A 80-year-old gym owner in Samoa has celebrated his facility's 40th anniversary this week and recalled the challenges they faced over the last four decades promoting physical fitness. 

The owner and founder of Heems Fitness Center at Vaivase, Toleafoa Tony Heem, told the Samoa Observer that he first established the fitness center in 1982 within the Apia town area.

However, he later moved the gym to Vaivase where it is currently located.

Looking back at the journey of his fitness centre, which also intertwined with his journey in life, Toleafoa said it was always his dream to establish a gym in Samoa.

“When I left Samoa for New Zealand I was 19-years-old,” he told this newspaper. “I was a very athletic person at the time. I have always wanted to setup a fitness center, it is like a passion.

“I lived in New Zealand for 20 years but when I returned to Samoa I had already decided what I wanted to do which was setting up the fitness center.” 

The 40th anniversary of the establishment of his gym, also coincides with his 80th birthday this week and he has not thrown in the towel, if his current fitness regime is any indication. 

“Another reason for setting up the center was so I could help other people to live longer and look good," Toleafoa said. “And no matter how old or young you are, exercise is part of your life.

“I exercise three times a week I guess that is the secret to living longer, not only that but eating a healthy and balanced meal.”

After 40 years of offering the public full access to gym facilities, Toleafoa said times have changed and his dream is now fulfilled.

He said when he first started the facility in the early 1980s, he thought it would become popular because Samoans are natural athletes, but having a gym in the neighbourhood was a new experience for Samoans at that time. 

Compared to today's generation, he said there is a movement to eat healthy and stay healthy, but that did not exist during his fitness centre's early days. 

“It is because nowadays our people are moving to eating healthy food," Toleafoa said. “But during the time I first started, I thought the center was going to be popular because the Samoan people are very athletic.      

“However, we started to notice some people were shy to exercise because it was something new to them.”

The 80-year-old said back then some people said that only those "who wanted to look young" again choose to exercise.

“Another major reason they said was I could not stop people from dying so we moved back to Vaivase where the current location is at.”  

Nevertheless, the Heems Fitness Center became home to a number of Manu Samoa teams over the years, who according to Toleafoa used the facility to train before an upcoming international match. 

And over the years, the culture of living a healthy lifestyle began to emerge in the country with Samoans accepting and promoting it, he added.

“There is a big difference between times when we first started and now, our people have started to accept a healthier lifestyle by going to gyms and fitness centres," Toleafoa said. “This is why I believe that setting up a gym is significant because it is to help our people live a healthy lifestyle.” 

And with the increasing number of Samoans being diagnosed with non-communicable diseases, Toleafoa said setting up the gym is now more relevant as a solution. 

“Our weakness right now is that there are so many beautiful [varieties] of food and some tend to over eat until they get sick with other diseases such as obesity or diabetes then they try and do something about it," he said.

He also confirmed they have more than 100 people who come to the fitness center despite the current COVID-19 challenges. 

Toleafoa is also a big believer of exercise being part of your everyday life: “You have to exercise because your body needs it; you have to tone up your muscles.”