstream school in his home town of Goulburn.
"I was completely different, and that was hard. My writing was shocking but I was above grade in maths and reading, I had a good brain on my shoulders," he says.
"I wasn't put in cotton wool and," he says, adding with a laugh, "my friends will tell you my parents were hardcore."
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Now 44, Mr Versteeg's career has included a stint as a qualified personal trainer, running pubs in Sydney, and completing an accountancy degree at university.
His latest venture and first business, Groundwork Fitness is, however, the one closest to his heart.
Devoid of mirrors or complex machines, the Carrington strength training gym focuses on what Mr Versteeg describes as a "signature training method" of only four big lifts: squat, deadlift, shoulder press and bench press.
He credits more than 30 years of strength training for improving his strength, coordination and improved bone density (the latter being a problem as people age) and keeping him out of a wheelchair.
Mr Versteeg was 14 and with stooped posture when a physiotherapist who was a friend of his parents' said he had to find something to help his posture.
"I was playing soccer but I wasn't good at it," he laughs of the period.
His his builder dad took him to J.T's Fitness in Goulburn, run by the formidable Jim Tierney, who was also helping run the gym at the the country town's jail.
"Jim was a professional bodybuilder, a giant, 115kg of muscle with a bikie moustache, he was scary," recalls Mr Versteeg.
"He showed me how to lift barbells and I had to stick to it.
"Every afternoon I would walk from school to the gym and train there."
Sometimes his father would take him to his work site and tell his son to ride to the gym.
"He expected me to go there, maybe it was 10 blocks away, and I would get there then ride my bike around the block seven times trying to get the courage to go in," Mr Versteeg says.
After finishing high school, his passion for working out increased with the weights he lifted.
"It was so inspiring and it still is. It's you against yourself. It's not relying on a team," he says.
Mr Versteeg moved to Sydney to work as a personal trainer then found himself running pubs.
Eventually tiring of the hours and maturing, he decided to study for his accountancy degree at university and landed some jobs for a reputable private school and sports club.
Through it all, he did his strength training - his body clock stirring him at 3.45am in time for his daily workout just after 4am.
"I have always been like that. I've never used an alarm. i just wake up and bounce out of bed," the Mayfield father of one says.
"There is not a day I haven't trained. Except for the last three months when I've been building the gym."
Mr Versteeg and his wife Sally moved to Newcastle with their young daughter in 2015. Their relocation came after Mrs Versteeg suffered a brain haemohrrage during pregnancy and was in hospital at length.
In what has been a tough year financially, Mr Vertsteeg credits his wife for helping him to get his first business up and running.
His parents also assisted him during the intensive four month build period, when ironically he skipped all his training for the first time in years. Being on the end of a jackhammer for hours was no doubt a good workout.
"For us to get through and to where we are has been a dead-set miracle," he says.
"I have always had an idea [to start the gym] and I thought, "You know what, grow some balls!' And I am now not going to die wondering."
There is not a day I haven't trained ... The best thing is training with a mate, taking the piss out of each other, saying goodbye and feeling like a million bucks
Karl Versteeg
As a part of his research, Mr Versteeg trained in local gyms to see what others were doing.
"It's all these 20-year-olds who have no idea, teaching people want to do, and people get turned off or injured and don't come back," he says.
Mr Versteeg says people of his vintage and older can find what he calls "big box, churn and burn" gyms intimidating.
He has aimed to create a gym which has a community feel and "primarily just looks after people". His focus on the four key strength exercises is based on what he says are the most common daily movements.
"We don't need machines, we've got racks, barbells and dumbbells. We don't have mirrors, we stick to basics of linear progression - adding a bit of weight each time you come to the gym," he says.
"We are very simple because too many gyms overcomplicate things."
By focusing on bone density and balance, Mr Versteeg says his gym is about "training rather than exercise".
"With training you have a focus and you are trying to improve balance, bones or strength whereas exercise you don't have a plan. When a person comes in we'll build a program for them with a certain focus."
Groundwork Fitness is a two-level gym, with weight training on the ground floor and an upstairs floor which will be used for a range of classes. It also has five spin bikes and two treadmills for warming up.
Mr Versteeg says the gym, which is open Monday to Friday and has an in-house barista, is more of a club and is targeted at those over 40.
He hopes to create the sort of gym and environment he personally enjoys.
"It's the kind of place I've always wanted to train at," he says.
"A strength club that is welcoming, that's hygienically clean and also full of interesting people
"While I didn't mind the rough-and-ready tin shed when I was a teenager, I now prefer a few creature comforts.
"The best thing is training with a mate, taking the piss out of each other, saying goodbye and feeling like a million bucks."
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